Bill Text: FL S0336 | 2013 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Tourist Development Tax

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-17 - Chapter No. 2013-168 [S0336 Detail]

Download: Florida-2013-S0336-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2013                              CS for SB 336
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Commerce and Tourism; and Senator Latvala
       
       
       
       
       577-01550-13                                           2013336c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the tourist development tax;
    3         amending s. 125.0104, F.S.; clarifying that the
    4         proceeds of the tax may be used for the benefit of
    5         certain museums or aquariums; clarifying that the tax
    6         automatically expires upon the retirement of all bonds
    7         issued by the county for financing certain facilities;
    8         providing an effective date.
    9  
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) and subsection
   13  (7) of section 125.0104, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   14         125.0104 Tourist development tax; procedure for levying;
   15  authorized uses; referendum; enforcement.—
   16         (5) AUTHORIZED USES OF REVENUE.—
   17         (a) All tax revenues received pursuant to this section by a
   18  county imposing the tourist development tax shall be used by
   19  that county for the following purposes only:
   20         1. To acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair,
   21  improve, maintain, operate, or promote one or more publicly
   22  owned and operated convention centers, sports stadiums, sports
   23  arenas, coliseums, or auditoriums, or museums or aquariums, or
   24  museums that are publicly owned and operated or owned and
   25  operated by not-for-profit organizations and open to the public,
   26  within the boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing
   27  district in which the tax is levied. Tax revenues received
   28  pursuant to this section may also be used for promotion of
   29  zoological parks that are publicly owned and operated or owned
   30  and operated by not-for-profit organizations and open to the
   31  public. However, these purposes may be implemented through
   32  service contracts and leases with lessees that have with
   33  sufficient expertise or financial capability to operate such
   34  facilities;
   35         2. To promote and advertise tourism in this state the State
   36  of Florida and nationally and internationally; however, if tax
   37  revenues are expended for an activity, service, venue, or event,
   38  the activity, service, venue, or event must shall have as one of
   39  its main purposes the attraction of tourists as evidenced by the
   40  promotion of the activity, service, venue, or event to tourists;
   41         3. To fund convention bureaus, tourist bureaus, tourist
   42  information centers, and news bureaus as county agencies or by
   43  contract with the chambers of commerce or similar associations
   44  in the county, which may include any indirect administrative
   45  costs for services performed by the county on behalf of the
   46  promotion agency; or
   47         4. To finance beach park facilities or beach improvement,
   48  maintenance, renourishment, restoration, and erosion control,
   49  including shoreline protection, enhancement, cleanup, or
   50  restoration of inland lakes and rivers to which there is public
   51  access as those uses relate to the physical preservation of the
   52  beach, shoreline, or inland lake or river. However, any funds
   53  identified by a county as the local matching source for beach
   54  renourishment, restoration, or erosion control projects included
   55  in the long-range budget plan of the state’s Beach Management
   56  Plan, pursuant to s. 161.091, or funds contractually obligated
   57  by a county in the financial plan for a federally authorized
   58  shore protection project may not be used or loaned for any other
   59  purpose. In counties of fewer less than 100,000 population, up
   60  to no more than 10 percent of the revenues from the tourist
   61  development tax may be used for beach park facilities.
   62         (7) AUTOMATIC EXPIRATION ON RETIREMENT OF BONDS.—Anything
   63  in this section to the contrary Notwithstanding any other
   64  provision of this section, if the plan for tourist development
   65  approved by the governing board of the county, as amended from
   66  time to time pursuant to paragraph (4)(d), includes the
   67  acquisition, construction, extension, enlargement, remodeling,
   68  repair, or improvement of a publicly owned and operated
   69  convention center, sports stadium, sports arena, coliseum, or
   70  auditorium, or museum or aquarium, or museum that is publicly
   71  owned and operated or owned and operated by a not-for-profit
   72  organization, the county ordinance levying and imposing the tax
   73  shall automatically expires expire upon the later of:
   74         (a) The retirement of all bonds issued by the county for
   75  financing the acquisition, construction, extension, enlargement,
   76  remodeling, repair, or improvement of a publicly owned and
   77  operated convention center, sports stadium, sports arena,
   78  coliseum, or auditorium, or museum or aquarium that is publicly
   79  owned and operated or owned and operated by a not-for-profit
   80  organization the same; or
   81         (b) The expiration of any agreement by the county for the
   82  operation or maintenance, or both, of a publicly owned and
   83  operated convention center, sports stadium, sports arena,
   84  coliseum, auditorium, aquarium, or museum. However, this does
   85  not nothing herein shall preclude that county from amending the
   86  ordinance extending the tax to the extent that the board of the
   87  county determines to be necessary to provide funds with which to
   88  operate, maintain, repair, or renew and replace a publicly owned
   89  and operated convention center, sports stadium, sports arena,
   90  coliseum, auditorium, aquarium, or museum or from enacting an
   91  ordinance that takes which shall take effect without referendum
   92  approval, unless the original referendum required ordinance
   93  expiration, pursuant to the provisions of this section
   94  reimposing a tourist development tax, upon or following the
   95  expiration of the previous ordinance.
   96         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.