Bill Text: FL S1262 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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

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Bill Title: Emergency Management

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 3-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-04 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/CS/HB 1133 (Ch. 2016-99) [S1262 Detail]

Download: Florida-2016-S1262-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2016                                    SB 1262
       
       
        
       By Senator Simpson
       
       18-01030-16                                           20161262__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to emergency management; creating s.
    3         252.64, F.S.; providing a short title; defining terms;
    4         providing exemptions from certain registration and
    5         licensing requirements and taxes for out-of-state
    6         businesses and employees who enter the state in
    7         response to a disaster or an emergency; specifying the
    8         applicability of certain transaction taxes and fees;
    9         requiring an out-of-state business or registered
   10         business to provide a statement to the Division of
   11         Emergency Management in the Executive Office of the
   12         Governor under certain circumstances; prescribing the
   13         content of the statement; specifying the obligations
   14         of an out-of-state business or employee after the
   15         disaster-response period; providing an effective date.
   16          
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. Section 252.64, Florida Statutes, is created and
   20  incorporated into part I of chapter 252, Florida Statutes, to
   21  read:
   22         252.64 Facilitating Business Rapid Response to State
   23  Declared Disasters Act.—
   24         (1) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the
   25  “Facilitating Business Rapid Response to State Declared
   26  Disasters Act.”
   27         (2) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
   28         (a) “Disaster-related work” or “emergency-related work”
   29  means repairing, renovating, installing, building, rendering
   30  services, or other business activities that relate to
   31  infrastructure that has been damaged, impaired, or destroyed by
   32  an event that has resulted in a declaration of a state of
   33  emergency.
   34         (b) “Disaster-response period” means:
   35         1. A period that begins 10 calendar days before the first
   36  day of a declared state of emergency and ends on the 60th
   37  calendar day after the end of the declared state of emergency;
   38  or
   39         2. A period that begins on the date that an out-of-state
   40  business enters this state in good faith under a mutual aid
   41  agreement and in anticipation of a disaster, regardless of
   42  whether a state of emergency is declared, and ends on the date
   43  that the work is concluded, or 7 calendar days after the out-of
   44  state business enters this state, whichever occurs first.
   45         (c) “Infrastructure” means public roads; public bridges;
   46  property and equipment owned or used by communication networks,
   47  electric generating systems, transmission and distribution
   48  systems, gas distribution systems, or water pipelines; and
   49  related support facilities that serve multiple persons which
   50  include, but are not limited to, buildings, offices, power and
   51  communication lines and poles, pipes, structures, and equipment.
   52         (d) “Mutual aid agreement” means an agreement to which one
   53  or more business entities are parties and under which a public
   54  utility, municipally owned utility, or joint agency owning,
   55  operating, or owning and operating infrastructure used for
   56  electric generation, transmission, or distribution in this state
   57  may request that an out-of-state business perform work in this
   58  state in anticipation of a disaster or an emergency.
   59         (e) “Out-of-state business” means a business entity that:
   60         1. Does not have a presence in this state, except with
   61  respect to the performance of disaster-related work or
   62  emergency-related work, that conducts no business in this state,
   63  and whose services are requested by a registered business or by
   64  a unit of state or local government for purposes of performing
   65  disaster-related work or emergency-related work in this state;
   66  and
   67         2. Is not registered and does not have tax filings or
   68  presence sufficient to require the collection or payment of a
   69  tax in this state before the disaster-response period.
   70  
   71  The term also includes a business entity that is affiliated with
   72  a registered business solely through common ownership.
   73         (f) “Out-of-state employee” means an employee who does not
   74  work in this state, except for disaster-related work or
   75  emergency-related work during a disaster-response period.
   76         (g) “Registered business” means a business entity that is
   77  registered to do business in this state before the disaster
   78  response period begins.
   79         (3) EXEMPTIONS FOR OUT-OF-STATE BUSINESSES AND EMPLOYEES.—
   80         (a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided in
   81  subsection (4), an out-of-state business that is conducting
   82  operations within this state solely for purposes of performing
   83  disaster-related work or emergency-related work during a
   84  disaster-response period or pursuant to a mutual aid agreement
   85  is not considered to have established a level of presence that
   86  would require that business to register, file, and remit state
   87  or local taxes or fees or require that business to be subject to
   88  any registration, licensing, or filing requirements in this
   89  state. For purposes of any state or local tax on or measured, in
   90  whole or in part, by net or gross income or receipts, the
   91  activity of the out-of-state business conducted in this state
   92  during the disaster-response period must be disregarded with
   93  respect to any filing requirements for such tax, including the
   94  filing required for a consolidated group of which the out-of
   95  state business is a subsidiary. This exemption includes the
   96  following:
   97         1. Reemployment assistance taxes.
   98         2. State or local professional or occupational licensing
   99  requirements or related fees.
  100         3. Gross receipts taxes.
  101         4. Local business taxes.
  102         5. Taxes on the operation of commercial motor vehicles.
  103         6. Corporate income tax.
  104         7. Tangible personal property tax on equipment that is
  105  brought into the state by the out-of-state business, used by the
  106  out-of-state business only to perform disaster-related work or
  107  emergency-related work during the disaster-response period, and
  108  removed from the state by the out-of-state business following
  109  the disaster-response period.
  110         (b) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided in
  111  subsection (4), an out-of-state employee whose only employment
  112  in this state is for the performance of disaster-related or
  113  emergency-related work during a disaster-response period is not
  114  required to:
  115         1. Register, file, or remit state or local taxes.
  116         2. Comply with state or local occupational licensing
  117  requirements or related fees.
  118         (4) TRANSACTION TAXES AND FEES.—An out-of-state employee or
  119  out-of-state business whose transaction of business in this
  120  state is limited to the performance of disaster-related work or
  121  emergency-related work during a disaster-response period is
  122  subject to motor and other fuel taxes imposed pursuant to
  123  chapter 206 and sales and use taxes imposed pursuant to chapter
  124  212, unless the employee or business is otherwise exempt from
  125  such tax.
  126         (5) NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES.—
  127         (a) If requested by the division, an out-of-state business
  128  shall provide to the division a statement specifying that the
  129  out-of-state business has entered the state for purposes of
  130  performing disaster-related work or emergency-related work. The
  131  statement must also include the following information regarding
  132  the out-of-state business:
  133         1. The business name.
  134         2. The state of domicile.
  135         3. The address of its principal office.
  136         4. The federal tax identification number.
  137         5. The date that the business entered the state.
  138         6. Contact information.
  139         (b) If requested by the division, a registered business
  140  shall provide a statement to the division that includes the
  141  information listed in paragraph (a) for any affiliate of the
  142  registered business which has entered the state as an out-of
  143  state business. The statement must also include the contact
  144  information for the registered business.
  145         (6) OBLIGATIONS AFTER DISASTER-RESPONSE PERIOD.—An out-of
  146  state business or out-of-state employee who remains in this
  147  state after the disaster-response period is not entitled to any
  148  exemptions provided in this section and is subject to the
  149  state’s normal standards for establishing presence or residency
  150  or doing business in the state.
  151         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.