Senate Bill sb2514c2

    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 2514

    By the Committees on Appropriations; Finance and Taxation; and
    Senator Lee




    309-2341-04

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the distribution of proceeds

  3         from the excise tax on documents; amending s.

  4         201.15, F.S.; requiring that any proceeds of

  5         the tax in excess of specified amounts be

  6         deposited into the General Revenue Fund rather

  7         than appropriated as otherwise provided by law;

  8         providing protection for bondholders and

  9         preserving the rights of holders of affordable

10         housing guarantees; providing an effective

11         date.

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13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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15         Section 1.  Subsection (15) is added to section 201.15,

16  Florida Statutes, to read:

17         201.15  Distribution of taxes collected.--All taxes

18  collected under this chapter shall be distributed as follows

19  and shall be subject to the service charge imposed in s.

20  215.20(1), except that such service charge shall not be levied

21  against any portion of taxes pledged to debt service on bonds

22  to the extent that the amount of the service charge is

23  required to pay any amounts relating to the bonds:

24         (15)  Notwithstanding the distribution of taxes

25  calculated pursuant to subsections (2), (3), (4), (5), (6),

26  (7), (8), (9), and (10), the amounts distributed for any

27  fiscal year may not exceed the following:

28         (a)  To the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, $84.1 million;

29         (b)  To the Water Management Lands Trust Fund, $59.1

30  million;

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 2514
    309-2341-04




 1         (c)  To the Conservation and Recreation Lands Trust

 2  Fund, $63.8 million;

 3         (d)  To the State Game Trust Fund, $13.3 million;

 4         (e)  To the Invasive Plant Control Trust Fund, $34.9

 5  million;

 6         (f)  To the Department of Environmental Protection

 7  Water Quality Assurance Trust Fund, $3.7 million;

 8         (g)  To the Department of Agriculture and Consumer

 9  Services General Inspection Trust Fund, $3.7 million;

10         (h)  To the State Housing Trust Fund, $56 million;

11  provided, however, the state covenants with the holders of

12  bonds issued pursuant to s. 420.5092(5), or bonds issued to

13  refund such bonds, and with holders of affordable housing

14  guarantees given or to be given pursuant to s. 420.5092, that

15  this paragraph shall not be construed to adversely affect the

16  rights of the holders of such bonds or such affordable housing

17  guarantees under s. 420.5092; and

18         (i)  To the Local Government Housing Trust Fund, $137

19  million.

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21  Taxes collected in excess of these amounts shall be paid into

22  the State Treasury to the credit of the General Revenue Fund

23  of the state to be used and expended for the purposes for

24  which the General Revenue Fund was created and exists by law.

25  If the payment requirements in any year for bonds outstanding

26  on July 1, 2005, exceed the limitations of this subsection,

27  distributions to the trust fund from which the bond payments

28  are made shall be increased to the lesser of the amount needed

29  to pay bond obligations or the limit of the applicable

30  percentage distribution provided in the previous subsections

31  of this section.

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    Florida Senate - 2004                    CS for CS for SB 2514
    309-2341-04




 1         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

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 3          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
 4                          CS for SB 2514

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 6  The committee substitute replaces a reference to the 2003-04
    General Appropriations Act as the means of capping documentary
 7  stamp tax distributions,  and instead provides the actual
    dollar limits on distributions to the specific trust funds.
 8  The caps have not been changed, but with the amendment persons
    who do not have access to the work papers of the 2003-04
 9  General Appropriations Act can discern what the maximum
    distributions are. Further, CS/CS/SB 2514 protects holders of
10  bonds and affordable housing guarantees by ensuring that the
    current statutory levels of funding remain available if
11  necessary and that the changes in the bill will not be
    construed to adversely affect their rights.
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.