FEDC Inside Track For Legislative Affairs: Governor Signs Bill to Extend Qualified Target Industry Program to 2020

HB 7109 relating to Florida’s Qualified Target Industry (“QTI”) Program was among 26 bills that were passed during the 2010 Florida Legislative Session and signed today, May 27, 2010, by Governor Charlie Crist (to view complete bill information, click on the hyperlink below):

HB 7109 Relating to the Tax Refund Program for QTI

Sponsored by State Representative Jennifer Carroll and Senator Rudy Garcia and passed unanimously by both Chambers, HB 7109 re-enacts the QTI Tax Refund Program, which was scheduled to sunset on June 30, 2010.  It also modifies the QTI Program (“Program”) in the following ways:

• Extends the Program until June 30, 2020
• Directs the Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development (“OTTED”) to begin doing post-award evaluations of QTI recipients for agreements signed after July 1, 2010
• Directs the OTTED and Enterprise Florida, Inc., (“EFI”) to review and revise the targeted industry list, with assistance from academics and stakeholders, every three years to make sure it remains relevant to Florida’s economic recruitment needs. It also provides for the submission of the revised list to the Governor and legislative leadership.
• Creates a definition of “return on investment” (“ROI”) for QTI projects, to mean “the gain in state revenues as a percentage of the state’s investment. The state’s investment includes state grants, tax exemptions, tax refunds, tax credits, and other state incentives”
• Directs the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research (“EDR”) to evaluate EFI’s computer model, which is used to calculate a proposed QTI project’s ROI to ensure its accuracy and effective incorporation of Florida-centric information. This evaluation must occur every three years.
• Specifically makes renewable energy economic development projects eligible for the QTI incentive
• Gives the OTTED discretion to lower the minimum wage threshold from 115 percent to 100 percent of the local or statewide average wage for manufacturing companies
• Allows leased employees to be included in the calculation for the number of jobs created by a QTI business
• Renames the “economic stimulus exemption” to the more accurate term “economic recovery extension,” because the bill allows OTTED to suspend tax refunds to a QTI business that is unable to uphold its commitments under the QTI agreement because of economic reasons

The other bills signed today included:

• HB 7243 relating to Environmental Control
• CS/HB 173 relating to Tax on sales, Use and Other Transactions
• CS/CS/SB 366 relating to Retail Sales of Smoking Pipes and Devices
• CS/HB 449 relating to Sanctions for Certain Court Pleadings    
• SB 502 relating to Special Investigators
• CS/HB 551 relating to Public Records and Meetings/County/Complaints on Conduct/Disclosure
• CS/SB 704 relating to Capital Felonies
• CS/HB 731 relating to Commercial Transactions
• SB 808 relating to Murder/Unlawful Distribution of Methadone    
• CS/CS/SB 998 relating to Trust Administration 
• CS/SB 1012 relating to Juvenile Justice Facilities and Programs 
• SB 1150 relating to Registration/Farm Labor Contractors and Employees     
• CS/CS/SB 1152 relating to Funeral, Cemetery and Consumer Services Act
• CS/CS/HB 1237 relating to Probate Procedures      
• HB 1401 relating to Export of Goods, Commodities, & Things of Value to Foreign Countries 
• CS/CS/HB 1411 relating to Foreclosures     
• CS/CS/CS/SB 2086 relating to Consumer Debt Collection          
• CS/HB 7109 relating to Tax Refund Program for Qualified Target Industry Businesses 
• CS/HB 7157 relating to Taxation
• CS/HB 7179 relating to Qualifying Improvements to Real Property
• CS/HB 7205 relating to Professional Sports Franchises  
• HB 7219 relating to Corporate Income Tax  
• CS/1st Eng. SB 2046 relating to Employee Leasing Companies
• HB 7019 relating to the Mortgage Guaranty Trust Fund
• HB 7121 relating to Open Government Sunset Review/Hurricane Loss and Exposure Data
• HB 7217 relating to Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund Emergency Assessments

Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Tracy Mayernick (tmayernick@cftlaw.com) at Colodny Fass.
 

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an email to bellis@cftlaw.com.