CS for CS for SB 1216 Summary

• Creates new Sports Development Program (s. 288.11625) authorizing state funding up to $6 million in fiscal year 2014-2015 and $13 million annually thereafter for construction, renovation, or improvement of professional sports facilities through tax distributions.

• Establishes application and evaluation process with annual application period (June 1 - November 1), requiring Department of Economic Opportunity to recommend applicants to Legislature by February 1 for approval in General Appropriations Act.

• Increases monthly distributions for spring training franchises from $55,555 to $83,333 for single-franchise facilities and from $111,110 to $166,667 for multi-franchise facilities, with distribution periods of 20 years for single-franchise and 25 years for multi-franchise facilities.

• Allows municipalities and counties to use local government half-cent sales tax revenues to reimburse the state for sports facility contracts, and increases county discretionary funding limit from $2 million to $3 million annually.

• Designates state-funded professional sports facilities as mandatory homeless shelter sites during declared federal, state, or local emergencies, with specific exceptions for contractual obligations, staging areas, or sufficient alternative county shelter capacity.