(1) “Authority” or “educational facilities authority” means the public corporation created by ss. 243.50-243.77.

(2) “Real property” includes all lands, including improvements and fixtures thereon, and any such property appurtenant thereto, or used in connection therewith, and every estate, interest, and right, legal or equitable, therein, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage, or otherwise and the indebtedness secured by such liens. This definition does not affect the classification of property as real property or tangible personal property for purposes of ad valorem taxation under chapters 192 and 193 or sales and use taxation under chapter 212.

(3) “Project” means a structure suitable for use as a dormitory or other housing facility, dining hall, student union, administration building, academic building, library, laboratory, research facility, classroom, athletic facility, health care facility, or maintenance, storage, or utility facility and other structures or facilities related thereto, required thereto, or required or useful for the instruction of students, the conducting of research, or the operation of an institution of higher education. The term includes parking and other facilities or structures, essential or convenient for the orderly conduct of such institution of higher education and includes equipment and machinery and other similar items necessary or convenient for the operation of a particular facility or structure in the manner for which its use is intended, but does not include such items as books, fuel, supplies, or other items that are customarily deemed to result in a current operating charge. The term also includes a loan in anticipation of tuition revenues by an institution of higher education, as defined in subsection (6).

(4) “Cost,” as applied to a project or any portion thereof financed under ss. 243.50-243.77, includes all or any part of the cost of construction and acquisition of all lands, structures, real property, rights, rights-of-way, franchises, easements, and interests acquired or used for a project; the cost of demolishing or removing any buildings or structures on land so acquired, including the cost of acquiring any lands to which the buildings or structures may be removed; the cost of all machinery and equipment, financing charges, and interest before, during, and for a period of 30 months after completion of the construction; provisions for working capital, reserves for principal, interest, and rebate; provisions for extensions, enlargements, additions, and improvements; the cost of engineering, financial, and legal services; the cost of plans, specifications, studies, surveys, estimates of costs and revenues, administrative expenses, expenses necessary to determining the feasibility or practicability of constructing the project; and other expenses necessary for constructing and acquiring the project, financing the construction, and placing the project in operation. In the case of a loan in anticipation of tuition revenues, the term “cost” means the amount of the loan in anticipation of revenues which does not exceed the amount of tuition revenues anticipated to be received by the borrowing institution of higher education in the 1-year period following the date of the loan, plus costs related to the issuance of the loan, or the amount of the bonds, the proceeds of which fund the loans and any related cost of debt service, reserve funds, and rebate associated therewith.

(5) “Bond” or “revenue bond” means a revenue bond of the authority issued under ss. 243.50-243.77, including a revenue refunding bond, notwithstanding that it may be secured by mortgage or the full faith and credit of a participating institution of higher education or any other lawfully pledged security of a participating institution of higher education.

(6) “Institution of higher education” means an independent nonprofit college or university which is located in and chartered by the state; which is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; which grants baccalaureate degrees; and which is not a state university or Florida College System institution.

(7) “Participating institution” means an institution of higher education, as defined in subsection (6), that undertakes the financing and construction or acquisition of a project or undertakes the refunding or refinancing of obligations or of a mortgage or of advances as provided in and permitted by ss. 243.50-243.77.

(8) “Loan in anticipation of tuition revenues” means a loan to an institution of higher education under circumstances in which tuition revenues anticipated to be received by the institution in any budget year are estimated to be insufficient at any time during the budget year to pay the operating expenses or other obligations of the institution in accordance with the budget of the institution.

History.—s. 3, ch. 2001-79; s. 32, ch. 2014-17; s. 1, ch. 2015-113.