Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 213 - State Revenue Laws: General Provisions

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• agency of the state: means the state and any department of, or corporation, agency, or instrumentality created, designated, or established by, the state. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• authority: means the body politic and corporate, and agency of the state created by this part. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• bonds: means the notes, bonds, refunding bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness or obligations, in either temporary or definitive form, which the authority is authorized to issue pursuant to this part. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Central Florida Expressway Authority: means the body politic and corporate, and agency of the state created by this part. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Central Florida Expressway System: means any expressway and appurtenant facilities, including all approaches, roads, bridges, and avenues for the expressway and any rapid transit, trams, or fixed guideways located within the right-of-way of an expressway. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Credit bureau: An agency that collects individual credit information and sells it for a fee to creditors so they can make a decision on granting loans. Typical clients include banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other financing companies. (Also commonly referred to as consumer-reporting agency or credit-reporting agency.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• department: means the Department of Transportation. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Electric utility: means any municipality, authority, commission, or other public body, investor-owned electric utility, or rural electric cooperative which owns, maintains, or operates an electrical energy generation, transmission, or distribution system within the state on June 25, 1975. See Florida Statutes 361.11
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• federal agency: means and includes the United States, the President of the United States, and any department of, or corporation, agency, or instrumentality created, designated, or established by, the United States. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Foreign public utility: means any person, as defined in subsection (3), the principal location or principal place of business of which is not located within this state, which owns, maintains, or operates facilities for the generation, transmission, or distribution of electrical energy and which supplies electricity to retail or wholesale customers, or both, on a continuous, reliable, and dependable basis; or any affiliate or subsidiary of such person, the business of which is limited to the generation or transmission, or both, of electrical energy and activities reasonably incidental thereto. See Florida Statutes 361.11
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• lease-purchase agreement: means the lease-purchase agreements that the authority is authorized to enter into with the Department of Transportation pursuant to this part. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• limited access expressway: means a street or highway specifically designed for through traffic, and over, from, or to which, a person does not have the right of easement, use, or access except in accordance with the rules of the authority governing its use. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• member: means an individual who serves on the governing body of the authority. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Office of Economic and Demographic Research: means an entity designated by joint rule of the Legislature or by agreement between the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability: means an entity designated by joint rule of the Legislature or by agreement between the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Orange County gasoline tax funds: means the revenue derived from the 80-percent surplus gasoline tax funds accruing in each year to the Department of Transportation for use in Orange County under Florida Statutes 348.752
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means :
  (a) Any natural person;
  (b) The United States; any state; any municipality, political subdivision, or municipal corporation created by or pursuant to the laws of the United States or any state; or any board, corporation, or other entity or body declared by or pursuant to the laws of the United States or any state to be a department, agency, or instrumentality of any thereof;
  (c) Any corporation, not-for-profit corporation, firm, partnership, cooperative association, electric cooperative, or business trust of any nature whatsoever organized and existing under the laws of the United States or any state; or
  (d) Any foreign country; any political subdivision or governmental unit of a foreign country; or any corporation, not-for-profit corporation, firm, partnership, cooperative association, electric cooperative, or business trust of any nature whatsoever organized and existing under the laws of a foreign country or of a political subdivision or governmental unit of a foreign country. See Florida Statutes 361.11
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• political subdivision: include counties, cities, towns, villages, special tax school districts, special road and bridge districts, bridge districts, and all other districts in this state. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Project: means a joint electric power supply project and any and all facilities, including all equipment, structures, machinery, and tangible and intangible property, real and personal, for the joint generation or transmission of electrical energy, or both, including any fuel supply or source useful for such a project. See Florida Statutes 361.11
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• registered mail: includes certified mail with return receipt requested. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State Board of Administration: means the body corporate existing under the provisions of Florida Statutes 348.752
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• transportation facilities: means and includes the mobile and fixed assets, and the associated real or personal property or rights, used in the transportation of persons or property by any means of conveyance, and all appurtenances, such as, but not limited to, highways; limited or controlled access lanes, avenues of access, and facilities; vehicles; fixed guideway facilities, including maintenance facilities; and administrative and other office space for the exercise by the authority of the powers and obligations granted in this part. See Florida Statutes 348.752
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01