Florida Statutes 252.37 – Financing
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(1) The Legislature intends and declares it to be the policy of the state that funds to meet emergencies shall always be available.
(2)(a) It is the legislative intent that the first recourse be made to funds specifically appropriated to state and local agencies for disaster relief or response.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 252.37
- 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.
- 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
- 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).
- 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.
- Disaster: means any natural, technological, or civil emergency that causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to result in a declaration of a state of emergency by a county, the Governor, or the President of the United States. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- Division: means the Division of Emergency Management within the Executive Office of the Governor, or the successor to that division. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- Emergency: means any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural, technological, or manmade, in war or in peace, which results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- Emergency management: means the preparation for, the mitigation of, the response to, and the recovery from emergencies and disasters. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Local emergency management agency: means an organization created in accordance with the provisions of ss. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- 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
- Political subdivision: means any county or municipality created pursuant to law. See Florida Statutes 252.34
- 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.
- 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
(b) If the Governor finds that the demands placed upon these funds in coping with a particular disaster declared by the Governor as a state of emergency are unreasonably great, she or he may make funds available by transferring and expending moneys from the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund created under s. 252.3711. The Governor may request that additional funds be transferred or appropriated to the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund by a budget amendment, subject to approval of the Legislative Budget Commission.
(c) Following the expiration or termination of the state of emergency, the Governor may transfer moneys with a budget amendment, subject to approval by the Legislative Budget Commission, to satisfy the budget authority granted for such emergency. The transfers and expenditures supporting the amendment must be directly related to the declared disaster or emergency.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the Governor to apply for, administer, and expend any grants, gifts, or payments in aid of emergency prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, or recovery.
(4)(a) Whenever the Federal Government or any agency or officer thereof offers to the state or, through the state, to any political subdivision thereof services, equipment, supplies, materials, or funds by way of gift, grant, or loan for the purposes of emergency management, the state, acting through the division, or such political subdivision, acting with the consent of the Governor or the Governor’s authorized representative, may accept such offer. Upon such acceptance, the division or the presiding officer or governing body of such political subdivision may authorize receipt of the gift, grant, or loan on behalf of the state or such political subdivision, subject to the terms of the offer and the rules and regulations of the agency making the offer.
(b) Whenever any person, firm, or corporation offers to the state or to any political subdivision thereof services, equipment, supplies, materials, or funds by way of gift, grant, loan, or other agreement for the purpose of emergency management, the state, acting through the division, or such political subdivision, acting through its governing body or a local emergency management agency, may accept such offer. Upon such acceptance, the division or the presiding officer or governing body of the political subdivision may authorize receipt of the gift, grant, or loan on behalf of the state or such political subdivision, subject to the terms of the offer.
(5) Unless otherwise specified in the General Appropriations Act:
(a) Whenever the state accepts financial assistance from the Federal Government or its agencies under the federal Public Assistance Program and such financial assistance is conditioned upon a requirement for matching funds, the state shall provide the entire match requirement for state agencies and one-half of the required match for grants to local governments. The affected local government shall be required to provide one-half of the required match prior to receipt of such financial assistance.
(b) The Executive Office of the Governor may approve a waiver, subject to the requirement for legislative notice and review under s. 216.177, of all or a portion of the required match for public assistance projects for local governments if the Executive Office of the Governor determines that such a match requirement cannot be provided, or that doing so would impose a documented hardship on the local government, and if the local government applies for the waiver within the first 18 months after the disaster is declared.
(c) Subject to appropriation, and notwithstanding paragraph (a), the Legislature intends to provide the entire match requirement for Public Assistance Program grants to local governments within a county designated in the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster declarations for Hurricane Ian or Hurricane Nicole. Local governments named in such Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster declarations must enter into agreements with the division to have their portions of the match requirements waived and must agree to use an equal amount of funds toward further disaster recovery or mitigation. Funds shall be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Notwithstanding paragraph (a), a local government in an agreement with the division under this paragraph is not required to provide one-half of the required match prior to receipt of Public Assistance Program financial assistance. The division shall report quarterly to the Executive Office of the Governor and the chair of each legislative appropriations committee on the amount of match requirements waived, agreements entered into with local governments, and the amount of remaining appropriated funds. This paragraph expires June 30, 2027.
(d) Subject to appropriation, and notwithstanding paragraph (a), the Legislature intends to provide the entire match requirement for Public Assistance Program grants to local governments within a county designated for individual assistance and public assistance (categories A-G) in the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster declaration for Hurricane Idalia. Such local governments must enter into agreements with the division to have their portions of the match requirements waived and must agree to use an equal amount of funds toward further disaster recovery or mitigation. Funds shall be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Notwithstanding paragraph (a), a local government in an agreement with the division under this paragraph is not required to provide one-half of the required match before it receives Public Assistance Program financial assistance. The division shall report quarterly to the Executive Office of the Governor and the chair of each legislative appropriations committee on the amount of match requirements waived, agreements entered into with local governments, and the amount of remaining appropriated funds. This paragraph expires June 30, 2028.
(6) Whenever the state accepts financial assistance from the Federal Government or its agencies under the federal Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grant Program and such financial assistance is conditioned upon a requirement for matching funds, the eligible subgrantee recipient shall be required to provide the full amount of the required match prior to receipt of such financial assistance unless otherwise specified in the General Appropriations Act.