Florida Senate - 2018 CS for CS for SB 324
By the Committees on Appropriations; and Community Affairs; and
Senator Young
576-03814-18 2018324c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to impact fees; amending s. 163.31801,
3 F.S.; revising the minimum requirements for impact
4 fees; prohibiting the application of impact fee
5 provisions to water and sewer connection fees;
6 providing an effective date.
7
8 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
9
10 Section 1. Section 163.31801, Florida Statutes, is amended
11 to read:
12 163.31801 Impact fees; short title; intent; minimum
13 requirements; audits; challenges definitions; ordinances levying
14 impact fees.—
15 (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Impact Fee
16 Act.”
17 (2) The Legislature finds that impact fees are an important
18 source of revenue for a local government to use in funding the
19 infrastructure necessitated by new growth. The Legislature
20 further finds that impact fees are an outgrowth of the home rule
21 power of a local government to provide certain services within
22 its jurisdiction. Due to the growth of impact fee collections
23 and local governments’ reliance on impact fees, it is the intent
24 of the Legislature to ensure that, when a county or municipality
25 adopts an impact fee by ordinance or a special district adopts
26 an impact fee by resolution, the governing authority complies
27 with this section.
28 (3) At a minimum, impact fees An impact fee adopted by
29 ordinance of a county or municipality or by resolution of a
30 special district must, at minimum satisfy the following
31 conditions:
32 (a) Require that The calculation of the impact fees must
33 fee be based on the most recent and localized data.
34 (b) The local government must provide for accounting and
35 reporting of impact fee collections and expenditures. If a local
36 governmental entity imposes an impact fee to address its
37 infrastructure needs, the entity shall account for the revenues
38 and expenditures of such impact fee in a separate accounting
39 fund.
40 (c) Limit Administrative charges for the collection of
41 impact fees must be limited to actual costs.
42 (d) Require that Notice must be provided no less than 90
43 days before the effective date of an ordinance or resolution
44 imposing a new or increased impact fees fee. A county or
45 municipality is not required to wait 90 days to decrease,
46 suspend, or eliminate an impact fees fee.
47 (e) Collection of the impact fees may not be required to
48 occur earlier than the issuance of the building permit for the
49 property that is subject to the fee.
50 (f) The impact fees must be reasonably connected to, or
51 have a rational nexus with, the need for additional capital
52 facilities and the increased impact generated by the new
53 residential or commercial construction.
54 (g) The impact fees must be reasonably connected to, or
55 have a rational nexus with, the expenditures of the funds
56 collected and the benefits accruing to the new residential or
57 commercial construction.
58 (h) The local government must specifically earmark funds
59 collected pursuant to the impact fees for use in acquiring,
60 constructing, or improving capital facilities to benefit the new
61 users.
62 (i) The collection or expenditure of the impact fee
63 revenues may not be used, in whole or part, to pay existing debt
64 or be used for prior approved projects unless the expenditure is
65 reasonably connected to, or has a rational nexus with, the
66 increased impact generated by the new residential or commercial
67 construction.
68 (4) Audits of financial statements of local governmental
69 entities and district school boards which are performed by a
70 certified public accountant pursuant to s. 218.39 and submitted
71 to the Auditor General must include an affidavit signed by the
72 chief financial officer of the local governmental entity or
73 district school board stating that the local governmental entity
74 or district school board has complied with this section.
75 (5) In any action challenging an impact fee, the government
76 has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence
77 that the imposition or amount of the fee meets the requirements
78 of state legal precedent or this section. The court may not use
79 a deferential standard.
80 (6) This section does not apply to water and sewer
81 connection fees.
82 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.