Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 373 - Water Resources

• Abandoned water well: means a well the use of which has been permanently discontinued. See Florida Statutes 373.303
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Agent: means the project architect, project engineer, or other agency or person acting on behalf of the local governmental entity. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• All receipts available: means the amount estimated to be available for distribution during the fiscal year as determined, and as amended from time to time, by the department. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Artist: means a person performing on the professional stage or in the production of television, radio, or motion pictures; a musician or group of musicians; or a model. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Auditor: means an independent certified public accountant licensed pursuant to chapter 473 and retained by a local governmental entity to perform a financial audit. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Balanced budget: A budget in which receipts equal outlays.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the State Board of Administration. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Budget authority: Authority provided by law to enter into obligations that will result in outlays of Federal funds. Budget authority may be classified by the period of availability (one-year, multiyear, no-year), by the timing of congressional action (current or permanent), or by the manner of determining the amount available (definite or indefinite).
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Chief Financial Officer: means the mayor, manager, administrator, clerk, comptroller, treasurer, director of finance, or other local government official, regardless of the title of his or her office, charged with administering the fiscal affairs of a unit of local government. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Compensation: means any one or more of the following:
  (a) Any money or other valuable consideration paid or promised to be paid for services rendered by any person conducting the business of a talent agency under this part;
  (b) Any money received by any person in excess of that which has been paid out by such person for transportation, transfer of baggage, or board and lodging for any applicant for employment; or
  (c) The difference between the amount of money received by any person who furnishes employees, performers, or entertainers for circus, vaudeville, theatrical, or other entertainments, exhibitions, engagements, or performances and the amount paid by him or her to such employee, performer, or entertainer. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conference committee: A temporary, ad hoc panel composed of conferees from both chamber of a legislature which is formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed both chambers. Conference committees are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major and controversial legislation.
• Construction of water wells: means all parts necessary to obtain groundwater by wells, including the location and excavation of the well, but excluding the installation of pumps and pumping equipment. See Florida Statutes 373.303
• Construction services: means all labor, services, and materials provided in connection with the construction, alteration, repair, demolition, reconstruction, or other improvements to real property. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County: means a political subdivision of the state as established pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• County: means a political subdivision of the state established pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• County agency: means a board of county commissioners or other legislative and governing body of a county, however styled, including that of a consolidated or metropolitan government, a clerk of the circuit court, a separate or ex officio clerk of the county court, a sheriff, a property appraiser, a tax collector, a supervisor of elections, or any other officer in whom any portion of the fiscal duties of the above are under law separately placed. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Current expenses: means expenses to meet known cash needs and anticipated cash-flow requirements for the short term. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Revenue. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• Department: means the Department of Financial Services. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Department: means the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Protection. See Florida Statutes 373.303
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Protection, which includes the Florida Geological Survey or its successor agencies. See Florida Statutes 373.802
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent special district: means a dependent special district as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• employer: means a person, company, partnership, or corporation that uses the services of a talent agency to provide artists. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Entitlement: means the amount of revenue which would be shared with an eligible unit of local government if the distribution from trust funds were based solely on the formula computation. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financial audit: means an examination of financial statements in order to express an opinion on the fairness with which they are presented in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles and an examination to determine whether operations are properly conducted in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• GASB: means the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Generally accepted accounting principles: means those accounting principles adopted by rule of the Board of Accountancy under chapter 473. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• GFOA: means the Government Finance Officers Association. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governing body: means the body or board in which the legislative power of a unit of local government is vested. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guaranteed entitlement: means the amount of revenue which must be shared with an eligible unit of local government so that:
  (a) No eligible county shall receive less funds from the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund for Counties in any fiscal year than the amount received in the aggregate from the state in fiscal year 1971-1972 under the provisions of the then-existing…. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• impact offset: means the use of reclaimed water to reduce or eliminate a harmful impact that has occurred or would otherwise occur as a result of other surface water or groundwater withdrawals. See Florida Statutes 373.250
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Independent special district: means an independent special district as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legislative Auditing Committee: means a committee or committees designated by joint rule of the Legislature, by the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or by agreement between the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means a license issued by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to carry on the business of a talent agency under this part. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Licensee: means a talent agency which holds a valid unrevoked and unforfeited license issued under this part. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Limited revenue bonds: means any obligations issued by a unit to pay the cost of a project or improvement thereof, or combination of one or more projects or improvements thereof, and payable from funds, exclusive of ad valorem taxes, special assessments, or earnings from such projects or improvements. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local governing authority: means the governing body of a unit of local general-purpose government. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Local government: means a county or municipal government the jurisdictional boundaries of which include an Outstanding Florida Spring or any part of a springshed or delineated priority focus area of an Outstanding Florida Spring. See Florida Statutes 373.802
• Local governmental entity: means a county agency, a municipality, or a special district as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Local governmental entity: means a county or municipal government, school board, school district, authority, special taxing district, other political subdivision, or any office, board, bureau, commission, department, branch, division, or institution thereof. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• Management letter: means a statement of the auditor's comments and recommendations as prescribed by rules adopted by the Auditor General. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Minimum entitlement: means the amount of revenue, as certified by a unit of local government and determined by the department, which must be shared with a unit of local government so that such unit will receive the amount of revenue necessary to meet its obligations as a result of pledges or assignments or trusts entered into which obligated funds received from revenue sources or proceeds which by terms of this act shall henceforth be distributed out of revenue sharing trust funds. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Municipality: means a municipality created pursuant to general or special law and metropolitan and consolidated governments as provided in…. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• Municipality: means a municipality created pursuant to general or special law and metropolitan and consolidated governments as provided in…. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• natural barrier: when used with reference to the possession of real estate includes any cliff, river, sea, gulf, lake, slough, marsh, swamp, bay, lagoon, creek, saw grass area, or the like. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• oath: includes affirmations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Office of Economic and Demographic Research: means an entity designated by joint rule of the Legislature or by agreement between the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability: means an entity designated by joint rule of the Legislature or by agreement between the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Onsite sewage treatment and disposal system: means a system that contains a standard subsurface, filled, or mound drainfield system; an aerobic treatment unit; a graywater system tank; a laundry wastewater system tank; a septic tank; a grease interceptor; a pump tank; a solids or effluent pump; a waterless, incinerating, or organic waste-composting toilet; or a sanitary pit privy that is installed or proposed to be installed beyond the building sewer on land of the owner or on other land on which the owner has the legal right to install such system. See Florida Statutes 373.802
• Operator: means the person who is or who will be in actual charge of a talent agency. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Outstanding Florida Spring: includes all historic first magnitude springs, including their associated spring runs, as determined by the department using the most recent Florida Geological Survey springs bulletin, and the following additional springs, including their associated spring runs:
  (a) De Leon Springs;
  (b) Peacock Springs;
  (c) Poe Springs;
  (d) Rock Springs;
  (e) Wekiwa Springs; and
  (f) Gemini Springs. See Florida Statutes 373.802
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means any partner in a partnership, member of a firm, or principal officer or officers of a corporation, whose partnership, firm, or corporation owns a talent agency, or any individual who is the sole owner of a talent agency. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Payment request: means a request for payment for construction services which conforms with all statutory requirements and all requirements specified by the local governmental entity to which the payment request is submitted. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• Person: means any individual, company, society, firm, partnership, association, corporation, manager, or any agent or employee of any of the foregoing. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• political subdivision: include counties, cities, towns, villages, special tax school districts, special road and bridge districts, bridge districts, and all other districts in this state. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Political subdivision: means a city, town, county, district, or other public body created by or pursuant to state law, or any combination thereof acting cooperatively or jointly. See Florida Statutes 373.303
• Population: means the latest official state estimate of population certified pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• Population: means the latest official state estimate of population certified pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 218.60
• Population: means the population according to the latest annual determination of population of local governments produced by the Executive Office of the Governor in accordance with…. See Florida Statutes 145.021
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Priority focus area: means the area or areas of a basin where the Floridan Aquifer is generally most vulnerable to pollutant inputs where there is a known connectivity between groundwater pathways and an Outstanding Florida Spring, as determined by the department in consultation with the appropriate water management districts, and delineated in a basin management action plan. See Florida Statutes 373.802
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Proper invoice: means an invoice that conforms with all statutory requirements and all requirements specified by the local governmental entity to which the invoice is submitted. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Proxy voting: The practice of allowing a legislator to cast a vote in committee for an absent legislator.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Purchase: means the purchase of goods, services, or construction services; the purchase or lease of personal property; or the lease of real property by a local governmental entity. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• registered mail: include certified mail with return receipt requested. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Repair: means any action which involves the physical alteration or replacement of any part of a well, but does not include the alteration or replacement of any portion of a well which is above ground surface. See Florida Statutes 373.303
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Revenue bonds: means any obligations issued by a unit to pay the cost of a project or improvement thereof, or combination of one or more projects or improvements thereof, and payable from the earnings of such project and any other special funds authorized to be pledged as additional security therefor. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Second guaranteed entitlement for counties: means the amount of revenue received in the aggregate by an eligible county in fiscal year 1981-1982 under the provisions of the then-existing…. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Short term: means a maximum of 6 months of operation. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Special district: means a special district as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Spring run: means a body of flowing water that originates from a spring or whose primary source of water is a spring or springs under average rainfall conditions. See Florida Statutes 373.802
• Springshed: means the areas within the groundwater and surface water basins which contribute, based upon all relevant facts, circumstances, and data, to the discharge of a spring as defined by potentiometric surface maps and surface watershed boundaries. See Florida Statutes 373.802
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Surplus funds: means any funds in any general or special account or fund of a unit of local government, or funds held by an independent trustee on behalf of a unit of local government, which in reasonable contemplation will not be immediately needed for the purposes intended. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Talent agency: means any person who, for compensation, engages in the occupation or business of procuring, or attempting to procure, engagements for an artist. See Florida Statutes 468.401
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trust fund: means the pooled investment fund created by…. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unit of local general-purpose government: means a county or a municipality established by general or special law. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Unit of local government: means a county or municipal government and shall not include any special district as defined in part III. See Florida Statutes 218.21
• Unit of local government: means any governmental entity within the state not part of state government and shall include, but not be limited to, the following and the officers thereof: any county, municipality, school district, special district, clerk of the circuit court, sheriff, property appraiser, tax collector, supervisor of elections, authority, board, public corporations, or any other political subdivision of the state. See Florida Statutes 218.403
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Utility tax relief: means a dollar amount which represents a reduction in taxes to be collected pursuant to ss. See Florida Statutes 218.60
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Vendor: means any person who sells goods or services, sells or leases personal property, or leases real property directly to a local governmental entity. See Florida Statutes 218.72
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verified report: means a report that has received such test or tests by the department so as to accurately and reliably present the data that have been submitted by the local governmental entities for inclusion in the report. See Florida Statutes 218.31
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Water well contractor: means a person who is responsible for the construction, repair, or abandonment of a water well and who is licensed under this part to engage in the business of construction, repair, or abandonment of water wells. See Florida Statutes 373.303
• Well: means any excavation that is drilled, cored, bored, washed, driven, dug, jetted, or otherwise constructed when the intended use of such excavation is for the location, acquisition, development, or artificial recharge of groundwater, but such term does not include any well for the purpose of obtaining or prospecting for oil, natural gas, minerals, or products of mining or quarrying; for inserting media to dispose of oil brines or to repressure oil-bearing or natural gas-bearing formation; for storing petroleum, natural gas, or other products; or for temporary dewatering of subsurface formations for mining, quarrying, or construction purposes. See Florida Statutes 373.303
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01