2023 legislative update and Live Local Senate Bill 102

50:18Morning Chairman Mari Commissioner. Ralph Lair, Intergovernmental Affairs Officer. So today we're gonna give you the legislative update of the twenty twenty-three session. Uh I'm coming up first and uh then I'll bring up Sean uh Foster. Our contract lobbyists with Sunrise Consulting and then I'll come back and kinda give you uh an overview of uh plans for next session. So I'm just gonna give you like a 30,000 foot of what occurred in the uh this past session. Legislatively, 1,873

50:49bills were filed. Of those three hundred and fifty-six bills passed. At this point in time, two bills have been vetoed. One bill has been signed into law, and appropriations vetoes were done. That's the budget. Uh sixty-two bills have been presented to the governor. Twenty-two bills remain that have not gone to the governor. Six bills were filed with the Secretary. Those are memor uh those are resolutions to Congress. Those

51:19do not go to the uh governor. And then two hundred and sixty three bills have been signed into law. Uh the legislature uh passed uh a hundred and seventeen billion dollar budget. It was about five billion dollars larger than the current year and about twenty-five billion dollars or twenty-seven percent larger than the state spending plan was just three years ago. The spending plan includes about $46.5 billion in general revenue funding and more than $70 billion in trust fund spending that's mostly earmarked

51:49for specific types of needs. Lawmakers in both chambers touted the large amounts of reserves that the legislatures were able to set aside, nearly eleven billion, that will be held back for future needs for the state. On Thursday, june fifteenth, the governor signed the budget. uh which will go into effect july first, but he also v vetoed 331 individual appropriations projects totaling nearly $511 million. So to give you some highlights of particular

52:20bills that passed or did not pass in our li uh our appropriations um issues. Uh I'm gonna bring up Sean Foster.

52:33Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Um, you know, every session we go up there and we're like, this is like the toughest year we've ever seen on local governments. And I I really, you know, and you come back and you're like, it can't be as bad as last year. This year was just as bad as last year and even worse, I think they've hit on. But I'm going to go through. Um Ralph and I had met obviously almost every week during session and you got our reports. We're going to go over some of the bills. Obviously, we tracked about eighty-five to ninety bills. Uh very active of the Florida Association

53:03of Counties and another group that is a a culmination of external lobbyists and internal lobbyists. We meet every Wednesday during session. Mm-hmm. Um so if you can go to the the next page, the kind of overview. I'm just gonna touch base one more. Um real quick, 117 billion. I wanted to give you a comparison though, real quick, to understand how big the budget's gotten. In 2012, 2013, our budget was seventy billion. So just put that in context. We're moving into a $117 billion, almost $120 billion budget, and

53:33we are only $70 million ten years ago. I wanted to give you a breakdown so you can kind of know where those dollars come from a little bit too. Forty six point five of our billion of our budget comes from general revenue, uh, almost thirty billion come from trust funds, and the remainder $41 billion is pass-throughs of the Federal Government. We have had a lot of the government. Extra Federal Government dollars since COVID, those are trickling to almost five years and will stop in the in the next two years. And so that has very much helped our reserves. Let me just give you something on our reserves real quick.

54:06We only had four billion dollars in reserves. Let me let that hit first. We only had enough to last less than 14 days. Today, because of the reserves that the Governor and the Legislature have done, we have moved into now over $33 billion. We are higher than the average than other States have around the nation, and we are in a very, very good position. How many

54:26days is that?

54:27Pardon me?

54:27How many days is that?

54:28I think we have moved up to 35 or 36, but again, going back from the 16, that's moving up. is going higher, but so is our budget. So you have to get a higher percentage. But I mean for us to put away dollars that we have the past two years have been phenomenal. We have been very, very responsible. Uh next one.

54:45Especially on the heels of a of a hur hurricane like we had.

54:48Correct. A absolutely. And we've and we have. We've been and Yeah I I know you mentioned a little bit, Ralph, but there are is almost another half billion dollars for counties impacted by the hurricanes. There was a hundred million dollars uh down there just for the transportation and the in the bridge that you all saw that was devastated, huge numbers. You see that the big highlights, Florida retirement system. We'll touch base on that a little bit. Land use and development, property insurance, elections, school choice. Those were the really the policy highlights, as you could tell. And you know, this is

55:18a leadership driven process. You have got a Speaker of the House, you have a Senate President, you have the Governor, and therein lies those priorities, and hopefully you have a smooth session. I I think we you can go to the next one as I'm talking if you don't mind. We had a really, really smooth session, I have to really say the two um houses got along really well. Uh they were able to compromise and kind of both come out as they felt as winners. And I think the governor, as you probably saw, pretty much got almost, you know, everything he wanted. Uh a couple highlights on here. Uh $2.7 billion in

55:49tax relief and permanent sales tax. We're going to talk about the fertilizer injunction a little bit that's going to be impacting counties. And the last one there, I just wanted to highlight the $4 billion moving forward initiative. It's prioritizing and accelerating the completion of 20 critical transportation projects around the state. One day we'll get done with IP. four, right? One day we'll get an O'I four. I know uh Commissioner Seth uh Weightman is very happy about this one, one and a half million. I

56:19know the school board is too. I even got a call from the schools. They were super excited about this one and how it's going to impact students' safety uh along that roadway. Uh one and a half million. I think we had originally asked for two million.

56:33Uh just wanna remind everybody too this this went through Senator Hooper's uh committee. He is the Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations. He's that he's the TED Appropriations Chair for one more year. After that, the TV is a good thing. We're in a pretty good position. He is the appropriations chair under under Senator Albreton. Um so Pasco County has been very benefited by appropriational shares in the past with Senator Wilton Simpson and of course Richard Corcoran. We'll will we will have Ed Hooper uh in another year. You can go to the next one. Uh the

57:03vetoed one of course. I wanted to bring this up to you just to kind of highlight a few things. Um when Ralph and I did some research, we found a kind of common denominator around the Tampa Bay area. This item was previously vetoed by the governor. Um Hernando County government, their only project that was vetoed was also previously vetoed by the governor, the city of Emberness, City of Brooksville, and another small city in Lake County, just of the first five or six that I found in ours, every single one of those were vetoed last year, were also vetoed this year. So just take that into consideration.

57:34Um I don't know if that was their baseline, if they were looking, but a high percentage of projects uh unfortunately were vetoed were vetoed previously. We don't get an exact reason why. I'm just if we can ask and we'll just say it just wasn't the governor's priority. Even though there could be a boat ramp in Miami that got funded. It's so it's kinda hard to get the rh rhymes and reason. Next one. Um Pasco County Fire Mobile Command. I also wanted to show you that we did some research on the budget. almost seventy five percent of the

58:04projects that were good to go to anything for fire departments were vetoed if they were not a fiscally restrained county. That one I did get communications on. They the governor has made it a high priority for these type of projects to go to fiscally restrained county. It is not in law, it is not in a rule, it is just the governor's priority that he feels that these dollars are very, very little that they are able to get give to uh fire departments and his preferences to fiscally restrained counties in the uh that are listed in the state statute. Any

58:35questions on that part? We're doing good. All right. We're going to go to the uh some of the legislation. And I'm I'm kind of gonna go obviously we're we're talking about this one, next one, Senate Bill 102. That that is a 95-page bill. Just let you know. So we're putting this into a couple bullet points in here, but that's a hundred-page bill. Uh it was the president's priority, and it's very, very complicated. And so if there you have any questions on it, um Seth, you and I have talked about it. And I want to tell you and give you a good indication before I even get into this. On the preemption part, I've already talked to Senator Hooper. Senator Hooper

59:05would like to meet with the County about it the concerns that we have on it and the implications that it has for future growth and economic development projects. and I talked to him on uh last Thursday about it. Um he's also even had other folks in the community already step up and talk to them and tell them how unhappy they are about that. So I thought you'd be kinda happy about that part.

59:26And just so you know, I'm not sure. When Mr. Foster wraps up I'll have more comments on on this bill. uh with the with the group here. So Just get

59:38ready. No, you're you're yeah, we'll do it. Why don't we go through this rule real quick and then we'll go to that in. That's okay, Mr. Chairman. Um you see the numbers, the two hundred and fifty-two million uh going to ship, 109 million to sale, uh $100 million loan program that's going to private companies alleviating the inflation for related costs, $100 million to establish the Florida Hometown Hero Payment Assistant Program. So there are there you know when you went through this bill and I've talked about the People. There are good things in there, but then there's the next part on the other side, preempting the local governments that the Commissioner is getting

1:00:08ready to talk about in commercial and industrial and mixed use zones. It's going to prohibit rent controls, going to provide technical assistance to local governments to facilitate the use and lease of local government property for affordable housing purposes, and the last introduces several property tax exemptions for affordable housing. What does

1:00:26that mean, provide technical assistance?

1:00:29Uh guidance, that is a good one. I might have to get a little bit more I think there was some rulemaking authority in that, so that was in there. I don't have all that, and that is stuff that Ralph and I will be working on shortly with the departments on that information for you. But let's talk. I mean it it is. I mean I I will tell you I've I just want you to know it has been a conversation not just here but also in in other counties already around the state. It has been the one issue Commissioner Weightman, that I have felt that the legislature was going to come and hear from the local governments and go back and I hope, I

1:00:59don't want to give you an indication that it would. I felt that this was one of the ones that they were going to hear directly from folks and know that they needed to go back and correct an issue that you had, if you want to go ahead and step in and talk about that for a second.

1:01:09Commission Weightman. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair.

1:01:12Foster

1:01:13and Chair.

1:01:16Well, first, let's go back to the the sidewalks. You know, heck. Sorry. I mean, as a freshman commissioner to have our appropriation make it through, uh, I just want to say thank you to you guys and Ralph and everybody here. Uh and my appreciation.

1:01:37uh obviously Senator Hooper for chairing and and supporting supporting our school kids and Representative Maggard in his WIP capacity. Uh and then the remainder of the delegation, uh Senator Angolia, Rep Yeager and Rec Rec Holcomb for for their hard work. This is a great win for our school kids and uh on the campaign trail, uh Commissioner Bradford and I. We heard it very loud and clear. Sidewalks are needed when courtesy busing was ended and kids needed to walk to school. And so very excited for the for the everybody

1:02:07who attends Denim Oaks and Pine View Middle and Pine View Elementary that uh we scored some money and excited for the school board. A true team effort and thank you to uh our our partners at the school board for helping support and and getting this money for sidewalks. And as it comes in, I guess this is uh kind of a a directive for the right-of-way. Mr Carball and his team Let's be expeditious in getting these built for our kids. Courtesy busing is probably not coming back anytime soon. Drivers are in short supply for anybody who

1:02:37needs a driver. But uh it's exciting. It's exciting for me. I think it's exciting for our school kids and our community. So thank you Sean and Ralph and in everybody uh for the sidewalks. And uh now we get into the

1:02:53Here. So Live Local is here in Pasco.

1:03:01And we know where

1:03:04Housing rich and jobs poor. And so with that I'll ask Mr. Goldstein. There's a slide, I'll start off with this. Mr. Goldstein, there's a slide up here I'd like you to help folks understand. What this slide means. And so ask Mr. Golsing to take it and then we'll come back.

1:03:18This was a slide that was done by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. And if you look at the same thing, I'm going It's basically showing you which counties have a positive jobs to housing balance and then with those that have a negative jobs to housing balance. And so I think when Senate Bill was originally proposed it was sorta done as a one size fits all, but I'm not sure it really is appropriate for certain counties. And by for example, if you look on this chart All of the counties to would also say on the left side of the chart Basically

1:03:49have they're unbalanced. In other words, they have far more housing than they have jobs and that's why they're they're showing as being jobs poor. So If you look at Pasco and Hernando They're We're out of balance. In other words, we have far more housing than we have jobs. So To me, Senate Bill one oh two didn't make sense to be applying to the counties on the left side of this chart because They need their commercial and industrial areas to get back into balance. In other words, they

1:04:20need to have those areas for job production the need for housing is not as great um for the counties on the left. I think the Senate Bill One O two was probably designed for the counties on the right. which are jobs rich. In other words, they have an ample supply of jobs and not enough housing to support those jobs. And so The problem was that one or two just did a brush across the whole state and said everybody's equal or you know, gonna allow affordable housing in all commercial industrial areas But they didn't take into

1:04:50account the fact that there are certain counties that need those commercial industrial areas. To support job production. So that's basically what this chart means. So the hope would be that we could get some kind of exemption next session. Dead. provide some ability for the counties on the left. to reserve the commercial industrial areas for job production.

1:05:11Yeah, if I could just say this is the type of chart that your legislative delegation starting with Senator Hooper uh should see and have that conversation. I think a lot of them would agree. The other part would is like I said, this is a Senate president's priority. And it would be really wise maybe, uh, Commissioner Starkey, having a conversation with uh President uh Senate future Senate President Albreton and having Senator Alberton kind of having that conversation maybe. But I think it's a conversation we start with the delegation and then leadership.

1:05:38And we and we know thank you Sean and thank you, Mr. Goldstein, for Sharing that chart with everybody. Yeah. We have career source Pasco Hernando here trying to get people in the workforce. We have partners with AM skills trying to get people in the workforce. When these opportunities are taken away from us and our decision making ability to protect these these preciously zoned properties is taken away from us, it's like that's the main part of a part of this job. So right now today. Before July one, We have three. Live local. Projects

1:06:08in our pipeline. In Pasco's pipeline. They're all three on C two. zone properties. All three. Yeah. They're not going to be able to do that. Blighted areas. They're not areas of redevelopment. The prime time areas were good Good building products going in. And that's good tax revenue to our county. In these three projects right now. Have a total of seven hundred

1:06:39and eighty six units. that are in the pipeline for application that we have no control over. This board has no control over over, there's no proper planning for these. So for traffic, road rays, etcetera To come in with these number of units. And Alex Alt's here. And this is this is how challenging this is when we're planning and budget wise for our sheriff and for our police and fire. in how we are gonna go about managing this and how we budget, especially 'cause they're tax exempt. I think it's

1:07:09important that we hear from a representative from our sheriff's office To understand how they view it through their lens, just residential in general, but specifically on planned Growth in these high-dense areas. So, Alex, I appreciate you being here.

1:07:22Thank you, Commissioner. Uh, Alexander Alt, Intergovernmental Affairs Officer for the Pasco Sheriff's Office. So, yes, so this is um something I'm sure um, you know, as Sean and Mr. Goldstein mentioned, uh big priority for the Senate President and the legislature this last session. Um and and as Sean noted, uh what it really impacts is those. properties that are zoned commercial, industrial, and in mixed use, and basically says that for those properties as as you mentioned, Commissioner, uh are allowed to be multifamily as

1:07:52long as they have a certain percentage uh for affordable housing. Um and as all of the commissioners commissioners I'm sure have heard, there's something the sheriff has talked about uh numerous times as far as as we've seen the growth in the county. You know, whenever you get uh piece of land that was either zoned to agriculture or commercial use and basically becomes either multifamily or some large housing development, um you see a continued strength. On government services, whether that be the sheriff's office, you know, fire

1:08:22rescue, or just all government services in general. And the sheriff's had some presentations and talked about this in the past as well. And you know, we've seen that as well with uh a study that the Department of Agriculture did that shows that commercial land and agricultural land use roughly, as far as public safety is concerned, use roughly about 30 cents to the dollar that of revenue that you bring in. But for residential uses, you see it uses about a dollar and sixteen. So you're losing about 16 cents whenever

1:08:52you take land that is agriculture or commercial turned into residential. Now that all being said, you know, the sheriffs talked to all to all of you about this in the past, um, and this is something that we've said that we want to bring to the commissioner's attention uh as you formulate. Your budgets and work on development for the future in the county. So we'd largely defer to you guys on that, but that was something that we wanted to make sure we brought to your awareness as well.

1:09:16Thank you, Alex. Thank you so much. So Sean and Ralph and Mike, when When we look at losing these properties to a live local product. Was it forty percent? Has to be affordable and sixty percent. They can be they can thirty thirty years, right? Thirty tax exempt, pre empty from taxes for thirty years.

1:09:37The

1:09:37whole

1:09:37complex or just

1:09:38the ones that are forty

1:09:39percent?

1:09:40The entire property, the entire thing. So sixty percent could be paying rents of not affordable, whatever that definition is of AMI. And then there's forty percent. So the exemption We we really I don't know how to even quantify if these if these three projects qualify in Pasco they keep growing. Again, it's three of them, almost eight hundred units. It's not even July first. We have no control. What are we losing in revenues? So it it's forcing us to figure

1:10:10out well and the sheriff to to figure out a way to budget his folks and fire to budget their folks. We have to still provide services. I think there's a transportation component to it, right? If there's not a transportation piece within a certain amount of feet then Local government has to provide the right-of-way. Correct me if I'm wrong, somebody please. We have to provide a a public transit route to these these sites that might not even be in a in a bus route. So there's there's a lot of challenges. I don't think our are Our

1:10:40legislature meant any ill intent. There's a lot of good portions of this bill. But in local government pieces, especially counties like ours and other, you know, rural and growing counties. We we really need to stand together and lock arms to protect our our job creating sites. And that's not something I'm willing to back off of as much as I appreciate our delegation and our state and our governor Uh I mean they partnered with us to help our kids with a million and a half dollars for sidewalks. I

1:11:10mean that's fantastic. But this is a good one. These kids are gonna grow up one day and I hope they wanna live here. Raise a family here and work here. I don't want to see those sites disappear because they're not a dime a dozen. So I just wanted to raise awareness and share my concern. uh to it and I think time is of of the essence. I can't imagine what we're gonna look like twelve months from now next session, Sean. Um so with that I I'll close and and thank you for your work and leave it over.

1:11:37Mr Starkey Yeah I did not know we had these three applications. Can someone tell me where they are?

1:11:45I I believe we've got uh one in the um holiday area. There's there's another couple off of uh off of uh Zephyrhills in that in that area. They're not formal applications at this time. With there's interest that's been expressed. So July 1st is when these things take effect. So we don't have any formal site plans submitted yet. This is this is what's out there on the wire currently.

1:12:08Mr. Chairman Mariano. Andy, do you have where these things are, these projects are located exactly? 'Cause there's two on the west side and The the West Side Districts and there's one in Commissioner Oakley's district.

1:12:19Yes, sir. I have a spreadsheet I'm happy to share with the whole commission or if the team wants to. But off the top of my head, uh Commissioner Starkey, one is on Mitchell Boulevard. Um one is on fifty four in Zephyrhills. It is in District One, but in um Near uh Not far from Lake Bernadette and then the other one is in District Five, Mr. Chairman. Um it is on nineteen, but it's in your portion further north.

1:12:50You know whereabouts.

1:12:51Uh I would have to pull it on the map. I have the parcel IDs and all that as a spectrum. North or south of fifty-two? I'm sorry? North or south of fifty-two? I don't recall at this exact moment. Okay. And I

1:13:02don't

1:13:02want to be able to do that.

1:13:06Whatever the the rules are to share with these these these are I share with the each commissioner, please.

1:13:11Could you put that graph up again?

1:13:15Thank you, Andy.

1:13:16Thank you, Andy.

1:13:18Thank you, Chairman Mariano.

1:13:20Now th that the graph is a very telling thing as far as coming up.

1:13:24Hill point is what they're calling a thirty acre parcel.

1:13:30Nineteen. Northwest side of nineteen.

1:13:32Okay. So

1:13:34okay, look up the middle.

1:13:35With all the counties, I'm assuming all these dots represent the sixty-seven counties, correct?

1:13:39Mitchell. Yes, there just wasn't enough room to put every county on on the ground.

1:13:43So I I would say everything from let's say that her net align at at point eight. We should definitely have all those counties. Should be excited about trying to turn this thing back, maybe even as far as point nine. To go take a look. Because if we're gonna look at the effect of what we just heard with the Sheriff's Office, all these apartments coming in. Without the jobs to go with it. It just it just kills us and uh we just keep doing it over and over to ourselves. Um we need to slow this down to not incentivize

1:14:13even more coming forward. Um and I would think with Florida Association Accounties meeting The following week This is a good time to rally with this group to get them together to put on FAC's notice to say, this is what they're doing to us, this is what the effects can be, and let's go get this from the county perspective and make this a big priority for them for the coming for the coming year. Other thing I think when I look at the we've got everyone's got the session dates calendar. Starting September eighteenth to twenty uh sep September eighteenth to twenty two of

1:14:43this year. First committee week is number one. Sean, I probably want to lean on your expertise a bit as far as when's the best time for us to go up there. Obviously we've learned earlier is better. So with this issue especially being a leading one. Exactly. So let's get started early though. Let's start up be have an effective uh presentation coming in the first committee week if you think it's appropriate. If it's the second one's better because of different things, so be it. But we definitely want to get their committee weeks, not just like when everything's already been done and decided by by their own meetings. Ralph?

1:15:14Yeah, and I have some planning uh uh dates already scheduled that we'll talk about when Sean gets done. If you can get him back on his presentation, he's got a few more bills and we'll we'll discuss that.

1:15:25Mr. Chairman Mariano emphasize real quick that you know Ralph and I were just talking, you mentioned fact. You all need to collaborate together, work together, make this a priority for fact. I mean I'm not talking number twenty, I'm talking right up there, number one, number two, number three. This needs to be a major priority. Um and yes, we will we will absolutely start earlier. And I'll go on to our the next bill. Just remembering I think it's a good analysis. A couple years ago I saw Pasco and Economic Development. put out a a um a powerpoint. It had Pasco County, more people leaving Pasco County to

1:15:55work in another county than any other county in the Tampa Bay area. Hernando was up there pretty high in search, but Pasco was hadn't the most. Those are the type of things we really need to emphasize to our delegation. We need to keep our folks home, we need to keep these jobs here and continue to increase economic development. So um I've got the message and I think Commissioner Oakley, Chairman had one more

1:16:14question. I um I know we're we're kinda upside down right now, but what's in the pipeline coming to Pasco County and east Pasco County? There's a lot more uh warehouse and jobs coming in the east Pasco County. With a tune of probably a hundred and one thousand jobs coming along with it. And for the future of what's coming in jobs for East Pasco and Pasco County and and as a whole. We don't have enough housing for the jobs that we're gonna be

1:16:45uh making come forward in the near future. But Commissioner Oakley, what if you're upside down right now, but it's coming. So I'll give you an example. Moffitt's a big deal. Sixteen million square foot of of Doctor Space, research space, all that. Right at seventy five and fifty two. in that quadrant or those corners. We're going to have over twenty one milyen square fit. of different businesses coming in with jobs. In that area.

1:17:15So in that pipeline there's 101,000 jobs coming. and we don't have enough housing for the jobs we have. in the near

1:17:23future. So shouldn't the focus be with Moffitt coming in, they've got tens of residential development approvals all around them. Right. Around 7552 it's coming all around them. Shouldn't the focus be Bring the jobs, the housing will come right with it, right behind. Instead of us being what we built is a bedroom community first and then we started getting the good stuff. Well we're in a position right now we can control what we want to get. As as someone said, we're the prettiest girl at the dance. Thank you, Cabrella. So so

1:17:53let's make it work where let's go get the stuff we want to get in, let's go get the jobs here, and then go figure out where the housing should go, rather than just go, let's get the housing because the jobs are coming. As you can see with the chart, the houses are

1:18:05coming right along the same place.

1:18:06But right now we're back on the chart that shows we're back on the other side of this. We still have too many houses for the jobs we got. And the more land we take up for more and more housing approvals, all it's

1:18:21Two large warehouses coming there. They're they're breaking ground on uh July So let's look at the July. That's coming.

1:18:29So let's look for that going around there.

1:18:31One warehouse there is 1.3 million and the other one is 1.6 million square feet. And jobs. Commissioner

1:18:38Weightman. Thank you, Chair. Great dialogue. So this is this is a point in this bill that I want everybody to understand. Any property that's currently zoned. Commercial. Industrial and light industrial. If there are not conditions or deed restrictions on these properties, all the all the property that you talk about. That's coming in in in your area, Commissioner Oakley.

1:19:03To Senate Bill one O Two. That landowner. can take their property that has these job creating zonings that we intend and plan for and zone properly for the jobs you talk about and can sell that To an affordable live local affordable uh housing multifamily vendor. Without our consent. And these job creating can sites can be eroded away and completely changed the makeup of our industrial

1:19:33hubs, our job creating sites without our control. Any property that's already zoned that we're talking about is vulnerable to being plucked off, and then there's a tax exemption for 30 years. So that revenue we're planning for in the future. is erased. And then there's extensions. on that that after thirty years that that that these projects can be extended For a longer period of time and be tax exempt and preemptive from taxes for local t governments capture money to be able to fund the necessary services that are provided.

1:20:04So it's fantastic that we have to do. These mega job hubs coming here. My concern is It's a greater it's a it's a great concern. And then we've seen it because all three of these are on C two zonings that were intended to be job creating revenue sites and tax dollars coming into our county. to be eroded away and the landowner not want to wait around and they cut a deal with with a live local builder. And it's and it's gone and it changed the makeup of the Pasco Town Center. Changed the makeup of what we have going on on

1:20:34on fifty two on the what we're talking about here on between uh on the on the south side of fifty two between Old Pasco Road to Aaron Cutoff. Anything that's zoned to create a job in this county currently is vulnerable. And we've seen that the people who want to build this product We'll go after those. All three commercially zoned sites. And so That's why I I'm I'm bringing this to our attention today that That we we really need to take a look and understand

1:21:05and be mindful and watchful, especially our Planning Commission. If they start seeing

1:21:11Changes coming in, Mr. Goldstein, for not Resi, but for commercial and industrial coming in. Make sure that that the Planning Commission understands that hey, we need to call the question What what what's the intent here? Because anything with those zonings are are vulnerable.

1:21:27So Uh Mr. Chairman so we are already doing that for so If it's a new commercial or industrial mixed use project Staff routinely ask the applicant if they're willing to de-destrict it to prevent the application of Senate Bill 102. The issue that we have is that anything the old commercial zonings, the old industrial zonings, the predated Any recent approvals You Ms. Commissioner Weightman's absolutely right. We can't stop those from becoming multifamily.

1:21:55Um can I get confirmation that they're not that that um And maybe Andy's the one here who's read the whole thing, but that they don't have to pay taxes for thirty years. We're trying to find it here in here. That's that's That's very egregious to me because where do we get the money for the support services that come along with residential?

1:22:18So Andy Taylor, legislative aid to Commissioner Weightman for the clerk. So it's a complicated bill. I think there's a sliding scale I would probably defer to the to the lobbyist and the attorneys. There are significant property tax exemptions, the 40 percent is um Uh they have to maintain it for thirty years, the forty percent that's part of it. I believe there's a sliding scale on AMI um where they have that. There is

1:22:48a piece that, but I would honestly rather defer to the lobbyist than attorney. So I don't speak to the Mr. Andy, where's

1:22:53the Ralph sent out a bullet point list in Goldstein when this was going on? I think it's important that we're not going to be able to do We read those bullet points off of what what we know for a fact.

1:23:04I for B. But Ralph may have a specific. Like that. Oh yes, that's right. Ralph actually sent that out via email again this morning. And

1:23:15can we get that up in a screen? I have it up. It does say that the tax exemption exp sunsets on December thirty first of twenty fifty nine.

1:23:22Oh, oh, how wonderful.

1:23:27So let me uh does anyone know d is any um multifamily a for workforce housing or what do we call it, tax exempt? Or are these getting something special? Because I don't recall that they're all right.

1:23:43I think what you're seeing, Commissioner, is this is a blunt force instrument, as as David kind of put it, a broad brush to to essentially you lack your local control. So you can provide incentives for affordable housing in any manner in which you choose, including where you zone them, where you put them. What this bill does is it takes your existing lands that you have already got set aside, commercial industrial. industrial, light industrial and Essentially gives you no choice in the matter.

1:24:08No, I I understand that, but if they're gonna be tax exempt, if a work multifamily workforce housing project can be tax exempt for thirty years, does that include others like Dominium that's that are coming in? And others that are building workforce housing.

1:24:30What this does is basically takes away your your power to do it. You have to provide this is the deal. This is the deal versus you crafting the deal into what makes sense for us as accounting.

1:24:40I'm just gonna clarify on the um On the tax exemption, what it means is that all developers can now receive a property tax exemption on the portion of their properties used for affordable housing.

1:24:53So the forty percent. So they got a forty percent reduction.

1:24:55Correct. Correct. If their properties qualify, uh including market rate developers, and then affordable housing property tax exemptions in the section nine of the bill. Um Like I said, uh,

1:25:09Sunsets in December first, uh, twenty fifty nine.

1:25:12But Ralph, that that section leads with Notwithstanding Two other sections. The Board of County Commissioners of the County or governing body of the municipality may adopt an ordinance to exempt those portions of the property used to provide affordable housing meeting the requirements of this section. That to me gives them the option

1:25:35Uh yeah, okay, you're reading that whole story. We were reading the Bill Summers. I gave you the summary, but you're uh letting we'd have to go back in there and look at that just to uh verify on the

1:25:44there may be something else buried in here, but there's

1:25:47a line.

1:25:47The language in section nine seems to give them the discretion of whether they adopt that exemption.

1:25:53So there's actually two different exemptions. Okay. There's a local option one, and then there's a mandatory one that we have no control. Okay. So you probably reading the local option.

1:26:04Right. Why what would what would be optional if there's another one that's mandatory someplace else in the bill?

1:26:12Yeah.

1:26:12So so to that point and and Ralph will go here when when Sean is finished and kind of talk about our approach to next uh next session's legislative process. These are things that we will go over. We'll look at revenue implications, what that means for the county, and we're we're gonna come up with a strategy to work with our local delegation to hopefully make some changes to this. And that'll be part of the process that Ralph is gonna outline when Sean is done.

1:26:36Well I think what we need to do we will talk about committee meetings coming up, session dates coming up and the FAC thing coming up. But I think

1:26:44uh to uh assistance here uh with government affairs need to get together uh and and go figure out where do we actually stand. Is one mandatory, is one not mandatory, does the mandatory one overrule the other one? Let's go find out what's really in the bill. And figure put a put a strategy together. So that I think that needs to be Top priority. Uh with the next couple of days. So

1:27:04what Ralph and I had already talked about is we're going

1:27:06to

1:27:06be putting together a one pager for you. We will work with Andy and others and your county attorneys. This could be that type of information that you would pass out to the

1:27:14Legislative Dillard. I think it

1:27:15is

1:27:15deeper than what we just heard right here with this dialogue. We

1:27:18are

1:27:18not sure what we got in the bill. You'll read a summary, he's reading the actual bill. We have conflicting information. Let's go find out what is in the bill and put a plan together. But I think you guys really need to get together. Yeah. Tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Anything else for that? Well, Chairman Mariano.

1:27:36Thank everybody. I'm going

1:27:37to

1:27:37go over brief. Real brief with a few other bills. Um the County Attorney is already very familiar with Senate Bill 170 uh that's coming up that relates to challenging uh local ordinances. Um this was local government must produce a and post a business impact estimate. It's gonna actually even Um limit there's the attorney fees. If you lose, local ordinance will have to be suspended if an ordinance has been challenged. So all that's in there. I know Mr. Steinsteiner and his folks are familiar with it, but if you need more information on that, we'll provide that also for you. 1604,

1:28:08that's the next big one. This is a you'll not want to talk about another complicated bill, a bill that changed throughout session. I'm gonna say these words to you. Uh the Reedy Creek, uh, this was Was the Reedy Creek bill for the Disney bill?

1:28:25This is a great example of what happens during session. This was a strike all amendment. They redid everything and came in with this language and changed what the entire bill had. The first two bullet points are the most important.

1:28:42year period and uh the five and ten. But most important you'll see there it's going to remove local government's ability to re uh require building design elements for residential dwellings and plan unit developments and master plan communities. So again this was a Priority of the governor on the bottom, not the other item. So they kind of mix this bill together. That's where that culmination came through. And we'll give you again a lot of information. That is a very large bill. Not really going to go into much on to 1379. I'll

1:29:12just t touch on two fifty. Um but Senate Bill two fifty says for under the emergency management that you won't be able to increase the building fees until October twenty-four. And it'll actually clarify Well the issue before a forty-five day grace period following a hurricane for derelict vehicles. There's other bullet points on there, but I know we've we've gone on, but if there's any questions on that, we're happy to provide it. And uh the the last two. I'll kind of just mention H B 89. Yes, sir. Just go back to that

1:29:40previous one.

1:29:40Yes, sir. I figured there would be more questions.

1:29:42Yeah, so on that on that on the H Bill 1379, I think it's something we need really good to take a close look at. The uh new Puritic plant that we have as it discharges water from the reports we are getting, it's killing a lot of sea life, wildlife out there. The neighbors complained about it. That looks like exactly what we're talking about as far as trying to put something together. Big project, but instead of going for small stuff, let's go for a big one.

1:30:03Yes, sir.

1:30:04Okay.

1:30:05I'll just leave then on uh H. Bay Nine. Uh it's going to prohibit local government. Again, I told you in the beginning this was a a lot on uh mandates that are unfunded and and prohibitions against government, ending on this one. It is going to prohibit local governments from making substantive changes to building plans after a building permit has been issued, unless such changes are required under the Building Code and Fire Prevention Code. And lastly, If the local government makes changes to building plans after a permit has been issued Uh the local government must identify in

1:30:35writing what it does not to conform to that applicable quote. So as you can see, then there was just some of the touches. There are other bills that uh Ralph and I followed for you throughout session. Any of the information that the staff or the uh your attorneys need on the bills, we'll be happy to provide it. I am actually thrilled to see you all so involved and an unfortunate, you know, the issue that had been mandated to us. It it is something I think we need to act act upon quickly and we'll do it. We'll make sure we'll get it. We need to make it in very understandable terms on like a one or two pager

1:31:06for our legislative delegation. Um because you can assess right here. We're trying to figure out everything that happened and these folks you know how to come through them very quickly and they're gonna have to assess this before they get back into their session. It's gonna be happening very quickly in September. So Uh it's a pleasure representing you. Commissioner Bradford, glad to see you back there, my friend, and congratulations grandfather uh Mariano and on a ha healthy grandbaby. Yes, sir.

1:31:30Thank you.

1:31:34Do you have a little more clarity on the right-of-way? Which bill was it that dealt with that was a Reedy Creek bill with architectural design standards and lot sizes? That one. Can we go into a little more detail On on that piece, please.

1:31:46Yeah, I guess, sorry.

1:31:51Well I started with the good stuff.

1:31:53Of course. These were the two big ones, yeah, one one oh two one oh two and sixteen oh four. Um

1:32:00What kind of questions did you have, Commissioner, on on some of these, on how it happened, where it was? These are just four brief points.

1:32:06Yeah, so last board meeting we started talking about, you know, I think our boards looked at quality and value in our building products, kicking off this twenty twenty three with with our new board. Twenty three three three commission and we brought up. You know, uh setbacks and in architectural design with landscaping and uh townhomes and Uh Commissioner Starkey ad pre was it last board meeting with the presentation that we were discussing on working with the development community and TBBA

1:32:36on on what we want the the product to look like And I don't think that we just want to have to bluntly say no or vote no on certain product. We want to been able to Massage it, right? And get get what's best for that area. Um Do you foresee any ability to Loosen the reins a bit. That way we can have better discretion maybe

1:33:07next year on on what we want to see built here. I mean, we're housing rich, right? We're ha we're very housing rich and it's selling for astronomical prices these days. So we of course we want the product to look good. And so does the homeowner, the the investor. So I know he's

1:33:24gonna read them up. I was gonna say we did put together that amendment. We did put together your request. We were told adamantly no. I mean it was it is not happening, we're not changing it. I mean it was very adamant. So we did bring the concerns to uh the sponsors of the bill. Blah sense I'm sorry, Senator Ngolia was the sponsor of that bill. Uh and the information I think again that one of the folks that we need to go to immediately. Uh He swore that this was a priority higher than him than he wasn't able to change, but I'll let Ralph kinda take it from there.

1:33:53But this is on forty and fifty foot lots? Is that what this is?

1:33:57And anything.

1:33:58Yeah. Or any

1:33:59of the things that we're doing

1:33:59any architectural standards. Which we are

1:34:01forty and fifty. Sixty foot lots are above. Those are that product's a little bit better and uh you know you're gonna get a lot more.

1:34:07We don't have to have that product. So you don't.

1:34:09That you th bottom line you can also do.

1:34:11I don't have a problem if they don't build something nice for our county, we don't have to have that. Yeah, bottom line you can

1:34:16have. Commissioner, that's my point to that, what to Commissioner Oakley's comments. I don't think this board just Wants to draw a hard line and say no, we want to have the discretion. to approve the appropriate product, building product in the appropriate space. And to be able to have You know, I think that's a good thing.

1:34:39regardless of how large or small the lot size of the house is, We want a good quality home for our residents to live in and be proud of of what's here. And I hope the builder is proud of what they build here. That is why I bring this up is exactly to Commissioner Oakley's point, is we're being forced to potentially make a hardline decision where or we wouldn't maybe necessarily have to do that. Mr.

1:35:01Chairman Mariano. So this bill does not prevent a developer from imposing their own private architectural requirements. So what's happened since this bill took effect is There's probably I've seen at least three or four projects that have forty and fifty-foot lots. They are putting new language in their M PDs that says that the developer will on their own Will impose these restrictions on themselves. So that's how they're attempting to get around. Some of them. Some of them are, right? But they don't have to not

1:35:29all of them. But they don't have to do that.

1:35:31That's the problem.

1:35:32Yeah, you don't have much leverage, but you have some leverage to work with them, and you are finding that some developers are willing to do that.

1:35:38But to Commissioner Oakley's point, if they don't agree to it, in theory you could just not approve forty and fifty-foot lots for that MPUD. I agree with that statement one hundred percent.

1:35:46We have a choice but we have lights. But I will tell you th I've been out looking at different communities because we've been talking about the forties and fifties and I've been doing that over the last two or three weeks. We have a lot of guys stepping to the table to do better landscaping, better architecture. And they're willing to do that. Those that aren't willing to do that don't have to build here. They can build somewhere else.

1:36:10W wait till it's my my time. Yeah.

1:36:13Okay.

1:36:16I g I gotta say this is great discussion. This is what your legislative process should be. This is how we do it at FAC. We have these discussions. We bring forward legislation. As you said, Commissioner, y this is coming up uh with the annual uh convention next week. Uh I know that Commissioner Starkey and Commissioner Mariano as board members uh and Chairs of some of the subcommittees, you will be there. Um and we need to start working with on that one bill to live local. Those counties

1:36:47that fall within that perimeter because I can assure you that there are sixty-six other counties that are struggling with Live Local now and trying to understand it now that session has come to an end. Going forward. When we when we do uh our legislation, uh that's what I wanted to bring up. So as you saw in one of those handouts I gave you, session dates during an election year are moved up in the const uh how we did it in in in state law. So committee w uh meetings start um the week of September eighteenth. Uh

1:37:17and then October ninth, October sixteenth, November sixth, November thirteenth, December fourth, December eleventh. And then the first day of session is January ninth. That being said I know the delegation is currently uh discussing and looking at a delegation meeting, but to avoid the delegation meeting Uh what we're proposing to do with how we handle our process in house and moving forward with our legislation, I have given

1:37:47you some planning dates. And the planning dates is when We as the organization, as the county and and the employees, we now look at legislation that you know that we have seen through the years that We may need to propose so we can be proactive and give some good legislation. So we'll start discussing that uh within the organization. This month we've we I actually kicked the board uh the ball off at our last team leaders meeting where I

1:38:17I asked the uh organization to let me know of what legislation we need to do, which also includes legislation that has passed that uh happened this session that we can maybe go in and tweak it and change it this next session doesn't mean we can actually get it done, especially when In the case of the Live Local Act the uh president will still be in uh the president, the Senate and it was a priority. But we could we could look at that. So You know, all during session

1:38:48I I c I gotta I gotta say the organization the your team has been very uh engaged on legislation, giving us feedback. County Attorney's Office, Planning and Development. Um building. Uh You name it. Uh tourism, but they were all engaged in and and in all the years that I've been here It has a only grown and improved and this is how Your intergovernmental office uh affairs office should be working. So so

1:39:18what we want to do is now say, let's be more active. We hate always playing defense up in Tallahassee when they won't consider amendments.

1:39:32So why not meet with them before they start committee meeting? Why don't we have and I know Some of our surrounding counties do this. They have a workshop. So as we have done our workshops with our municipalities My proposal is that we do a workshop with The state and the federal delegation bring them in for about two hours like we do with our our local governments, sit down and discuss. It's a good opportunity to even say when you consider a

1:40:03bill that's going to have an impact on the county Uh why not pick up the phone and give us a call and say, how is this gonna affect Pasco? before you actually vote on the bill. Uh but this gives us that ability to to discuss. So I would propose that we do it the week before uh they start their committee meetings in September. Um before we do that one, once we have gathered the material um from the team uh of possible appropriations projects. Um

1:40:34Big ticket items, one or two, one on each side of the uh county or one big one. I know we have a lot of big projects uh that are coming down the pipeline. They might not be ready for build. Always remember that. And it better be in your business plan. These are other things that Uh Mike Corbal has asked the team to take into consideration Stop throwing projects up against the wall and seeing what sticks is what how it seems to have been done at the last minute. So we don't want to do that. And and it's it's not fair

1:41:04when when they get vetoed. Items get vetoed. I hate that. So we you know we've gotta take a a lot of these uh things into consideration. So during the months of June, the rest of uh June, July um portions of August. We'll have all that worked out behind the scenes and then the proposal would be to have a workshop with you all where you can then look at the proposals, decide what you want. um to move forward with as your legislative priorities and platforms for next session, which

1:41:34includes uh appropriations as well.

1:41:37Ralph, that sounds like an awesome plan. Um I love the workshop ahead of time. I love staff setting these things up and and thinking big on whatever the projects are. And if we can coordinate with our state l state and federal led delegations, I think that's phenomenal. That would be the ideal because there's probably nothing better like we learned in the um when we had the three counties just recently get together, having everybody face to face of what we're all doing. If we can talk to them at face to face with everybody in the same room with open communication, it's A little bit different in Talassi going from room to room to room, but having

1:42:07everybody together where everybody hears the same dialogue, I think would go a long way. Again,

1:42:11that's being proactive.

1:42:13I I love I love the approach and it's it's it's a nice open approach. Very good. Uh Commissioner Bradford.

1:42:21Yes to be sure.

1:42:24I've been listening to this discussion and I just wanna point out a couple of things. When we look at Big projects, one on the east side, one on the west side. I think that ri reinforces this, us against them, which is as as you know, that culture. is very real. Well what about the middle? Well there's a little place called Bonford being built. Just

1:42:55a little small place, but I would say that Moffat And that economic engine is going to be the future. Of Pasco County. And I think a along with some other very good things. But I think we as we move forward we should always keep that in mind and always add that to the discussion. Thank you.

1:43:21Commissioner Bradford, I think that's excellent. Um I mean we have uh transportation impact fee zones in three categories. We should have three categories. It should be three projects as well. So uh great idea. That's great input.

1:43:33Here is how I here is how I look at it though. Uh when I say east to west, the dividing line is uh Forty one. US forty one. And so that's that's how I I I come up with Eastern West.

1:43:45No, no, I d n nothing wrong with what you said, but I think he Commissioner Bradford brings up a great point to like, let's go for three projects anyway.

1:43:54You got And we don't have to you know say a number. It could be three, it could be two, it could be one, one big one. Right. It could be your your your new uh EOC, you know, type of it. I I think I think

1:44:04three is good. Uh Commissioner uh Mike Cabrella.

1:44:07Thank you, Mr. Chair. I I think what what it underscores or what really what the point is is that we need to focus. And I think as as an organization, these these workshops will give us the chance to set those priorities and move forward. Um and then I love the idea of coming back with our delegation too, and even including our federal delegation in that because I think there's some untapped potential there that that we haven't really been as Uh deliberate about. Um what's not in there of course is there'll be a lot of tactical Missions, I guess if you will, that will have to happen come

1:44:37September, October, November. And again, we'll we'll need to be aligned on that to ensure that we can take this and push it over the goal line. And that's probably as important, if not more important, towards towards the end. So more to come on that. But I just wanted to get that out there.

1:44:53I unfortunately will not.

1:44:54You will not? Okay.

1:44:57All

1:44:57right,

1:44:57so let's get together though. Jeff, uh you'll be up there. And I think we might need to bring Jeff in to help us with anything. So let's let's get organized. So

1:45:04you three will definitely be up there. I'll

1:45:06know

1:45:06if any of our awkward.

1:45:08Okay.

1:45:08So um but yeah, we'll we'll discuss after the meeting.

1:45:12Okay. If you okay, I'm okay. Let's close this item. We got two more items to go. That are very important. Uh next one.