Bill Amendment: FL S0426 | 2020 | Regular Session

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: Economic Development

Status: 2020-06-19 - Chapter No. 2020-30 [S0426 Detail]

Download: Florida-2020-S0426-Senate_Committee_Amendment_330518.html

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       Florida Senate - 2020                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 426
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì330518'Î330518                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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       The Committee on Appropriations (Montford) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Subsections (1), (3), and (4) of section
    6  288.018, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
    7         288.018 Regional Rural Development Grants Program.—
    8         (1)(a) For the purposes of this section, the term “regional
    9  economic development organization” means an economic development
   10  organization located in or contracted to serve a rural area of
   11  opportunity, as defined in s. 288.0656(2)(d).
   12         (b) The department shall establish a matching grant program
   13  to provide funding to regional regionally based economic
   14  development organizations representing rural counties and
   15  communities for the purpose of building the professional
   16  capacity of those their organizations. Building the professional
   17  capacity of a regional economic development organization
   18  includes hiring professional staff to develop, deliver, and
   19  provide needed economic development professional services,
   20  including technical assistance, education and leadership
   21  development, marketing, and project recruitment. Such Matching
   22  grants may also be used by a regional an economic development
   23  organization to provide technical assistance to local
   24  governments, local economic development organizations, and
   25  existing and prospective businesses within the rural counties
   26  and communities that it serves.
   27         (c) A regional economic development organization may apply
   28  annually to the department for a matching grant. The department
   29  is authorized to approve, on an annual basis, grants to such
   30  regional regionally based economic development organizations.
   31  The maximum amount an organization may receive in any year will
   32  be $50,000, or $250,000 for any three regional economic
   33  development organizations that serve an entire region of a rural
   34  area of opportunity designated pursuant to s. 288.0656(7) if
   35  they are recognized by the department as serving such a region.
   36         (d) Grant funds received by a regional economic development
   37  organization $150,000 in a rural area of opportunity recommended
   38  by the Rural Economic Development Initiative and designated by
   39  the Governor, and must be matched each year by an equivalent
   40  amount of nonstate resources in an amount equal to 25 percent of
   41  the state contribution.
   42         (3)(a) A contract or agreement that involves the
   43  expenditure of grant funds provided under this section,
   44  including a contract or agreement entered into between another
   45  entity and a regional economic development organization, a unit
   46  of local government, or an economic development organization
   47  substantially underwritten by a unit of local government, must
   48  include:
   49         1. The purpose of the contract or agreement.
   50         2. Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
   51  each entity under the contract or agreement.
   52         3. A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
   53         4. The value of any services provided.
   54         5. The projected travel expenses for employees and board
   55  members, if applicable.
   56         (b) At least 14 days before executing a contract or
   57  agreement, the contracting regional economic development
   58  organization shall post on its website:
   59         1. Any contract or agreement that involves the expenditure
   60  of grant funds provided under this section.
   61         2. A plain-language version of any contract or agreement
   62  that is estimated to exceed $35,000 with a private entity, a
   63  municipality, or a vendor of services, supplies, or programs,
   64  including marketing, or for the purchase or lease or use of
   65  lands, facilities, or properties which involves the expenditure
   66  of grant funds provided under this section and which is
   67  estimated to exceed $35,000 The department may also contract for
   68  the development of an enterprise zone web portal or websites for
   69  each enterprise zone which will be used to market the program
   70  for job creation in disadvantaged urban and rural enterprise
   71  zones. Each enterprise zone web page should include downloadable
   72  links to state forms and information, as well as local message
   73  boards that help businesses and residents receive information
   74  concerning zone boundaries, job openings, zone programs, and
   75  neighborhood improvement activities.
   76         (4) The department may expend up to $1 million $750,000
   77  each fiscal year from funds appropriated to the Rural Community
   78  Development Revolving Loan Fund for the purposes outlined in
   79  this section. The department may contract with Enterprise
   80  Florida, Inc., for the administration of the purposes specified
   81  in this section. Funds released to Enterprise Florida, Inc., for
   82  this purpose shall be released quarterly and shall be calculated
   83  based on the applications in process.
   84         Section 2. Present subsection (5) of section 288.0655,
   85  Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (6), a new
   86  subsection (5) is added to that section, and paragraph (b) of
   87  subsection (2), subsection (4), and present subsection (6) are
   88  amended, to read:
   89         288.0655 Rural Infrastructure Fund.—
   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 50 30 percent of the total
  100  infrastructure project cost. If an application for funding is
  101  for a catalyst site, as defined in s. 288.0656, the department
  102  may award grants for up to 40 percent of the total
  103  infrastructure project cost. Eligible projects must be related
  104  to specific job-creation or job-retention opportunities.
  105  Eligible projects may also include improving any inadequate
  106  infrastructure that has resulted in regulatory action that
  107  prohibits economic or community growth, or reducing the costs to
  108  community users of proposed infrastructure improvements that
  109  exceed such costs in comparable communities, and improving
  110  access to and the availability of broadband Internet service.
  111  Eligible uses of funds shall include improvements to public
  112  infrastructure for industrial or commercial sites, upgrades to
  113  or development of public tourism infrastructure, and
  114  improvements to broadband Internet service and access in
  115  unserved or underserved rural communities. Improvements to
  116  broadband Internet service and access must be conducted through
  117  a partnership or partnerships with one or more dealers, as
  118  defined in s. 202.11(2), and the partnership or partnerships
  119  must be established through a competitive selection process that
  120  is publicly noticed and upgrades to or development of public
  121  tourism infrastructure. Authorized infrastructure may include
  122  the following public or public-private partnership facilities:
  123  storm water systems; telecommunications facilities; broadband
  124  facilities; roads or other remedies to transportation
  125  impediments; nature-based tourism facilities; or other physical
  126  requirements necessary to facilitate tourism, trade, and
  127  economic development activities in the community. Authorized
  128  infrastructure may also include publicly or privately owned
  129  self-powered nature-based tourism facilities, publicly owned
  130  telecommunications facilities, and broadband facilities, and
  131  additions to the distribution facilities of the existing natural
  132  gas utility as defined in s. 366.04(3)(c), the existing electric
  133  utility as defined in s. 366.02, or the existing water or
  134  wastewater utility as defined in s. 367.021(12), or any other
  135  existing water or wastewater facility, which owns a gas or
  136  electric distribution system or a water or wastewater system in
  137  this state 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         (4) By September 1, 2021 2012, the department shall, in
  145  consultation with the organizations listed in subsection (3),
  146  and other organizations, reevaluate existing guidelines and
  147  criteria governing submission of applications for funding,
  148  review and evaluation of such applications, and approval of
  149  funding under this section. The department shall consider
  150  factors including, but not limited to, the project’s potential
  151  for enhanced job creation or increased capital investment, the
  152  demonstration and level of local public and private commitment,
  153  whether the project is located in an enterprise zone, in a
  154  community development corporation service area, or in an urban
  155  high-crime area as designated under s. 212.097, the unemployment
  156  rate of the county in which the project would be located, and
  157  the poverty rate of the community.
  158         (5)(a) A contract or agreement that involves the
  159  expenditure of grant funds provided under this section,
  160  including a contract or agreement entered into between another
  161  entity and a regional economic development organization, a unit
  162  of local government, or an economic development organization
  163  substantially underwritten by a unit of local government, must
  164  include:
  165         1. The purpose of the contract or agreement.
  166         2. Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
  167  each entity.
  168         3. A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
  169         4. The value of any services provided.
  170         5. The projected travel expenses for employees and board
  171  members, if applicable.
  172         (b) At least 14 days before execution, the contracting
  173  regional economic development organization shall post on its
  174  website:
  175         1. Any contract or agreement that involves the expenditure
  176  of grant funds provided under this section.
  177         2. A plain-language version of a contract or agreement that
  178  is estimated to exceed $35,000 with a private entity, a
  179  municipality, or a vendor of services, supplies, or programs,
  180  including marketing, or for the purchase or lease or use of
  181  lands, facilities, or properties which involves the expenditure
  182  of grant funds provided under this section.
  183         (6) For the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the funds appropriated
  184  for the grant program for Florida Panhandle counties shall be
  185  distributed pursuant to and for the purposes described in the
  186  proviso language associated with Specific Appropriation 2314 of
  187  the 2019-2020 General Appropriations Act. This subsection
  188  expires July 1, 2020.
  189         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.
  190  
  191  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  192  And the title is amended as follows:
  193         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  194  and insert:
  195                        A bill to be entitled                      
  196         An act relating to regional rural development grants;
  197         amending s. 288.018, F.S.; defining the term “regional
  198         economic development organization”; specifying that
  199         the concept of building the professional capacity of a
  200         regional economic development organization includes
  201         the hiring of professional staff to perform specified
  202         services; providing that matching grants may be used
  203         to provide technical assistance to local governments
  204         and economic development organizations and to existing
  205         and prospective businesses; increasing the maximum
  206         amount of annual grant funding that specified economic
  207         development organizations may receive; revising the
  208         required amount of nonstate matching funds; requiring
  209         that certain information be included in contracts or
  210         agreements involving grant funds; requiring that
  211         contracts or agreements involving the expenditure of
  212         grant funds, and a plain-language version of certain
  213         contracts or agreements, be placed on the contracting
  214         regional economic development organization’s website
  215         for a specified period before execution; deleting an
  216         obsolete provision; increasing the amount of funds the
  217         Department of Economic Opportunity may expend each
  218         fiscal year from the Rural Community Development
  219         Revolving Loan Fund for certain purposes; amending s.
  220         288.0655, F.S.; revising the maximum percentage of
  221         total infrastructure project costs for which the
  222         department may award grants; specifying that improving
  223         access to and availability of broadband Internet
  224         services is an eligible project for certain grant
  225         funds; providing that grants for improvements to
  226         broadband Internet service and access must be
  227         conducted through certain partnerships; requiring the
  228         department to reevaluate certain guidelines by a
  229         specified date; requiring that certain information be
  230         included in contracts or agreements involving grant
  231         funds; requiring a regional economic development
  232         organization to post contracts or agreements involving
  233         the expenditure of grant funds, and a plain-language
  234         version of certain contracts or agreements, on the
  235         ogranization’s website for a specified period before
  236         execution; providing an effective date.