The Florida Senate

212.20  Funds collected, disposition; additional powers of department; operational expense; refund of taxes adjudicated unconstitutionally collected.--

(1)  The department shall pay over to the Treasurer of the state all funds received and collected by it under the provisions of this chapter, to be credited to the account of the General Revenue Fund of the state, except the proceeds of the fee imposed pursuant to s. 212.18(5).

(2)  The department is authorized to employ all necessary assistants to administer this chapter properly and is also authorized to purchase all necessary supplies and equipment which may be required for this purpose.

(3)  The estimated amount of money needed for the administration of this chapter shall be included by the department in its annual legislative budget request for the operation of its office.

(4)  When there has been a final adjudication that any tax pursuant to s. 212.0596 was levied, collected, or both, contrary to the Constitution of the United States or the State Constitution, the department shall, in accordance with rules, determine, based upon claims for refund and other evidence and information, who paid such tax or taxes, and refund to each such person the amount of tax paid. For purposes of this subsection, a "final adjudication" is a decision of a court of competent jurisdiction from which no appeal can be taken or from which the official or officials of this state with authority to make such decisions has or have decided not to appeal.

(5)  For the purposes of this section:

(a)  "Proceeds" means all tax or fee revenue collected or received by the department, including interest and penalties.

(b)  "Reallocate" means reduction of the accounts of initial deposit and redeposit into the indicated account.

(6)  Distribution of all proceeds under this chapter shall be as follows:

(a)  Proceeds from the convention development taxes authorized under s. 212.0305 shall be reallocated to the Convention Development Tax Clearing Trust Fund.

(b)  Proceeds from discretionary sales surtaxes imposed pursuant to ss. 212.054 and 212.055 shall be reallocated to the Discretionary Sales Surtax Clearing Trust Fund.

(c)  Proceeds from the tax imposed pursuant to s. 212.06(5)(a)2. shall be reallocated to the Mail Order Sales Tax Clearing Trust Fund.

(d)  Proceeds from the fee imposed pursuant to s. 212.18(5) shall be deposited in the Solid Waste Management Clearing Trust Fund, which is hereby created to be used by the department, and shall be subsequently transferred to the State Treasurer to be deposited into the Solid Waste Management Trust Fund.

(e)  Proceeds from the fees imposed under ss. 212.05(1)(i)3. and 212.18(3) shall remain with the General Revenue Fund.

(f)  The proceeds of all other taxes and fees imposed pursuant to this chapter shall be distributed as follows:

1.  In any fiscal year, the greater of $500 million, minus an amount equal to 4.6 percent of the proceeds of the taxes collected pursuant to chapter 201, or 5 percent of all other taxes and fees imposed pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited in monthly installments into the General Revenue Fund.

2.  Two-tenths of one percent shall be transferred to the Solid Waste Management Trust Fund.

3.  After the distribution under subparagraphs 1. and 2., 9.653 percent of the amount remitted by a sales tax dealer located within a participating county pursuant to s. 218.61 shall be transferred into the Local Government Half-cent Sales Tax Clearing Trust Fund.

4.  After the distribution under subparagraphs 1., 2., and 3., 0.054 percent shall be transferred to the Local Government Half-cent Sales Tax Clearing Trust Fund and distributed pursuant to s. 218.65.

5.  Of the remaining proceeds:

a.  Beginning July 1, 1992, $166,667 shall be distributed monthly by the department to each applicant that has been certified as a "facility for a new professional sports franchise" or a "facility for a retained professional sports franchise" pursuant to s. 288.1162 and $41,667 shall be distributed monthly by the department to each applicant that has been certified as a "new spring training franchise facility" pursuant to s. 288.1162. Distributions shall begin 60 days following such certification and shall continue for 30 years. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to allow an applicant certified pursuant to s. 288.1162 to receive more in distributions than actually expended by the applicant for the public purposes provided for in s. 288.1162(7). However, a certified applicant shall receive distributions up to the maximum amount allowable and undistributed under this section for additional renovations and improvements to the facility for the franchise without additional certification.

b.  Beginning 30 days after notice by the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development to the Department of Revenue that an applicant has been certified as the professional golf hall of fame pursuant to s. 288.1168 and is open to the public, $166,667 shall be distributed monthly, for up to 300 months, to the applicant.

c.  Beginning 30 days after notice by the ¹Department of Commerce to the Department of Revenue that the applicant has been certified as the International Game Fish Association World Center facility pursuant to s. 288.1169, and the facility is open to the public, $83,333 shall be distributed monthly, for up to 180 months, to the applicant. This distribution is subject to reduction pursuant to s. 288.1169.

6.  All other proceeds shall remain with the General Revenue Fund.

²(7)  For the 1999-2000 fiscal year only, the use of funds allocated to the Solid Waste Management Trust Fund shall be as provided in the General Appropriations Act. There is transferred $15.5 million for surface water improvement and management projects and $10 million for the aquatic weed control program from revenues provided by this section. This subsection is repealed on July 1, 2000.

History.--s. 20, ch. 26319, 1949; s. 7, ch. 29615, 1955; ss. 13, 24, ch. 57-1; s. 4, ch. 57-398; s. 13, ch. 59-1; s. 1, ch. 59-336; s. 7, ch. 63-253; s. 5, ch. 65-371; s. 2, ch. 65-420; ss. 21, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 73-305; s. 5, ch. 87-402; s. 39, ch. 89-356; s. 2, ch. 90-203; s. 4, ch. 91-79; s. 33, ch. 91-112; s. 1, ch. 91-274; s. 18, ch. 92-319; s. 1, ch. 93-233; s. 1, ch. 94-245; s. 18, ch. 94-314; s. 36, ch. 94-338; s. 1, ch. 95-304; s. 13, ch. 95-372; s. 19, ch. 96-320; ss. 23, 33, ch. 96-397; s. 1, ch. 96-415; s. 28, ch. 97-99; s. 32, ch. 97-153; ss. 20, 38, ch. 98-46; s. 80, ch. 99-2; ss. 22, 53, ch. 99-228.

¹Note.--Section 20.17, which created the Department of Commerce, was repealed effective December 31, 1996, by s. 3, ch. 96-320.

²Note.--Section 22, ch. 99-228, amended subsection (7) "[i]n order to implement Specific Appropriations 1185 and 1189 of the 1999-2000 General Appropriations Act."