Bill Text: FL S0426 | 2020 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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

---

Bill Title: Economic Development

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

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

Download: Florida-2020-S0426-Comm_Sub.html

---

       Florida Senate - 2020                              CS for SB 426
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Appropriations; and Senators Montford,
       Albritton, and Stewart
       
       
       
       
       576-02486A-20                                          2020426c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to regional rural development grants;
    3         amending s. 288.018, F.S.; defining the term “regional
    4         economic development organization”; specifying that
    5         the concept of building the professional capacity of a
    6         regional economic development organization includes
    7         the hiring of professional staff to perform specified
    8         services; providing that matching grants may be used
    9         to provide technical assistance to local governments
   10         and economic development organizations and to existing
   11         and prospective businesses; increasing the maximum
   12         amount of annual grant funding that specified economic
   13         development organizations may receive; revising the
   14         required amount of nonstate matching funds; requiring
   15         that certain information be included in contracts or
   16         agreements involving grant funds; requiring that
   17         contracts or agreements involving the expenditure of
   18         grant funds, and a plain-language version of certain
   19         contracts or agreements, be placed on the contracting
   20         regional economic development organization’s website
   21         for a specified period before execution; deleting an
   22         obsolete provision; increasing the amount of funds the
   23         Department of Economic Opportunity may expend each
   24         fiscal year from the Rural Community Development
   25         Revolving Loan Fund for certain purposes; amending s.
   26         288.0655, F.S.; revising the maximum percentage of
   27         total infrastructure project costs for which the
   28         department may award grants; specifying that improving
   29         access to and availability of broadband Internet
   30         services is an eligible project for certain grant
   31         funds; providing that grants for improvements to
   32         broadband Internet service and access must be
   33         conducted through certain partnerships; requiring the
   34         department to reevaluate certain guidelines by a
   35         specified date; requiring that certain information be
   36         included in contracts or agreements involving grant
   37         funds; requiring a regional economic development
   38         organization to post contracts or agreements involving
   39         the expenditure of grant funds, and a plain-language
   40         version of certain contracts or agreements, on the
   41         organization’s website for a specified period before
   42         execution; providing an effective date.
   43          
   44  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   45  
   46         Section 1. Subsections (1), (3), and (4) of section
   47  288.018, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   48         288.018 Regional Rural Development Grants Program.—
   49         (1)(a) For the purposes of this section, the term “regional
   50  economic development organization” means an economic development
   51  organization located in or contracted to serve a rural area of
   52  opportunity, as defined in s. 288.0656(2)(d).
   53         (b) The department shall establish a matching grant program
   54  to provide funding to regional regionally based economic
   55  development organizations representing rural counties and
   56  communities for the purpose of building the professional
   57  capacity of those their organizations. Building the professional
   58  capacity of a regional economic development organization
   59  includes hiring professional staff to develop, deliver, and
   60  provide needed economic development professional services,
   61  including technical assistance, education and leadership
   62  development, marketing, and project recruitment. Such Matching
   63  grants may also be used by a regional an economic development
   64  organization to provide technical assistance to local
   65  governments, local economic development organizations, and
   66  existing and prospective businesses within the rural counties
   67  and communities that it serves.
   68         (c) A regional economic development organization may apply
   69  annually to the department for a matching grant. The department
   70  is authorized to approve, on an annual basis, grants to such
   71  regional regionally based economic development organizations.
   72  The maximum amount an organization may receive in any year will
   73  be $50,000, or $250,000 for any three regional economic
   74  development organizations that serve an entire region of a rural
   75  area of opportunity designated pursuant to s. 288.0656(7) if
   76  they are recognized by the department as serving such a region.
   77         (d) Grant funds received by a regional economic development
   78  organization $150,000 in a rural area of opportunity recommended
   79  by the Rural Economic Development Initiative and designated by
   80  the Governor, and must be matched each year by an equivalent
   81  amount of nonstate resources in an amount equal to 25 percent of
   82  the state contribution.
   83         (3)(a) A contract or agreement that involves the
   84  expenditure of grant funds provided under this section,
   85  including a contract or agreement entered into between another
   86  entity and a regional economic development organization, a unit
   87  of local government, or an economic development organization
   88  substantially underwritten by a unit of local government, must
   89  include:
   90         1. The purpose of the contract or agreement.
   91         2. Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
   92  each entity under the contract or agreement.
   93         3. A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
   94         4. The value of any services provided.
   95         5. The projected travel expenses for employees and board
   96  members, if applicable.
   97         (b) At least 14 days before executing a contract or
   98  agreement, the contracting regional economic development
   99  organization shall post on its website:
  100         1. Any contract or agreement that involves the expenditure
  101  of grant funds provided under this section.
  102         2. A plain-language version of any contract or agreement
  103  that is estimated to exceed $35,000 with a private entity, a
  104  municipality, or a vendor of services, supplies, or programs,
  105  including marketing, or for the purchase or lease or use of
  106  lands, facilities, or properties which involves the expenditure
  107  of grant funds provided under this section The department may
  108  also contract for the development of an enterprise zone web
  109  portal or websites for each enterprise zone which will be used
  110  to market the program for job creation in disadvantaged urban
  111  and rural enterprise zones. Each enterprise zone web page should
  112  include downloadable links to state forms and information, as
  113  well as local message boards that help businesses and residents
  114  receive information concerning zone boundaries, job openings,
  115  zone programs, and neighborhood improvement activities.
  116         (4) The department may expend up to $1 million $750,000
  117  each fiscal year from funds appropriated to the Rural Community
  118  Development Revolving Loan Fund for the purposes outlined in
  119  this section. The department may contract with Enterprise
  120  Florida, Inc., for the administration of the purposes specified
  121  in this section. Funds released to Enterprise Florida, Inc., for
  122  this purpose shall be released quarterly and shall be calculated
  123  based on the applications in process.
  124         Section 2. Present subsection (5) of section 288.0655,
  125  Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (6), a new
  126  subsection (5) is added to that section, and paragraph (b) of
  127  subsection (2), subsection (4), and present subsection (6) of
  128  that section are amended, to read:
  129         288.0655 Rural Infrastructure Fund.—
  130         (2)
  131         (b) To facilitate access of rural communities and rural
  132  areas of opportunity as defined by the Rural Economic
  133  Development Initiative to infrastructure funding programs of the
  134  Federal Government, such as those offered by the United States
  135  Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of
  136  Commerce, and state programs, including those offered by Rural
  137  Economic Development Initiative agencies, and to facilitate
  138  local government or private infrastructure funding efforts, the
  139  department may award grants for up to 50 30 percent of the total
  140  infrastructure project cost. If an application for funding is
  141  for a catalyst site, as defined in s. 288.0656, the department
  142  may award grants for up to 40 percent of the total
  143  infrastructure project cost. Eligible projects must be related
  144  to specific job-creation or job-retention opportunities.
  145  Eligible projects may also include improving any inadequate
  146  infrastructure that has resulted in regulatory action that
  147  prohibits economic or community growth, or reducing the costs to
  148  community users of proposed infrastructure improvements that
  149  exceed such costs in comparable communities, and improving
  150  access to and the availability of broadband Internet service.
  151  Eligible uses of funds shall include improvements to public
  152  infrastructure for industrial or commercial sites, and upgrades
  153  to or development of public tourism infrastructure, and
  154  improvements to broadband Internet service and access in
  155  unserved or underserved rural communities. Improvements to
  156  broadband Internet service and access must be conducted through
  157  a partnership or partnerships with one or more dealers, as
  158  defined in s. 202.11(2), and the partnership or partnerships
  159  must be established through a competitive selection process that
  160  is publicly noticed. Authorized infrastructure may include the
  161  following public or public-private partnership facilities: storm
  162  water systems; telecommunications facilities; broadband
  163  facilities; roads or other remedies to transportation
  164  impediments; nature-based tourism facilities; or other physical
  165  requirements necessary to facilitate tourism, trade, and
  166  economic development activities in the community. Authorized
  167  infrastructure may also include publicly or privately owned
  168  self-powered nature-based tourism facilities, publicly owned
  169  telecommunications facilities, and broadband facilities, and
  170  additions to the distribution facilities of the existing natural
  171  gas utility as defined in s. 366.04(3)(c), the existing electric
  172  utility as defined in s. 366.02, or the existing water or
  173  wastewater utility as defined in s. 367.021(12), or any other
  174  existing water or wastewater facility, which owns a gas or
  175  electric distribution system or a water or wastewater system in
  176  this state where:
  177         1. A contribution-in-aid of construction is required to
  178  serve public or public-private partnership facilities under the
  179  tariffs of any natural gas, electric, water, or wastewater
  180  utility as defined herein; and
  181         2. Such utilities as defined herein are willing and able to
  182  provide such service.
  183         (4) By September 1, 2021 2012, the department shall, in
  184  consultation with the organizations listed in subsection (3),
  185  and other organizations, reevaluate existing guidelines and
  186  criteria governing submission of applications for funding,
  187  review and evaluation of such applications, and approval of
  188  funding under this section. The department shall consider
  189  factors including, but not limited to, the project’s potential
  190  for enhanced job creation or increased capital investment, the
  191  demonstration and level of local public and private commitment,
  192  whether the project is located in an enterprise zone, in a
  193  community development corporation service area, or in an urban
  194  high-crime area as designated under s. 212.097, the unemployment
  195  rate of the county in which the project would be located, and
  196  the poverty rate of the community.
  197         (5)(a) A contract or agreement that involves the
  198  expenditure of grant funds provided under this section,
  199  including a contract or agreement entered into between another
  200  entity and a regional economic development organization, a unit
  201  of local government, or an economic development organization
  202  substantially underwritten by a unit of local government, must
  203  include:
  204         1. The purpose of the contract or agreement.
  205         2. Specific performance standards and responsibilities for
  206  each entity.
  207         3. A detailed project or contract budget, if applicable.
  208         4. The value of any services provided.
  209         5. The projected travel expenses for employees and board
  210  members, if applicable.
  211         (b) At least 14 days before execution, the contracting
  212  regional economic development organization shall post on its
  213  website:
  214         1. Any contract or agreement that involves the expenditure
  215  of grant funds provided under this section.
  216         2. A plain-language version of a contract or agreement that
  217  is estimated to exceed $35,000 with a private entity, a
  218  municipality, or a vendor of services, supplies, or programs,
  219  including marketing, or for the purchase or lease or use of
  220  lands, facilities, or properties which involves the expenditure
  221  of grant funds provided under this section.
  222         (6) For the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the funds appropriated
  223  for the grant program for Florida Panhandle counties shall be
  224  distributed pursuant to and for the purposes described in the
  225  proviso language associated with Specific Appropriation 2314 of
  226  the 2019-2020 General Appropriations Act. This subsection
  227  expires July 1, 2020.
  228         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.