FSBA Session Spotlight — February 26, 2018

As we enter the 8^th week of the Legislative Session, please take a few minutes to review our Legislative Weekly video featuring Andrea Messina providing a recap of events last week and a status report on key bills and issues to be addressed in the final weeks of the Session including legislation to address student safety and school security, the state budget, and resolution of the issues presented in HB 7055.  With regard to student safety and school security, today the Senate Rules Committee focused on their bills relating to these issues — SB 7026 relating to school safety, SB 7022 relating to Firearm Safety, and SB 7024 relating to Public Records with regard to Victim of a Crime of Mass Violence.  Meanwhile, today the House has now filed their own proposed bills on these issues — APC 6 relating to Public Safety (which includes provisions relating to both firearm safety and school safety) and two bills, APC 7 and APC 8, that relate to exemptions from Public Records and Public Meeting requirements.  The House will consider these bills and others tomorrow.  We have prepared a detailed summary of SB 7026 – it is available in the “2018 Education Legislation Materials” file on our 2018 Legislative Session page (or click HERE to access it directly).  We are in the process of developing a detailed summary of APC6 and will add that summary to the same page as soon as possible.

With regard to the state budget, several members in the leadership of both chambers have speculated that the Legislature may find it necessary to extend the Session or return in a Special Session to complete work on the budget. At the same time, others insist that there is sufficient time to complete budget negotiations in the remaining days of the regular Session.  Although there are relatively few differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget, responding to the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas and recent adjustments to state revenue projections have required some reshuffling of budget priorities.  In addition, please keep in mind that negotiations must be completed, and the budget document (called a Budget Conference Report) must be printed and available for review 72 hours before a vote may be taken on it.  As a result, in order to finish on schedule (by midnight on Friday, March 9) budget conference committee members must be named soon.  We will continue to keep you posted on any developments.  Meanwhile, please keep in mind that we have posted several budget documents in the “2018 Education Budget Materials” file on our  2018 Legislative Session page.

With regard to HB 7055, the Senate Appropriations Committee will be taking up their version of the bill tomorrow. Please keep in mind that there are two versions of this omnibus bill:  The version as it was passed by the House and the version as amended by the Senate.  We have posted detailed summaries of both versions (prepared by our colleague Joy Frank at FADSS) and they are posted in the “2018 Education Legislation Materials” file on our 2018 Legislative Session page.

Please click on the first link below for our report on the outcome of consideration of the Senate public safety bills and other legislation that was considered today. The schedule for tomorrow includes a long list of significant bills to be considered including the House public safety bills, the Senate public safety bills, HB 7055, bills relating to local accountability, and several other bills of interest.  Please click on the second link before for a preview of these and other bills that will be considered tomorrow.

[toggle title=”Today’s Happenings – February 26, 2018“]

The Senate Rules Committee will meet, 2:30 – 6:00 pm, to consider the following items and others:

SB 7026 – Public Safety by Rules – AMENDED; SUBMITTED AS A COMMITTEE BILL
The bill provides law enforcement, the courts, and schools with the tools to enhance public safety by temporarily restricting firearm possession by a person who is undergoing a mental health crisis and when there is evidence of a threat of violence. The bill also promotes school safety and enhanced coordination between education and law enforcement entities at the state and local level. Specifically, the bill:

• Creates the Medical Reimbursement Program for Victims of Mass Shootings to reimburse trauma centers from the medical costs of treating victims for injuries associated with a mass shooting.
• Authorizes a law enforcement officer who is taking a person into custody for an involuntary examination under the Baker Act to seize and hold a firearm or ammunition from the person for at least 72 hours or until the person appears at the agency to retrieve the firearm or ammunition.
• Prohibits a person who has been adjudicated mentally defective or who has been committed to a mental institution from owning or possessing a firearm until a court orders otherwise.
• Requires a three-day waiting period for all firearms, not just handguns or until the background check is complete, whichever is later.
• Prohibits a person under 21 years of age from purchasing a firearm.
• Prohibits a licensed firearm dealers, importers, and manufacturers, excluding a member of the military, or a law enforcement or correctional officer.
• Prohibits a bump-fire stock from being imported, transferred, distributed, transported, sold, keeping for sale, offering or exposing for sale, or given away within the state.
• Creates a process for a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency to petition a court for a risk protection order to temporarily prevent persons who are at high risk of harming themselves or others from accessing firearms when a person poses a significant danger to himself or herself or others, including significant danger as a result of a mental health crisis or violent behavior.
• Provides a court can issue a risk protection order for up to 12 months.
• Allows a court to issue temporary ex parte risk protection order in certain circumstances.
• Requires the surrender of all firearms and ammunition if a risk protection order or ex parte risk protection order is issued.
• Provides a process for a risk protection order to be vacated or extended.
• Establishes the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to investigate system failures in the Parkland school shooting and prior mass violence incidents, and develop recommendations for system improvements.
• Codifies the Office of Safe Schools (office) within the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and specifies the purpose of the office is to serve as the state education agency’s primary coordinating division for promoting and supporting safe-learning environments.
• Creates the Florida Sheriff’s Marshal Program within the DOE as a voluntary program to assist school districts and public schools in enhancing the safety and security of students, faculty, staff, and visitors to Florida’s public schools and campuses.
• Codifies the Multiagency Service Network for Students with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SEDNET) as a function of the DOE in partnership with other state, regional, and local entities to facilitate collaboration and communication between the specified entities.
• Establishes the Public School Emergency Response Learning System Program to assist school personnel in preparing for and responding to active emergency situations and to implement local notification systems for all Florida public schools.
• Requires the FDLE to procure a mobile suspicious activity reporting tool that allows students and the community to report information anonymously about specified activities or the threat of such activities to appropriate public safety agencies and school officials.
• Requires each district school board and school district superintendent to cooperate with law enforcement agencies to assign one or more safe-school officers at each school facility, and:
  • Requires each district school board to designate a district school safety specialist to serve as the district’s primary point of public contact for public school safety functions.
  • Requires each school district to designate a threat assessment team at each school, and requires the team to operate under the district school safety specialist’s direction.
• Creates the mental health assistance allocation to provide supplemental funding to assist school districts and charter schools in establishing or expanding comprehensive mental health programs and to connect students and families with appropriate services.
• Clarifies the applicability of public records exemptions for security systems and plans.

[NOTE: The Committee approved a strike-all amendment that, essentially, combined the provisions of SB 7026 relating to school safety and SB 7022 relating to firearm safety, approved two additional amendments, and renamed the combined bill “Public Safety” (rather than only “Student Safety”).  These changes make the bill comparable to the House Proposed Committee Bill APC 6.  The short summary above reflects the provisions of the bill as amended.  The bill has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee where it will be considered tomorrow.  Also, please note that, due to today’s amendment combining SB 7026 and SB 7022, the Committee did not consider SB 7022 separately today.]

SB 7024 – Public Records / Victim of a Crime of Mass Violence by Rules – AMENDED; SUBMITTED AS A COMMITTEE BILL
The bill creates a new public records exemption for the address of a victim of an incident of mass violence. Specifically, the bill makes exempt from public records disclosure the address of a victim of an incident of mass violence, defined as an incident in which three or more people other than the perpetrator, are severely injured or killed by an intentional act of violence. A victim is considered to be a person killed or injured during an incident of mass violence.  [NOTE: The Committee approved a strike-all amendment that added definitions for “incident of mass violence” and “victim”. These changes make the bill comparable to the House Proposed Committee Bill APC 8. The bill has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee where it will be considered tomorrow.]

In the House Government Accountability Committee meeting:

HB 227 – Workers’ Compensation Benefits for First Responders by Willhite – AMENDED; PASSED WITH A CS
The bill provides workers’ compensation wage replacement benefits in specified circumstances for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suffered by a law enforcement officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, or a paramedic regardless of whether the individual’s PTSD is accompanied by a physical injury requiring medical treatment. First responder PTSD-related wage replacement benefits, in addition to currently available medical benefits, must be paid under certain circumstances. The first responder must be diagnosed by a psychiatrist with PTSD following certain specified death-related events that were experienced while acting in the course and scope of his or her employment. These death-related events include working a call involving the death of a child, a homicide, or the death, including suicide, of a person who suffered grievous bodily harm. The circumstances include seeing the decedent, seeing or hearing the injury or death, and participating in the treatment or transport of those who die in these events. Eligible PTSD claims are not subject to benefit limitations generally applicable to mental and nervous injuries, apportionment, or contribution. Such PTSD claims must be filed within 30 days of the death-related event or manifestation of the PTSD, but no later than one year after the event. Each qualifying death-related event that the first responder experiences will carry its own timely reporting deadline. The bill also requires an employing agency of a first responder, including volunteer first responders, to provide educational training related to mental health awareness, prevention, mitigation, and treatment.  [NOTE: Today’s amendments were generally technical in nature. This was the third of three committees of reference for this bill. The Senate companion bill – SB 376 – is comparable and has passed two of four committees of reference.]

HB 79 – Public Meetings by Roth – AMENDED; PASSED WITH A CS
The bill defines “de facto meeting” as the use of board or commission staff or third parties, acting as intermediaries, to facilitate a discussion of public business between or among board or commission members and clarifies that de facto meetings are subject to the Sunshine Law. The bill specifies that members of the same board or commission may participate in fact-finding exercises or excursions to research public business, and may participate in meetings with a member of the Legislature, if:

• The board or commission provides reasonable notice;
• The exercise, excursion, or meeting is open to the public;
• A vote, an official act, or an agreement regarding an action at a future meeting does not occur;
• There is no discussion of “public business” that occurs; and
• There are appropriate records, minutes, audio recordings, or video recordings made and retained as a public record.

[NOTE: The Committee took up and passed a Proposed Committee Substitute (PCS) for the bill. The short summary above reflects the provisions of the PCS. This was the third of three committees of reference for this bill. The Senate companion bill – SB 192 – is similar, has passed the Senate, and is in Messages to the House.]

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[toggle title=”Coming Up Tomorrow – February 27, 2018“]

Please note that the meeting listed below may be viewed via live webcast on the Florida Channel. For real-time updates, please click HERE to access our Twitter feed.

The House Appropriations Committee will meet, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, to consider the following items and others:

APC 6 – Public Safety by Appropriations
To increase communication between various entities that interact with schools and students, better identify students in need of mental health treatment and increase access to such treatment, and to help prevent mass violence incidents in the future, the bill:

• Creates the School Safety Awareness Program within the Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to receive early, anonymous, information about suspicious or concerning behavior;
• Allows Crime Stoppers Funds to be used for anonymous reporting systems in student crime watch programs;
• Establishes the Office of Safe Schools to serve as a central repository for best practices, examine the effectiveness of recommendations produced using the current self-assessment tool and develop a School Safety Specialist Training Program. Each district school safety specialist must provide school safety training, conduct active shooter drills at least as often as other drills, and annually conduct a security risk self-assessment;
• Establishes a threat assessment team at each school consisting of a counselor, teacher, administrator, and school resource officer to determine when a student poses a threat of violence to themselves or others and engage behavioral health crisis resources if necessary;
• Requires school boards to partner with local law enforcement to address school security needs and increase law enforcement presence, and requires each school district to coordinate with public safety agencies to development emergency procedures and designate a school safety specialist who must coordinate with local public safety agencies;
• Requires revisions to zero tolerance policies making alternatives to suspension or referral to law enforcement available only if the student receives appropriate mental health services, and if such alternatives pose no law enforcement threat;
• Doubles the number of school resource officers, funds them, and requires crisis intervention training for all officers;
• Authorizes sheriffs and police chiefs police to appoint law enforcement-trained persons who meet specific requirements exceeding those of similar programs nationally, to serve as school marshals;
• Requires all school personnel to receive, and funds, youth mental health first aid training;
• Funds additional mobile crisis teams and community action teams to create statewide access;
• Creates a categorical allocation and provides funding for mental health treatment in schools;
• Requires state and local agencies serving students with or at risk of mental illness to coordinate efforts, allows sharing of confidential information, and requires a court to notify a school district when referring a student to mental health services; and
• Creates the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission to investigate failures that allowed mass incidents of violence in Florida and make recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future.

In addition, the bill:

• Prohibits a licensed importer, manufacturer or dealer from selling a firearm to a person under age 21, with exceptions;
• Expands the mandatory 3-day waiting period for handguns to all firearms sold at retail with certain exceptions;
• Prohibits a person from transferring, distributing, selling, or keeping for sale, offering for sale, possessing, or giving to another person a bump-fire stock and prohibits importing a bump-fire stock into the state;
• Authorizes a law enforcement agency to seize any firearm and ammunition in the possession, custody, or control of a person involuntarily examined under the Baker Act who has made a credible threat of violence against another person. Provides for the retention of the firearm and ammunition for an additional 60 days if certain criteria are met.

The bill appropriates a total of $400 million to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Department of Education, and the Department of Children and Families, for multiple purposes.

APC 7 – Public Records & Public Meetings / School Safety by Appropriations
The bill creates public record and public meeting exemptions relating to issues of school safety. Specifically, the bill creates the following exemptions:

• A public meeting exemption for any portion of a meeting of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission when confidential or exempt information is discussed.
• A public record exemption for the identity of an individual who reports information using the mobile suspicious activity reporting tool concerning unsafe, potentially harmful, dangerous, violent, or criminal activities, or the threat of these activities, when such information is held by a the Department of Law Enforcement, a law enforcement agency, or school officials.
• A public record exemption for any information held by a law enforcement agency, school district, or charter school that would identity whether a particular individual has been appointed as a school marshal.

APC 8 – Public Records / Victims of Violence
The bill creates a public record exemption for the address of a victim of an incident of mass violence. The bill defines the term “incident of mass violence” to mean an incident in which three or more people, not including the perpetrator, are severely injured or killed by an intentional act of violence of another. The bill defines the term “victim” to mean a person killed or injured during an incident of mass violence, not including the perpetrator. The bill also amends the definition of “criminal intelligence information” and “criminal investigative information” to include the address of a victim of mass violence.

The Senate will be in Session, 9:00 – 10:30 am, to consider the following item and others on 3^rd Reading:

SB 1048 – Firearms by Baxley
The bill enables a church, synagogue, or other religious institution to authorize a person who has a concealed handgun license to carry a concealed handgun in some places where even a licensee normally may not, subject to several restrictions. These places includes elementary or secondary schools and career centers, if they are also established places of worship. Under the bill, a religious institution may authorize the holder of a concealed handgun license to carry a concealed handgun on certain school properties if they are “established physical place[s] of worship at which religious services are regularly conducted.” However, if the institution uses school property not owned by the institution, the institution must have the permission of the owner or administrator of the property to allow the licensed carrying of concealed handguns. In addition, a person may not possess a handgun on school property during school hours or when any school-sponsored activity is taking place on the property. Finally, the bill expressly states that religious institutions may not authorize a person to carry a handgun on the property of a public or private college or university.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm, to consider the following items and others:

SB 310 – Threats to Kill or do Bodily Injury by Steube
The bill replaces the current statutory requirement that prohibits any person who writes or composes and sends a letter, inscribed communication, or electronic communication with a threat to kill or do bodily injury to a person or any member of the person’s family, with language that prohibits a person from making a threat to kill or do great bodily injury in writing or other record, including an electronic record, and posting or transmitting the threat in a manner that would allow another person to view it. In addition, the offense is decreased from a second degree felony to a third degree felony. The bill also changes the offense from a Level 6 to a Level 4 in the Criminal Punishment Code Offense Severity Ranking Chart, which decreases the offense’s sentencing points from 36 points to 22 points.

SB 324 – Impact Fees by Young
The bill:

• Requires that the collection of an impact fee be no earlier than the issuance of the building permit for the property that is subject to the fee and provides that the statutory provisions related to impact fees do not apply to water and sewer connection fees.
• Codifies the dual rational nexus test. The bill requires impact fees to have a rational nexus with the need for additional capital facilities and the expenditures of the funds collected. The local government must specifically earmark funds collected by the impact fees for use in acquiring capital facilities to benefit the new residents.
• Prohibits the use of impact fee revenues to pay existing debt unless certain conditions are met.
• Prohibits local governments from requiring developers to pay for land acquisition or construction of public facilities as a condition for approving a development order unless the local government has an ordinance imposing similar requirements on all developers.

SB 354 – Government Accountability by Stargel
The bill amends various statutes to enhance government accountability and auditing, based on recommendations noted in recent reports by the Auditor General. The bill:

• Specifies that the Governor or Commissioner of Education, or designee, may notify the Legislative Auditing Committee of an entity’s failure to comply with certain auditing and financial reporting requirements;
• Provides definitions for the terms “abuse,” “fraud,” and “waste;”
• Adds tourist development council and county tourism promotion agency to the definition of “local government entity;”
• States that local government entities do not include water management districts for the purposes of s. 11.45(2), F.S.;
• Includes tourist development councils and county tourism promotion agencies in the list of entities that the Auditor General may audit;
• Requires the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation to notify quarterly the Legislature of any clerk not meeting workload performance standards;
• Requires each agency, the judicial branch, the Justice Administrative Commission, state attorneys, public defenders, criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, capital collateral regional counsel, the Guardian Ad Litem program, local governmental entities, charter schools, school districts, Florida College System institutions, and state universities to establish and maintain internal controls designed to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse;
• Requires counties, municipalities, and water management districts to maintain certain budget documents on their websites for specified timeframes;
• Revises the monthly financial statement requirements for water management districts;
• Provides that the Department of Financial Services may request additional information from local government entities when preparing its annual verified report;
• Requires a local governmental entity, district school board, charter school, or charter technical career center, Florida College System board of trustees, or university board of trustees to respond to audit recommendations under certain circumstances;
• Requires an independent certified public accountant conducting an audit of a local governmental entity to determine, as part of the audit, whether the entity’s annual financial report is in agreement with the entity’s audited financial statements;
• Revises the composition of auditor selection committees;
• Requires completion of an annual financial audit of the Florida Virtual School; and
• Prohibits a board or commission from requiring a member of the public to provide an advance written copy of his or her testimony or comments as a precondition of being given the opportunity to be heard.

In addition, the bill limits the amount that may be reimbursed per day for state agency and judicial branch employee lodging expenses for travel under certain circumstances to $150, and requires all governmental entities to use the statewide travel management system.

SB 1318 – Education For Prisoners by Rouson
The bill authorizes a county or municipal detention facility or the Department of Corrections (DOC) to contract with a district school board, the Florida Virtual School, a Florida College System institution, a virtual education provider approved by the State Board of Education, or a charter school (school provider) to provide educational services to its inmates. The educational services may include any educational, career, or vocational training. The bill allows state funding for postsecondary education to be used for an inmate with less than 60 months of time remaining on his or her sentence. The bill also makes various changes to procedures related to business licensing for persons who have previously been convicted of a criminal offense,

SB 1392 – Prearrest Diversion Programs by Brandes
The bill requires the state attorney, the public defender, the clerk of the circuit court, and law enforcement agencies to establish a prearrest diversion program for adults and a civil citation or similar diversion program for juveniles in each judicial circuit. Each judicial circuit’s prearrest and civil citation or similar diversion program must specify:

• The misdemeanor offenses that qualify an offender for participation in the program;
• The eligibility criteria for the program;
• The program’s implementation and operation;
• The program’s requirements, including, but not limited to:
  • The completion of community service hours;
  • Payment of restitution, if applicable; and
  • Intervention services indicated by a needs assessment of the offender; and
• A program fee, if any, to be paid by a participant of the program.

In addition, the bill:

• Requires the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to adopt rules to provide for the expunction of a nonjudicial record of the arrest of a juvenile who has successfully completed a diversion program for a misdemeanor offense.
• Requires the civil citation or similar diversion programs to submit certain information to the FDLE and the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) regarding a juvenile’s participation in the program. Requires each law enforcement agency to submit to the DJJ certain information relating to each juvenile who is eligible for the diversion program but is instead referred to the DJJ, provided a notice to appear, or is arrested.
• Requires the DJJ to compile such data relating to juvenile civil citation or similar diversion programs and publish it on the DJJ’s website.

SB 1804 – School District Accountability by Stargel
The bill increases fiscal accountability and expands fiscal transparency requirements for district school boards. Specifically, the bill:

• Increases fiscal accountability requirements by:
  • Adding to the Auditor General’s (AG’s) duties, the requirement to contact each district school board with findings and recommendations contained within the AG’s previous operational audit report; and specifying compliance requirements for the district school boards.
  • Requiring the Department of Education’s (DOE’s) Inspector General to investigate allegations and reports of possible fraud or abuse against a district school board made by specified entities.
  • Requiring school districts receiving annual federal, state, and local funds in excess of $500 million to employ an internal auditor.
• Expands fiscal transparency by:
  • Requiring district school boards to provide a full explanation of any budget amendments at the boards’ next scheduled public meeting.
  • Modifying the information that each district school board must post on its website to add graphical representations, for each public school within the district and for the school district, of summary financial efficiency data and 3-year fiscal trend information.
  • Specifying additional information that each school district must report to the DOE including the total operating costs and expenditures for classroom instruction.
  • Requiring the DOE to calculate specified expenditure information for each public school, school district, and the state; and develop a web-based fiscal transparency tool that identifies public schools and districts that produce high academic achievement based on the ratio of classroom instruction expenditures to total expenditures.
  • Requiring the DOE to contract with an independent third party to conduct an investigation of all accounts and records when the conditions of a financial emergency exist.
  • Requiring the withholding of each district school board member’s and district school superintendent’s salary, with some exceptions, if any of the conditions of a financial emergency exist, until such conditions are corrected.
  • Requires prior approval by the district school board for reimbursement of out-of-district travel expenses that exceed $500, and requires a detailed itemized list of all anticipated travel expenses for any travel outside the state.

In addition, the bill:

• Aligns school board member salaries with specified teacher salary.
• Applies the restriction on lobbying for 2 years after vacating office to appointed school district superintendents, which currently applies to locally elected school district officers.
• Prohibits a district superintendent from appointing or employing a relative to work under his or her direct supervision.
• Appropriates $850,000 to the DOE to implement this act.

SB 7024 – Public Records / Victim of a Crime of Mass Violence by Rules
The bill creates a new public records exemption for the address of a victim of an incident of mass violence. Specifically, the bill makes exempt from public records disclosure the address of a victim of an incident of mass violence, defined as an incident in which three or more people other than the perpetrator, are severely injured or killed by an intentional act of violence. A victim is considered to be a person killed or injured during an incident of mass violence.

SB 7026 – School Safety by Rules
The bill provides law enforcement, the courts, and schools with the tools to enhance public safety by temporarily restricting firearm possession by a person who is undergoing a mental health crisis and when there is evidence of a threat of violence. The bill also promotes school safety and enhanced coordination between education and law enforcement entities at the state and local level. Specifically, the bill:

• Creates the Medical Reimbursement Program for Victims of Mass Shootings to reimburse trauma centers from the medical costs of treating victims for injuries associated with a mass shooting.
• Authorizes a law enforcement officer who is taking a person into custody for an involuntary examination under the Baker Act to seize and hold a firearm or ammunition from the person for at least 72 hours or until the person appears at the agency to retrieve the firearm or ammunition.
• Prohibits a person who has been adjudicated mentally defective or who has been committed to a mental institution from owning or possessing a firearm until a court orders otherwise.
• Requires a three-day waiting period for all firearms, not just handguns or until the background check is complete, whichever is later.
• Prohibits a person under 21 years of age from purchasing a firearm.
• Prohibits a licensed firearm dealers, importers, and manufacturers, excluding a member of the military, or a law enforcement or correctional officer.
• Prohibits a bump-fire stock from being imported, transferred, distributed, transported, sold, keeping for sale, offering or exposing for sale, or given away within the state.
• Creates a process for a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency to petition a court for a risk protection order to temporarily prevent persons who are at high risk of harming themselves or others from accessing firearms when a person poses a significant danger to himself or herself or others, including significant danger as a result of a mental health crisis or violent behavior.
• Provides a court can issue a risk protection order for up to 12 months.
• Allows a court to issue temporary ex parte risk protection order in certain circumstances.
• Requires the surrender of all firearms and ammunition if a risk protection order or ex parte risk protection order is issued.
• Provides a process for a risk protection order to be vacated or extended.
• Establishes the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to investigate system failures in the Parkland school shooting and prior mass violence incidents, and develop recommendations for system improvements.
• Codifies the Office of Safe Schools (office) within the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and specifies the purpose of the office is to serve as the state education agency’s primary coordinating division for promoting and supporting safe-learning environments.
• Creates the Florida Sheriff’s Marshal Program within the DOE as a voluntary program to assist school districts and public schools in enhancing the safety and security of students, faculty, staff, and visitors to Florida’s public schools and campuses.
• Codifies the Multiagency Service Network for Students with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SEDNET) as a function of the DOE in partnership with other state, regional, and local entities to facilitate collaboration and communication between the specified entities.
• Establishes the Public School Emergency Response Learning System Program to assist school personnel in preparing for and responding to active emergency situations and to implement local notification systems for all Florida public schools.
• Requires the FDLE to procure a mobile suspicious activity reporting tool that allows students and the community to report information anonymously about specified activities or the threat of such activities to appropriate public safety agencies and school officials.
• Requires each district school board and school district superintendent to cooperate with law enforcement agencies to assign one or more safe-school officers at each school facility, and:
  • Requires each district school board to designate a district school safety specialist to serve as the district’s primary point of public contact for public school safety functions.
  • Requires each school district to designate a threat assessment team at each school, and requires the team to operate under the district school safety specialist’s direction.
• Creates the mental health assistance allocation to provide supplemental funding to assist school districts and charter schools in establishing or expanding comprehensive mental health programs and to connect students and families with appropriate services.
• Clarifies the applicability of public records exemptions for security systems and plans.

HB 7055 – Education by Education
The bill creates education scholarship programs and streamlines state school choice scholarship program accountability provisions; specifies district school board oversight responsibilities; and promotes education, certification, and licensure opportunities for members of the U.S. military. Specifically, the bill:

• Establishes the Hope Scholarship Program for students subjected to bullying and other specified incidents in public schools.
• Streamlines and strengthens the oversight provisions for private schools participating in state school choice scholarship programs.
• Establishes Reading Scholarship Accounts for struggling readers in grades 3-5.
• Modifies the charter school application process, charter contract term and consolidation, and due process; and revises eligibility requirements for high-performing charter schools and allows replication of up to two such schools per year.
• Provides for district-independent autonomous schools under independent governing boards; and specifies flexibilities for such boards.
• Specifies district school board oversight and fiscal transparency responsibilities; and enumerates related duties for the district school superintendents, Auditor General, and Department of Education (DOE).
• Requires employee organizations for instructional personnel to include specified information in the application for renewal of registration and specifies recertification requirements for employee organizations
• Designates March 25 as “Medal of Honor Day;” specifies related required instruction for students in public schools; and creates mechanisms for members of the U.S. military to fulfill certain certification and licensure requirements for specified purposes.
• Requires professional development resources disseminated by the DOE through the web-based statewide performance-support system to include sample course-at-a-glance and unit overview templates that school districts may use when developing curriculum.
• Requires paper-based administration of statewide, standardized English Language Arts and mathematics assessments for grades 7 and 8 by the 2019-2020 school year.
• Authorizes the Commissioner of Education to coordinate with specified education entities in the event of an emergency situation to assess the need for resources and assistance.
• Requires each school district to conduct a security risk assessment at each public school and conduct a self-assessment of the school districts’ current safety and security practices using a format developed by the DOE, and deletes an outdated reference in current law to the Safety and Security Best Practices developed by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.
• Modifies dual enrollment provisions relating to instructional materials for home education program students, and compensation by private schools for dual enrollment instruction provided by postsecondary education institutions.
• Deletes the obsolete July 1, 2007, deadline for the DOE to develop and operate an electronic individual education plan system for statewide use.
• Modifies funding provisions related to the Schools of Hope Program, supplemental academic instruction allocation, research-based reading instruction allocation, and teacher bonus for CAPE industry certifications attained by students.
• Appropriates $20,200,000 to implement the provisions of the bill.

The House Education Committee will meet, 1:30 – 4:30 pm, to consider the following items:

HB 423 – Higher Education by Rodrigues
The bill establishes the “Excellence in Higher Education Act of 2018”. Specifically, the bill:

• Modifies state university performance funding metrics and requires the Board of Governors (BOG) to develop and implement a performance agreement with each university.
• Requires the BOG to work with each university to establish 1-year, 2-year, 3-year, and 4-year improvement benchmarks for determining eligibility for performance funding.
• Requires the BOG to submit a plan for transitioning from the current partial performance-based funding model to a complete performance-based continuous improvement funding model focused on outcomes.
• Revises excellence standards for the Preeminent State Research Universities Program.
• Revises requirements for SUS institution direct-support organizations (DSO).
• Expands the Florida Bright Futures Academic Scholars (FAS) award to cover 100 percent of tuition and specified fees plus $300 per fall and spring semester for textbooks and college-related expenses and the Florida Bright Futures Medallion Scholars award to cover 75 percent of tuition and fees.
• Authorizes the use of the Bright Futures Scholarship during the summer-term if funding is provided.
• Expands eligibility for the Benacquisto Scholarship Program to include eligible out-of-state students.
• Revises the state-to-private match requirements for the First Generation Matching Grant Program.
• Establishes the Florida Farmworker Student Scholarship Program for farmworkers and their children.
• Requires each state university to adopt an undergraduate block tuition policy for fall 2019.
• Establishes the World Class Faculty and Scholar Program to support the efforts of state universities to recruit and retain exemplary faculty and research scholars.
• Establishes the State University Professional and Graduate Degree Excellence Program to enhance the quality and excellence of state university programs in medicine, law, and business.
• Requires a reverse transfer agreement for Florida College System (FCS) associate in arts degree (AA) transfer students who transfer to a state university prior to earning the AA degree.
• Allows FCS institutions to require students to take the college placement test for diagnostic purposes.
• Requires the BOG to enter into an agreement with the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) for access to individual reemployment assistance wage reports for auditing and evaluation purposes;
• Prohibits ratio of state university students to administrators from exceeding ratio of students to faculty.
• Requires the University of South Florida (USF) to develop and implement a plan for phasing-out the separate accreditation of the USF St. Petersburg and USF Manatee/Sarasota campuses.

HB 1213 – Computer Science Instruction by Porter
To increase opportunities for students to participate in computer science instruction, the bill:

• Defines computer science and includes computer coding and programming in the definition;
• Requires the Florida Department of Education (DOE) to identify computer science courses in the Course Code Directory and on its website by July 1, 2018;
• Requires Florida Virtual School (FLVS) to offer computer science courses so students enrolled in a school without a computer science course can receive computer science instruction;
• Requires school districts to offer students access to computer science courses through FLVS or by other means;
• Establishes a grant program to help teachers earn a computer science educator certificate or industry certification and for paying associated examination fees;
• Establishes a bonus program to award qualifying teachers, on a yearly basis for up to 3 years, who teach computer science courses identified by the DOE; and
• Provides that funding for the teacher training grant program and teacher bonus program are subject to an appropriation.
• Requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules to implement these provisions.

HB 495 – School District Price Level Index by Diaz
The bill provides for third-party review of the FPLI methodology by requiring the Florida Department of Education (DOE) to contract with an independent consulting firm to conduct a review of the FPLI methodology by July 1, 2018. The bill also requires the DOE, by January 1, 2019, and every 10 years thereafter, to submit a report providing recommendations to the chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the chair of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, and the Executive Office of the Governor’s Office of Policy and Budget.

The House Judiciary Committee will meet, 1:30 – 4:30 pm, to consider the following item and others:

HB 1391 – Sexual Offenses Against Students by Rodrigues

The bill further enhances student safety and increases accountability for school officials and employees by:

• Disqualifying a person from educator certification or employment in a position with a public school or certain private schools that involves direct contact with students if the person has a conviction for an offense against a student;
• Providing that a conviction for an offense against a student disqualifies a person from educator certification or employment in a position with a public school or certain private schools that involves direct contact with students;
• Providing that an employee’s resignation or termination of employment does not affect a school district’s responsibility to investigate complaints of misconduct and to report legally sufficient complaints to the Department of Education (DOE) within 30 days;
• Requiring district school board policies to include mandatory reporting of alleged misconduct that involves engaging in sexual, romantic, or lewd conduct with a student or soliciting such conduct and to require district school superintendents to report to law enforcement misconduct by school district personnel that would result in disqualification from certification or employment;
• Expanding the reasons a district school board member’s or superintendent’s salary may be forfeited for 1 year;
• Requiring a district school superintendent to notify, in writing, the parent of a student affected by certain misconduct and requiring the notification to include certain information;
• Expanding the authority of the DOE to deny certification based upon the Education Practices Commission’s (EPC) authority to issue disciplinary action against a certified educator;
• Authorizing the EPC to impose conditions upon the award of an educator certificate; and
• Requiring school districts and certain schools to notify DOE when a teacher or administrator resigns before an investigation of misconduct affecting the health, safety, or welfare of a student is concluded and requiring the DOE to place an alert on the person’s certificate file indicating that he or she resigned or was terminated before such an investigation was concluded.

The bill makes it a second-degree felony for an authority figure to solicit or engage in sexual conduct, a relationship of a romantic nature, or lewd conduct with a student enrolled at a school, regardless of the student’s age. The bill also amends the definition of school in the trespass on school grounds statute to include a school bus, allowing law enforcement to arrest someone for trespassing on a school bus, after the commission of the crime and without a warrant, if the officer has probable cause to believe the person committed the offense.

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