Agenda 10/22/2013 Item #11B 10/22/2013 11 .B.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Recommendation to review and approve the proposed Collier County 2014 State
Legislative Priorities
OBJECTIVE: To review and approve the proposed list of Collier County 2014 State
Legislative Priorities. These Board-approved priorities will be presented by a member
of the County Commission at the Collier County Legislative Delegation Public
Meeting and Hearing on Tuesday,November 26, 2013, beginning at 2 p.m. in the
Board of County Commissioners chambers on the third floor of the Administration
Building, Collier County Government Center, 3299 East Tamiami Trail,Naples, Fl.
The Delegation meeting will actually commence at 9 a.m. in the IFAS Auditorium in
Immokalee, 2685 State Road 29 N., and last until 11 a.m.
CONSIDERATION: Each year prior to the start of the 60-day state legislative
session—which in 2014 begins on March 4 and ends May 2—staff prepares a draft
list of state legislative priorities for consideration and subsequent approval by the
Board of County Commissioners (BCC). This year's proposed list includes Issues to
Advocate that have emerged throughout the current year for advocacy during the 2014
Legislative Session, and Continuing Issues of Interest from 2013 and past years that
still have relevancy.
Included in the proposed priorities also are references to the Florida Association of
Counties (FAC)policy statements highlighted at their Policy Committee Conference
in Sept. 18-20,2013, in Palm Beach County. Commissioners statewide will vote on
those policy statements at the FAC Legislative Conference Nov. 13-15 in Volusia
County. Those decisions will result in the final FAC 2014 Legislative Program, which
typically is in alignment with Collier County priorities.
The proposed Collier County 2014 State Legislative Priorities are listed in
Attachment A for BCC review.
FISCAL IMPACT: This executive summary has no immediate fiscal impact.
GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMPACT: This executive summary has no
immediate growth management impact.
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS: This item is a policy decision for the Board; no
legal issues are raised.
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of County Commissioners reviews and
approves the proposed Collier County 2014 State Legislative Priorities.
Prepared by Debbie Wight, Legislative Affairs Coordinator
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COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Item Number: 11.11.B.
Item Summary: Recommendation to review and approve the proposed Collier County
2014 State Legislative Priorities. (Debbie Wight, Legislative Affairs Coordinator)
Meeting Date: 10/22/2013
Prepared By
Name: CurranJanet
Title: Supervisor-Operations,Communication&Customer R
10/15/2013 1:30:56 PM
Submitted by
Title:Legislative Affairs Coordinator,
Name: WightDebbie
10/15/2013 1:30:57 PM
Approved By
Name: SheffieldMichael
Title:Manager-Business Operations, CMO
Date: 10/15/2013 3:08:19 PM
Name: WightDebbie
Title: Legislative Affairs Coordinator,
Date: 10/16/2013 1:28:36 PM
Name: KlatzkowJeff
Title: County Attorney
Date: 10/16/2013 2:02:44 PM
Name: IsacksonMark
Title:Director-Corp Financial and Mgmt Svs,CMO
Date: 10/16/2013 2:44:24 PM
Name: IsacksonMark
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10/22/2013 11.B.
Title: Director-Corp Financial and Mgmt Svs,CMO
Date: 10/16/2013 3:17:04 PM
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Collier County 2014 State Legislative Priorities PROPOSED
Attachment A
The Board of County Commissioners on behalf of Collier County citizens
advocates for the overall principles of preserving the Home Rule authority of
local governments; opposing state Preemption; opposing Unfunded Mandates;
and protecting against Trust Fund Diversions.
Issues to Advocate:
A. Beach Funding & Maintenance — Advocate for increased funding for beach
renourishment and maintenance for coastal counties. In FY 2013-2014 a total of
$37.5 million was allocated to projects included in the Beach Management
Funding Assistance Program (BMFAP). In 2013 Collier County was allocated
$998,000 for engineering costs.
B. Economic Incubator — Support Collier County requesting $2.5 million in state-
funded support that will be equally matched to initiate a technology business
incubator/accelerator that will attract and nurture entrepreneurs — both
international and domestic—who want to build their own businesses locally.
C. Communications Services Tax (CST)—Oppose any legislation that would
change the CST; support present CST collections. The CST is assessed on all
taxable communications services, such as a cell phone service, business land
lines, cable and satellite television. Loss of CST would be $5 million impact to
Collier County.
D. Inland Oil Drilling & Fracking—Support development of a Task Force by the
Florida Legislature composed of stakeholders including local government elected
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officials and staff experts,residents, oil industry representatives, environmental
interests, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)to study
the health, safety and welfare impacts of oil drilling and fracking, and the effects
on infrastructure and water quality.
E. Gaming—Support preservation of a formula for distribution of revenues that
includes at least the current three(3) % local government share of gaming
proceeds allocated in varying funding amounts statewide to support infrastructure
improvements and other community needs/demands.
F. Local Business Tax—Support like the Florida Association of Counties (FAC),
the authorization of local governments to modify local ordinances in a manner
that results in a more simplified, efficient and equitable tax system that benefits
business and local communities. Collier County business tax proceeds: $400,000
annually.
G. Lake Okeechobee Basin—Support state funding for the construction of
additional water storage and water quality treatment facilities within the Lake
Okeechobee, Caloosahatchee, St. Lucie and Indian River Lagoon watersheds.
H. University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS)
—Support protecting research programs and preserving educational resource
facilities at UF/IFAS in Collier County. OF is considering an alternate funding
source through the Florida Legislature. The new, uncertain funding source for
OF/IFAS is a Legislative Budget Request(LBR).
I. Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP)—Advocate
for increased funding in this statewide grant program that finances outdoor
recreational improvements. In the past Collier County Parks and Recreation
typically applied for as many as three (3) grants through FRDAP, each of which
can be a$200,000 award.
Continuing Issues of Interest:
J. Public Safety Center on Alligator Alley—Oppose changes to the existing statute
that provides both construction and operational funding for the proposed Public
Safety Center being constructed by the Florida Department of Transportation
(FDOT) at Mile Marker 63 on I-75. Support FDOT operational funding for a
minimum of seven (7) years.
K. Gulf Consortium — Support Collier County's continued participation in the
federal RESTORE Act directives, including development of the State of Florida's
unique Gulf Consortium which is composed of representatives from 23 counties
bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Clean Water Act penalties against BP could mean
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from $6 to $24 million to Collier County in funding disbursements based on a
methodology/formula (Pot 1) to be finalized in U.S. Treasury Rules for local
projects determined by boards of county commissioners. The focus of the
Consortium with oversight of the FAC is to develop a list of projects possibly
with more regional impact and statewide significance (Pot 3).
L. Offshore Drilling in Gulf of Mexico—Support permanently prohibiting offshore
oil and gas drilling in Florida territorial waters, which are within nine (9)
geographic miles from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Support state demands
that the federal government exert rigorous oversight of any current and future
drilling outside state waters and insist no monetary limitations for any drilling
mishap are set.
M. Revenue& Expenditure Caps (TABOR)—Oppose state legislation mandating
local governments cap revenue and expenditures.
N. Impact Fees—Support home rule authority over administration of Collier
County's existing impact fee program.
O. Libraries— Support State Aid to Libraries and cooperatives like the Southwest
Florida Library Network (SWFLN). For FY 2014, Collier County requests $33.4
million for State Aid (the level of funding in 2001); $4 million for library
construction (no construction money since about 2007); and $1.5 million for
library cooperative funding.
P. Transportation Disadvantaged (TD) Program—Support continued restoration
of funding and assure that the additional $10 million committed in 2012 for
funding in FY 2014-2015 is also secure. In the 2012 Legislative Session,the
Legislature provided an additional $5 million for TD services statewide for FY
2012-2013. TD also received $111 million in General Revenue and
Transportation Trust Fund dollars,which represents a$7.6 million increase over
last year to fund transportation for the elderly,medically fragile, and
underprivileged. The total Collier County 2013 budget: $3,346,340
Q. Procurement — Support, as FAC does, legislation amending the Consultants
Competitive Negotiation Act (CCNA) to establish an optional (alternative)
process for state and local entities to consider cost in the award of professional
services agreements.
R. Synthetic Drugs — Support, like FAC, expanding the controlled substance
schedule to include new iterations of synthetic formulas that mimic the effects of
illegal drugs. Support prohibiting certain types of packaging and marketing of any
products claiming to mimic the effects of illegal drugs.
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S. Pensions — Oppose any Florida Retirement System (FRS) benefit changes that
result in an increase in the FRS county and county employee contribution rates,
which aligns with FAC.
T. Medicaid—Support encouraging the state to continue efforts to overhaul the
system. Despite billing process improvements, ridding counties of this unfunded
mandate is FAC's ultimate goal.
U. Online Travel Agencies (OTA's)—Oppose any attempts to give OTA's an
exemption on paying the correct amounts of sales tax and tourist development tax
on hotel reservations made on the Internet.
V. VISIT FLORIDA Funding—Protect the current level of funding to VISIT
FLORIDA and support increased funding to this organization to support the
Governor's goal to attract 100 million visitors to Florida in the next year.
W. Transportation — Oppose diverting the Transportation Trust Fund to non-
transportation projects. A total of $11.3 billion was funded for transportation
items for the current FY 2013-2014. Some of the major funding areas include
$8.67 billion for the Transportation Work Program; $3.6 billion for Intrastate and
Arterial Highway Construction; $725 million for Right-of-Way Land Acquisition;
$421 million for Public Transit Development Grants; $152 million for County
Transportation Programs (SCRAP & SCOP); $52 million for Intermodal
Development Grants; and $15 million for the Economic Development Road
Fund. In addition, advocate against regionalization of Metropolitan Planning
Organizations (MPO's) in concert with FAC which further proposes opposing
FDOT efforts to require urbanized areas (UZA's) with multiple MPO's to submit one
combined project priority list.
X. Growth Management — Support monitoring any new Growth Management
legislation, including Permitting, Transportation Concurrency, and Proportionate
Share.
Y. Regional Planning Councils (RPC's) — Support monitoring the funding of
RPC's statewide. Historically, the state's 11 RPC's received about $2.5 million in
state General Revenue funds. For the past three years, RPC's have not received any
state funding.
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