Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 816
       
       
       
       By Senator Bennett
       
       
       
       
       21-00411A-12                                           2012816__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to professional sports facilities;
    3         amending s. 288.1166, F.S.; requiring the county
    4         commission in a county in which a professional sports
    5         facility is located to establish a local homeless
    6         coalition if a local homeless program does not exist
    7         in that county; requiring that, by a specified date,
    8         the professional sports franchise that plays in a
    9         facility that benefited from financial assistance from
   10         the state, and the county in which the facility is
   11         located, provide the Auditor General with
   12         documentation that a homeless shelter has been
   13         operating at the facility from the effective date of
   14         the contract between the county and the professional
   15         sports franchise; requiring the professional sports
   16         franchise and the county to refund any financial
   17         assistance received from the state which benefited the
   18         facility during the period that the facility failed to
   19         operate a homeless shelter; requiring the Auditor
   20         General to levy a specified fine against the
   21         professional sports franchise and the county if, after
   22         a specified date, the Auditor General determines that
   23         a homeless shelter is not operating at the facility
   24         until such time that the professional sports franchise
   25         and county are operating a homeless shelter; providing
   26         an effective date.
   27  
   28  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   29  
   30         Section 1. Section 288.1166, Florida Statutes, is amended
   31  to read:
   32         288.1166 Professional sports facility; designation as
   33  shelter site for the homeless; establishment of local programs.—
   34         (1) Any professional sports facility constructed with
   35  financial assistance from the state of Florida shall be
   36  designated as a shelter site for the homeless in accordance with
   37  the criteria of locally existing homeless shelter programs.,
   38         (2) Subsection (1) does not apply except when the facility
   39  is otherwise contractually obligated for a specific event or
   40  activity.
   41         (3) If Should a local homeless program does not exist be in
   42  existence in the county where the facility is located facility’s
   43  area, the county commission shall establish a local homeless
   44  coalition under s. 420.623 to oversee the operation of the
   45  shelter site such program shall be established in accordance
   46  with normally accepted criteria as defined by the county or its
   47  designee.
   48         (4) The professional sports franchise that plays in a
   49  facility that benefited from financial assistance from the state
   50  and the county in which the facility is located shall, by
   51  January 1, 2013, document with the Auditor General that a
   52  homeless shelter has been operating at the sports facility from
   53  the effective date of the contract between the county and the
   54  professional sports franchise.
   55         (5)(a) If the professional sports franchise that plays in a
   56  facility that benefited from financial assistance from the state
   57  and the county in which the facility is located cannot
   58  demonstrate to the Auditor General that a homeless shelter has
   59  been operating at the sports facility from the effective date of
   60  the contract between the county and the professional sports
   61  franchise until July 1, 2012, or has only been operating for a
   62  portion of that time, the county and the professional sports
   63  franchise shall refund to the state all funds advanced to the
   64  county and the professional sports franchise by the state, less
   65  the sum representing any month in which the facility has
   66  operated as a homeless shelter.
   67         (b) The professional sports franchise that plays in the
   68  facility and the county in which the facility is located shall
   69  refund all assistance received from the state no later than
   70  December 31, 2012.
   71         (6) If, after January 1, 2013, the Auditor General
   72  determines that a homeless shelter is still not operating at a
   73  facility that benefited from financial assistance from the
   74  state, the Auditor General shall fine the professional sports
   75  franchise that plays in the facility and the county in which the
   76  facility is located an amount going forward equal to 150 percent
   77  of any financial assistance received each month from the state
   78  until the professional sports franchise and the county are
   79  operating a homeless shelter at the sports facility.
   80         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.