Bill Text: FL S0312 | 2014 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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

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Bill Title: Agriculture

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2014-05-02 - Died in Messages, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 7091 (Ch. 2014-150) [S0312 Detail]

Download: Florida-2014-S0312-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2014                              CS for SB 312
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senator Simpson
       
       
       
       
       
       578-00969-14                                           2014312c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to agriculture; amending s. 193.461,
    3         F.S.; providing that participation in certain
    4         dispersed water storage programs does not change a
    5         land’s agricultural classification for assessment
    6         purposes; amending s. 212.02, F.S.; redefining the
    7         term “agricultural production” to include storage;
    8         amending s. 212.08, F.S.; expanding the exemption for
    9         certain farm equipment from the sales and use tax
   10         imposed under ch. 212, F.S., to include repairs of
   11         such equipment and trailers that are used for certain
   12         purposes; providing an effective date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Subsection (7) of section 193.461, Florida
   17  Statutes, is amended to read:
   18         193.461 Agricultural lands; classification and assessment;
   19  mandated eradication or quarantine program.—
   20         (7)(a) Lands classified for assessment purposes as
   21  agricultural lands which are taken out of production by a any
   22  state or federal eradication or quarantine program shall
   23  continue to be classified as agricultural lands for the duration
   24  of such program or successor programs. Lands under these
   25  programs which are converted to fallow, or otherwise nonincome
   26  producing uses shall continue to be classified as agricultural
   27  lands and shall be assessed at a de minimis value of up to no
   28  more than $50 per acre, on a single year assessment methodology;
   29  however, lands converted to other income-producing agricultural
   30  uses permissible under such programs shall be assessed pursuant
   31  to this section. Land under a mandated eradication or quarantine
   32  program which is diverted from an agricultural to a
   33  nonagricultural use shall be assessed under s. 193.011.
   34         (b) Lands classified for assessment purposes as
   35  agricultural lands which participate in a dispersed water
   36  storage program pursuant to a contract with the Department of
   37  Environmental Protection or a water management district which
   38  requires flooding of land shall continue to be classified as
   39  agricultural lands for the duration of the inclusion of the
   40  lands in such program or successor programs and shall be
   41  assessed at a de minimis value, on a single year assessment
   42  methodology.
   43         Section 2. Subsection (32) of section 212.02, Florida
   44  Statutes, is amended to read:
   45         212.02 Definitions.—The following terms and phrases when
   46  used in this chapter have the meanings ascribed to them in this
   47  section, except where the context clearly indicates a different
   48  meaning:
   49         (32) “Agricultural production” means the production of
   50  plants and animals useful to humans, including the preparation,
   51  planting, cultivating, or harvesting, or storage of these
   52  products or any other practices necessary to accomplish
   53  production through the harvest and storage phase, and includes
   54  aquaculture, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, forestry,
   55  dairy, livestock, poultry, bees, and any and all forms of farm
   56  products and farm production.
   57         Section 3. Subsection (3) of section 212.08, Florida
   58  Statutes, is amended to read:
   59         212.08 Sales, rental, use, consumption, distribution, and
   60  storage tax; specified exemptions.—The sale at retail, the
   61  rental, the use, the consumption, the distribution, and the
   62  storage to be used or consumed in this state of the following
   63  are hereby specifically exempt from the tax imposed by this
   64  chapter.
   65         (3) EXEMPTIONS; CERTAIN FARM EQUIPMENT.—There shall be no
   66  tax on the sale, rental, lease, use, consumption, repair, or
   67  storage for use in this state of power farm equipment and
   68  irrigation equipment, including replacement parts and
   69  accessories for such equipment, which are used exclusively on a
   70  farm or in a forest in the agricultural production of crops or
   71  products as produced by those agricultural industries included
   72  in s. 570.02(1), or for fire prevention and suppression work
   73  with respect to such crops or products. Trailers used in
   74  agricultural production and the transportation of farm products
   75  from the farm to the first point of sale are also exempt from
   76  such tax. Harvesting may not be construed to include processing
   77  activities. This exemption is not forfeited by moving farm
   78  equipment between farms or forests. However, this exemption may
   79  shall not be allowed unless the purchaser, renter, or lessee
   80  signs a certificate stating that the farm equipment is to be
   81  used exclusively on a farm or in a forest for agricultural
   82  production or for fire prevention and suppression, as required
   83  by this subsection. Possession by a seller, lessor, or other
   84  dealer of a written certification by the purchaser, renter, or
   85  lessee certifying the purchaser’s, renter’s, or lessee’s
   86  entitlement to an exemption permitted by this subsection
   87  relieves the seller from the responsibility of collecting the
   88  tax on the nontaxable amounts, and the department shall look
   89  solely to the purchaser for recovery of such tax if it
   90  determines that the purchaser was not entitled to the exemption.
   91         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.