No tax break for some on waterfront

By Alex Leary, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau Friday, April 10, 2009 TALLAHASSEE — Cory Offutt walked into the voting booth thinking he was giving himself a property tax break. "It was awesome," the marine towing operator in Miami said of a so-called working waterfront proposal that passed with 71 percent of the vote statewide in November.

Amendment 6, as it turns out, does not help Biscayne Towing and Salvage or other businesses like it because of the limited definition of working waterfront that voters approved. But as the Legislature drafts the implementing language — the exact wording that goes into law taking effect in 2010 — a little-noticed but persistent lobbying effort is under way to expand its reach.

"Look at this," said Democratic Rep. Luis Garcia of Miami Beach, poking his finger into a photo of a tug pulling a cargo container up the Miami River. "That's a working waterfront to a T." Whatever happens, this much is clear: Sizable property tax relief remains frustratingly elusive for many businesses, even as values have come down in a cooler market.

The recent tax cuts offered by the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist have been mostly directed to homestead property owners, a large voting bloc but also the group that has been most protected from spikes.

Sharply dropping revenue at the state and local level has suppressed the appetite for more cuts. Several property tax bills, some geared toward nonhomestead property including a 5 percent cap on annual assessments, have been stalled or face uncertain fates.

So the Amendment 6 implementing language has become a hot target.

"I keep having people stop me in the hall and say, 'Is there any way you can help?' “said Keyna Cory, a business lobbyist ( Chief Lobbyist for Associated Industries of Florida, AIF and President of Public Affairs Consultants. Inc.) who was instrumental in getting the amendment on the ballot. "People are still hurting," Cory said. "They are looking for any way to lower the cost of doing business so they can hang on." Sympathy has its limits. Cory and the bill's sponsors — Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, and Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness — say the definition cannot be broadened because nearly 5 million voters have already altered the Florida Constitution. "We'd like to help a lot more, but the way this was drawn, we have to keep it in those parameters," said Robaina, who heralds the bill as the "only real property tax relief Floridians can count on this session.

Amendment 6 is an attempt to curtail the long-standing assessment practice that values property at its "highest and best" use rather than its "current" use. Highest and best has been blamed for soaring tax bills for small businesses, some of which succumb to pressure and sell their land.

A powerful business coalition, Save Our Waterfronts, worked on a proposal for a couple of years before persuading the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, a state panel that meets every 20 years, to put it on the ballot last November.

The final working waterfront definition was limited to include publicly accessible marinas, waterfront marine-manufacturing facilities and commercial fishing businesses.

An estimate showed it could save up to $144 million over three years, taking that much from local government coffers at the same time. Including small hotels and motels and restaurants would have only deepened the hit and made it politically difficult to get approval from the reform commission. Detractors also argue that it is not essential for hotels and restaurants to be on the water, unlike, say, a marina.

A bill approved last year provided broader limits on the use of "highest and best" but is not as strong as the constitutional amendment.

Advocates for hotels and restaurants have eyed the working waterfront language, too, but not as aggressively as the Miami River group. To exclude tug operators and cargo terminals "just defies logic," said Fran Bohnsack, executive director of the Miami River Marine Group. She accuses the coalition of being unnecessarily rigid and says the amendment language could easily accommodate more business types. The bill could add in commercial transportation facilities of goods and people and the towing, storage and salvage businesses that support them, Bohnsack said. "I'm not requesting something overwhelming," she added.

Bohnsack has made scores of phone calls, traveled to Tallahassee twice and even driven to a Lincoln Day dinner in Bradenton to get a few minutes with Republican Sen. Mike Bennett, who was involved with an early version of the bill. The unwanted feeling along the Miami River is just part of a deeper struggle against a changing waterfront complexion in Miami. Bohnsack's coalition has been battling the Miami City Commission over zoning changes that have stripped protections for marine industries based along the river in favor of residential use.

The condos have already started to encroach. Offutt, the towing operator, thinks they are to blame for his property tax going from $5,400 in 2006 to about $8,000 in 2008. "It's just the beginning. It shows what's happening to the property values. The more condos that are developed, the higher the tax will become," he said. "I voted for Amendment 6 because I thought it included me. But now I see it doesn't. I feel we've been duped."

So far it does not look good for him in Tallahassee, but the river group is not giving up. "The fat lady isn't even humming yet," said Bob Levy, a lobbyist Bohnsack has hired. "There are three weeks left in the session; we have plenty of time."

About Amendment 6 the November 2008 ballot read:

Provides for assessment based upon use of land used predominantly for commercial fishing purposes; land used for vessel launches into waters that are navigable and accessible to the public; marinas and drystacks that are open to the public; and water-dependent marine manufacturing facilities, commercial fishing facilities, and marine vessel construction and repair facilities and their support activities, subject to conditions, limitations, and reasonable definitions specified by general law.

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Newspapers Likely to Keep Getting Cities' Legal Ads

STATE CAPITOL BRIEFS - March 31, 2009 A Senate committee postponed a bill – likely until next year - that would have ended the requirement that local governments post public notices in newspapers, despite the assertion by the bill's sponsor that newspapers are becoming obsolete. Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Tampa, read off a list of statistics on the declining number of people who depend on newspapers to get their news and said it doesn't make sense to continue requiring public notices to be placed in them because of the high cost to cities and counties, which are pushing the bill (SB 2292).

Storms said nobody reads the notices in the newspapers. “They may spend $50,000 on a public notice (of a meeting), and nobody comes. Zero. Nada. Nobody shows up,” Storms said. Under the measure, the notices would have to be placed on public Web sites, and certain notices would still have to go in the paper. Storms said people who want to be notified specifically would sign up to receive notices by mail or Email. “The gadflies and the citizens that do care, they'll get it,” said Storms. “They'll sign up and get it mailed to them.”

Opponents of the measure include, no surprise, newspapers, but also a number of advocacy groups like AARP and the NAACP, who argue that people who don't have access to the Internet won't be informed by their government, which means the elderly, and large numbers of minorities would be disenfranchised.

But the chairman of the Senate Community Affairs Committee, Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, said he didn't trust the government not to shut down electronic media and announced that the bill would be postponed for staff to study the issue over the summer.

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Senate committee shuts down bill to kill newspaper notices

By Mary Ellen Klas, Miami Herald Blog & St. Petersburg Times Blog, March 31, 2009: A bill that would remove the requirement that local governments publish their official notices in printed newspapers was halted by the Senate Community Affairs Committee on Tuesday when the chairman, Sen. Mike Bennett, said he was ordering a staff study over the summer instead.

The measure, SB 2292, being pushed by Sen. Ronda Storms, would have allowed local governments to replace the printed notice with an Internet notice and a direct mailer to citizens who signed up to receive them. Storms said she had no idea how much the shift in practice would cost but noted that cities and counties "loved it.''

By contrast, killing the bill was the top priority of the Florida Press Association, and was opposed by AARP and Associated Industries of Florida.

Storms predicted that the death of printed newspapers in Florida was inevitable. "Members of the media may not want to acknowledge it but, in our lifetime, it's going to take care of itself,'' she said. "All we're doing is propping up the media. I think that print media is going to go away."

Bennett replied: "I look at the whole idea of a no printed media as terrifying. I realize the federal government can shut down a satellite and we lose all our unprinted media. Maybe you have more faith in Government than I do."

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Newspapers dodge a bullet: legal ad bill dies in Senate

By Josh Hafenbrack, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Blog, March 31, 2009: Senator Rhonda Storms to the press: You're dead, you just don't know it yet

Florida's faltering newspaper industry got a rare dose of good news today: the state Senate killed a measure that would have eliminated a reliable revenue source, government legal ads.

Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Tampa, had sponsored a bill to allow counties and municipalities to post public notices for meetings and legal advertisements like foreclosure notices online. Under current law, local governments must pay to place such notices in general circulation, English-language newspapers.

Storms said the newspaper industry is dying, anyway, and this would allow local government to save money.

"We read all about the trouble in the newspaper industry," Storms said in the Senate Community Affairs Committee. "There are newspapers in the country that shut down print - that are solely reliant online. Many in the media think newspapers are anachronistic and they're going to be passing in our lifetimes."

But with the bill hotly opposed by a coalition claiming that online-only public notices would disenfranchise those without Internet access, committee chairman Sen. Mike Bennett delayed the measure until next year.

"I look at the whole idea of losing the printed media as terrifying," said Bennett, R-Bradenton, who said the Senate would study the idea over the summer and bring it back next year.

Indeed, the newspaper industry is struggling, due to the migration of readers (especially young readers) to the Internet and the recession that has worsened declines in key advertising sectors, like automobiles and real estate. Newspapers are shedding staff. A few, including the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have stopped printing altogether.

Storms' bill would have allowed people to receive meeting notices and legal ads through e-mail.

Those without Internet access could sign up to receive notices through regular mail.

The measure was a favorite among cash-strapped city and county governments, which spend millions advertising their meetings in newspapers.

"They love, love, love this bill," Storms said. "They may spend $50,000 on a public notice and nobody comes - zero, nada. Nobody shows. The vast majority, they just don't care."

Storms cited studies showing a majority of people read their news online and many would not mind much if their local newspaper went under. Only the 65-and-older age bracket has an affinity for the printed word, she said.

"We're seeing it in a tailspin right now," she said. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I'm just reading the headlines of their own newspapers."

But former Fort Lauderdale Sen. Matt Meadows, representing the Save the Public Notice Coalition, said posting public information online-only would disenfranchise older and minority populations that have lower Internet access rates.

The group would support posting public notices both on the Internet and in the newspaper, he added. "We feel it's better to have more transparency," he said.

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Senator: Property Tax Plans Likely to Stall

By MICHAEL PELTIER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, March 10, 2009… A handful of proposed constitutional amendments to limit local government’s ability to tax have caused a lot of sound and fury but may end up signifying nothing, at least this year, a key Senate Republican said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after the Senate Community Affairs Committee passed a resolution (SJR 1906) to cap local property tax increases, chairman Mike Bennett said that proposal will likely be reduced to a study by the time lawmakers are through with it.

Likewise, Bennett said his own measure (SJR 738) to place an overall cap on local taxes might also be relegated to the food-for-thought file by the time lawmakers adjourn six weeks from now.

“I think both of these bills, at the end of the day, will be some kind of study over the summer to find something (for next year,)” said Bennett, R-Bradenton.

Bennett’s comments came after the proposal to ask voters to tie local property tax increases to inflation plus population growth was approved 6-4 by the panel, over the objections of firefighters and representatives from cities, counties, school districts, and unions.

Critics contend the proposal, sponsored by Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, closely resembles the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR legislation they say has been unsuccessful elsewhere and that it would hamstring local government when providing critical services. And if local governments fail to provide necessary services, state taxpayers will be left holding the bag.

“If a local government fails because of your actions, you will be running it from here. You Break you Own it.” said Jack Cory, who spoke against the measure on behalf of juvenile justice and elder services providers.

The 6-4 vote got the measure out of its first committee in what backers admit will be a difficult road that includes four more committee stops in the Senate alone. And as a proposed constitutional amendment the measure, if passed, would then go before voters.

If the Haridopolos amendment were added to the constitution, local and state revenues could not increase faster than inflation and population growth unless a majority of local voters approve. New taxes would have to be approved by two-thirds of voters. A similar proposal was rejected last year by a panel assembled to revamp the state’s tax structure.

“There is nothing more important the Legislature can do to bring business to this state and grow our native small businesses than get control of state and local government spending,” said Allen Douglas, Florida legislative director for the National Federation of Independent Business.

Bennett’s plan (SJR 738) limits total property tax for schools and local governments to 1.35 percent, or 13.5 mills. The House Military and Local Affairs Policy Committee is scheduled to take up an identical measure (HJR 385) on Wednesday. Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, is the House sponsor.

In 2007, the Florida Supreme Court threw out a similar constitutional proposal, saying the ballot summary was misleading because it didn’t say where excess money would go.

Coupled with the troubled state of local financing, the timing may not be right for further restrictions on local spending. But even if they don’t pass, Bennett said the measures are focusing legislative attention on the property tax issue, where they can return once the economy turns around.

“Sometimes these things take three or four years to come to fruition,” Bennett said.

Area businesses remain hopeful

As legislators prepare to convene, some want tax breaks, lower health care costs

Posted on March 03, 2009

By JENNIFER RICH and BRIAN NEILL Manatee/Sarasota Herald Staff Writers — Tax incentives and tax breaks, reducing health care costs, stopping the rise of workers compensation insurance.

These topics are on the minds of small-business owners as they watch the opening today of the 2009 state legislative session.

With fewer customers and declining revenues, business owners hope legislators can provide some help while they still cut billions from the budget deficit.

State economists Monday said Florida’s economic outlook is getting worse due to the “double-whammy” of the national recession on top of the state’s housing slump. That’s only going to make a bad budget situation worse for Florida lawmakers as they begin their annual 60-day session. Economists are predicting that it now looks like the national recession is going to last through the end of this summer, a quarter longer than previously forecast. Florida’s economy, though, is expected to remain flat for another year after that because it was affected more than the nation as a whole by the housing decline.

Dennis Cathcart, owner of Tropiflora wholesale and retail nursery on Tallevast Road, hopes the Legislature will consider giving tax credits to employers like him who have not laid off any of his 18 employees despite a slower economy. He has had to ask employees to take volunteer furloughs of a day or two to keep up with expenses.

“We are selling a nonessential product, so anytime there is a ripple in the economy, we feel it,” he said.

Cathcart believes his company’s other contributions include providing 60 percent of employees’ medical coverage and generating oversea dollars through exporting. It would be nice if those in Tallahassee recognized those efforts through tax breaks or incentives, he said.

“I would like to see us get a better break with what we are providing,” he said. “For people who generate a U.S.-made product and export it, a tax break for the amount of money we generate overseas would help. I’m not whining, but it would be nice to say, ‘Hey, they are keeping people employed, let’s give them a bit of a look when it comes to taxes.’”

Ashok Sawe, owner of Palm Tree Villas on Anna Maria Island, is hoping the Legislature will do whatever they can to increase or maintain the level of tourism in the state.

“We are quite concerned that, given the economy, people are going to cut back on vacation spending,” he said. “Whatever they can do to promote tourism and provide incentives for people to go on a vacation would help.”

Sawe is upset at the idea of an additional one-cent bed tax being proposed by the Manatee County Tourist and Development Council, afraid it will act as a further deterrent to out-of-state visitors.

“Anything that is going to make people think, might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” he said. “We should be thinking of an incentive for tourists instead.”

A sales tax exemption might be the boost everyone needs, Sawe said. The state would lose the sales tax revenue, but if every tourist dollar contributes $4 or $5 to the local economy, you could protect that revenue with a tax exemption, he reasoned.

“We get a lot of European visitors who say they are struggling with the exchange rate and air fares and a sales tax exemption would help,” Sawe added.

Keyna Cory, chief lobbyist for the Associated Industries of Florida, which was sponsoring its annual pre- legislative event for lawmakers and the press Monday, said the business group’s top priorities are clearing up the language in the workers’ compensation law that will cap attorney fees and streamlining the per- mitting process required be- tween state and local agencies.

“If workman’s comp isn’t fixed, you can expect to see rates jump at least by 15 percent,” she said.

Cory said she has heard “horror stories” from business owners from farmers to developers on getting permits to do business.

“Forms don’t match up; the process needs to be streamlined with less duplication,” Cory said.

She is worried that providing a sales tax exemption right now would not be helpful to a state facing billions in a budget shortfall.

“So we are not asking for any sales tax incentives right now,” she said.

Cory is impressed with the legislative delegation representing Manatee and Sarasota counties and gives them high marks in working with business interests.

Manatee Chamber of Commerce representatives will be going to Tallahassee March 18-20 to meet with key legislators to push their agenda of changes in education, transportation, economic development and health care.

Health care changes are the No. 1 priority, said Neil Spirtas, vice president of Public Policy & Small Business.

They include providing sovereign immunity for physicians taking emergency-care calls, raising reimbursement rates for Medicare, and providing affordable health care for business owners through small group plans.

“It’s a very important session,” Spirtas said. “We need to cut the budget, but there are alternatives out there.”

State Rep. Ron Reagan, R-Bradenton, said he and fellow legislators are still trying to digest all of the provisions in the federal stimulus bill.

“Once we kind of know more what the federal stimulus package is going to be it will lead us into what we need to do,” Reagan said.

“I don’t know if we’re going to be able to give some kind of tax breaks or not. We’re going to have to see how our money situation is, but we have to do something to encourage businesses to hire people and invest in Florida.”

Reagan said he would be open to looking at reducing sales tax exemptions for things like bottled water and skybox tickets to athletic events to help bolster the state’s coffers.

“I know for a fact that we’ve been looking at the sales tax exemptions. I’m willing to look at anything,” Reagan said.

“It’s bad out there, there’s no question about it. We have to do everything we can to encourage people to buy here in Florida and invest here in Florida. I am an eternal optimist, but it’s frightening out there.”

State Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, believes the state will benefit greatly from the federal stimulus funds heading its way.

“The first thing we have to do is draw down the federal recovery act money because there are a lot of things in there that will put people to work,” Fitzgerald said.

“There’s money in there that can come to our community. For instance, I was just talking to people who work in the cable industry. If you look in the legislation, there’s a lot of money for laying cable and enhancing Internet connections. We need to make sure to get some of that money.”

Fitzgerald said he is also sponsoring a bill to provide subsidies to businesses that generate renewable energy.

“I’m sure there are many other ideas out there like that,” he said.

State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said the economic turmoil has brought about a defining moment in Florida’s history.

“I think the difficult economic times that we are experiencing right now are providing us the greatest opportunity we’ve ever had to reevaluate how we treat businesses in the state of Florida,” Galvano said.

“What I think will come out of this is a more effective, more streamlined and more predictable process for businesses, existing and new, to interact with the state of Florida.”

Galvano said he wasn’t opposed to looking at issues such as sales tax exemptions, but doesn’t believe that focusing on taxes is the answer.

“I firmly believe we’re not going to tax ourselves out of the economic conditions we’re in currently,” Galvano said.

“Having said that, there is the issue of tax fairness and that’s where some of those items come into play. So we’ll make sure we’re taxing fairly. What we need in Florida is more taxpayers, not more taxes.”

That said, Galvano acknowledges that solving the problems of economics and business in the state is not going to be easy.

“It’s the most challenging session we’ve had in many decades, and even former members who were around in the seventies and earlier would agree with that,” Galvano said.

“But it’s not an insurmountable challenge and it is a real opportunity to evaluate how Florida provides opportunities to people.”

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AIF Jacksonville Pre-Session Briefing:
February 19, 2009

Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) hosted its annual Jacksonville legislative briefing for more than 40 business leaders and members of AIF on Wednesday, February 18th. Members of the Jacksonville business community gathered to discuss the top issues facing employers and strategies to stimulate Florida’s economy. The event featured remarks by AIF Board Chair Michael Jennings, presentations by AIF Chief Lobbyist Keyna Cory (right), other AIF Staff Members, and a special key-note address by Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp (second form Left) on the future of Florida’s economy.

Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) Jacksonville
Pre-Session Briefing

Jacksonville Financial News & Daily Record 02/19/2009, By Mike Sharkey, Staff Writer — With less than two weeks until arguably the most important legislative session in memory begins, the Associated Industries of Florida has prepared its priority list. Wednesday morning at The River Club, representatives from AIF presented that list to about two dozen area AIF members. Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp also talked about the importance of the session.

“Obviously, we are facing some pretty significant economic challenges, which is no surprise,” said Kottkamp.

According to Kottkamp, in the modern history of Florida, the budget has not gone down two years in a row. This year’s budget is expected to tumble another $10 billion from about $70 billion to close to $60 billion — making the 2009-10 fiscal year the third year in a row the budget has been reduced.

That reduction is the result of a combination of several things, many of which AIF intends to address during the session through its statewide lobbying efforts.

Jose Gonzalez, vice president of governmental affairs for AIF, said his organization will employ a team of 19 lobbyists that will focus on 19 specific areas AIF is looking to make progress on during the session, which begins March 3. Topping that list is property insurance.

“Property insurance is a perennial issue,” said Gonzalez, adding that AIF has 25 members that are insurance companies.

Gonzalez said the hurricanes and subsequent damage caused over the past several years have created a fiscal nightmare for both the state and the insurance companies. The amount of money paid out to rebuild damaged or leveled homes has either put several companies out of business or forced them out of Florida. In turn, homeowners are finding it more difficult, if not impossible, to find affordable homeowners insurance.

“They (the Legislature) are scared in Tallahassee. We have finally beat the drum enough,” said Gonzalez. “We are in a state of peril in Florida. They (the governor’s office) are projecting a deficit of $19 billion this year and that is frightening. If we get hit by a hurricane, we better start thinking about a one penny sales tax (increase).”

Gonzalez said AIF would approve of raising premiums on insurance on a sliding scale and pushing for a hurricane rating system for houses.

“That way if you buy or sell a home, you know where you stand,” he said.

The second-biggest priority for AIF is workers compensation. According to Gonzalez, a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court has all but negated reform measures approved in 2003 that regulated workers’ compensation.

“There has been a reduction of 60 percent of workers compensation claims since 2003,” he said. “Going back to the pre-2003 era should be scary to the business community. This is just the beginning if we don’t do something about it. It’s looking promising this session to fix attorneys’ fees. We are not looking to address anything else. The goal is to fix them without having to negotiate too much with the trial bar.”

Keyna Cory, chief lobbyist for AIF, said the organization will also tackle the regulations that govern doing business in Florida. She says there is too much duplicity, which is time-consuming and restrictive to property owners.

“The Legislature has finally woken up. We have all of these regulations and they overlap,” said Cory. “It takes so much time to get permits to do work on property you own. It’s not fair. The streamlining of permitting will help tremendously.”

Keyna also said the creation of the Small Business Regulatory Advisory Council should help small businesses operate more efficiently in the future. The Council is comprised of nine members: three appointed by the governor, three by the speaker of the house and three by the president of the Senate. Cory is the Vice Chair of the Council and said the first group of rules the Council will examine should be determined by the end of the month.

As bad as things seem, Kottkamp is convinced Florida is poised to emerge just fine and ultimately become one of the stronger states economically in the country. He said $1.4 billion worth of projects were approved in the last four months, creating 39,000 jobs.

“We will face our current challenges and keep an eye on the future,” he said. “As you look around the state, the groundwork is being laid for that. It’s just a few short years away.”

The following are the 19 specific areas that AIF will focus on during the legislative session. These areas were determined by polling AIF members and approved by the AIF board of directors. They are in alphabetical order and not in order of priority.

• Contracting
• Economic development
• Education
• Elections
• Energy
• Environmental
• General business
• Growth management
• Health care
• Insurance
• International affairs
• Legal and judicial
• Taxation
• Technology
• Transportation
• Unemployment compensation
• Workers’ compensation
• Workforce development
• Workforce housing

New law to deter metal theft brings cheers

By Dong-Phuong Nguyen, Times Staff Writer, October 3, 2008 TAMPA — More than a year ago, state Rep. Baxter Troutman was faced with a $5,200 repair bill when thieves tore apart the irrigation system for his citrus farm to steal copper wiring.

Troutman soon learned that he was not alone. The theft of metals for money was such a lucrative business, cases were popping up all over the state. The Republican from Winter Haven fought back by introducing a bill that makes it harder to sell the metals. That law went into effect Wednesday, bringing great relief to industries hit hard by the thefts, but a headache to scrap metal dealers who now must adhere to a long list of requirements.

"We're excited about giving law enforcement more tools and options to hopefully bring a stop or at least put a dent in this epidemic that has spread not only in our state, but I suspect the nation as well," Troutman said.

The law calls for buyers to document much more information from sellers than before. It requires facts like full name, address, and home and work phone numbers; vehicle make, model and tag number; and height, weight, gender, eye and hair color. Also, payments above $1,000 must be by check.

"It's a nightmare," said Edward Sharpe, vice president of Industrial Metals Recycling in Tampa. "There's just a super amount of information that is required now, and it's just a slow process."

Sharpe said that though he supports the new law, the first 24 hours after it went into effect weren't fun.

He processed about 200 to 300 transactions in that 24-hour period. What used to take minutes per person is now about 10 to 15 minutes. So far, none of his customers have refused to provide the information, said Sharpe, who once had 12,000 pounds of stainless steel stolen from his business four hours after it was dropped off.

"We do not buy stolen material; nor do we encourage it," Sharpe said. "I just need to figure out how to speed up the process to get customers out quicker."

Scrap copper, often shipped to China to be recycled, sells for about $2.30 a pound. The damage that thieves do in acquiring the metal far outweighs the money they bring in.

Nationwide, the theft of metals has caused more than $1-billion in repairs and replacement for its victims, said Keyna Cory, coordinator for Floridians for Copper and Metal Theft Crime Prevention, a fraud business coalition made up of representatives from a spectrum of companies like utilities, beer distributors and construction.

Popular targets are new-home sites, air-conditioning units, beer kegs and farms. In January, thieves broke into a Seminole Heights church, broke up the air-conditioning unit and stripped the wires inside the building — all for $200 worth of copper. The damage they left behind? More than $50,000, Cory said.

Cory, who is also chief lobbyist for Associated Industries of Florida, said she sent out an e-mail to business owners statewide this year to see if they had concerns about the theft of copper.

"My computer was like a Christmas tree lit up," she said. "Everybody in the world seemed like they were getting hit."

Cory said she soon discovered that Troutman's bill was already in the works, making a lot of people happy.

"The great thing now is ... thieves are going to think twice about selling it," Cory said. "If they don't have a place to sell their goods, maybe they won't steal property."

Dong-Phuong Nguyen can be reached at (813) 269-5312 or nguyen@sptimes.com.

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