Florida Senate - 2020                             CS for SB 1066
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senator Gruters
       
       
       
       
       
       578-03429-20                                          20201066c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to impact fees; amending s. 163.31801,
    3         F.S.; providing definitions; revising requirements for
    4         counties and municipalities that adopt, collect, or
    5         administer an impact fee by ordinance and for special
    6         districts that adopt, collect, or administer an impact
    7         fee by resolution; providing timeframes for the
    8         collection of impact fees by local governments;
    9         providing that impact fee credits are assignable and
   10         transferable under certain conditions; requiring local
   11         governments to provide impact fee credits or other
   12         forms of compensation under certain conditions;
   13         providing applicability; requiring certain counties
   14         and municipalities to establish impact fee review
   15         committees; providing for membership; providing
   16         procedures for holding meetings and establishing
   17         quorums; providing committee duties; providing an
   18         effective date.
   19          
   20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   21  
   22         Section 1. Section 163.31801, Florida Statutes, is amended
   23  to read:
   24         163.31801 Impact fees; short title; intent; minimum
   25  requirements; audits; challenges.—
   26         (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Impact Fee
   27  Act.”
   28         (2) The Legislature finds that impact fees are an important
   29  source of revenue for a local government to use in funding the
   30  infrastructure necessitated by new growth. The Legislature
   31  further finds that impact fees are an outgrowth of the home rule
   32  power of a local government to provide certain services within
   33  its jurisdiction. Due to the growth of impact fee collections
   34  and local governments’ reliance on impact fees, it is the intent
   35  of the Legislature to ensure that, when a county or municipality
   36  adopts, collects, or administers an impact fee by ordinance or a
   37  special district adopts, collects, or administers an impact fee
   38  by resolution, the governing authority complies with this
   39  section to ensure a consistent statewide process.
   40         (3) For purposes of this section:
   41         (a) The term “infrastructure” means any fixed capital
   42  expenditure or fixed capital outlay associated with the
   43  construction, reconstruction, or improvement of a public
   44  facility, excluding the cost of repairs or maintenance, that
   45  have a life expectancy of 5 or more years; any related land
   46  acquisition, land improvement, design, engineering, and
   47  permitting costs; and all other related construction costs
   48  required to bring the public facility into service.
   49         (b)The term “public facility” means any facility as
   50  defined in s. 163.3164(39), and includes any fire and law
   51  enforcement facility.
   52         (4) At a minimum, each county and municipality that adopts,
   53  collects, or administers an impact fee by ordinance and each
   54  special district that adopts, collects, or administers an impact
   55  fee by resolution an impact fee adopted by ordinance of a county
   56  or municipality or by resolution of a special district must
   57  satisfy all of the following conditions:
   58         (a) Require that the calculation of the impact fee must be
   59  based on the most recent and localized data collected within the
   60  last 36 months and excludes any cost that does not meet the
   61  definition of infrastructure.
   62         (b) Account for the revenues and expenditures of such
   63  impact fee in a separate impact fee account, if the local
   64  governmental entity imposes an impact fee to address its
   65  infrastructure needs The local government must provide for
   66  accounting and reporting of impact fee collections and
   67  expenditures. If a local governmental entity imposes an impact
   68  fee to address its infrastructure needs, the entity must account
   69  for the revenues and expenditures of such impact fee in a
   70  separate accounting fund.
   71         (c) Limit administrative charges for the collection of
   72  impact fees must be limited to actual costs. The cost per
   73  student station established in school impact fee calculations
   74  may not exceed that statutory total maximum cost per student
   75  station calculated under s. 1013.64(6).
   76         (d) The local government must Provide notice not less than
   77  90 days before the effective date of an ordinance or resolution
   78  imposing a new or increased impact fee. New or increased impact
   79  fees may not apply to current or pending permit applications
   80  submitted before the effective date of an ordinance or
   81  resolution imposing a new or increased impact fee. A county or
   82  municipality is not required to wait 90 days to decrease,
   83  suspend, or eliminate an impact fee.
   84         (e) Collection of the impact fee may not be required to
   85  occur earlier than the date of issuance of the building permit
   86  for the property that is subject to the fee.
   87         (f)Ensure that the impact fee is must be proportional and
   88  reasonably connected to, or has have a rational nexus with, the
   89  need for additional infrastructure capital facilities and the
   90  increased impact generated by the new residential or commercial
   91  construction.
   92         (f)(g)Ensure that the impact fee is must be proportional
   93  and reasonably connected to, or has have a rational nexus with,
   94  the expenditures of the funds collected and the benefits
   95  accruing to the new residential or nonresidential construction.
   96         (g)(h)The local government must Specifically earmark funds
   97  collected under the impact fee for use in acquiring,
   98  constructing, or improving infrastructure capital facilities to
   99  benefit new users.
  100         (5)Collection of the impact fee may not be required to
  101  occur earlier than the date of issuance of the building permit
  102  for the property that is subject to the fee.
  103         (6)(i) Revenues generated by the impact fee may not be
  104  used, in whole or in part, to pay existing debt or for
  105  previously approved projects unless the expenditure is
  106  reasonably connected to, or has a rational nexus with, the
  107  increased impact generated by the new residential or
  108  nonresidential construction.
  109         (7)(4) The local government must credit against the
  110  collection of the impact fee any contribution, whether
  111  identified in a proportionate share agreement or other form of
  112  exaction, related to public education facilities, including land
  113  dedication, site planning and design, or construction. Any
  114  contribution must be applied to reduce any education-based
  115  impact fees on a dollar-for-dollar basis at fair market value.
  116         (8)(5) If a local government increases its impact fee
  117  rates, the holder of any impact fee credits, whether such
  118  credits are granted under s. 163.3180, s. 380.06, or otherwise,
  119  which were in existence before the increase, is entitled to the
  120  full benefit of the intensity or density prepaid by the credit
  121  balance as of the date it was first established. This subsection
  122  shall operate prospectively and not retrospectively.
  123         (9)(6) Audits of financial statements of local governmental
  124  entities and district school boards which are performed by a
  125  certified public accountant pursuant to s. 218.39 and submitted
  126  to the Auditor General must include an affidavit signed by the
  127  chief financial officer of the local governmental entity or
  128  district school board stating that the local governmental entity
  129  or district school board has complied with this section and the
  130  spending period provision in the local ordinance or resolution.
  131         (10)(7) In any action challenging an impact fee or the
  132  government’s failure to provide required dollar-for-dollar
  133  credits for the payment of impact fees or for contributions made
  134  as provided in this chapter s. 163.3180(6)(h)2.b., the
  135  government has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the
  136  evidence that the imposition or amount of the fee or credit
  137  meets the requirements of state legal precedent and this
  138  section. The court may not use a deferential standard for the
  139  benefit of the government.
  140         (11)Impact fee credits are assignable and transferable at
  141  any time after establishment from one development or parcel to
  142  any other development or parcel within the same impact fee
  143  jurisdiction for the same type of public facility for which the
  144  impact fee applies.
  145         (12)(8) A county, municipality, or special district may
  146  provide an exception or waiver for an impact fee for the
  147  development or construction of housing that is affordable, as
  148  defined in s. 420.9071. If a county, municipality, or special
  149  district provides such an exception or waiver, it is not
  150  required to use any revenues to offset the impact. To ensure
  151  impact fees or equivalent contributions are only collected once,
  152  a local government shall provide impact fee credits or other
  153  forms of compensation if a contribution is greater in value than
  154  the applicable impact fee. Contributions related to the
  155  transportation system are creditable against the combined total
  156  of all impact fees and exactions charged for mobility. This
  157  subsection applies at the time any contribution is accepted,
  158  regardless of when the contributions were agreed upon or
  159  committed to.
  160         (13)(a)Each county and municipality that assesses impact
  161  fees must establish an impact fee review committee.
  162         (b)1.The committee shall be composed of the following
  163  members appointed by the county commission or the governing body
  164  of the municipality, as applicable:
  165         a.Two members who are employed by the county or
  166  municipality.
  167         b.Two members who represent the business community.
  168         c.Two members who are local licensed general or
  169  residential contractors.
  170         d.One at-large member.
  171         2.The county commission or the governing body of the
  172  municipality, as applicable, shall appoint three alternate
  173  members, consisting of one representative from each of the
  174  categories described in sub-subparagraphs 1.a., b., and c., who
  175  shall serve in the absence of their respective member.
  176         3.Members and alternate members must be qualified electors
  177  of the county or municipality, as applicable, for at least 2
  178  years before their appointment.
  179         4.Committee members shall serve at the pleasure of the
  180  local government and shall serve until they are replaced.
  181         (c)1.Each committee meeting must be duly noticed and open
  182  to the public as required by s. 286.011.
  183         2.A meeting may not be held unless a quorum is present. A
  184  quorum consists of a majority of members of the committee, but
  185  an alternate member shall count toward the quorum when a regular
  186  member is absent.
  187         3.A member who fails to attend three consecutive meetings
  188  or fails to attend two-thirds of the meetings within a calendar
  189  year automatically forfeits the appointment, and the county
  190  commissioners or members of the governing body of the
  191  municipality, as applicable, shall promptly fill the vacancy.
  192         4.Members of the committee shall serve without
  193  compensation.
  194         (d)The committee shall meet as needed to:
  195         1.Establish a policy and methodology for determining
  196  impact fees on new developments.
  197         2.Review the proposed impact fee on each new development
  198  before the fee becomes final.
  199         3.Submit recommendations made by the impact fee committee
  200  to the county commission or governing body of the municipality,
  201  as applicable. The recommendations must be presented at the
  202  meeting when the impact fee on the new development will be
  203  discussed and voted upon.
  204         4.After each impact fee is adopted by the local
  205  government, review all proposed expenditures of that impact fee
  206  to ensure the fee is used for capital projects within the
  207  jurisdiction.
  208         (14)(9) This section does not apply to water and sewer
  209  connection fees.
  210         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.