Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 447 > Part II - Public Employees

• admissions: means and includes the net sum of money after deduction of any federal taxes for admitting a person or vehicle or persons to any place of amusement, sport, or recreation or for the privilege of entering or staying in any place of amusement, sport, or recreation, including, but not limited to, theaters, outdoor theaters, shows, exhibitions, games, races, or any place where charge is made by way of sale of tickets, gate charges, seat charges, box charges, season pass charges, cover charges, greens fees, participation fees, entrance fees, or other fees or receipts of anything of value measured on an admission or entrance or length of stay or seat box accommodations in any place where there is any exhibition, amusement, sport, or recreation, and all dues and fees paid to private clubs and membership clubs providing recreational or physical fitness facilities, including, but not limited to, golf, tennis, swimming, yachting, boating, athletic, exercise, and fitness facilities, except physical fitness facilities owned or operated by any hospital licensed under chapter 395. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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.
• Agricultural commodity: means horticultural, aquacultural, poultry and farm products, and livestock and livestock products. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Agricultural production: means the production of plants and animals useful to humans, including the preparation, planting, cultivating, or harvesting of these products or any other practices necessary to accomplish production through the harvest phase, including storage of raw products on a farm. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Area served: means Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. See Florida Statutes 343.52
• 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.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Authority: means the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. See Florida Statutes 343.52
• Authority: means the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority. See Florida Statutes 343.62
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bargaining agent: means the employee organization which has been certified by the commission as representing the employees in the bargaining unit, as provided in…. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Bargaining unit: means either that unit determined by the commission, that unit determined through local regulations promulgated pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• 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}
• Board: means the governing body of the authority. See Florida Statutes 343.52
• Board: means the governing body of the authority. See Florida Statutes 343.62
• Business: means any activity engaged in by any person, or caused to be engaged in by him or her, with the object of private or public gain, benefit, or advantage, either direct or indirect. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• business agent: means any person, without regard to title, who shall, for a pecuniary or financial consideration, act or attempt to act for any labor organization in:
  (a) The issuance of membership or authorization cards, work permits, or any other evidence of rights granted or claimed in, or by, a labor organization; or
  (b) Soliciting or receiving from any employer any right or privilege for employees. See Florida Statutes 447.02
• Certificate: means a Florida Certificate of Forwarding Agent Address. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• Civil service: means any career, civil, or merit system used by any public employer. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Collective bargaining: means the performance of the mutual obligations of the public employer and the bargaining agent of the employee organization to meet at reasonable times, to negotiate in good faith, and to execute a written contract with respect to agreements reached concerning the terms and conditions of employment, except that neither party shall be compelled to agree to a proposal or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in this part. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Commission: means the Public Employees Relations Commission created by…. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Commuter railroad: means a complete system of tracks, stations, parking facilities, and rolling stock necessary to effectuate medium-distance to long-distance passenger rail service to or from the surrounding regional municipalities. See Florida Statutes 343.62
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• consumption: include the sale, use, storage, or consumption of all tangible advertising materials imported or caused to be imported into this state. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• cooperating state: means a state determined by the executive director of the department to cooperate satisfactorily with this state in collecting taxes on remote sales. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• 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.
• Cost price: means the actual cost of articles of tangible personal property without any deductions therefrom on account of the cost of materials used, labor or service costs, transportation charges, or any expenses whatsoever. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• dealer: as used in this chapter , includes every person who manufactures or produces tangible personal property for sale at retail; for use, consumption, or distribution; or for storage to be used or consumed in this state. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• department: means the Department of Revenue. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Department: means the Department of Transportation. See Florida Statutes 343.52
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Diesel fuel: means any liquid product, gas product, or combination thereof used in an internal combustion engine or motor to propel any form of vehicle, machine, or mechanical contrivance. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• employer: means the state or any county, municipality, or special district or any subdivision or agency thereof which the commission determines has sufficient legal distinctiveness properly to carry out the functions of a public employer. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Enterprise zone: means an area of the state designated pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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.
• 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}
• 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.
• Facilitating: means preparation for or arranging for export. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• 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.
• Farmer: means a person who is directly engaged in the business of producing crops, livestock, or other agricultural commodities. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Feeder transit services: means a transit system that transports passengers to or from stations within or across counties. See Florida Statutes 343.52
• 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.
• Fixtures: means items that are an accessory to a building, other structure, or land and that do not lose their identity as accessories when installed but that do become permanently attached to realty. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• Forest: means the land stocked by trees of any size used in the production of forest products, or formerly having such tree cover, and not currently developed for nonforest use. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Forwarding agent: means a person or business whose principal business activity is facilitating for compensation the export of property owned by other persons. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• Fractional aircraft ownership program: means a program that meets the requirements of Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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
• government contractor: includes prime contractors and subcontractors. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Improvements to real property: includes the activities of building, erecting, constructing, altering, improving, repairing, or maintaining real property. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• in the state: means within the state boundaries of Florida as defined in Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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.
• labor organization: means any organization of employees or local or subdivision thereof, having within its membership residents of the state, whether incorporated or not, organized for the purpose of dealing with employers concerning hours of employment, rate of pay, working conditions, or grievances of any kind relating to employment and recognized as a unit of bargaining by one or more employers doing business in this state, except that an "employee organization" as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 447.02
• 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 or rental: means only the net amount of rental involved. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Legislative body: means the State Legislature, the board of county commissioners, the district school board, the governing body of a municipality, or the governing body of an instrumentality or unit of government having authority to appropriate funds and establish policy governing the terms and conditions of employment and which, as the case may be, is the appropriate legislative body for the bargaining unit. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• 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.
• License: as used in this chapter with reference to the use of real property, means the granting of a privilege to use or occupy a building or a parcel of real property for any purpose. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Livestock: includes all animals of the equine, bovine, or swine class, including goats, sheep, mules, horses, hogs, cattle, ostriches, and other grazing animals raised for commercial purposes. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Marketplace: means any physical place or electronic medium through which tangible personal property is offered for sale. See Florida Statutes 212.05965
• Member: means the individuals constituting the board. See Florida Statutes 343.52
• Member: means the individuals constituting the board. See Florida Statutes 343.62
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Motor fuel: means and includes what is commonly known and sold as gasoline and fuels containing a mixture of gasoline and other products. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• NAICS: means those classifications contained in the North American Industry Classification System as published in 2007 by the Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• 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.
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• organization: means any labor organization, union, association, fraternal order, occupational or professional society, or group, however organized or constituted, which represents, or seeks to represent, any public employee or group of public employees concerning any matters relating to their employment relationship with a public employer. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• owners: as used in this chapter shall be taken to include and mean all persons obligated to collect and pay over to the state the tax imposed under this section, inclusive of all holders of certificates of registration issued as herein provided. See Florida Statutes 212.04
• 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: includes any individual, firm, copartnership, joint adventure, association, corporation, estate, trust, business trust, receiver, syndicate, or other group or combination acting as a unit and also includes any political subdivision, municipality, state agency, bureau, or department and includes the plural as well as the singular number. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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 farm equipment: means moving or stationary equipment that contains within itself the means for its own propulsion or power and moving or stationary equipment that is dependent upon an external power source to perform its functions. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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.
• Principal business activity: means the activity from which the person or business derives the highest percentage of its total receipts. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Professional employee: means :
  (a) Any employee engaged in work in any two or more of the following categories:

  1. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Public employee: means any person employed by a public employer except:
  (a) Those persons appointed by the Governor or elected by the people, agency heads, and members of boards and commissions. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Public transportation: means transportation of goods and passengers for hire, as a charter service, or without charge, by means, without limitation, of a street railway, elevated railway or fixed guideway, commuter railroad, subway, motor vehicle, motor bus, and any bus, truck, or other means of conveyance operating as a common carrier or otherwise. See Florida Statutes 343.62
• Public transportation facilities: means property, equipment, or buildings that are acquired, built, installed, or established for public transportation systems. See Florida Statutes 343.62
• Public transportation system: means , without limitation, a combination of real and personal property, structures, improvements, buildings, terminals, parking facilities, equipment, plans, and rights-of-way, public rail and fixed guideway transportation facilities, rail or fixed guideway access to, from, or between other transportation terminals, and commuter railroads and commuter rail facilities, or any combination thereof or addition thereto, used, directly or indirectly, useful or convenient for the purpose of public transportation by automobile, truck, bus, rapid transit vehicle, light rail, or heavy rail. See Florida Statutes 343.62
• Qualified aircraft: means any aircraft having a maximum certified takeoff weight of less than 10,000 pounds and equipped with twin turbofan engines that meet Stage IV noise requirements that is used by a business operating as an on-demand air carrier under Federal Aviation Administration Regulation Title 14, chapter I, part 135, Code of Federal Regulations, that owns or leases and operates a fleet of at least 25 of such aircraft in this state. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• qualified motion picture: means all or any part of a series of related images, either on film, tape, or other embodiment, including, but not limited to, all items comprising part of the original work and film-related products derived therefrom as well as duplicates and prints thereof and all sound recordings created to accompany a motion picture, which is produced, adapted, or altered for exploitation in, on, or through any medium or device and at any location, primarily for entertainment, commercial, industrial, or educational purposes. See Florida Statutes 212.06
• qualifying property: means tangible personal property, other than electricity, which is used or consumed by a government contractor in the performance of a qualifying contract as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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.
• Real property: means the surface land, improvements thereto, and fixtures, and is synonymous with "realty" and "real estate. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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.
• rental: means leasing or renting of living quarters or sleeping or housekeeping accommodations in hotels, apartment houses, roominghouses, tourist or trailer camps and real property, the same being defined as follows:
  (a) Every building or other structure kept, used, maintained, or advertised as, or held out to the public to be, a place where sleeping accommodations are supplied for pay to transient or permanent guests or tenants, in which 10 or more rooms are furnished for the accommodation of such guests, and having one or more dining rooms or cafes where meals or lunches are served to such transient or permanent guests; such sleeping accommodations and dining rooms or cafes being conducted in the same building or buildings in connection therewith, shall, for the purpose of this chapter, be deemed a hotel. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• retail sale: includes a remote sale as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Retailer: means and includes every person engaged in the business of making sales at retail or for distribution, or use, or consumption, or storage to be used or consumed in this state. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Sale: means and includes:
  (a) Any transfer of title or possession, or both, exchange, barter, license, lease, or rental, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, of tangible personal property for a consideration. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• sale at retail: means a sale to a consumer or to any person for any purpose other than for resale in the form of tangible personal property or services taxable under this chapter, and includes all such transactions that may be made in lieu of retail sales or sales at retail. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Sales price: means the total amount paid for tangible personal property, including any services that are a part of the sale, valued in money, whether paid in money or otherwise, and includes any amount for which credit is given to the purchaser by the seller, without any deduction therefrom on account of the cost of the property sold, the cost of materials used, labor or service cost, interest charged, losses, or any other expense whatsoever. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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.
• Solar energy system: means the equipment and requisite hardware that provide and are used for collecting, transferring, converting, storing, or using incident solar energy for water heating, space heating, cooling, or other applications that would otherwise require the use of a conventional source of energy such as petroleum products, natural gas, manufactured gas, or electricity. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Space flight: means any flight designed for suborbital, orbital, or interplanetary travel of a space vehicle, satellite, or station of any kind. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Spaceport activities: means activities directed or sponsored by Space Florida on spaceport territory pursuant to its powers and responsibilities under the Space Florida Act. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• 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.
• Storage: means and includes any keeping or retention in this state of tangible personal property for use or consumption in this state or for any purpose other than sale at retail in the regular course of business. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Strike: means the concerted failure of employees to report for duty; the concerted absence of employees from their positions; the concerted stoppage of work by employees; the concerted submission of resignations by employees; the concerted abstinence in whole or in part by any group of employees from the full and faithful performance of the duties of employment with a public employer for the purpose of inducing, influencing, condoning, or coercing a change in the terms and conditions of employment or the rights, privileges, or obligations of public employment, or participating in a deliberate and concerted course of conduct which adversely affects the services of the public employer; the concerted failure of employees to report for work after the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement; and picketing in furtherance of a work stoppage. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Student representative: means the representative selected by each community college or university student government association. See Florida Statutes 447.203
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Substantial number of remote sales: means any number of taxable remote sales in the previous calendar year in which the sum of the sales prices, as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 212.0596
• Tangible personal property: means and includes personal property which may be seen, weighed, measured, or touched or is in any manner perceptible to the senses, including electric power or energy, boats, motor vehicles and mobile homes as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transit facilities: means property, avenues of access, equipment, or buildings built and installed in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties which are required to support a transit system. See Florida Statutes 343.52
• Transit system: means a system used for the transportation of people and goods by means of, without limitation, a street railway, an elevated railway having a fixed guideway, a commuter railroad, a subway, motor vehicles, or motor buses, and includes a complete system of tracks, stations, and rolling stock necessary to effectuate passenger service to or from the surrounding regional municipalities. See Florida Statutes 343.52
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Use: means and includes the exercise of any right or power over tangible personal property incident to the ownership thereof, or interest therein, except that it does not include the sale at retail of that property in the regular course of business. See Florida Statutes 212.02
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• 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
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• 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