Florida Department of
Corrections
Office of Legislative Affairs
2009 Legislative Review
Secretary Walter A. McNeil
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This Legislative Review is intended to provide a brief summary of legislation that passed during the
2009 Legislative Session that impacts the Department of Corrections and its employees. This
document only contains brief summaries and should not be relied upon as a complete analysis of
each bill. Employees with questions about legislation contained herein should read the full text of
the bill for a better understanding of what the bill entails. Additionally, employees are encouraged
to consult with their chain of command and agency legal advisors with any questions about the
impact of particular legislation. The full text of all of the legislation listed herein may be found at
www.leg.state.fl.us.
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INDEX
Department of Corrections Priority Legislation
CS/SB 1722 ………………………………………………………….. 4
Legislation that Impacts the Department of Corrections
CS/HB 115…………………………………………………………… 6
CS/CS/HB 479………………………………………………………... 6
CS/SB 624……………………………………………………………...7
CS/SB 1722 ……………………………………………………………7
CS/SB 1726…………………………………………………………… 8
CS/CS/SB 1796……………………………………………………….. 9
CS/SB 1804…………………………………………………………… 9
CS/CS HB 7031………………………………………………………. 9
Penalty Bills………………………………………………………………... 10
Budget Highlights………………………………………………………… 11
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Department of Corrections Priority Legislation
Senate Bill 1722 - Department of Corrections
Senator Crist
The Department’s 2009 legislative proposals were originally contained in House Bill 7085,
sponsored by Representative Planas, and Senate Bill 2298, sponsored by Senator Crist. Although
neither of these bills passed, many of the proposals contained therein were passed in Senate Bill
1722, an appropriations conforming bill. Below is a description of these proposals.

Section 7 requires medical providers to submit medical claims to the Department within six
months of a patient’s discharge. The bill requires the Department to submit claims for
overpayment to medical providers within thirty months after payment of the claim. The bill
also sets forth the manner in which health care providers may contest claims for overpayment.

Section 8 provides that if the Department or a private correctional facility does not have a
contract with a provider for the provision of inmate medical services or emergency medical
transportation, compensation for such services may not exceed 110 percent of the Medicare
allowable rate. The bill defines the terms “emergency medical transportation services” and
“health care provider” and provides exceptions for hospitals with negative operating margins.
This proposal will result in significant savings to the Department.

Sections 9, 11, and 12 require offenders on all types of supervision to pay for electronic
monitoring services (prior to the passage of the bill, the statutes required only those on
community control to pay for electronic monitoring). The bill also specifies that the
Department may exempt a person from paying all or a part of the monitoring in certain
instances.

Section 10 requires the Department, in consultation with the Office of the State Courts
Administrator, to develop and disseminate to the courts uniform order of supervision forms.
The bill also requires courts to use these forms when placing a person on community
supervision.

Section 14 permits the Department to submit the youthful offender basic training performance
report to the court within 30 days of the youthful offender’s scheduled completion of the
program (prior to the passage of the bill, the Department had to wait until the youthful
offender actually completed the program before submitting the report to the court). This
proposal will allow youthful offenders to be immediately placed on supervision upon
successfully completing the basic training program.

Sections 15, 16, and 17 enhance the Department’s recovery of costs of incarceration by:

Authorizing the sentencing court to retain continuing jurisdiction over convicted
offenders for the purpose of entering civil restitution lien orders until the duration of the
sentence, or up to 5 years after the offender is released from incarceration or supervision,
whichever is later.
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
Specifying that civil actions to recover costs of incarceration may be commenced any
time during the offender’s incarceration and up to five years after the date of the
offender’s release from incarceration or supervision, whichever occurs later.

Specifying that damages in cost of incarceration actions must be based upon the length
of the sentence imposed by the court at the time of sentencing.
Effective Date – July 1, 2009
Ch. 2009-63, L.O.F.
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Legislation that Impacts the Department of Corrections
House Bill 115 - Sexual Offenders and Predators
Representative Kiar
House Bill 115 requires that a sexual predator’s or sexual offender’s home telephone number and
any cellular telephone number be provided as part of the registration and re-registration process.
Failure to provide this information as part of the registration and re‐registration process would result
in a third degree felony.
The bill also provides that a person who has been convicted of a violation of s. 847.0135(4), F.S.,
relating to traveling to meet a minor for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual activity, will be
required to register as a sexual predator or offender.
The bill encourages all public libraries to adopt an Internet safety education program that has been
endorsed by a government‐sanctioned law enforcement agency or other reputable public safety
advocacy organization. The purpose of the Internet safety education program is to promote the use
of prudent online deportment and broaden awareness of online predators.
Effective Date – July 1, 2009.
Ch. 2009-194, L.O.F.
House Bill 479 –Retirement
Representative Schenck
House Bill 479 revises reemployment and renewed membership provisions of the Florida
Retirement System (FRS) Act. The revisions affect all current FRS members and retirees, including
those elected or appointed to an elective public office.
The bill extends from one month to six months the exclusionary period immediately after retirement
in which a retiree may not be reemployed with any FRS employer. Additionally, the reemployment
limitation period, during which a retiree may not both collect retirement benefits and a salary from
an FRS employer, is changed from months two through 12 immediately after retirement to months
seven through 12.
The bill also removes all exceptions to reemployment limitations that currently exist for schools,
community colleges, universities, paramedics and firefighters. Additionally, it eliminates renewed
membership in the FRS; however, it grandfathers in those members who are deemed renewed
members before the effective date of the bill.
Because of the complexities involved with retirement and re-employment, employees with
questions about this legislation should contact their servicing personnel office for guidance.
Effective Date – July 1, 2009.
Ch. 2009-209, L.O.F.
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Senate Bill 624 - Law Enforcement Officers and Correctional Officers
Senator Fasano
Senate Bill 624 expands the rights of a correctional or correctional probation officer under
investigation to access evidence and investigative files prior to interrogation.
The bill also provides remedies for officers seeking recourse against an agency for intentionally
violating the officers’ rights. Specifically, the officer under investigation must advise the
investigating officer of the intentional violation which is alleged to have occurred. If the
investigator fails to cure the violation, or continues the violation after notification, the officer being
interviewed must request that the interview stop and that the agency head or a designee be informed
of the alleged violation. The officer under investigation must then file in writing a notice of
violation and a request for a compliance review hearing. The officer being investigated bears the
burden of proving that a violation of the officer’s rights was intentional
The compliance review panel consists of three members: one selected by the agency head, one
selected by the officer filing the request, and one selected by the other two members. The
compliance review panel is responsible for determining if an intentional violation was committed.
If the violation is found to be intentional, the investigator must be removed, and an investigation
must be initiated. If the investigation of the investigator is sustained, the allegations must be
forwarded to the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission for review as official
misconduct or misuse of position.
Effective Date – July 1, 2009.
Ch. 2009-200, L.O.F.
Senate Bill 1722 – Department of Corrections
Senator Crist
As noted above, Senate Bill 1722 contained a number of the Department’s 2009 legislative
proposals. In addition to those proposals, the bill contained the following provisions:

Section 1 requires courts to sentence certain non-violent felony offenders who commit their
offenses on or after July 1, 2009, and score no more than 22 points to a non-state prison
sanction unless the court makes a written finding that doing so could endanger the public.
The Criminal Justice Impact Conference (CJIC) estimated that this provision would divert 329
inmates from prison in the first fiscal year. CJIC estimated that a total of 962 inmates would
be diverted from prison after five years.

Section 2 creates the Prison Diversion Program, which authorizes courts to divert from prison
certain non-violent offenders who score no more than 48 total sentence points (or who score
no more than 54 total sentence points if six of those points are for a violation of community
supervision and do not involve a new law violation). Under the Prison Diversion Program,
courts must sentence such offenders to community supervision and may require offenders to
participate in a residential, non-residential or day-reporting program with substance abuse
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treatment, employment opportunities, and other program components designed to assist
offenders from recidivating.
The Department was appropriated $700,000 to establish pilot Prison Diversion Programs.
With these funds, the Department has established two pilot programs – one in Pinellas County
and the other in Hillsborough County.
CJIC estimated that the Prison Diversion Program would divert 62 inmates from prison during
the first fiscal year. After five years, CJIC estimated that a total of 229 inmates would be
diverted from prison. Since it is anticipated that the program will divert offenders from
coming to prison, the Legislature reduced the Department’s operating budget this current year
by $3.3 million.

Section 3 authorizes the State Board of Administration, Division of Bond Finance to negotiate
the sale of correctional facility bonds for FY 2009-10. During the 2008 Legislative Session,
approximately $173 million of appropriated fixed capital funds were reverted via legislative
action. These funds were replaced with authorization to utilize bond financing. This along
with an additional $136 million appropriated by the Legislature will bond finance the
construction of 8,733 beds in the upcoming years.

Section 5 authorizes the Department to contract with Florida county and municipal facilities as
well as out-of-state public and private facilities for the purpose of housing inmates. This
provision was intended to give the Department the flexibility to house inmates in other locales
should the Department near its capacity limits. However, it should be noted that the
Department has adequate capacity to house the current and projected inmate population and
does not foresee utilizing this provision in the near future.

Section 6 increases the inmate copayment for non-emergency health care from $4 to $5. This
increase is estimated to generate approximately $117,000.
Effective Date – July 1, 2009
Ch. 2009-63, L.O.F.
Senate Bill 1726 ‐Postadjudicatory and Pretrial Drug Court Programs
Senator Crist
Senate Bill 1726 expands the court’s authority to use pretrial drug court programs for certain
nonviolent felons who have a substance abuse problem and provides factors that a judge must
consider when sentencing an offender to a postadjudicatory treatment‐based drug court program.
The bill also requires the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to
study the effectiveness of the changes to drug court. The Legislature allocated $19 million at the
local level to fund these drug court programs. This could have a positive fiscal impact on the
Department of Corrections resulting from fewer new commitments to state prison. (Note: CJIC did
not provide the impact of this bill).
Effective Date - July 1, 2009
Ch. 2009-64, L.O.F.
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Senate Bill 1796 ‐ Governmental Financial Information
Senator Alexander
Senate Bill 1796 creates s. 215.985, F.S. - the “Transparency Florida Act.” The bill requires the
Executive Office of the Governor, in consultation with the House and Senate appropriations
committees, to establish a single website that is accessible to the public through the official Internet
portal of the state. The website must provide revenue and expenditure, as well as other financial
information for each state agency and each branch of state government.
Effective Date – May 27, 2009
Ch. 2009-74, L.O.F.
Senate Bill 1804 - State-Owned Real Property
Senator Alexander
Senate Bill 1804 requires the Department of Management Services (DMS) to offer state agencies
and universities the opportunity to lease state-owned buildings or parcels of land before it offers to
sell or lease to others. The bill requires the DMS to adopt rules relating to leases of all privately
owned buildings and it requires agencies to notify the DMS 30 days prior to the execution of a lease
for space less than 5,000 square feet. The DMS is required to create a database of all state-owned
real property.
Effective Date – July 1, 2009
Ch. 2009-77, L.O.F.
House Bill 7031 – Economic Development
Representative Carroll
House Bill 7031, in part, makes several changes to the Rural Economic Development Initiative
(REDI), the Rural Infrastructure Fund, and the definition of rural area. The intent is to provide
additional benefits to rural areas to encourage increased economic development. The bill also
revises the membership so that the REDI representative must be a deputy secretary or higher-level
staff person.
Effective Date – July 1, 2009
Ch. 2009-51, L.O.F.
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Penalty Bills
The legislation below creates new felony offenses or increases the penalty of existing crimes.
House Bill 57 - Law Enforcement Explorers by Representative Reed
 Adds law enforcement explorers to the list of officers and other persons against whom
assault or battery convictions are subject to enhanced sentencing penalties.
House Bill 115 – Sexual Offenders and Predators by Representative Kiar
 Specifies that the failure of a sexual offender or predator to provide his/her home telephone
number and any cellular telephone number for registration purposes is a third degree felony.
House Bill 339 - Secondhand Dealers/Secondary Metal Recyclers by Representative Patterson
 Creates third degree felonies for unlawful acts and practices relating to secondhand dealers
and secondary metal recyclers.
House Bill 1423 – Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission by Representative Troutman
 Creates a new third degree felony for willful offenses involving aquatic weeds and plants.
Senate Bill 1744 – Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services by Senator Baker
 Creates a new third degree felony for the wrongful taking or copying of certain professional
examinations relating to professional surveyors and mappers.
Senate Bill 2658 – Fraud and Abuse in State Funded Programs by Senator Baker
 Creates a new third degree felony for offenses relating to licensure requirements for home
health agencies, home medical equipment providers, and health care clinics.
Senate Bill 2700 – Secondhand Dealers by Senator Gelber
 Creates felonies for unlawful practices of secondhand dealers. A dealer who conducts
business but does not register with the Department of Revenue commits a third degree
felony. A seller who purposely misrepresents his identification, his age, or his ownership of
goods and receives payment for goods commits a third degree felony if the seller is paid less
than $300 and a second degree felony if the seller is paid $300 or more for the goods.
House Bill 7141 – Seaport Security by Representative Adams
 Provides that it is a third degree felony for supplying false information on an affidavit to
gain access to secure and restricted areas of seaports.
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Budget Highlights
In Senate Bill 2600, the General Appropriations Act, the Legislature appropriated more than $2.4
billion to the Department of Corrections that included funding for 30,522 full-time equivalent
positions. Below is a breakdown of each program area’s budget as well as a listing of any
significant reductions or increases.
Institutions
 $1,631,973,880 billion budget – 23,375 FTE
 Restored 320 positions to provide food service in prisons.
 Appropriated $5 million dollars in stimulus funds to upgrade facility radios.
 Appropriated an additional $42.6 million and 1,056 positions to operate new prison beds for
a growing inmate population.
Health Services
 $440,727,267 million budget – 2,792.5 FTE
 Restored 432 positions to provide health services in Region IV.
Reentry
 $38,110,137 million budget – 441 FTE
 Reduced 86 education positions and associated funding of $3.5 million.
 Reduced $6 million in substance abuse programs for inmates and probationers.
Community Corrections
 $230,729,122 million budget – 3,179 FTE
 Reduced 45 vacant probation officer positions and associated funding of $2.2 million.
Administration
 $85,121,426 million budget – 734.5 FTE
 Reduced 179 administrative staff and associated funding of $9.5 million.
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Significant Proviso Language
Proviso language is language used in a general appropriations bill to qualify or restrict the way in
which a specific appropriation is to be expended. Senate Bill 2600 contained proviso language that:

Requires the Department to provide the Legislature a report on the Department’s food
service operations by February 1, 2010. The report must include data from the period
January, 2009 through January, 2010.

Requires the Department of Management Services to:




Ensure all future private prison contracts have conditions that provide for the
flexibility to adjust the percentages of special needs inmates so that medical and
mental healthcare costs are appropriately shared by both private and state prisons.
Ensure all private prison contracts require private prison vendors to develop inmate
visitation policies and telephone rates that are consistent with those policies followed
by state prisons.
Require all future private prison contracts to adhere to DMS’s established criteria for
awarding Privately Operated Institutions Inmate Welfare Trust Fund monies so that
DMS can verify such funds are being used appropriately.
Prohibits price level increases for rent payments for Community Corrections leases in FY
2009-10.
Implementing bills are tied to the General Appropriations Act and are effective for one year. Senate
Bill 2602, the General Appropriations Act Implementing Bill, contained the following provisions:

Limits the use of state funds for travel by state employees to activities that are critical to
each state agency’s mission.

Requires that each state agency develop a wireless device assignment plan limiting the use
of cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, and other devices. Requires each agency
review such use and submit a report to the Legislature on its findings.
Complete details of the Department of Corrections’ budget and other agency budgets can be found
online at www.flsenate.gov.
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