Florida Legislature Considers Bill to Support 'Gaming' Concentrated Counties

The Florida legislature is considering creating an investment fund to support the development of counties that have been swarmed with pari-mutuel (gaming) facilities. 

Senator Blaise Ingoglia (R-11) filed a bill , that would create the ‘Prospect Del Vista Incorporation to create and administer an investment fund to support ‘gaming concentrated counties’. 

Per the bill, gaming-concentrated counties are those counties with five or more operating Florida licensed pari-mutuel permit holders.

Senator Ingoglia’s “Prospect Del Vista Infrastructure and Investment Act” aims to provide long-term funding for efforts of economic improvement and augmentation of such counties. 

‘Prospect Del Vista Incorporation would be a nonprofit corporation with total autonomy from the Florida state government and be governed by a five-member board of directors. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives would each appoint two members while the Governor would appoint one member.

Prospect Del Vista would be free to hire or contract all staff necessary for executing daily operations. 

Funding for Prospect Del Vista is to be extracted from Florida’s tax revenues, with the specific amount calculated according to the slot machine revenue tax paid by gaming-concentrated counties. 

According to the Florida Gaming Control Commission (FGCC), most legal gaming facilities are located in South Florida. Therefore, if passed, Prospect Del Vista could be expected to disburse funds to Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.  

In early November, Ingoglia also introduced a bill to enact 8-year term limits for county commissioners. 

Senator Ingoglia’s bill is paralleled by Florida Representative Michelle Salzman’s (R) previously filed HB 57. 

Ingoglia’s bill modifies Salzman’s own, however. Under Ingoglia’s legislation, county commissioners who exhaust their 8-year terms would be eligible to run for commissioner “2 years after the end date of his or her initial term.”