HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 1 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to an agreement for best practices in 2
economic development; creating the Agreement for Best 3
Practices in Economic Development; providing a short 4
title; providing definitions; providing findings; 5
establishing the National Board for Best Prac tices in 6
Economic Development; specifying membership of the 7
board; specifying procedures for electing officers; 8
establishing rules and procedures; requiring the board 9
to publish specified material regarding best practices 10
in economic development; requiring the board to 11
suggest annual revisions to the agreement; requiring 12
the board to collect testimony related to economic 13
development improvements; prohibiting member states 14
from offering or providing company -specific tax 15
incentives or company -specific grants for specified 16
purposes; providing exceptions; specifying that 17
economic development agreements are subject to the 18
member state's public records laws; prohibiting local 19
agencies from entering into specified economic 20
development agreements that are exempt fro m the member 21
state's public records laws; requiring member states 22
to provide electronic copies of specified documents; 23
providing procedures for withdrawing from the 24
agreement; providing for enforcement; providing for 25
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 2 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
liberal construction; providing for sev erability under 26
specified circumstances; providing a contingent 27
effective date. 28
29
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 30
31
Section 1. The Agreement for Best Practices in Economic 32
Development is hereby enacted and entered into by th is state 33
with all other jurisdictions legally joining it in the form 34
substantially as follows: 35
36
AGREEMENT FOR BEST PRACTICES IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 37
38
ARTICLE I 39
40
Title 41
42
This act shall be known and cited as the "Agreement for 43
Best Practices in Economic Deve lopment." 44
45
ARTICLE II 46
47
Definitions 48
49
As used in this agreement, unless the context clearly 50
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 3 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
indicates otherwise, the following terms have the following 51
meanings: 52
(1) "Best practices" means the laws, policies, and 53
procedures that have been demonstrated to support the most 54
amount of economic growth with the least amount of taxpayer 55
investment. 56
(2) "Board" means the National Board for Best Practices in 57
Economic Development that may be established by the member 58
states. Nonvoting membership shall be open to a ny county, 59
municipality, metropolitan planning organization, special 60
district, community development district, or economic 61
development agency under terms established by the board. 62
(3) "Company-specific grant" means any disbursement of 63
funds, whether property, cash, or deferred or reduced tax 64
liability, by a state or local agency to a particular company. 65
(4) "Company-specific tax incentive" means any change in 66
the general tax rate or valuation offered or presented to a 67
specific company that is not availa ble to other similarly 68
situated companies. 69
(5) "Corporate giveaway" means any company -specific or 70
industry-specific disbursement of funds, whether property, cash, 71
or deferred or reduced tax liability, by a state or local agency 72
to a particular company or industry. 73
(6) "Local agency" means a county, municipality, 74
metropolitan planning organization, special district, community 75
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 4 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
development district, or economic development agency. 76
(7) "Located in any other member state" means any 77
corporate headquarters, office space, manufacturing facility, or 78
other real estate development that is physically located in 79
another member state, regardless of whether the company has 80
other property in the member state. 81
(8) "Member state" means any state or the District of 82
Columbia that has enacted a statute agreeing to this agreement. 83
(9) "Nonvoting member" means any county, municipality, 84
metropolitan planning organization, special district, community 85
development district, or economic development agency that seeks 86
to join the board. A nonvoting member may not appoint a voting 87
member to the board for governance purposes. 88
89
ARTICLE III 90
91
Findings 92
93
The member states find that: 94
(1) Corporate giveaways are among the least effective uses 95
of taxpayer dollars to create and maintain jobs. 96
(2) Local and state leaders are in a prisoners' dilemma in 97
which it is in the public interest to create a level playing 98
field for all companies without any corporate giveaways, but 99
each level of government has an incentive to subsidize a 100
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 5 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
company, generating a race to the bottom. 101
(3) Governments should attract and retain entrepreneurs 102
and companies based on general conditions, including modern 103
infrastructure, an educated workforce, a clean environment, and 104
a favorable tax and regulatory climate, no t based on a specific 105
grant for a particular company. 106
(4) Corporate giveaways fuel business inequality since the 107
largest businesses receive the vast majority of these funds. 108
(5) Entrepreneurs and companies have a legitimate right to 109
determine the optimal site selection plans for future growth, 110
and providing decisionmakers with all the relevant information 111
is among the most important tasks for economic development 112
officials. 113
(6) Despite enormous amounts of publicly generated data 114
and federally required planning reports from several different 115
agencies, it remains difficult for entrepreneurs and companies 116
to access relevant, actionable information to assist them in 117
their planning decisions. 118
(7) State and local agencies tasked with economic 119
development would benefit from a shared resource devoted to 120
discovering and disseminating best practices to help officials 121
implement policies and programs that benefit all entrepreneurs 122
and companies equally rather than relying on company -specific 123
giveaways that only b enefit a few. 124
(8) A board for best practices in economic development 125
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 6 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
charged with finding consensus around best practices in economic 126
development for states and local agencies to consider 127
implementing in a collaborative manner will assist state and 128
local agencies in escaping from the prisoners' dilemma of 129
company-specific tax incentives and company -specific grants and 130
assist in implementing a level playing field for all companies. 131
132
ARTICLE IV 133
134
National Board for Best Practices in Economic Development 135
136
(1) This agreement establishes a national board for best 137
practices in economic development. The chief executive officer 138
of each member state shall appoint three members to the board. 139
State legislators may be appointed as members. 140
(2) The board shall acc ept nonvoting members from 141
nonmember states and from any local agency that wishes to join 142
the board under the terms established by the board. 143
(3) The board may publish a schedule of dues for member 144
states and nonvoting members. 145
(4) The board shall conv ene at least annually, either 146
remotely or in person, to elect officers from its membership and 147
to establish rules and procedures for its governance. 148
(5) The board shall: 149
(a) Publish and disseminate a national shared resource of 150
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 7 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
best practices in econom ic development to move away from 151
company-specific tax incentives and company -specific grants and 152
move toward collaborative policies that equally assist all 153
communities, entrepreneurs, and companies. The board shall 154
accept and publish all planning and econo mic development reports 155
submitted to it by member states and nonvoting members. 156
(b) Suggest revisions to this agreement in December of 157
every year to strengthen the agreement for member and nonmember 158
states. Suggested revisions should support member state s in 159
moving toward evidence -based economic development policies and 160
away from company-specific expenditures. 161
(6) The board shall collect testimony from all interested 162
parties, including academic and subject matter experts, 163
companies, organizations, local agencies, and associations 164
representing state legislators and governors, on how to improve 165
economic development and strengthen this agreement. 166
167
ARTICLE V 168
169
Anti-poaching Prohibition 170
171
A member state may not offer or provide to a company that 172
is located in any other member state any company -specific tax 173
incentive or company -specific grant for a corporate 174
headquarters, manufacturing facility, office space, or other 175
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 8 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
real estate development to induce the company to relocate its 176
corporate headquarters, manufactu ring facility, office space, or 177
other real estate development to the offering member state. 178
179
ARTICLE VI 180
181
Exclusions 182
183
(1) Workforce development grants to train employees are 184
not subject to this agreement. 185
(2) Company-specific tax incentives or company-specific 186
grants from local agencies are not subject to this agreement. 187
(3) Company-specific tax incentives or company -specific 188
grants from a state to a company for a corporate headquarters, 189
office space, a manufacturing facility, or other real es tate 190
development located within its own state are not subject to this 191
agreement. 192
193
ARTICLE VII 194
195
Transparency 196
197
(1) All proposed and existing economic development 198
agreements from any jurisdiction in any member state by a local 199
agency are subject to the member state's public records laws. A 200
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 9 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
local agency may not enter into an economic development 201
agreement that invol ves any company-specific tax incentive or 202
company-specific grant with any company that is not public and 203
is exempt from the member state's public records laws. 204
(2) All products and resources produced by the board are 205
public and shall be published and acc essible on a website. 206
207
ARTICLE VIII 208
209
Data and Report Sharing 210
211
In order to assist the board in compiling and publishing 212
the national shared resource for economic development, each 213
member state shall provide to the board electronic copies of all 214
economic development and planning reports generated as part of 215
federal or state programmatic activities. 216
217
ARTICLE IX 218
219
Withdrawal 220
221
A member state may withdraw from this agreement with 6 222
months' notice and must do so in writing to the chief executive 223
officer of every other member state. 224
225
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 10 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
ARTICLE X 226
227
Enforcement 228
229
The chief law enforcement officer of each member state 230
shall enforce this agreement. 231
232
ARTICLE XI 233
234
Construction and Severability 235
236
(1) This agreement shall be liberally construed to 237
effectuate its purposes. 238
(2) If any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision of this 239
compact or the applicability of any phrase, clause, sentence, or 240
provision of this agreement to any government, local agency, 241
person, or circumstance is declared in a final judgment by a 242
court of competent jurisdiction to be contrary to the 243
constitution of the United States or is otherwise held invalid, 244
the validity of the remainder of this agreement and the 245
applicability of the remainder of this agreement to any 246
government, local agency, person, or circumstance will not be 247
affected. 248
(3) If this agreement is held to be contrary to the 249
constitution of any member state, the agreement shall remain in 250
HB 473 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0473-00
Page 11 of 11
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
full force and effect as to the remaining member states and 251
shall remain in full force and effect as t o the affected member 252
state related to all severable matters. 253
Section 2. This act shall take effect upon the adoption of 254
the agreement by two or more states . 255