The Florida Senate

287.084  Preference to Florida businesses.--

(1)  When an agency, county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision of the state is required to make purchases of personal property through competitive bidding and the lowest responsible bid is by a bidder whose principal place of business is in a state or political subdivision thereof which grants a preference for the purchase of such personal property to a person whose principal place of business is in such state, then the agency, county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision of this state may award a preference to the lowest responsible bidder having a principal place of business within this state, which preference is equal to the preference granted by the state or political subdivision thereof in which the lowest responsible bidder has his or her principal place of business. However, this section shall not apply to transportation projects for which federal aid funds are available.

(2)  If an invitation for bids provides for the granting of such preference as is provided herein, any bidder whose principal place of business is outside the State of Florida must accompany any written bid documents with a written opinion of an attorney at law licensed to practice law in that foreign state, as to the preferences, if any or none, granted by the law of that state to its own business entities whose principal places of business are in that foreign state in the letting of any or all public contracts.

History.--s. 1, ch. 77-460; s. 117, ch. 79-400; s. 215, ch. 95-148; s. 3, ch. 95-420; ss. 16, 53, ch. 99-228; s. 6, ch. 2000-340.