Florida Senate - 2011                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1432
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 251036                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                   Comm: WD            .                                
                  04/04/2011           .                                
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       The Committee on Community Affairs (Wise) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment 
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Section 125.595, Florida Statutes, is created to
    6  read:
    7         125.595 Economic distress flexibility.—
    8         (1) The board of county commissioners of an eligible county
    9  may, by a two-thirds vote of the membership of the board, use
   10  revenues from distributions of state taxes to the county or from
   11  taxes authorized by the Legislature to be imposed by the county
   12  for a purpose other than that specified in the law providing for
   13  the distributions or authorizing the imposition of the taxes.
   14         (2) As used in this section, the term “eligible county”
   15  means a county that meets two or more of the following criteria,
   16  as determined by the Office of Economic and Demographic
   17  Research:
   18         (a) The just value of property subject to ad valorem tax as
   19  of January 1 was lower than it was on the previous January 1.
   20         (b) The annual per capita personal income of the county for
   21  the most recent calendar year was lower than for the prior
   22  calendar year.
   23         (c) State sales tax remitted from within the county during
   24  the most recent calendar year was less than during the prior
   25  calendar year.
   26         (d) The unemployment rate in the county in the previous
   27  calendar year was greater than 8 percent.
   28         (3) A county that was included in a major federal disaster
   29  or emergency declaration in the previous calendar year shall be
   30  considered an eligible county for purposes of this section.
   31         (4) The determination that a county is an eligible county
   32  must be made no later than July 1 of each year, and the annual
   33  determination of county eligibility must be posted on the Office
   34  of Economic and Demographic Research's website. The authority
   35  granted under this section may be exercised only one fiscal year
   36  at a time.
   37         (5) The authority granted under this section does not apply
   38  to revenues that may be used only for a purpose specified in the
   39  State Constitution or to revenues from taxes levied with the
   40  approval of the voters.
   41         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.