Florida SB 458: Controlled Substance Prescribing

Bill Text

458 
Tourist Development Tax 
2025-11-12T03:50:43Z 
Revising the percentage of tourist development tax revenues that must be spent to promote and advertise tourism in order for any tourist development tax revenues to be used for a specified purpose, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 458 

 By Senator Smith 

 17-00070A-26 2026458__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to the tourist development tax; 
 3 amending s. 125.0104, F.S.; revising the percentage of 
 4 tourist development tax revenues that must be spent to 
 5 promote and advertise tourism in order for any tourist 
 6 development tax revenues to be used for a specified 
 7 purpose; providing an effective date. 
 8 
 9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 10 
 11 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section 
 12 125.0104, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 
 13 125.0104 Tourist development tax; procedure for levying; 
 14 authorized uses; referendum; enforcement.— 
 15 (5) AUTHORIZED USES OF REVENUE.— 
 16 (a) All tax revenues received pursuant to this section by a 
 17 county imposing the tourist development tax shall be used by 
 18 that county for the following purposes only: 
 19 1. To acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair, 
 20 improve, maintain, operate, or promote one or more: 
 21 a. Publicly owned and operated convention centers, sports 
 22 stadiums, sports arenas, coliseums, or auditoriums within the 
 23 boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing district in 
 24 which the tax is levied; 
 25 b. Auditoriums that are publicly owned but are operated by 
 26 organizations that are exempt from federal taxation pursuant to 
 27 26 U.S.C. s. 501(c)(3) and open to the public, within the 
 28 boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing district in 
 29 which the tax is levied; or 
 30 c. Aquariums or museums that are publicly owned and 
 31 operated or owned and operated by not-for-profit organizations 
 32 and open to the public, within the boundaries of the county or 
 33 subcounty special taxing district in which the tax is levied; 
 34 2. To promote zoological parks that are publicly owned and 
 35 operated or owned and operated by not-for-profit organizations 
 36 and open to the public; 
 37 3. To promote and advertise tourism in this state and 
 38 nationally and internationally; however, if tax revenues are 
 39 expended for an activity, service, venue, or event, the 
 40 activity, service, venue, or event must have as one of its main 
 41 purposes the attraction of tourists as evidenced by the 
 42 promotion of the activity, service, venue, or event to tourists; 
 43 4. To fund convention bureaus, tourist bureaus, tourist 
 44 information centers, and news bureaus as county agencies or by 
 45 contract with the chambers of commerce or similar associations 
 46 in the county, which may include any indirect administrative 
 47 costs for services performed by the county on behalf of the 
 48 promotion agency; 
 49 5. To finance beach park facilities, or beach, channel, 
 50 estuary, or lagoon improvement, maintenance, renourishment, 
 51 restoration, and erosion control, including construction of 
 52 beach groins and shoreline protection, enhancement, cleanup, or 
 53 restoration of inland lakes and rivers to which there is public 
 54 access as those uses relate to the physical preservation of the 
 55 beach, shoreline, channel, estuary, lagoon, or inland lake or 
 56 river. However, any funds identified by a county as the local 
 57 matching source for beach renourishment, restoration, or erosion 
 58 control projects included in the long-range budget plan of the 
 59 state’s Beach Management Plan, pursuant to s. 161.091, or funds 
 60 contractually obligated by a county in the financial plan for a 
 61 federally authorized shore protection project may not be used or 
 62 loaned for any other purpose. In counties of fewer than 100,000 
 63 population, up to 10 percent of the revenues from the tourist 
 64 development tax may be used for beach park facilities; 
 65 6. To acquire, construct, extend, enlarge, remodel, repair, 
 66 improve, maintain, operate, or finance public facilities within 
 67 the boundaries of the county or subcounty special taxing 
 68 district in which the tax is levied, if the public facilities 
 69 are needed to increase tourist-related business activities in 
 70 the county or subcounty special district and are recommended by 
 71 the county tourist development council created pursuant to 
 72 paragraph (4)(e). Tax revenues may be used for any related land 
 73 acquisition, land improvement, design and engineering costs, and 
 74 all other professional and related costs required to bring the 
 75 public facilities into service. As used in this subparagraph, 
 76 the term “public facilities” means major capital improvements 
 77 that have a life expectancy of 5