Bill Text: FL S0604 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Florida State Employees' Charitable Campaign
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2014-05-02 - Died in Messages [S0604 Detail]
Download: Florida-2014-S0604-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2014 SB 604 By Senator Ring 29-00595-14 2014604__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the Florida State Employees’ 3 Charitable Campaign; amending s. 110.181, F.S.; 4 providing an exception to the requirement that state 5 officers and employees designate a charitable 6 organization to receive contributions from the Florida 7 State Employees’ Charitable Campaign; providing for 8 the distribution of undesignated funds by the fiscal 9 agent; removing the requirement that a local steering 10 committee be established in each fiscal agent area; 11 providing an effective date. 12 13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 14 15 Section 1. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 110.181, 16 Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 17 110.181 Florida State Employees’ Charitable Campaign.— 18 (1) CREATION AND ORGANIZATION OF CAMPAIGN.— 19 (a) The Department of Management Services shall establish 20 and maintain, in coordination with the payroll system of the 21 Department of Financial Services, an annual Florida State 22 Employees’ Charitable Campaign. Except as provided in subsection 23 (5), this annual fundraising drive is the only authorized 24 charitable fundraising drive directed toward state employees 25 within work areas during work hours, and for which the state 26 will provide payroll deduction. 27 (b) State officers’ and employees’ contributions toward the 28 Florida State Employees’ Charitable Campaign must be entirely 29 voluntary. State officers and employees making contributions 30 shallmustdesignate a charitable organization to receive their 31suchcontributions, unless such contributions are collected as 32 part of a campaign event. 33 (c) Participation in the annual Florida State Employees’ 34 Charitable Campaign ismust belimited to any nonprofit 35 charitable organization thatwhichhas as its principal mission: 36 1. Public health and welfare; 37 2. Education; 38 3. Environmental restoration and conservation; 39 4. Civil and human rights; or 40 5.Any nonprofit charitable organization engaged inThe 41 relief of human suffering and poverty. 42 (d) An independent, unaffiliated agency must be a statewide 43 entity whose programs provide year-round substantial, direct, 44 hands-on services that meet basic human or environmental needs 45and extend throughout the year and throughout the state. 46 (e) An international service agency must have well-defined 47 programs that meet basic human or environmental needs outside 48 the United States with no duplication of existing programs. 49 (f) A national agency must demonstrate, through a well 50 defined program, the provision of direct services that meet 51meetingbasic human or environmental needs andwhichare readily 52 available, being administered, or providing a substantial, 53 direct benefit to the residents of this state. 54 (g) The financial records of aAnynonprofit charitable 55 organization participating in the Florida State Employees’ 56 Charitable Campaign shall bemust have its financial records57 audited annually by an independent public accountant whose 58 examination conforms to generally accepted accounting 59 principles. 60 (h) Organizations ineligible to participate in the Florida 61 State Employees’ Charitable Campaign include, but are not 62 limited to, the following: 63 1. Organizations whose fundraising and administrative 64 expenses exceed 25 percent, unless extraordinary circumstances 65 can be demonstrated. 66 2. Organizations whose activities contain an element that 67 is more than incidentally political in nature or whose 68 activities are primarily political, religious, professional, or 69 fraternal in nature. 70 3. Organizations thatwhichdiscriminate against any 71 individual or group on account of race, color, religion, sex, 72 national origin, age, handicap, or political affiliation. 73 4. Organizations not properly registered as a charitable 74 organization as required by the Solicitation of Contributions 75 Act, ss. 496.401-496.424. 76 5. Organizations thatwhichhave not received tax-exempt 77 status under s. 501(c)(3) of the,Internal Revenue Code. 78 (2) SELECTION OF FISCAL AGENTS; COST.— 79 (a) The Department of Management Services shall select 80 through the competitive procurement process a fiscal agent or 81 agents to receive, account for, and distribute charitable 82 contributions among participating charitable organizations. 83 (b) The fiscal agent shall withhold the reasonable costs 84 for conducting the campaign and for accounting and distribution 85 to the participating organizations and shall reimburse the 86 department the actual cost for coordinating the campaign in 87 accordance with the rules of the department. In any fiscal year 88 thatin whichthe Legislature specifically appropriates to the 89 department its total costs for coordinating the campaign from 90 the General Revenue Fund, the fiscal agent is not required to 91 reimburse such costs to the department under this subsection. 92 Otherwise, reimbursement will be the difference between actual 93 costs and the amount appropriated. 94 (c) The fiscal agent shall furnish to the department and 95 participating charitable organizations a report onofthe 96 accounting and distribution activities. Records relating to 97 these activities mustshallbe open for inspection upon 98 reasonable notice and request. 99 (d) The fiscal agent shall distribute undesignated funds to 100 each participating charitable organization in direct proportion 101 to the percentage of designated funds or pledges received by the 102 organizationAlocal steering committee shall be established in103each fiscal agent area to assist in conducting the campaign. The104committee shall be composed of state employees selected by the105fiscal agent from among recommendations provided by interested106participating organizations, if any, and approved by the107Statewide Steering Committee. 108 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.