R9G-Discuss And Approve The 2015 State Legislative PrioritiesMIAMIBEACH
City of Miomi Beoch, l7O0 Convention Center Drive, Miomi Beoch, Florido 33139, www.miomibeochfl.gov
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM
TO:Mayor Philip Levine and Members the City
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: December 17,2014
SUBJECT: DISCUSSION AND APPROV
PRIORITIES.
OF THE 2015 STATE LEGISLATIVE
Bodv Cameras and Public Records
The City has approved the use of body cameras for certain employees in an effort to increase
accountability and service standards. The Public Records laws of the State of Florida do not
contemplate the use of such technology and the cost associated with producing such records
upon request. Numerous local governments throughout the nation are being burdened with
huge financial hardships due to an increasing number of requests for the video captured by
these cameras. For example, one requestor in Washington has launched a YouTube channel
and makes daily requests for hundreds of hours of body camera footage.
While the City of Miami Beach respects and fully embraces the public's right to government
information, the potential financial hardship created by abusive requests are detrimental to the
City's ability to serve its residents. Consequently, the City shall encourage the Legislature to
enact a bill that would allow local governments subject to the Sunshine Law to charge a fee
commensurate only with recovering any costs associated with responding to a public records
request for the video captured by body cameras.
Parkinq Citation Fine Leqislation
Miami-Dade County performs all collection, processing, and adjudication of parking violations
for all jurisdictions in the County. ln addition, the Miami-Dade County Commission is charged
with approving all fine schedules for said violations. The Florida Legislature regulates the
maximum fine schedule that may be imposed by all counties in the State.
The parking violations fine schedule was last amended by Miami-Dade County in 1996. The
parking violation fine schedules utilized by the State of Florida and Miami-Dade County are not
commensurate with the gravity of illegal parking offenses nor the costs of enforcement. The
penalties for illegal parking offenses in the State of Florida, set forth in Section 318.18 of the
Florida Statutes, similarly do not reflect penalties that are adequate, given the seriousness of
these violations. Additionally, the fine schedule for life safety parking violations for prohibited
and restricted parking are similarly inadequate.
For example, the hourly metered parking rate is $1.75 and meter operational hours are 9:00
AM to 3:00 AM (18 hours). A parking session of 11 hours equates to $19.25; 15 hours
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equates to $26.25; and 18 hours equates to $31.50. An overtime parking fine is $18.00;
restricted parking is $23.00; and prohibited parking is $28.00. The existing parking violation fine
schedule is not an effective deterrent of illegal parking and it continues to erode as parking rates
increase over time. Moreover, private sector parking rates are higher than public sector parking
rates which further exacerbates the ineffectiveness of the existing parking violation fine
schedule.
Tourism and Economic Development
The Florida Entertainment lndustry Financial lncentive Program, passed in 2Q10, ran out of new
funds two years ago. For the past two years, bills made their way through the Legislative
session, only to die before coming for a vote towards the end each year. The program is
completely out of available tax credits, with the final incentivized show, HBO's Ballers, filming
here now. As a result of funding inaction the past two years, we have now lost at least four
movies and four major television series for the Miami and Miami Beach area alone in the past
few months. lt is critical that the Legislature adds new, multi-year strong funding to this
program, as the crew base and infrastructure has been steadily moving to Georgia and
Louisiana. One more session of inaction will be the death knell of this 5 decade developed
industry that promotes and is an engine for tourism, both while in town and in perpetuity via
global media impressions.
Enterprise zones are one of the few economic development tools that remain for businesses
seeking to locate in the City's service-oriented economy. There are few, if any, economic
development programs in the State to assist in attracting these more service oriented
businesses other than the Enterprise Zone program. Additionally, the additional incentives
under these programs for hiring individuals living in the designated Enterprise Zones (which by
definition have high concentrations of low income households), not only insures that businesses
will locate in these areas, but encourages local hiring as well. The program is anticipated to be
helpful to the City as it begins implementation of the North Beach revitalization efforts.
Enterprise EcoZone - The City was selected as a pilot community for this program several
years ago. lt has taken since the program was initiated to create the implementing legislation,
obtain full blessing of the forms that will be used and submitted by participating businesses, and
to market the program. The City is just now seeing initial interest in the program from its first
two potential participants. Extension of this program will facilitate additional incentives to locate
businesses within the programs geographic area (the boundaries of the City of Miami Beach)
and encourage eco-friendly construction and energy efficiency in operations of participating
businesses.
Grants - Fundinq1. Sea Level Rise/Climate Change/Coastal Flooding2. Convention Center3. Atlantic Greenway Network4. Transportation5. Beach re-nourishment
Housinq and Communitv Services
The City seeks the preservation of State Housing lnitiatives Program (SHIP) Funding as a
means of preserving the City's affordable housing stock by providing funding to enable
homeowner-occupied rehabilitation. These funds will promote aging in place as well as ensure
that the quality of the City's overall residential housing stock is maintained for new generations.
These funds are leveraged with local dollars to serve low and moderate income residents.
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Waterwavs
The City is seeking legislation allowing for the local regulation of anchoring near and around
property within the City. The lack of such authority has led to widespread disruption among
those coastal property owners by derelict vessels. Currently, the City is preempted from
enacting any such local regulation.
Resort Tax Exemptions
The City will seek review by the Legislature of exemptions to the resort tax that may be
outdatryful
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