Another Hectic Week in the Legislature -- Legislators shortened their work week by a day in observation of Good Friday.  Otherwise, it was business as usual with back-to-back committee meetings when lawmakers were not in session.

 

Next week will be devoted to the budget.  House and Senate budget committees will be finalizing their recommendations and drafting budget bills.  Legislators will be working from a laundry list prepare by committee staff of possible health and human service program funding cuts.  We're still looking at the probability of rate freezes and across-the-board percentage reduction in funding for most programs. There's also a possibility that lawmakers will consider eliminating funding for some optional Medicaid services, such as the medically needy program.

 

As far as bills are concerned, we are making some progress.

 

Ø       Continuing Care Regulation -- HB 1303 and SB 2698 were withdrawn from further consideration.

Ø       ALF Transfer/Discharge Appeal Process -- HB 1401 was amended substantially to replace the appeal process with a requirement that ALFs notify AHCA and the Ombudsman Council in writing of all facility-initiated transfers and discharges.

Ø       ALF/Nursing Home Regulation -- SB 2216 was amended substantially in the Senate Health Regulation Committee, but the bill still has problems. As recommended by FAHSA, the criminal background screening requirement for nursing homes was replaced with a check of the FDLE Sexual Predator Registry; the requirement applies to both current and future residents, which is a problem.  In addition, the screening requirement for contractors is now limited to those who provide care and services to residents. While this is a good change, it appears as if nursing homes and ALFs may have to screen staff sent to them by nurse registries and home health agencies even though they are already screened. Please be sure to read the "End of Week" bulletin that you will be receiving tomorrow for details on this bill.

Ø       Access to Dwelling Units -- At FAHSA's request, HB 823 was amended to include an exemption for "Homes for the Aged." This is a victory for affordable housing and retirement community members that have apartments.

 

For additional information, be sure to dial-in on Friday at 10:00 a.m. for our weekly debriefing on legislative activities that affect your organization.

 

Transient Rental Subject to Sales Tax - The continuous rental of living quarters or sleeping accommodations for a period of six months or less, or a transient rental, is subject to sales tax. This rule does not apply to patients or residents of medical facilities or homes for the aged, regardless of the length of their stay.

 

However, it is common practice in some senior housing communities to rent vacant apartments to the friends and family of residents when they visit. These guests generally only stay for a few days and the community charges a fee for each night that the guests occupy the apartment.

 

The Florida Administrative Code states that "charges made for transient accommodations to any person other than the patient by the institution are subject to tax", which means that revenues from guest rentals are subject to sales tax. In addition, they are subject to any surtax imposed by the county in which the community is located. These taxes include, but are not limited to, the discretionary sales surtax, the local option tax, the tourist development tax, the convention development tax and the tourist impact tax on taxable rentals of transient accommodations. A county-by-county list that includes the base sales tax rate (6%) and any local taxes that are imposed by each county can be found on the Florida Department of Revenue Web site at Sales and Use Tax Rates by County.

 

If the sales tax returns are not filed to report the taxable revenues, and if the sales tax is not remitted to the Department of Revenue, the community may be subject to penalties and interest.

 

Please contact Karin Vickers at 1 (800) 726-1735 or Zack Campbell at 1 (800) 683-5401, Moore Stephens Lovelace P.A., if you have additional questions.  Source:  Moore Stephens Lovelace, P.A.

 

Weekly TBRC Update - This week, Janegale Boyd, FAHSA's President/CEO, and 17 residents from Westminster Oaks attended the full Taxation and Budget Reform Commission (TBRC) meeting.  The Commission passed Constitutional Proposal 0002, (click to download a copy of the engrossed bill) after significant amendments were added.  This is estimated to reduce property taxes by 25%.  The State is to achieve the required $8-9.52 billion needed in additional revenue through elimination of all tax exemptions not specified in the proposal. Businesses could see some relief on their taxes due to the ad valorem reduction with the required local effort (RLE). The proposal will be placed on the November ballot.