Florida legislation bolstering oversight for special districts, dissolving others, passes House
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Legislation implementing new oversight and accountability measures on special districts, while also dissolving inactive districts, passed the House floor unanimously on Thursday.
Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, sponsored both HB 7013, the oversight bill, and HB 7011, the legislation dissolving inactive districts.
She explained that the oversight bill requires special districts to publicly outline their annual goals and objectives to the public and limits special district board member terms to 12 years, starting in 2024. The legislation also revised the requirements to determine a special district inactive, by observing no revenue, expenditures and debt for at least five consecutive fiscal years.
Rep. Dianne Hart, D-Tampa, asked a few question relating the implementation of the bill, specially regarding what would make a special district dissolvable.
“Currently in statute there’s a process in place for the Department of Commerce to declare a special district inactive,” Persons-Mulicka responded. “A district cannot be dissolved unless you go back to their creating authority.”
“There’s a bunch of requirements right now, provisions that trigger declared being inactive, and this bill, we’re adding some consistency,” she said. “For CRAs [Community Redevelopment Areas] there’s a statute that already says after so many years of no income, revenue, etc., expenditures, that they are declared inactive. So we’re applying that to all special districts […].”
She added that the bill also gives special districts who will be dissolved a 30 day notice in order to provide them time to respond to there declaration of being considered inactive.
Persons-Mulicka explained that the other bill specially outlines the four special districts it would dissolve due to the Department of Commerce declaring them inactive. The districts included the Calhoun County Transportation Authority, Dead Lakes Water Management District, Highland View Water and Sewer District and the West Orange Airport Authority.
