Florida Senate - 2020 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/HB 7097, 1st Eng.
Ì627686XÎ627686
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
.
.
.
Floor: WD/2R .
03/12/2020 06:37 PM .
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Senator Gruters moved the following:
1 Senate Amendment to Substitute Amendment (271678) (with
2 title amendment)
3
4 Between lines 464 and 465
5 insert:
6 Section 13. Section 196.198, Florida Statutes, is amended
7 to read:
8 196.198 Educational property exemption.—Educational
9 institutions within this state and their property used by them
10 or by any other exempt entity or educational institution
11 exclusively for educational purposes are exempt from taxation.
12 Sheltered workshops providing rehabilitation and retraining of
13 individuals who have disabilities and exempted by a certificate
14 under s. (d) of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as
15 amended, are declared wholly educational in purpose and are
16 exempt from certification, accreditation, and membership
17 requirements set forth in s. 196.012. Those portions of property
18 of college fraternities and sororities certified by the
19 president of the college or university to the appropriate
20 property appraiser as being essential to the educational process
21 are exempt from ad valorem taxation. The use of property by
22 public fairs and expositions chartered by chapter 616 is
23 presumed to be an educational use of such property and is exempt
24 from ad valorem taxation to the extent of such use. Property
25 used exclusively for educational purposes shall be deemed owned
26 by an educational institution if the entity owning 100 percent
27 of the educational institution is owned by the identical persons
28 who own the property, or if the entity owning 100 percent of the
29 educational institution and the entity owning the property are
30 owned by the identical natural persons. Land, buildings, and
31 other improvements to real property used exclusively for
32 educational purposes shall be deemed owned by an educational
33 institution if the entity owning 100 percent of the land is a
34 nonprofit entity and the land is used, under a ground lease or
35 other contractual arrangement, by an educational institution
36 that owns the buildings and other improvements to the real
37 property, is a nonprofit entity under s. 501(c)(3) of the
38 Internal Revenue Code, and provides education limited to
39 students in prekindergarten through grade 8. Land, buildings,
40 and other improvements to real property used exclusively for
41 educational purposes shall be deemed owned by an educational
42 institution if the educational institution that currently uses
43 the land, buildings, and other improvements for educational
44 purposes received the exemption under this section on the same
45 property in any 10 consecutive prior years or is an educational
46 institution described in s. 212.0602, and, under a lease, the
47 educational institution is responsible for any taxes owed and
48 for ongoing maintenance and operational expenses for the land,
49 buildings, and other improvements. For such leasehold
50 properties, the educational institution shall receive the full
51 benefit of the exemption. The owner of the property shall
52 disclose to the educational institution the full amount of the
53 benefit derived from the exemption and the method for ensuring
54 that the educational institution receives the benefit.
55 Notwithstanding ss. 196.195 and 196.196, property owned by a
56 house of public worship and used by an educational institution
57 for educational purposes limited to students in preschool
58 through grade 8 shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. If
59 legal title to property is held by a governmental agency that
60 leases the property to a lessee, the property shall be deemed to
61 be owned by the governmental agency and used exclusively for
62 educational purposes if the governmental agency continues to use
63 such property exclusively for educational purposes pursuant to a
64 sublease or other contractual agreement with that lessee. If the
65 title to land is held by the trustee of an irrevocable inter
66 vivos trust and if the trust grantor owns 100 percent of the
67 entity that owns an educational institution that is using the
68 land exclusively for educational purposes, the land is deemed to
69 be property owned by the educational institution for purposes of
70 this exemption. Property owned by an educational institution
71 shall be deemed to be used for an educational purpose if the
72 institution has taken affirmative steps to prepare the property
73 for educational use. The term “affirmative steps” means
74 environmental or land use permitting activities, creation of
75 architectural plans or schematic drawings, land clearing or site
76 preparation, construction or renovation activities, or other
77 similar activities that demonstrate commitment of the property
78 to an educational use.
79
80 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
81 And the title is amended as follows:
82 Delete line 1854
83 and insert:
84 meets income limits; amending s. 196.198, F.S.;
85 exempting land, buildings, and real property
86 improvements used exclusively for educational purposes
87 from ad valorem taxes if certain criteria are met;
88 providing that the educational institution shall
89 receive the full benefit of the exemption; requiring
90 the property owner to make certain disclosures to the
91 educational institution; providing an exemption from
92 ad valorem taxation for properties owned by houses of
93 public worship under certain circumstances; amending
94 s. 200.065, F.S.;