Florida 2024 2024 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H7083 Analysis / Analysis

Filed 03/25/2024

                     
This document does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives. 
STORAGE NAME: h7083z.DOCX 
DATE: 3/25/2024 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF FINAL BILL ANALYSIS  
 
BILL #: HB 7083          PCB APC 24-05    Indian Gaming Revenue Trust Fund 
SPONSOR(S): Appropriations Committee, Leek 
TIED BILLS:  CS/CS/HB 1417 IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 7080 
 
 
 
 
FINAL HOUSE FLOOR ACTION: 114 Y’s 
 
0 N’s GOVERNOR’S ACTION: Pending 
 
 
SUMMARY ANALYSIS 
 
HB 7083 passed the House on March 5, 2024, as SB 7080. 
 
Article III, section 19(f) of the Florida Constitution governs the creation of trust funds and provides that no trust 
fund of the state or other public body may be created without a three-fifths vote of the membership of each 
house of the Legislature in a separate bill for that purpose only. 
 
In 2021, the State of Florida entered into a gaming compact (the 2021 Compact) with the Seminole Tribe of 
Florida, which was approved by the United States Department of the Interior. The 2021 Compact establishes a 
guaranteed minimum payment period for the first five years of the compact, during which the Seminole Tribe is 
required to make specified revenue share payments to the state.  
 
SB 1638 (2024) creates s. 380.095, F.S., requiring the Department of Revenue to deposit 96 percent of any 
revenue share payment received under the 2021 Compact into the Indian Gaming Revenue Trust Fund within 
the Department of Financial Services. Such funds would be distributed as follows: 
 $100 million to support the Florida Wildlife Corridor.  
 $100 million for the management of uplands and removal of invasive species, divided between the 
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection 
(DEP), and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 
 $100 million to DEP for the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan; and  
 The remainder to DEP for the Water Quality Improvement Grant Program. 
 
The bill creates s. 17.71, F.S., establishing the Indian Gaming Revenue Clearing Trust Fund within the 
Department of Financial Services to serve as a depository for certain revenue-sharing payments received by 
the state under the 2021 Compact. Additionally, the bill provides that: 
 Funds will be credited to and disbursed from the Trust Fund as provided in SB 1638. 
 Such funds are exempt from the 8 percent service charges imposed pursuant to s. 215.20, F.S. 
 The Trust Fund is exempt from certain termination provisions of the Florida Constitution. 
 
The bill does not have a fiscal impact on the state or local governments. 
 
Subject to the Governor’s veto powers, the bill will take effect on the same date that SB 1638 or similar 
legislation takes effect, if such legislation is adopted in the same legislative session or an extension thereof 
and becomes a law.    
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I. SUBSTANTIVE INFORMATION 
 
A. EFFECT OF CHANGES:  
 
Background 
 
The state administers various programs such as the Florida Forever Program and Rural and Family 
Lands Protection program to conserve and protect Florida’s natural resources. The state also invests in 
improving water quality throughout the state through programs such as the water quality improvement 
grant program, which is administered by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). In 2021, 
the State of Florida entered into a gaming compact (the 2021 Compact) with the Seminole Tribe of 
Florida (Seminole Tribe), which was approved by the United States Department of the Interior. The 
2021 Compact establishes a guaranteed minimum payment period for the first five years of the 
compact, during which the Seminole Tribe is required to make specified revenue share payments to the 
state.  
 
2024 Legislative Session 
SB 1638 (2024) creates s. 380.095, F.S., requiring the Department of Revenue to deposit 96 percent of 
any revenue share payment received under the 2021 Compact into the Indian Gaming Revenue Trust 
Fund within the Department of Financial Services. SB 1638 also provides that such funds will be 
distributed as follows: 
 $100 million to support the Florida Wildlife Corridor.  
 $100 million for the management of uplands and removal of invasive species, divided between 
the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Department of Environmental 
Protection (DEP), and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 
 $100 million to DEP for the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan; and  
 The remainder to DEP for the Water Quality Improvement Grant Program. 
 
Trust Funds 
A trust fund may be created by law only by the Legislature and only if passed by a three-fifths vote of 
the membership of each house in a separate bill for that purpose only.
1
 Except for trust funds being re-
created by the Legislature, each trust fund must be created by statutory language that specifies at least 
the following: 
 The name of the trust fund. 
 The agency or branch of state government responsible for administering the trust fund. 
 The requirements or purposes that the trust fund is established to meet. 
 The sources of moneys to be credited to the trust fund or specific sources of receipts to be 
deposited in the trust fund.
2
  
 
Pursuant to article III, section 19(f)(2) of the Florida Constitution, state trust funds must terminate not 
more than four years after the effective date of the act authorizing the initial creation of the trust fund. 
However, the Legislature may set a shorter period for which any trust fund is authorized and exceptions 
to the termination provision apply. For example, trust funds created as clearing funds are exempt from 
the termination provisions in article III, section 19(f)(2) of the Florida Constitution.
3
  
 
If a trust fund is terminated, all cash balances and income of the trust fund are deposited into the 
General Revenue Fund.
4
 The agency or Chief Justice pays the outstanding debts of the trust fund, and 
the Chief Financial Officer closes out and removes the trust fund from the state financial systems.
5
 
 
                                                
1
 art, III, s. 19(f)(1), Fla. Const. 
2
 s. 215.3207, F.S. 
3
 art, III, s. 19(f)(3), Fla. Const. 
4
 s. 215.3206(2), F.S. 
5
 Id.   
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Effect of the Bill 
 
The bill creates s. 17.71, F.S., establishing the Indian Gaming Revenue Clearing Trust Fund within the 
Department of Financial Services (DFS) to serve as a depository for certain revenue-sharing payments 
received by the state under the 2021 Compact. Additionally, the bill provides that: 
 Funds will be credited to and disbursed from the Trust Fund as provided in s. 380.095, F.S., as 
created by SB 1638 (2024). 
 Funds are exempt from the 8 percent service charges imposed pursuant to s. 215.20, F.S. 
 The Trust Fund is exempt from certain termination provisions of the Florida Constitution. 
 
The bill will take effect on the same date that SB 1638 or similar legislation takes effect, if such 
legislation is adopted in the same legislative session or an extension thereof and becomes a law. 
 
 
II.  FISCAL ANALYSIS & ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT 
 
  
A. FISCAL IMPACT ON STATE GOVERNMENT: 
 
1. Revenues: 
 
None 
 
2. Expenditures: 
 
Creation and administration of a new trust fund may have an insignificant administrative cost on 
DFS that can be absorbed within existing resources. 
 
B. FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: 
 
1. Revenues: 
 
None 
 
2. Expenditures: 
 
None 
 
C. DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT ON PRIVATE SECTOR: 
 
None  
 
D. FISCAL COMMENTS: 
 
None