Agenda 04/23/2013 Item #16F64/23/2013 16.F.6.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Recommendation to accept the Florida Association of Counties April 4, 2013
Legislative Day Summary Report
OBJECTIVE: To review the summary of the participation of Board of County
Commissioners Chairwoman Georgia Hiller and Commissioner Donna Fiala in the
Florida Association of Counties (FAC) Legislative Day held April 4, 2013 in
Tallahassee. (Summary attached)
CONSIDERATION: In addition to receiving a briefing from FAC legislative staff
on the status of legislation of interest midway through the 2013 Legislative Session,
Commissioners met with members of the Collier County Legislative Delegation
during lunch and other scheduled state officials in the afternoon.
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact associated with this executive
summary.
GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMPACT: There is no growth management impact
associated with this executive summary.
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS: There are no legal issues associated with this
executive summary.
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of County Commissioners accept the
attached FAC 2013 Legislative Day summary report.
Prepared by Debbie Wight, Legislative Affairs Coordinator
1
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4/23/2013 16.F.6.
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Item Number: 16.16.F.16.F.6.
Item Summary: Recommendation to accept the Florida Association of Counties April 4,
2013 Legislative Day Summary Report
Meeting Date: 4/23/2013
Prepared By
Name: CurranJanet
Title: Supervisor - Operations,Communication & Customer R
4/17/2013 12:26:39 PM
Submitted by
Title: Legislative Affairs Coordinator,
Name: WightDebbie
4/17/2013 12:26:41 PM
Approved By
Name: SheffieldMichael
Title: Manager- Business Operations, CMO
Date: 4/17/2013 1:27:12 PM
Name: SheffieldMichael
Title: Manager- Business Operations, CMO
Date: 4/17/2013 1:34:50 PM
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4/23/2013 16.F.6.
Coii%r County
Florida Association of Counties Legislative Day
Summary April 4, 2013
Legislative Day was held April 4 at the FSU Turnbull Center with the legislative briefing beginning with House
Speaker Pro Tempore Marti Coley giving an update on the legislative priorities of House leadership. Following that
there was a state agency panel that included state Surgeon General Dr. John Armstrong, Agency for Health Care
Administration (AHCA) Secretary Elizabeth Dudek, Department of Children and Families (DCF) Secretary David
Wilkens and Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) Deputy Secretary Christy Daly. The panel presented agency
priorities and answered questions on state and county relationships.
"Health starts with good jobs," said Dr. Armstrong. "The 41 health threat in Florida is weight."
The FAC legislative briefing included a myriad of topics, including Medicaid (increasing to $270 million from $250 M
in 2012), Juvenile Detention ($74 M cost to counties), Communications Services, Florida Retirement System,
E911, Internet Sales Tax, Business Taxes, Internet Cafes (Gov. has signed law prohibiting them), AgriTourism,
Growth Management, Concurrency, Impact Fees, Fertilizer, Environmental Permitting, Pain Management
Clinics, etc. (See FAC's 2013 Legislative Priorities and update attached)
Following the morning briefing, Collier Commissioners and staff had the opportunity to meet during lunch with four
members of the Collier County Legislative Delegation: Senate Pro Tempore Garrett Richter, Rep. Matt Hudson, Rep.
Kathleen Passidomo, and Rep. Carlos Trujillo. The four each had the chance to provide their perspectives and updates
on what was the midway point of the 2013 Legislative Session.
The Collier contingent split up and went to separate meetings after the Collier Delegation went back to Senate and
House meetings on their respective floors at the Capitol.
Collier Commission Chairwoman Hiller prioritized Ethics along with Senate President Don Gaetz. She spent the
afternoon on this issue, meeting with Sen. Jack Latvala and members of Gov. Rick Scott's staff.
Commissioner Donna Fiala met first with Transportation Disadvantaged (TD) Director Steve Holmes and was
informed of $940,000 in funds available for Fiscal Year 2013 -14 compared to $755,000 in the current year in TD, non-
Medicaid funding, or a $185,000 increase if budget passes as written today. Also proposed for FY 13 -14 is $868,000
for Medicaid TD funding.
Commissioner Fiala had an appointment with Lisa Bacot, executive director, Florida Public Transportation
Association, about bus bench language to alleviate concerns for Collier County Transit, which would specifically
exempt counties and transit agencies from the provisions of indemnifying the state for incorrectly placed bus benches
and shelters. It will be amended to SB 1132 or another bill if that bill doesn't move. It gets a little tricky because we
don't want SB 1132 to pass if it retains the fire station funding deletion.
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4/23/2013 165.6.
Since meeting in Tallahassee, Lisa has emailed Commissioner Fiala: "We have come across some issues with this
s4bject. Several different groups of contractors who make these benches have been going back and forth and can't
ne to agreement on changes to current law. Unfortunately, this means that our exemption language is potentially in
some jeopardy. We are working with several counties and the League of Cities to try to come up with a more simple
amendment that just assists public transportation providers, like Collier Area Transit, with an exemption from current
law."
Lisa also spoke about SB 158, the bill requiring buses to pull off the road when reasonable to load and unload
passengers. The bill for all purposes is dead, but our lobbyist is continuing to monitor as it would cause major
problems for counties to implement.
Recently Lisa also emailed: The Public Transit Development/Grants line item in the FY 2013 -14 Appropriations Bills
proposed by both the Senate and the House are currently $40.5 million more than the year before. Last year, this line
item was funded at $206,688,731; this year, both have $247,206,238 for this line item. However, $20 million of that
funding is slated for Space Transportation with the remaining dollars available for FDOT to spend. There is not a
publicly released method for the allocation to the Public Transit Block Grant, however, MOT usually allows for an
increase each year, so I would assume Collier County will get some type of increase. Collier County receives
approximately $888,000 for the current fiscal year through Block Grant funding from FDOT.
FAC Assistant Legislative Director Eric Poole addressed Transportation and Impact Fees (HB 321 /SB 1716) and
Public/Private Partnerships (SB 84/HB 85). It sounded like Eric thought the impact fee bill had been amended
enough in the counties' favor to only oppose passively. The bill has many drafting errors, but is positioned to make it to
the floor on both sides.
cR 84/HB 85 establishes in law a process for local governments to contract with private entities for road construction
general construction/design projects. Apparently, it's in response to a clerk's objections to paying for such projects
in Nassau County because it's not in statute. Counties and cities are on opposite sides of this issue currently.
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Florida's Counties Matter
67 counties representing more
than 19 million people
0
91—e —ems
Counties...
• Maintain an effective
justice system
• Construct, maintain and protect
the facilities for civil and
criminal court.
• Develop and maintain roads
• Manage solid waste
• Implement watershed planning
and flood control
• Ensure adequate water supply
• Maintain safe and secure communities
• Fund sheriffs, their deputies and their duties
Implement juvenile justice detention and
Prevention programming
• Implement workforce development and
affordable housing
• Fund community health services
• Support Veterans services
• Support economic and community development
• Invest in tourism development
• Fund public libraries
• Conduct elections
• Protect Florida's natural resources
• Support livable communities
County Budget Perspective
Counties have reduced spending by more than $3 billion since
2007, putting funding below 2005 levels.
County Population information:
• 7 urban counties representing 9.9 million people
• 29 medium -sized counties representing 8.2 million people
• 29 fiscally- constrained counties representing
1 million people
• 35 coastal counties with 1,260 miles of shoreline
• Largest county: Miami Dade with 2.5 million people
• Smallest county: Liberty County with 8,314 residents
11/ ^ #^ ^I A I A r A
Medicaid Billing
Bills: SB 1244 (Sen. Soto), HB 1117 (Rep. Wood), and the
Appropriations Act
FAC SUPPORTS replacing the flawed state - county
Medicaid billing relationship with options for counties to
review and pay accurate bills or cost -share in Medicaid
through a statutorily - established and discounted annual
contribution.
Annual Cost to Counties: up to $270M
Juvenile Detention
Bill: Appropriations Act
FAC SUPPORTS maintaining juvenile justice as the
responsibility of the state, establishing a more collaborative
and equitable detention model and implementing juvenile
justice reform.
Annual Cost to Counties: up to $74M
Communications services ?'ax
Bills: HB 303 (Rep. Grant), SB 1422 (Sen. Richter), HB 435
(Rep. Davis), SB 290 (Sen. Galvano)
FAC SUPPORTS revising current law to simplify
administration and stabilize the CST as an important local
revenue source, and in a manner that is revenue neutral.
Annual Revenue for Counties: up to $300M
Florida Retiiremont system
Bills: HB 7011 (Rep. Brodeur), SB 1392 (Sen. Simpson)
FAC SUPPORTS increased diversity of retirement plan
options for employees, and opposes any FRS benefit
changes that result in an increase in the FRS county and
county employee contribution rates.
Counties constitute almost 23% of FRS System `
membership contributing more than $713 in payroll* _
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Local Decision- Making Matters
Communities and their local leaders are best positioned
to make decisions that impact their community.
Allowing Counties to Keep it Smoke Free
Sills: HB 439 (Rep. Hagar), SB 258 (Sen. Bradley)
FAC SUPPORTS enhancements to the Florida Clean Indoor
Air Act, allowing local governments to make determinations
to keep county outdoor property smoke free through local
ordinance.
Providing for Higher Standards of Living
HB 1125 (Rep. Goodson), SB 1216 (Sen. Bradley),
HB 655 (Rep. Precourt)
FAC OPPOSES any attempts to preempt county authority
to require higher wages and benefits for their citizens.
Keeping Communities Safe
SB 294 (Sen. Bradley), HB 619 (Rep. Ingram)
FAC SUPPORTS expanding the controlled substance
schedule to include new iterations of synthetic formulas
that mimic the effects of illegal drugs.
HB 4011 (Rep. Campbell), HB 1061 (Rep. Artiles).
SB 1342 (Sen. Abruzzo)
FAC OPPOSES preemption of local decision - making
on the use of red light cameras.
SB 1192 (Sen. Grimsiey), HB 831 (Rep. Fasano)
FAC OPPOSES preemption of local regulation of pain
management clinics.
Protecting Florida's Waters
FAC OPPOSES the preemption of county authority to
regulate the use and application of fertilizer, and supports
allowing counties to develop regional approaches to
protect and improve water quality in recognition of regional
geology and hydrology.
Protecting Local Agricultural Heritage
Florida's agricultural producers provide tremendous
benefits to Florida's citizens and, as such, receive wide
support from local communities.
HB 203 (Rep. Beshears), SB 1190 (Sen. Brandies)
While FAC OPPOSES efforts to preempt local regulation of
agriculturally designated lands, FAC SUPPORTS legislation
that curbs the abuse of agricultural protections by
developers and speculators.
SB 1106 (Sen. Hays), HB 927 (Rep. Raschein)
FAC SUPPORTS agritourism activities that are related
to any produce, merchandise or services that are sold,
produced or manufactured on the farm: FAC SUPPORTS
agritourism on land classified as agricultural land so long as
the activities comply with local land use and environmental
regulations.
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Local Revenues Matter
Maintaining local revenues ensures uninterrupted delivery
of important pubic health, welfare, safety and community
services.
Protect County Health Departments
Bill: Appropriations Act
FAC SUPPORTS maintaining state general revenue for
CHDs and enabling CHDs to transition to managed care,
and opposes any state reductions to County Health
Department Trust Funds.
Fiscal Impact to Local Governments: $140M in SFY 2013,
but consistently cut in recent years
Close Unintended Tau Exemption Loopholes
Bills: SB 928 & SB 740 (Sen. Simpson),
HB 921 (Rep. Renaurt)
FAC SUPPORTS closing the affordable housing tax
exemption loophole that allows for - profit affordable
housing developers to transfer ownership to a non- profit
entity for the purpose of receiving an exemption from ad
valorem taxes.
Negative Fiscal Impact to Local Governments:
up to $140M recurring
Assess the 911 Fee on Prepaid Communications
Bills: HB 807 (Rep_ Steube), SB 1070 (Sen. Hays)
FAC SUPPORTS collection of E -911 fees on prepaid mobile
telecommunications for use in support of local government
emergency communications operations. Passage of the
bill will reverse the continuous revenue decline due to the
growth of prepaid retail sales.
Negative Fiscal Impact to Local Governments: $13.6M
from 2011 to 2012
Commercial Rentals
Bills: HB 629 (Rep. O'Toole), SB 656 (Sen. Hukill)
FAC OPPOSES the phase out of sales and use tax on
commercial rentals.
Negative Fiscal Impact to Local Governments:
$385M annually
Ensuring "Main Street„ Fairness
HB 505 (Rep. Rehwinkel -Vasa] i nda), SB 88 (Sen. Margolis),
SB 316 (Sen. Detert), HB 497 (Rep. Moskowitz), HB 7097
(Rep. Workman)
FAC SUPPORTS legislation that promotes an equitable
competitive environment between "brick and mortar"
businesses and remote business establishments conducting
business in Florida.
Fiscal impact to Local Governments: Revenue Neutral
Maintaining Local Revenues
HB 7109 (Rep. Workman)
FAC SUPPORTS 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. FAC opposes the
elimination of the Local Business Tax. ,
Fiscal Impact to Local Governments: Revenue Neutral
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