Florida Senate - 2018                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 104
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì839404&Î839404                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  10/17/2017           .                                
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       The Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and
       Domestic Security (Garcia) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 45 - 106
    4  and insert:
    5         (3) A small business that hires a veteran as a new employee
    6  may receive a one-time grant of:
    7         (a) Fifteen hundred dollars for each newly hired veteran,
    8  as defined in s. 1.01(14).
    9         (b) Three thousand dollars for each newly hired disabled
   10  veteran, as that term is described in s. 295.07(1)(a).
   11         (4) The total dollar amount of grants awarded to a
   12  participating small business under subsection (3) may not exceed
   13  $10,500 per fiscal year.
   14         (5) A small business must apply to, and enter into an
   15  agreement with, the corporation in order to participate in the
   16  program. The agreement must require that the small business:
   17         (a) Hire and employ for at least 1 year a qualifying
   18  veteran before becoming eligible for a grant awarded under
   19  subsection (3).
   20         (b) Report information regarding the employment status of
   21  each qualifying veteran, if requested to do so by the
   22  corporation.
   23         (c) Pay each qualifying veteran an amount equal to at least
   24  90 percent of the annual median income for veterans in this
   25  state at the time of hire, based on the most recent American
   26  Community Survey 1-year estimates published by the United States
   27  Census Bureau.
   28         (d) Use any awarded grant moneys to facilitate the creation
   29  of additional jobs for and employment of veterans by the small
   30  business; however, grant moneys may be used only for
   31  manufacturing, equipment, and facility expenses or other
   32  operating costs or fixed capital outlay projects.
   33         (e)Not receive any additional grant for rehiring a veteran
   34  who it previously claimed as an employee for purposes of
   35  obtaining funds under the program.
   36         (f) Is eligible to receive a grant award only for a veteran
   37  initially hired on or after July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2023.
   38         (6) The corporation shall notify the regional small
   39  business development center that serves the county in which a
   40  participating small business is located of the participation of
   41  the small business in the grant program in order to facilitate
   42  improved access to the resources of the Florida Small Business
   43  Development Center Network.
   44         (7) The Department of Economic Opportunity shall adopt
   45  rules to implement and administer this section which specify
   46  requirements for the application and approval process and the
   47  documentation necessary to claim grant moneys awarded under this
   48  section.
   49         (8) By each December 31 for the duration of the grant
   50  program, the corporation shall provide an annual report to the
   51  Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the
   52  House of Representatives on the grant program’s progress and
   53  outcomes for the preceding fiscal year. The report must include
   54  the following:
   55         (a) An accounting of how the corporation used the state
   56  funds it received for the grant program.
   57         (b) The number of small businesses receiving grant funds.
   58         (c) The number of veterans and disabled veterans employed
   59  by each small business receiving grant funds.
   60         (d) The salary paid to each veteran employed.
   61         (e) The length of time for which the small business
   62  employed each veteran.
   63         (f) The grant program’s economic benefit to the state and
   64  the performance-based metrics and methodologies used to
   65  calculate the grant program’s economic benefit to the state.
   66         (9) The grant program terminates October 1, 2024.
   67  
   68  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   69  And the title is amended as follows:
   70         Delete line 17
   71  and insert:
   72         participation; requiring the department to adopt
   73         certain