Bill Text: FL S0866 | 2011 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Judgment Interest

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-06 - Read 2nd time -SJ 1120 [S0866 Detail]

Download: Florida-2011-S0866-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2011                       CS for CS for SB 866
       
       
       
       By the Committees on Governmental Oversight and Accountability;
       and Judiciary; and Senator Bogdanoff
       
       
       
       585-03551-11                                           2011866c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to judgment interest; amending s.
    3         55.03, F.S.; requiring the Chief Financial Officer to
    4         set the rate of interest payable on judgments or
    5         decrees for the calendar quarter on certain specified
    6         dates; revising the calculation of the interest rate;
    7         specifying the dates the rate of interest established
    8         by the Chief Financial Officer is to take effect;
    9         providing that the rate of interest is established at
   10         the time a judgment is obtained; requiring that such
   11         interest rate be adjusted quarterly in accordance with
   12         a certain interest rate; amending s. 717.1341, F.S.;
   13         conforming provisions to changes made by the act;
   14         providing an effective date.
   15  
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Section 55.03, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   19  read:
   20         55.03 Judgments; rate of interest, generally.—
   21         (1) On December 1, March 1, June 1, and September 1 of each
   22  year, the Chief Financial Officer shall set the rate of interest
   23  that shall be payable on judgments or decrees for the calendar
   24  quarter year beginning January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1
   25  by averaging the discount rate of the Federal Reserve Bank of
   26  New York for the preceding 12 months year, then adding 400 500
   27  basis points to the averaged federal discount rate. The Chief
   28  Financial Officer shall inform the clerk of the courts and chief
   29  judge for each judicial circuit of the rate that has been
   30  established for the upcoming year. The interest rate established
   31  by the Chief Financial Officer shall take effect on the first
   32  day January 1 of each following calendar quarter year. Judgments
   33  obtained on or after January 1, 1995, shall use the previous
   34  statutory rate for time periods before January 1, 1995, for
   35  which interest is due and shall apply the rate set by the Chief
   36  Financial Officer for time periods after January 1, 1995, for
   37  which interest is due. This section does not Nothing contained
   38  herein shall affect a rate of interest established by written
   39  contract or obligation.
   40         (2) Any judgment for money damages or order for a judicial
   41  sale and any process or writ directed to a sheriff for execution
   42  shall bear, on its face, the rate of interest that is payable on
   43  the judgment. The rate of interest stated in the judgment, as
   44  adjusted in subsection (3), accrues on the judgment until it is
   45  paid.
   46         (3) The interest rate is established at the time a judgment
   47  is obtained, and such interest rate shall be adjusted quarterly
   48  in accordance with the interest rate set each quarter by the
   49  Chief Financial Officer remain the same until the judgment is
   50  paid.
   51         (4) A sheriff is shall not be required to docket and index
   52  or collect on any process, writ, judgment, or decree, described
   53  in subsection (2), and entered after the effective date of this
   54  act, unless such process, writ, judgment, or decree indicates
   55  the rate of interest. For purposes of this subsection, if the
   56  process, writ, judgment, or decree refers to the statutory rate
   57  of interest described in subsection (1), such reference shall be
   58  deemed to indicate the rate of interest.
   59         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 717.1341, Florida
   60  Statutes, is amended to read:
   61         717.1341 Invalid claims, recovery of property, interest and
   62  penalties.—
   63         (1)(a) No person shall receive unclaimed property that the
   64  person is not entitled to receive. Any person who receives, or
   65  assists another person to receive, unclaimed property that the
   66  person is not entitled to receive is strictly, jointly,
   67  personally, and severally liable for the unclaimed property and
   68  shall immediately return the property, or the reasonable value
   69  of the property if the property has been damaged or disposed of,
   70  to the department plus interest at the rate set annually in
   71  accordance with s. 55.03(1). Assisting another person to receive
   72  unclaimed property includes executing a claim form on the
   73  person’s behalf.
   74         (b)1. In the case of stocks or bonds which have been sold,
   75  the proceeds from the sale shall be returned to the department
   76  plus any dividends or interest received thereon plus an amount
   77  equal to the brokerage fee plus interest at a rate set annually
   78  in accordance with s. 55.03(1) on the proceeds from the sale of
   79  the stocks or bonds, the dividends or interest received, and the
   80  brokerage fee.
   81         2. In the case of stocks or bonds which have not been sold,
   82  the stocks or bonds and any dividends or interest received
   83  thereon shall be returned to the department, together with
   84  interest on the dividends or interest received, at a rate set
   85  annually in accordance with s. 55.03(1) of the value of the
   86  property.
   87         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.