Florida Senate - 2009                                    SB 2078
       
       
       
       By Senator Justice
       
       
       
       
       16-01032A-09                                          20092078__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the My Safe Florida Home Program;
    3         amending s. 215.5586, F.S.; revising legislative
    4         intent; revising criteria for eligibility for a
    5         mitigation grant; requiring that the program secure
    6         contractors through a competitive bid process;
    7         requiring that the Department of Financial Services
    8         assign contractors to homeowners; deleting a provision
    9         authorizing certain mitigation inspectors to
   10         participate as mitigation contractors; authorizing
   11         fund grants to be made available to certain nonprofit
   12         entities; deleting a provision requiring liberal
   13         construction of certain requirements; expanding the
   14         list of improvements for which grants may be used;
   15         requiring that the department require certain
   16         improvements as a condition of reimbursing a homeowner
   17         approved for a grant; authorizing the department to
   18         adopt rules; deleting provisions relating to the use
   19         of grants; correcting a reference to the Florida
   20         Division of Emergency Management; deleting provisions
   21         relating to no-interest loans; requiring that
   22         contracts valued at or greater than a specified amount
   23         be subject to review and approval of the Legislative
   24         Budget Commission; amending s. 627.711, F.S.;
   25         authorizing an insurer to accept as valid a uniform
   26         mitigation verification form signed by specified
   27         parties; providing penalties for knowingly submitting
   28         a false or fraudulent mitigation form with the intent
   29         to receive an undeserved discount; providing an
   30         appropriation; providing an effective date.
   31  
   32  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   33  
   34         Section 1. Section 215.5586, Florida Statutes, as amended
   35  by section 1 of chapter 2009-10, Laws of Florida, is amended to
   36  read:
   37         215.5586 My Safe Florida Home Program.—There is established
   38  within the Department of Financial Services the My Safe Florida
   39  Home Program. The department shall provide fiscal
   40  accountability, contract management, and strategic leadership
   41  for the program, consistent with this section. This section does
   42  not create an entitlement for property owners or obligate the
   43  state in any way to fund the inspection or retrofitting of
   44  residential property in this state. Implementation of this
   45  program is subject to annual legislative appropriations. It is
   46  the intent of the Legislature that the My Safe Florida Home
   47  Program provide inspections to for at least 400,000 site-built,
   48  single-family, residential properties and provide grants to
   49  eligible at least 35,000 applicants before June 30, 2009. The
   50  program shall develop and implement a comprehensive and
   51  coordinated approach for hurricane damage mitigation that shall
   52  include the following:
   53         (1) HURRICANE MITIGATION INSPECTIONS.—
   54         (a) Free home-retrofit inspections of site-built, single
   55  family, residential property shall be offered throughout the
   56  state to determine what mitigation measures are needed, what
   57  insurance premium discounts may be available, and what
   58  improvements to existing residential properties are needed to
   59  reduce the property's vulnerability to hurricane damage. The
   60  Department of Financial Services shall contract with wind
   61  certification entities to provide free hurricane mitigation
   62  inspections. The inspections provided to homeowners, at a
   63  minimum, must include:
   64         1. A home inspection and report that summarizes the results
   65  and identifies recommended improvements a homeowner may take to
   66  mitigate hurricane damage.
   67         2. A range of cost estimates regarding the recommended
   68  mitigation improvements.
   69         3. Insurer-specific information regarding premium discounts
   70  correlated to the current mitigation features and the
   71  recommended mitigation improvements identified by the
   72  inspection.
   73         4. A hurricane resistance rating scale specifying the
   74  home's current as well as projected wind resistance
   75  capabilities. As soon as practical, the rating scale must be the
   76  uniform home grading scale adopted by the Financial Services
   77  Commission pursuant to s. 215.55865.
   78         (b) To qualify for selection by the department as a wind
   79  certification entity to provide hurricane mitigation
   80  inspections, the entity shall, at a minimum, meet the following
   81  requirements:
   82         1. Use hurricane mitigation inspectors who:
   83         a. Are certified as a building inspector under s. 468.607;
   84         b. Are licensed as a general or residential contractor
   85  under s. 489.111;
   86         c. Are licensed as a professional engineer under s. 471.015
   87  and who have passed the appropriate equivalency test of the
   88  Building Code Training Program as required by s. 553.841;
   89         d. Are licensed as a professional architect under s.
   90  481.213; or
   91         e. Have at least 2 years of experience in residential
   92  construction or residential building inspection and have
   93  received specialized training in hurricane mitigation
   94  procedures. Such training may be provided by a class offered
   95  online or in person.
   96         2. Use hurricane mitigation inspectors who also:
   97         a. Have undergone drug testing and level 2 background
   98  checks pursuant to s. 435.04. The department may conduct
   99  criminal record checks of inspectors used by wind certification
  100  entities. Inspectors must submit a set of the fingerprints to
  101  the department for state and national criminal history checks
  102  and must pay the fingerprint processing fee set forth in s.
  103  624.501. The fingerprints shall be sent by the department to the
  104  Department of Law Enforcement and forwarded to the Federal
  105  Bureau of Investigation for processing. The results shall be
  106  returned to the department for screening. The fingerprints shall
  107  be taken by a law enforcement agency, designated examination
  108  center, or other department-approved entity; and
  109         b. Have been certified, in a manner satisfactory to the
  110  department, to conduct the inspections.
  111         3. Provide a quality assurance program including a
  112  reinspection component.
  113         (c) The department shall implement a quality assurance
  114  program that includes a statistically valid number of
  115  reinspections.
  116         (d) An application for an inspection must contain a signed
  117  or electronically verified statement made under penalty of
  118  perjury that the applicant has submitted only a single
  119  application for that home.
  120         (e) The owner of a site-built, single-family, residential
  121  property may apply for and receive an inspection without also
  122  applying for a grant pursuant to subsection (2) and without
  123  meeting the requirements of paragraph (2)(a).
  124         (2) MITIGATION GRANTS.—Financial grants shall be used to
  125  encourage single-family, site-built, owner-occupied, residential
  126  property owners to retrofit their properties to make them less
  127  vulnerable to hurricane damage.
  128         (a) For a homeowner to be eligible for a grant, the
  129  following criteria for persons who have obtained a completed
  130  inspection after May 1, 2007, a residential property must be
  131  met:
  132         1. The homeowner must have been granted a homestead
  133  exemption under chapter 196.
  134         2. The home must be a dwelling with an insured value of
  135  $300,000 or less. Homeowners who are low-income persons, as
  136  defined in s. 420.0004(10), are exempt from this requirement.
  137         3. The home must have undergone an acceptable hurricane
  138  mitigation inspection after May 1, 2007.
  139         4. The home must be located in the “wind-borne debris
  140  region” as that term is defined in s. 1609.2, International
  141  Building Code (2006), or as subsequently amended.
  142         5. Be a home for which The building permit application for
  143  initial construction of the home must have been was made before
  144  March 1, 2002.
  145  
  146  An application for a grant must contain a signed or
  147  electronically verified statement made under penalty of perjury
  148  that the applicant has submitted only a single application and
  149  must have attached documents demonstrating the applicant meets
  150  the requirements of this paragraph.
  151         (b) All grants must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis
  152  up to for a total of $10,000 for the actual cost of the
  153  mitigation project with the state's contribution not to exceed
  154  $5,000.
  155         (c) The program shall secure contractors through a
  156  competitive bid process, create a process in which contractors
  157  agree to participate and homeowners shall be assigned to a
  158  contractor selected by the department homeowners select from a
  159  list of participating contractors. All mitigation must be based
  160  upon the securing of all required local permits and inspections
  161  and must be performed by properly licensed contractors.
  162  Mitigation projects are subject to random reinspection of up to
  163  at least 5 percent of all projects. Hurricane mitigation
  164  inspectors qualifying for the program may also participate as
  165  mitigation contractors as long as the inspectors meet the
  166  department's qualifications and certification requirements for
  167  mitigation contractors.
  168         (d) Matching fund grants may shall also be made available
  169  to local governments and nonprofit entities with experience in
  170  managing residential mitigation programs for projects that will
  171  reduce hurricane damage to single-family, site-built, owner
  172  occupied, residential property. The department shall liberally
  173  construe those requirements in favor of availing the state of
  174  the opportunity to leverage funding for the My Safe Florida Home
  175  Program with other sources of funding.
  176         (e) When recommended by a hurricane mitigation inspection,
  177  grants may be used for the following improvements only:
  178         1. Opening protection.
  179         2. Exterior doors, including garage doors.
  180         3. Brace gable ends.
  181         4.Reinforcing roof-to-wall connections.
  182         5.Improving the strength of roof-deck attachments.
  183         6.Upgrading roof covering.
  184         7.Secondary water barrier for roof.
  185  
  186  The department shall may require that improvements be made to
  187  all glazed openings, including exterior doors and garage doors,
  188  as a condition of reimbursing a homeowner approved for a grant.
  189  The department may establish, by rule, maximum grant allowances
  190  for any of the improvements allowable under this paragraph.
  191         (f)Grants may be used on a previously inspected existing
  192  structure or on a rebuild. A rebuild is defined as a site-built,
  193  single-family dwelling under construction to replace a home that
  194  was destroyed or significantly damaged by a hurricane and deemed
  195  unlivable by a regulatory authority. The homeowner must be a
  196  low-income homeowner as defined in paragraph (g), must have had
  197  a homestead exemption for that home prior to the hurricane, and
  198  must be intending to rebuild the home as that homeowner's
  199  homestead.
  200         (f)(g) Low-income homeowners, as defined in s.
  201  420.0004(10), who otherwise meet the requirements of paragraphs
  202  (a), (c), and (e), and (f) are eligible for a grant of up to
  203  $5,000 and are not required to provide a matching amount to
  204  receive the grant. Additionally, for low-income homeowners,
  205  grant funding may be used for repair to existing structures
  206  leading to any of the mitigation improvements provided in
  207  paragraph (e), limited to 20 percent of the grant value. The
  208  program may accept a certification directly from a low-income
  209  homeowner that the homeowner meets the requirements of s.
  210  420.0004(10) if the homeowner provides such certification in a
  211  signed or electronically verified statement made under penalty
  212  of perjury.
  213         (g)(h) The department shall establish objective, reasonable
  214  criteria for prioritizing grant applications, consistent with
  215  the requirements of this section.
  216         (h)(i) The department shall develop a process that ensures
  217  the most efficient means to collect and verify grant
  218  applications to determine eligibility and may direct hurricane
  219  mitigation inspectors to collect and verify grant application
  220  information or use the Internet or other electronic means to
  221  collect information and determine eligibility.
  222         (3) EDUCATION AND CONSUMER AWARENESS.—The department may
  223  undertake a statewide multimedia public outreach and advertising
  224  campaign to inform consumers of the availability and benefits of
  225  hurricane inspections and of the safety and financial benefits
  226  of residential hurricane damage mitigation. The department may
  227  seek out and use local, state, federal, and private funds to
  228  support the campaign.
  229         (4) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—There is created an advisory council
  230  to provide advice and assistance to the department regarding
  231  administration of the program. The advisory council shall
  232  consist of:
  233         (a) A representative of lending institutions, selected by
  234  the Financial Services Commission from a list of at least three
  235  persons recommended by the Florida Bankers Association.
  236         (b) A representative of residential property insurers,
  237  selected by the Financial Services Commission from a list of at
  238  least three persons recommended by the Florida Insurance
  239  Council.
  240         (c) A representative of home builders, selected by the
  241  Financial Services Commission from a list of at least three
  242  persons recommended by the Florida Home Builders Association.
  243         (d) A faculty member of a state university, selected by the
  244  Financial Services Commission, who is an expert in hurricane
  245  resistant construction methodologies and materials.
  246         (e) Two members of the House of Representatives, selected
  247  by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
  248         (f) Two members of the Senate, selected by the President of
  249  the Senate.
  250         (g) The Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Alliance for
  251  Safe Homes, Inc., or his or her designee.
  252         (h) The senior officer of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe
  253  Fund.
  254         (i) The executive director of Citizens Property Insurance
  255  Corporation.
  256         (j) The director of the Florida Division of Emergency
  257  Management of the Department of Community Affairs.
  258  
  259  Members appointed under paragraphs (a)-(d) shall serve at the
  260  pleasure of the Financial Services Commission. Members appointed
  261  under paragraphs (e) and (f) shall serve at the pleasure of the
  262  appointing officer. All other members shall serve as voting ex
  263  officio members. Members of the advisory council shall serve
  264  without compensation but may receive reimbursement as provided
  265  in s. 112.061 for per diem and travel expenses incurred in the
  266  performance of their official duties.
  267         (5) FUNDING.—The department may seek out and leverage
  268  local, state, federal, or private funds to enhance the financial
  269  resources of the program.
  270         (6) RULES.—The Department of Financial Services shall adopt
  271  rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to govern the
  272  program; implement the provisions of this section; including
  273  rules governing hurricane mitigation inspections, mitigation
  274  contractors, and training of inspectors and contractors; and
  275  carry out the duties of the department under this section.
  276         (7) HURRICANE MITIGATION INSPECTOR LIST.—The department
  277  shall develop and maintain as a public record a current list of
  278  hurricane mitigation inspectors authorized to conduct hurricane
  279  mitigation inspections pursuant to this section.
  280         (8)NO-INTEREST LOANS.—The department shall implement a no
  281  interest loan program by October 1, 2008, contingent upon the
  282  selection of a qualified vendor and execution of a contract
  283  acceptable to the department and the vendor. The department
  284  shall enter into partnerships with the private sector to provide
  285  loans to owners of site-built, single-family, residential
  286  property to pay for mitigation measures listed in subsection
  287  (2). A loan eligible for interest payments pursuant to this
  288  subsection may be for a term of up to 3 years and cover up to
  289  $5,000 in mitigation measures. The department shall pay the
  290  creditor the market rate of interest using funds appropriated
  291  for the My Safe Florida Home Program. In no case shall the
  292  department pay more than the interest rate set by s. 687.03. To
  293  be eligible for a loan, a loan applicant must first obtain a
  294  home inspection and report that specifies what improvements are
  295  needed to reduce the property's vulnerability to windstorm
  296  damage pursuant to this section and meet loan underwriting
  297  requirements set by the lender. The department may adopt rules
  298  pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 to implement this
  299  subsection which may include eligibility criteria.
  300         (8)(9) PUBLIC OUTREACH FOR CONTRACTORS AND REAL ESTATE
  301  BROKERS AND SALES ASSOCIATES.—The program shall develop
  302  brochures for distribution to general contractors, roofing
  303  contractors, and real estate brokers and sales associates
  304  licensed under part I of chapter 475 explaining the benefits to
  305  homeowners of residential hurricane damage mitigation. The
  306  program shall encourage contractors to distribute the brochures
  307  to homeowners at the first meeting with a homeowner who is
  308  considering contracting for home or roof repairs or contracting
  309  for the construction of a new home. The program shall encourage
  310  real estate brokers and sales associates licensed under part I
  311  of chapter 475 to distribute the brochures to clients prior to
  312  the purchase of a home. The brochures may be made available
  313  electronically.
  314         (9)(10) CONTRACT MANAGEMENT.—The department may contract
  315  with third parties for grants management, inspection services,
  316  contractor services for low-income homeowners, information
  317  technology, educational outreach, and auditing services. Such
  318  contracts shall be considered direct costs of the program and
  319  shall not be subject to administrative cost limits, but
  320  contracts valued at $5 million $500,000 or more shall be subject
  321  to review and approval by the Legislative Budget Commission. The
  322  department shall contract with providers that have a
  323  demonstrated record of successful business operations in areas
  324  directly related to the services to be provided and shall ensure
  325  the highest accountability for use of state funds, consistent
  326  with this section.
  327         (10)(11) INTENT.—It is the intent of the Legislature that
  328  grants made to residential property owners under this section
  329  shall be considered disaster-relief assistance within the
  330  meaning of s. 139 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as
  331  amended.
  332         (11)(12) REPORTS.—The department shall make an annual
  333  report on the activities of the program that shall account for
  334  the use of state funds and indicate the number of inspections
  335  requested, the number of inspections performed, the number of
  336  grant applications received, and the number and value of grants
  337  approved. The report shall be delivered to the President of the
  338  Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by
  339  February 1 of each year.
  340         Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 627.711, Florida
  341  Statutes, is amended, and subsection (3) is added to that
  342  section, to read:
  343         627.711 Notice of premium discounts for hurricane loss
  344  mitigation; uniform mitigation verification inspection form.—
  345         (2) By July 1, 2007, the Financial Services Commission
  346  shall develop by rule a uniform mitigation verification
  347  inspection form that shall be used by all insurers when
  348  submitted by policyholders for the purpose of factoring
  349  discounts for wind insurance. In developing the form, the
  350  commission shall seek input from insurance, construction, and
  351  building code representatives. Further, the commission shall
  352  provide guidance as to the length of time the inspection results
  353  are valid. An insurer shall accept as valid a uniform mitigation
  354  verification form certified by the Department of Financial
  355  Services or signed by:
  356         (a) A hurricane mitigation inspector certified by the
  357  employed by an approved My Safe Florida Home program wind
  358  certification entity;
  359         (b) A building code inspector certified under s. 468.607;
  360         (c) A general or residential contractor licensed under s.
  361  489.111;
  362         (d) A professional engineer licensed under s. 471.015 who
  363  has passed the appropriate equivalency test of the Building Code
  364  Training Program as required by s. 553.841; or
  365         (e) A professional architect licensed under s. 481.213.
  366         (3)An individual or entity who knowingly submits a false
  367  or fraudulent mitigation verification form with the intent to
  368  receive, personally or for someone else, a discount on an
  369  insurance premium to which the individual, entity, or third
  370  party is not entitled, commits a felony of the third degree,
  371  punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
  372         Section 3. There is appropriated from the General Revenue
  373  Fund the sum of $25 million for the 2009-2010 fiscal year to the
  374  Department of Financial Services for the operation of the My
  375  Safe Florida Home Program pursuant to s. 215.5586, Florida
  376  Statutes.
  377         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.