Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 395 > Part I - Hospitals and Other Licensed Facilities

• Accrediting organizations: means national accreditation organizations that are approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and whose standards incorporate comparable licensure regulations required by the state. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Ad valorem tax roll: means the roll prepared by the property appraiser and certified to the tax collector for collection. See Florida Statutes 197.102
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Administrative Procedures Committee: means a committee 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
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agency: means the Agency for Health Care Administration. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Agency: means any of the various state officers, departments, boards, commissions, divisions, bureaus, and councils and any other unit of organization, however designated, of the executive branch of state government. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Agency head: means , with respect to an agency headed by a collegial body, the executive director or chief administrative officer of the agency. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Ambulatory surgical center: means a facility, the primary purpose of which is to provide elective surgical care, in which the patient is admitted to and discharged from such facility within 24 hours, and which is not part of a hospital. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• 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.
• Ancillary administration: Probate administration of property (usually real property) owned in a State other than the one in which the decedent had his (her) principal residence at the time of death.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Applicant: means an entrepreneur or small business that applies to a loan administrator for a microloan. See Florida Statutes 288.9932
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• At service capacity: means the temporary inability of a hospital to provide a service which is within the service capability of the hospital, due to maximum use of the service at the time of the request for the service. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Awarded: means the time when the tax collector or a designee determines and announces verbally or through the closing of the bid process in a live or an electronic auction that a buyer has placed the winning bid on a tax certificate at a tax certificate sale. See Florida Statutes 197.102
• 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.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Best value: means the highest overall value to the state based on factors that include, but are not limited to, price, quality, design, and workmanship. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Budget authority: Authority provided by law to enter into obligations that will result in outlays of Federal funds. Budget authority may be classified by the period of availability (one-year, multiyear, no-year), by the timing of congressional action (current or permanent), or by the manner of determining the amount available (definite or indefinite).
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Charitable purpose: means a function or service which is of such a community service that its discontinuance could legally result in the allocation of public funds for the continuance of the function or service. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Clinical privileges: means the privileges granted to a physician or other licensed health care practitioner to render patient care services in a hospital, but does not include the privilege of admitting patients. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Commodity: means any of the various supplies, materials, goods, merchandise, food, equipment, information technology, and other personal property, including a mobile home, trailer, or other portable structure that has less than 5,000 square feet of floor space, purchased, leased, or otherwise contracted for by the state and its agencies. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Competitive solicitation: means the process of requesting and receiving two or more sealed bids, proposals, or replies submitted by responsive vendors in accordance with the terms of a competitive process, regardless of the method of procurement. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• contiguous: means touching, meeting, or joining at the surface or border, other than at a corner or a single point, and not separated by submerged lands. See Florida Statutes 197.502
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contractor: means a person who contracts to sell commodities or contractual services to an agency. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Contractual service: means the rendering by a contractor of its time and effort rather than the furnishing of specific commodities. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Couple: means a husband and wife legally married under the laws of any state or territorial possession of the United States or of any foreign country. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Decedent: shall include the testator, intestate, grantor, bargainor, vendor, or donor. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Revenue. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Department: means the Department of Commerce. See Florida Statutes 288.005
• Department: means the Department of Health. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Department: means the Department of Management Services. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Direct: means the index in straight and continuous alphabetic order by grantor, and "inverse" means the index in straight and continuous alphabetic order by grantee. See Florida Statutes 197.502
• Director: means any member of the official board of directors as reported in the organization's annual corporate report to the Florida Department of State, or, if no such report is made, any member of the operating board of directors. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• District: means the community development district. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Dower: A widow
• Economic benefits: means the direct, indirect, and induced gains in state revenues as a percentage of the state's investment. See Florida Statutes 288.005
• Educational institution: means a federal, state, parochial, church, or private school, college, or university conducting regular classes and courses of study required for eligibility to certification by, accreditation to, or membership in the State Department of Education of Florida, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or the Florida Council of Independent Schools; a nonprofit private school the principal activity of which is conducting regular classes and courses of study accepted for continuing postgraduate dental education credit by a board of the Division of Medical Quality Assurance; educational direct-support organizations created pursuant to ss. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• electronically post: means the noticing of solicitations, agency decisions or intended decisions, or other matters relating to procurement on a centralized Internet website designated by the department for this purpose, and in the manner and form required under…. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Eligible user: means any person or entity authorized by the department pursuant to rule to purchase from state term contracts or to use the online procurement system. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Emergency medical condition: means :
  (a) A medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity, which may include severe pain, such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in any of the following:

  1. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Emergency services and care: means medical screening, examination, and evaluation by a physician, or, to the extent permitted by applicable law, by other appropriate personnel under the supervision of a physician, to determine if an emergency medical condition exists and, if it does, the care, treatment, or surgery by a physician necessary to relieve or eliminate the emergency medical condition, within the service capability of the facility. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Enterprise zone: means an area designated as an enterprise zone pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• 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.
• Entrepreneur: means an individual residing in this state who desires to assume the risk of organizing, managing, and operating a small business in this state. See Florida Statutes 288.9932
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Ex-servicemember: means any person who has served as a member of the United States Armed Forces on active duty or state active duty, a member of the Florida National Guard, or a member of the United States Reserve Forces. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Exceptional purchase: means any purchase of commodities or contractual services excepted by law or rule from the requirements for competitive solicitation, including, but not limited to, purchases from a single source; purchases upon receipt of less than two responsive bids, proposals, or replies; purchases made by an agency after receiving approval from the department, from a contract procured, pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Exclusive use of property: means use of property solely for exempt purposes. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Expansion of an existing business: means :
  (a)1. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Extension: means an increase in the time allowed for the contract period. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• 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 generation-skipping transfer tax: means the tax imposed by chapter 13 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• 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.
• Fixed Rate: Having a "fixed" rate means that the APR doesn't change based on fluctuations of some external rate (such as the "Prime Rate"). In other words, a fixed rate is a rate that is not a variable rate. A fixed APR can change over time, in several circumstances:
  • You are late making a payment or commit some other default, triggering an increase to a penalty rate
  • The bank changes the terms of your account and you do not reject the change.
  • The rate expires (if the rate was fixed for only a certain period of time).
• 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}
• 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
• General hospital: means any facility which meets the provisions of subsection (12) and which regularly makes its facilities and services available to the general population. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Generation-skipping transfer: means every transfer subject to the federal generation-skipping transfer tax in which transfer the original transferor is a resident of this state at the date of original transfer or the property transferred is real or personal property in this state. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governmental entity: means a political subdivision or agency of this state or of any state of the United States, including, but not limited to, state government, county, municipality, school district, nonprofit public university or college, single-purpose or multipurpose special district, single-purpose or multipurpose public authority, metropolitan or consolidated government, separate legal entity or administrative entity, or any agency of the Federal Government. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Governmental unit: means the state or any county, municipality, or other political subdivision, or any department, division, board, or other agency of any of the foregoing. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Gross estate: The total fair market value of all property and property interests, real and personal, tangible and intangible, of which a decedent had beneficial ownership at the time of death before subtractions for deductions, debts, administrative expenses, and casualty losses suffered during estate administration.
• Gross estate: means the gross estate as determined under the provisions of the applicable federal revenue act. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Gross income: means all income from whatever source derived, including, but not limited to, the following items, whether actually owned by or received by, or not received by but available to, any person or couple: earned income, income from investments, gains derived from dealings in property, interest, rents, royalties, dividends, annuities, income from retirement plans, pensions, trusts, estates and inheritances, and direct and indirect gifts. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Hospital: means an institution which possesses a valid license granted under chapter 395 on January 1 of the year for which exemption from ad valorem taxation is requested. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• hospital: includes a medical office building located on the same premises as a hospital facility, provided the land on which the medical office building is constructed is zoned for use as a hospital; provided the premises were zoned for hospital purposes on January 1, 1992. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Hospital bed: means a hospital accommodation which is ready for immediate occupancy, or is capable of being made ready for occupancy within 48 hours, excluding provision of staffing, and which conforms to minimum space, equipment, and furnishings standards as specified by rule of the agency for the provision of services specified in this section to a single patient. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Hospital-based off-campus emergency department: means a facility that:
  (a) Provides emergency services and care;
  (b) Is owned and operated by a licensed hospital and operates under the license of the hospital; and
  (c) Is located on separate premises from the hospital. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible personal property: means incorporeal personal property including deposits in banks, negotiable instruments, mortgages, debts, receivables, shares of stock, bonds, notes, credits, evidences of an interest in property, evidences of debt and choses in action generally. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Intensive residential treatment programs for children and adolescents: means a specialty hospital accredited by an accrediting organization as defined in subsection (1) which provides 24-hour care and which has the primary functions of diagnosis and treatment of patients under the age of 18 having psychiatric disorders in order to restore such patients to an optimal level of functioning. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• 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}
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Invitation to bid: means a written or electronically posted solicitation for competitive sealed bids. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Invitation to negotiate: means a written or electronically posted solicitation for competitive sealed replies to select one or more vendors with which to commence negotiations for the procurement of commodities or contractual services. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Jobs: means full-time equivalent positions, including, but not limited to, positions obtained from a temporary employment agency or employee leasing company or through a union agreement or coemployment under a professional employer organization agreement, which result directly from a project in this state. See Florida Statutes 288.005
• 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}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Legislative Auditing Committee: means a committee or committees designated by joint rule of the Legislature, by the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or by agreement between the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensed facility: means a hospital or ambulatory surgical center licensed in accordance with this chapter. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lifesafety: means the control and prevention of fire and other life-threatening conditions on a premises for the purpose of preserving human life. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Loan administrator: means an entity statutorily eligible to receive state funds and authorized by the department to make loans under a loan program. See Florida Statutes 288.005
• Loan program: means a program established in this chapter to provide appropriated funds to an eligible entity to further a specific state purpose for a limited period of time and with a requirement that such appropriated funds be repaid to the state. See Florida Statutes 288.005
• Medical staff: means physicians licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459 with privileges in a licensed facility, as well as other licensed health care practitioners with clinical privileges as approved by a licensed facility's governing board. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Medically necessary transfer: means a transfer made necessary because the patient is in immediate need of treatment for an emergency medical condition for which the facility lacks service capability or is at service capacity. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Net estate: means the net estate as determined under the provisions of the applicable federal revenue act. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Network: means the Florida Small Business Development Center Network. See Florida Statutes 288.9932
• New business: means :
  (a)1. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Non-ad valorem assessment roll: means a roll prepared by a local government and certified to the tax collector for collection. See Florida Statutes 197.102
• Nonresident: means a natural person domiciled without the state. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• 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: means the Office of Supplier Diversity of the Department of Management Services. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• 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
• Omitted taxes: means those taxes which have not been extended on the tax roll against a parcel of property after the property has been placed upon the list of lands available for taxes pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 197.102
• Original transferor: means any grantor, donor, trustor, or testator who by grant, gift, trust, or will makes a transfer of real or personal property that results in a federal generation-skipping transfer tax. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Outsource: means the process of contracting with a vendor to provide a service as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owned by the lessee: as used in this chapter does not include personal property, buildings, or other real property improvements used for the administration, operation, business offices and activities related specifically thereto in connection with the conduct of an aircraft full service fixed based operation which provides goods and services to the general aviation public in the promotion of air commerce provided that the real property is designated as an aviation area on an airport layout plan approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• 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.
• Permanent residence: means that place where a person has his or her true, fixed, and permanent home and principal establishment to which, whenever absent, he or she has the intention of returning. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Permanent resident: means a person who has established a permanent residence as defined in subsection (17). See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Person: means persons, corporations, associations, joint stock companies, and business trusts. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or governmental unit. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• 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.
• Personal representative: means the executor, administrator, or curator of the decedent, or, if there is no executor, administrator, or curator appointed, qualified, and acting, then any person who is in the actual or constructive possession of any property included in the gross estate of the decedent or any other person who is required to file a return or pay the taxes due under any provision of this chapter. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• 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
• 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.
• Premises: means those buildings, beds, and equipment located at the address of the licensed facility and all other buildings, beds, and equipment for the provision of hospital or ambulatory surgical care located in such reasonable proximity to the address of the licensed facility as to appear to the public to be under the dominion and control of the licensee. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Private review agent: means any person or entity which performs utilization review services for third-party payors on a contractual basis for outpatient or inpatient services. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Proxy bidding: means a method of bidding by which a bidder authorizes an agent, whether an individual or an electronic agent, to place bids on his or her behalf. See Florida Statutes 197.102
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real estate used and owned as a homestead: means real property to the extent provided in Florida Statutes 196.012
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• registered mail: includes certified mail with return receipt requested. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Renewal: means contracting with the same contractor for an additional contract period after the initial contract period, only if pursuant to contract terms specifically providing for such renewal. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• 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).
• Request for information: means a written or electronically posted request made by an agency to vendors for information concerning commodities or contractual services. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Request for proposals: means a written or electronically posted solicitation for competitive sealed proposals. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Resident: means a natural person domiciled in the state. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Responsible vendor: means a vendor who has the capability in all respects to fully perform the contract requirements and the integrity and reliability that will assure good faith performance. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Responsive vendor: means a vendor that has submitted a bid, proposal, or reply that conforms in all material respects to the solicitation. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• Service capability: means all services offered by the facility where identification of services offered is evidenced by the appearance of the service in a patient's medical record or itemized bill. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• Small business: means a business, regardless of corporate structure, domiciled in this state which employs 25 or fewer people and generated average annual gross revenues of $1. See Florida Statutes 288.9932
• Specialty hospital: means any facility which meets the provisions of subsection (12), and which regularly makes available either:
  (a) The range of medical services offered by general hospitals but restricted to a defined age or gender group of the population;
  (b) A restricted range of services appropriate to the diagnosis, care, and treatment of patients with specific categories of medical or psychiatric illnesses or disorders; or
  (c) Intensive residential treatment programs for children and adolescents as defined in subsection (16). See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Stabilized: means , with respect to an emergency medical condition, that no material deterioration of the condition is likely, within reasonable medical probability, to result from the transfer of the patient from a hospital. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• State term contract: means a term contract that is competitively procured by the department pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Tangible personal property: means corporeal personal property, including money. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Target industry business: means a corporate headquarters business or any business that is engaged in one of the target industries identified pursuant to the following criteria developed by the Department of Commerce:
  (a) Future growth. See Florida Statutes 288.005
• Tax certificate: means a paper or electronic legal document, representing unpaid delinquent real property taxes, non-ad valorem assessments, including special assessments, interest, and related costs and charges, issued in accordance with this chapter against a specific parcel of real property and becoming a first lien thereon, superior to all other liens, except as provided by…. See Florida Statutes 197.102
• Tax notice: means the paper or electronic tax bill sent to taxpayers for payment of any taxes or special assessments collected pursuant to this chapter, or the bill sent to taxpayers for payment of the total of ad valorem taxes and non-ad valorem assessments collected pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 197.102
• taxpayer: includes the taxpayer's family or any entity in which the taxpayer or taxpayer's family has any interest. See Florida Statutes 197.502
• Term contract: means an indefinite quantity contract to furnish commodities or contractual services during a defined period. See Florida Statutes 287.012
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Totally and permanently disabled person: means a person who is currently certified by two licensed physicians of this state who are professionally unrelated, by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or its predecessor, or by the Social Security Administration, to be totally and permanently disabled. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• Tourism marketing: means any effort exercised to attract domestic and international visitors from outside the state to destinations in this state and to stimulate Florida resident tourism to areas within the state. See Florida Statutes 288.005
• Tourist: means any person who participates in trade or recreation activities outside the county of his or her permanent residence or who rents or leases transient living quarters or accommodations as described in…. See Florida Statutes 288.005
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: when used in a geographical sense includes only the 50 states and the District of Columbia. See Florida Statutes 198.01
• Urgent care center: means a facility or clinic that provides immediate but not emergent ambulatory medical care to patients. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Use: means the exercise of any right or power over real or personal property incident to the ownership of the property. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• use of property for exempt purposes: means predominant or exclusive use of property owned by an exempt entity for educational, literary, scientific, religious, charitable, or governmental purposes, as defined in this chapter. See Florida Statutes 196.012
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Utilization review: means a system for reviewing the medical necessity or appropriateness in the allocation of health care resources of hospital services given or proposed to be given to a patient or group of patients. See Florida Statutes 395.002
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• veteran: means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under honorable conditions only or who later received an upgraded discharge under honorable conditions, notwithstanding any action by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs on individuals discharged or released with other than honorable discharges. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• 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