Bill Amendment: FL S1226 | 2024 | Regular Session

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List
Bill Title: Department of Transportation

Status: 2024-03-06 - Laid on Table, refer to CS/CS/CS/HB 1301 [S1226 Detail]

Download: Florida-2024-S1226-Senate_Committee_Amendment_191586.html
       Florida Senate - 2024                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1226
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì191586KÎ191586                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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       The Committee on Transportation (DiCeglie) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (3) of section
    6  20.23, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
    7         20.23 Department of Transportation.—There is created a
    8  Department of Transportation which shall be a decentralized
    9  agency.
   10         (3)
   11         (d) The secretary shall appoint an inspector general
   12  pursuant to s. 20.055 who shall be directly responsible to the
   13  secretary and shall serve at the pleasure of the secretary.
   14         Section 2. Present subsection (7) of section 311.101,
   15  Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (8), and a new
   16  subsection (7) is added to that section, to read:
   17         311.101 Intermodal Logistics Center Infrastructure Support
   18  Program.—
   19         (7) For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, $15 million in recurring
   20  funds shall be made available from the State Transportation
   21  Trust Fund for the program. The Department of Transportation
   22  shall include projects proposed to be funded under this section
   23  in the tentative work program developed pursuant to s.
   24  339.135(4). This subsection expires on July 1, 2030.
   25         Section 3.  Subsection (26) of section 334.044, Florida
   26  Statutes, is amended to read:
   27         334.044 Powers and duties of the department.—The department
   28  shall have the following general powers and duties:
   29         (26) To provide for the enhancement of environmental
   30  benefits, including air and water quality; to prevent roadside
   31  erosion; to conserve the natural roadside growth and scenery;
   32  and to provide for the implementation and maintenance of
   33  roadside conservation, enhancement, and stabilization programs.
   34         (a)Of the total amount appropriated for a contracted
   35  construction project, the percentage allocated for the purchase
   36  of plant materials is as follows:
   37         1.For projects with a contracted amount of $50 million or
   38  less, 1.5 percent.
   39         2.For projects with a contracted amount of $50,000,001 to
   40  $100 million, 1 percent.
   41         3.For projects with a contracted amount of $100,000,001 to
   42  $250 million, 0.75 percent.
   43         4.For projects with a contracted amount of $250,000,001 to
   44  $500 million, 0.50 percent.
   45         5.For projects with a contracted amount of $500,000,001 or
   46  more, 0.25 percent. At least 1.5 percent of the amount
   47  contracted for construction projects shall be allocated by the
   48  department on a statewide basis for the purchase of plant
   49  materials.
   50         (b) Department districts may not expend funds for
   51  landscaping in connection with any project that is limited to
   52  resurfacing existing lanes unless the expenditure has been
   53  approved by the department’s secretary or the secretary’s
   54  designee. To the greatest extent practical, at least 50 percent
   55  of the funds allocated under this subsection shall be allocated
   56  for large plant materials and the remaining funds for other
   57  plant materials. Except as prohibited by applicable federal law
   58  or regulation, all plant materials shall be purchased from
   59  Florida commercial nursery stock in this state on a uniform
   60  competitive bid basis. The department shall develop grades and
   61  standards for landscaping materials purchased through this
   62  process. To accomplish these activities, the department may
   63  contract with nonprofit organizations having the primary purpose
   64  of developing youth employment opportunities.
   65         Section 4. Paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of section
   66  338.231, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   67         338.231 Turnpike tolls, fixing; pledge of tolls and other
   68  revenues.—The department shall at all times fix, adjust, charge,
   69  and collect such tolls and amounts for the use of the turnpike
   70  system as are required in order to provide a fund sufficient
   71  with other revenues of the turnpike system to pay the cost of
   72  maintaining, improving, repairing, and operating such turnpike
   73  system; to pay the principal of and interest on all bonds issued
   74  to finance or refinance any portion of the turnpike system as
   75  the same become due and payable; and to create reserves for all
   76  such purposes.
   77         (3)
   78         (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
   79  contrary, any prepaid toll account of any kind which has
   80  remained inactive for 10 3 years is shall be presumed unclaimed
   81  and its disposition shall be handled by the Department of
   82  Financial Services in accordance with all applicable provisions
   83  of chapter 717 relating to the disposition of unclaimed
   84  property, and the prepaid toll account shall be closed by the
   85  department.
   86         Section 5. Section 339.0803, Florida Statutes, is amended
   87  to read:
   88         339.0803 Allocation of increased revenues derived from
   89  amendments to s. 320.08 by ch. 2019-43.—
   90         (1) Beginning in the 2021-2022 fiscal year and each fiscal
   91  year thereafter, funds that result from increased revenues to
   92  the State Transportation Trust Fund derived from the amendments
   93  to s. 320.08 made by chapter 2019-43, Laws of Florida, and
   94  deposited into the fund pursuant to s. 320.20(5)(a) must be used
   95  to fund arterial highway projects identified by the department
   96  in accordance with s. 339.65 and may be used for projects as
   97  specified in ss. 339.66 and 339.67. For purposes of the funding
   98  provided in this section, the department shall prioritize use of
   99  existing facilities or portions thereof when upgrading arterial
  100  highways to limited or controlled access facilities. However,
  101  this section does not preclude use of the funding for projects
  102  that enhance the capacity of an arterial highway. The funds
  103  allocated as provided in this section shall be in addition to
  104  any other statutory funding allocations provided by law.
  105         (2) Revenues deposited into the State Transportation Trust
  106  Fund pursuant to s. 320.20(5)(a) shall first be available for
  107  appropriation for payments under a service contract entered into
  108  with the Florida Department of Transportation Financing
  109  Corporation pursuant to s. 339.0809(4) to fund arterial highway
  110  projects. For the corporation’s bonding purposes, two or more of
  111  such projects in the department’s approved work program may be
  112  treated as a single project.
  113         Section 6. Subsection (13) of section 339.0809, Florida
  114  Statutes, is amended to read:
  115         339.0809 Florida Department of Transportation Financing
  116  Corporation.—
  117         (13) The department may enter into a service contract in
  118  conjunction with the issuance of debt obligations as provided in
  119  this section which provides for periodic payments for debt
  120  service or other amounts payable with respect to debt
  121  obligations, plus any administrative expenses of the Florida
  122  Department of Transportation Financing Corporation. Funds
  123  appropriated for payments under a service contract shall be
  124  available after funds pledged to payment on bonds but before
  125  other statutorily required distributions.
  126         Section 7. Subsection (8) is added to section 339.2818,
  127  Florida Statutes, to read:
  128         339.2818 Small County Outreach Program.—
  129         (8) Subject to specific appropriation in addition to funds
  130  appropriated for projects under this section, a local government
  131  either wholly or partially within the Everglades Agricultural
  132  Area as defined in s. 373.4592(15), the Peace River Basin, or
  133  the Suwannee River Basin may compete for additional funding
  134  using the criteria listed in paragraph(4)(c) at up to 100
  135  percent of project costs on state or county roads used primarily
  136  as farm to market connections between rural agricultural areas
  137  and market distribution centers, excluding capacity improvement
  138  projects.
  139         Section 8. Subsection (4) is added to section 341.071,
  140  Florida Statutes, to read:
  141         341.071 Transit productivity and performance measures;
  142  reports.—
  143         (4)(a) As used in this subsection, the term:
  144         1. “Administrative costs” includes, but is not limited to,
  145  salaried employees’ compensation and benefits, small business
  146  outreach, professional service contracts not directly related to
  147  the operation and maintenance of a transit system, and other
  148  overhead expenses. This term does not include insurance costs.
  149         2. “Public transit provider” means a public agency
  150  providing public transit service, including an authority created
  151  pursuant to chapter 343 or chapter 349.
  152         (b) Each public transit provider shall, during a publicly
  153  noticed meeting, annually certify that its budgeted and actual
  154  administrative costs are not greater than 20 percent above the
  155  annual state average of administrative costs. The provider shall
  156  also disclose all employees’ compensation and benefits,
  157  ridership performance and metrics, and any gifts as defined in
  158  s. 112.312 accepted in exchange for contracts.
  159         (c) To support compliance with paragraph (b), the
  160  department shall determine the annual state average of
  161  administrative costs by calculating the annual administrative
  162  costs of all the public transit providers in this state annually
  163  by March 31 to inform the provider’s following Fiscal Year
  164  budget.
  165         Section 9. (1) The Legislature finds that it is in the
  166  strategic interest of the state and the traveling public to
  167  extend to Tampa the existing passenger rail service currently
  168  terminating in Orlando. To facilitate this extension, the
  169  Department of Transportation shall preserve a 44 foot wide rail
  170  corridor within the right-of-way of Interstate 4 between Orlando
  171  and Tampa and provide for a minimum vertical clearance for
  172  bridges and overpasses therein.
  173         (2) The Department of Transportation shall use advanced
  174  multimodal planning along and within the Interstate 4 corridor
  175  to minimize future disruption while optimizing the cost of
  176  infrastructure therein. To that end, future infrastructure
  177  improvements made along the Interstate 4 corridor should, to the
  178  greatest extent feasible, include grading of the median within
  179  the proposed rail envelope and placement of necessary drainage
  180  structures; providing adequate bridge column spacing and
  181  vertical clearances; and providing a physical barrier separating
  182  the rail envelope from travel lanes. The Department of
  183  Transportation shall monitor and record the incremental costs of
  184  such improvements and is authorized to recover such incremental
  185  costs in any future lease agreement of the rail corridor.
  186         Section 10. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.
  187  
  188  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  189  And the title is amended as follows:
  190         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  191  and insert:
  192                        A bill to be entitled                      
  193         An act relating to the Department of Transportation;
  194         amending s. 20.23, F.S.; deleting the requirement that
  195         the secretary of the department appoint the
  196         department’s inspector general; amending s. 311.101,
  197         F.S.; requiring that a specified amount from the State
  198         Transportation Trust Fund be made available for the
  199         Intermodal Logistics Center Infrastructure Support
  200         Program; requiring the department to include specified
  201         projects in its tentative work program; providing for
  202         expiration; amending s. 334.044, F.S.; revising
  203         requirements for the allocation of funds by the
  204         department for the purchase of plant materials;
  205         amending s. 338.231, F.S.; extending the length of
  206         time before which an inactive prepaid toll account
  207         becomes unclaimed property; amending s. 339.0803,
  208         F.S.; prioritizing availability of certain revenues
  209         deposited into the State Transportation Trust Fund for
  210         payments under service contracts with the Florida
  211         Department of Transportation Financing Corporation to
  212         fund arterial highway projects; providing that two or
  213         more of such projects may be treated as a single
  214         project for certain purposes; amending s. 339.0809,
  215         F.S.; specifying priority of availability of funds
  216         appropriated for payments under a service contract
  217         with the corporation; amending s. 339.2818, F.S.;
  218         authorizing, subject to appropriation, a local
  219         government within specified areas to compete for
  220         funding using specified criteria on specified roads;
  221         providing an exclusion; amending s. 341.071, F.S.;
  222         defining the terms “administrative costs” and “public
  223         transit provider”; requiring each public transit
  224         provider to annually certify that its budgeted and
  225         actual administrative costs are not greater than a
  226         specified amount; requiring the disclosure of
  227         specified information; requiring the department to
  228         calculate the annual state average of administrative
  229         costs by a specified date; providing a legislative
  230         finding; requiring the department to preserve a rail
  231         corridor within the right of way of Interstate 4
  232         between Orlando and Tampa for a specified purpose;
  233         providing specifications for the corridor; requiring
  234         the use of advanced multimodal planning along the
  235         Interstate 4 corridor to minimize future disruption
  236         and optimize the cost of infrastructure within the
  237         corridor; requiring that future infrastructure
  238         improvements include certain projects; requiring the
  239         department to monitor and record the incremental costs
  240         of such projects; authorizing the department to
  241         recover such costs in any future lease agreement of
  242         the rail corridor; providing an effective date.
  243  

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