Florida Senate - 2023                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1482
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì796692QÎ796692                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                  Floor: WD            .                                
             05/01/2023 02:07 PM       .                                
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       The Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism, and
       Economic Development (Simon) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Paragraph (h) is added to subsection (1) of
    6  section 215.971, Florida Statutes, to read:
    7         215.971 Agreements funded with federal or state
    8  assistance.—
    9         (1) An agency agreement that provides state financial
   10  assistance to a recipient or subrecipient, as those terms are
   11  defined in s. 215.97, or that provides federal financial
   12  assistance to a subrecipient, as defined by applicable United
   13  States Office of Management and Budget circulars, must include
   14  all of the following:
   15         (h)If the agency agreement provides federal or state
   16  financial assistance to a county or municipality that is a rural
   17  community or rural area of opportunity, as those terms are
   18  defined in s. 288.0656(2), a provision that allows the agency to
   19  provide for the payment of invoices to the county or
   20  municipality for verified and eligible performance that has been
   21  completed in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth
   22  in the agreement. This provision is included to alleviate the
   23  financial hardships that certain rural counties and
   24  municipalities encounter when administering agreements, and must
   25  be exercised by the agency when a county or municipality
   26  demonstrates financial hardship, to the extent that federal or
   27  state law, rule, or other regulation allows such payments. This
   28  paragraph may not be construed to alter or limit any other
   29  provisions of federal or state law, rule, or other regulation.
   30         Section 2. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 288.018,
   31  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   32         288.018 Regional Rural Development Grants Program.—
   33         (1)(a) For the purposes of this section, the term “regional
   34  economic development organization” means an economic development
   35  organization located in or contracted to serve a rural area of
   36  opportunity, as defined in s. 288.0656(2)(d).
   37         (b) The department shall establish a matching grant program
   38  to provide funding to regional economic development
   39  organizations for the purpose of building the professional
   40  capacity of those organizations. Building the professional
   41  capacity of a regional economic development organization
   42  includes hiring professional staff to develop, deliver, and
   43  provide needed economic development professional services,
   44  including technical assistance, education and leadership
   45  development, marketing, and project recruitment. Matching Grants
   46  may also be used by a regional economic development organization
   47  to provide technical assistance to local governments, local
   48  economic development organizations, and existing and prospective
   49  businesses.
   50         (c) A regional economic development organization may apply
   51  annually to the department for a matching grant. The department
   52  is authorized to approve, on an annual basis, grants to such
   53  regional economic development organizations. The maximum amount
   54  an organization may receive in any year will be $50,000, or
   55  $250,000 for any three regional economic development
   56  organizations that serve an entire region of a rural area of
   57  opportunity designated pursuant to s. 288.0656(7) if they are
   58  recognized by the department as serving such a region.
   59         (d) Grant funds received by a regional economic development
   60  organization must be matched each year by nonstate resources in
   61  an amount equal to 25 percent of the state contribution.
   62         (2) In approving the participants, the department shall
   63  consider the demonstrated need of the applicant for assistance
   64  and require the following:
   65         (a) Documentation of official commitments of support from
   66  each of the units of local government represented by the
   67  regional organization.
   68         (b) Information about any financial or in-kind commitment
   69  to the regional organization by a Demonstration that each unit
   70  of local government or has made a financial or in-kind
   71  commitment to the regional organization.
   72         (c) Demonstration that the private sector has made
   73  financial or in-kind commitments to the regional organization.
   74         (c)(d) Demonstration that the organization is in existence
   75  and actively involved in economic development activities serving
   76  the region.
   77         (d)(e) Demonstration of the manner in which the
   78  organization is or will coordinate its efforts with those of
   79  other local and state organizations.
   80         Section 3. Subsection (1), paragraphs (b), (c), and (e) of
   81  subsection (2), and subsection (3) of section 288.0655, Florida
   82  Statutes, are amended to read:
   83         288.0655 Rural Infrastructure Fund.—
   84         (1) There is created within the department the Rural
   85  Infrastructure Fund to facilitate the planning, preparing, and
   86  financing of infrastructure projects in rural communities which
   87  will encourage job creation, capital investment, and the
   88  strengthening and diversification of rural economies by
   89  promoting tourism, trade, and economic development.
   90         (2)
   91         (b) To facilitate access of rural communities and rural
   92  areas of opportunity as defined by the Rural Economic
   93  Development Initiative to infrastructure funding programs of the
   94  Federal Government, such as those offered by the United States
   95  Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of
   96  Commerce, and state programs, including those offered by Rural
   97  Economic Development Initiative agencies, and to facilitate
   98  local government or private infrastructure funding efforts, the
   99  department may award grants for up to 75 50 percent of the total
  100  infrastructure project cost, or up to 100 percent of the total
  101  infrastructure project cost for a project located in a rural
  102  community as defined in s. 288.0656(2) which is also located in
  103  a fiscally constrained county as defined in s. 218.67(1) or a
  104  rural area of opportunity as defined in s. 288.0656(2). Eligible
  105  projects must be related to specific job-creation or job
  106  retention opportunities. Eligible uses of funds projects may
  107  also include improving any inadequate infrastructure that has
  108  resulted in regulatory action that prohibits economic or
  109  community growth, reducing the costs to community users of
  110  proposed infrastructure improvements that exceed such costs in
  111  comparable communities, and improving access to and the
  112  availability of broadband Internet service. Eligible uses of
  113  funds shall include improvements to public infrastructure for
  114  industrial or commercial sites, upgrades to or development of
  115  public tourism infrastructure, and improvements to broadband
  116  Internet service and access in unserved or underserved rural
  117  communities. Improvements to broadband Internet service and
  118  access must be conducted through a partnership or partnerships
  119  with one or more dealers, as defined in s. 202.11(2), and the
  120  partnership or partnerships must be established through a
  121  competitive selection process that is publicly noticed.
  122  Authorized infrastructure may include the following public or
  123  public-private partnership facilities: storm water systems;
  124  telecommunications facilities; broadband facilities; roads or
  125  other remedies to transportation impediments; nature-based
  126  tourism facilities; or other physical requirements necessary to
  127  facilitate tourism, trade, and economic development activities
  128  in the community. Authorized infrastructure may also include
  129  publicly or privately owned self-powered nature-based tourism
  130  facilities, publicly owned telecommunications facilities, and
  131  broadband facilities, and additions to the distribution
  132  facilities of the existing natural gas utility as defined in s.
  133  366.04(3)(c), the existing electric utility as defined in s.
  134  366.02, or the existing water or wastewater utility as defined
  135  in s. 367.021(12), or any other existing water or wastewater
  136  facility, which owns a gas or electric distribution system or a
  137  water or wastewater system in this state when where:
  138         1. A contribution-in-aid of construction is required to
  139  serve public or public-private partnership facilities under the
  140  tariffs of any natural gas, electric, water, or wastewater
  141  utility as defined herein; and
  142         2. Such utilities as defined herein are willing and able to
  143  provide such service.
  144         (c) To facilitate timely response and induce the location
  145  or expansion of specific job creating opportunities, The
  146  department may award grants of up to $300,000 for infrastructure
  147  feasibility studies, design and engineering activities, or other
  148  infrastructure planning and preparation activities. Authorized
  149  grants shall be up to $50,000 for an employment project with a
  150  business committed to create at least 100 jobs; up to $150,000
  151  for an employment project with a business committed to create at
  152  least 300 jobs; and up to $300,000 for a project in a rural area
  153  of opportunity. Grants awarded under this paragraph may be used
  154  in conjunction with grants awarded under paragraph (b), provided
  155  that the total amount of both grants does not exceed 30 percent
  156  of the total project cost. In evaluating applications under this
  157  paragraph, the department shall consider the extent to which the
  158  application seeks to minimize administrative and consultant
  159  expenses.
  160         (e) To enable local governments to access the resources
  161  available pursuant to s. 403.973(18), the department may award
  162  grants for surveys, feasibility studies, and other activities
  163  related to the identification and preclearance review of land
  164  which is suitable for preclearance review. Authorized grants
  165  under this paragraph may not exceed $75,000 each, except in the
  166  case of a project in a rural area of opportunity, in which case
  167  the grant may not exceed $300,000. Any funds awarded under this
  168  paragraph must be matched at a level of 50 percent with local
  169  funds, except that any funds awarded for a project in a rural
  170  area of opportunity do not require a match of must be matched at
  171  a level of 33 percent with local funds. If an application for
  172  funding is for a catalyst site, as defined in s. 288.0656, the
  173  requirement for local match may be waived pursuant to the
  174  process in s. 288.06561. In evaluating applications under this
  175  paragraph, the department shall consider the extent to which the
  176  application seeks to minimize administrative and consultant
  177  expenses.
  178         (3) The department, in consultation with Enterprise
  179  Florida, Inc., the Florida Tourism Industry Marketing
  180  Corporation, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the
  181  Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, as
  182  appropriate, shall review and certify applications pursuant to
  183  s. 288.061. The review must shall include an evaluation of the
  184  economic benefit of the projects and their long-term viability.
  185  The department shall have final approval for any grant under
  186  this section.
  187         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.
  188  
  189  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  190  And the title is amended as follows:
  191         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  192  and insert:
  193                        A bill to be entitled                      
  194         An act relating to rural development; amending s.
  195         215.971, F.S.; requiring certain agency agreements to
  196         include a provision authorizing the agency to provide
  197         for the payment of specified invoices to certain
  198         counties or municipalities for certain verified and
  199         eligible performance; providing intent; providing
  200         construction; amending s. 288.018, F.S.; specifying
  201         that funding provided under the Regional Rural
  202         Development Grants Program is not a matching grant;
  203         revising the required criteria the Department of
  204         Economic Opportunity must consider in approving a
  205         participant in the program; amending s. 288.0655,
  206         F.S.; revising the purpose of the Rural Infrastructure
  207         Fund; revising the percentages of total infrastructure
  208         project cost that the Department of Economic
  209         Opportunity may award through the fund; providing
  210         authorized uses of eligible funds; deleting a
  211         provision requiring that eligible projects be related
  212         to specified opportunities; authorizing the department
  213         to award grants up to a specified amount for specified
  214         planning and preparation activities; deleting a
  215         restriction on dual grant awards being used which
  216         would exceed a specified percentage threshold;
  217         revising a provision that requires that awarded funds
  218         for specified surveys or other activities be matched
  219         with a specified amount of local funds; revising the
  220         evaluation process for applications; providing an
  221         effective date.