Florida Senate - 2016 CS for SB 230
By the Committee on Appropriations; and Senator Dean
576-01503-16 2016230c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to missing persons with special needs;
3 creating s. 937.041, F.S.; creating pilot projects in
4 specified counties to provide personal devices to aid
5 search-and-rescue efforts for persons with special
6 needs; providing for administration of the project;
7 requiring reports; providing for expiration; providing
8 an appropriation; providing an effective date.
9
10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
11
12 Section 1. Section 937.041, Florida Statutes, is created to
13 read:
14 937.041 Missing persons with special needs pilot project.—
15 (1) There is created a pilot project in Alachua, Baker,
16 Columbia, Hamilton, and Suwannee Counties to be known as
17 “Project Leo” to provide personal devices to aid search-and
18 rescue efforts for persons with special needs in the case of
19 elopement.
20 (2) There is created an additional pilot project in Broward
21 and Palm Beach Counties to provide personal devices to aid
22 search-and-rescue efforts for persons with special needs in the
23 case of elopement.
24 (3) Participants for the pilot project in the counties
25 specified in subsection (1) shall be selected based on criteria
26 developed by the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at
27 the University of Florida. Participants for the pilot project
28 specified in subsection (2) shall be selected based on criteria
29 developed by the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at
30 Florida Atlantic University. Criteria for participation in the
31 pilot projects must include, at a minimum, the person’s risk of
32 elopement. The qualifying participants shall be selected on a
33 first-come, first–served basis by the respective centers to the
34 extent of available funding within their existing resources. The
35 project must be voluntary and free of charge to participants.
36 (4) Under the pilot projects, personal devices to aid
37 search-and-rescue efforts which are attachable to clothing or
38 otherwise worn shall be provided by the centers to the sheriff’s
39 offices of the participating counties. The devices shall be
40 distributed to project participants by the county sheriff’s
41 offices in conjunction with the centers. The centers shall fund
42 any costs associated with monitoring the devices.
43 (5) The centers shall submit a preliminary report by
44 December 1, 2016, and a final report by December 15, 2017, to
45 the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of
46 the House of Representatives describing the implementation and
47 operation of the pilot projects. At a minimum, the report must
48 include the criteria used to select participants, the number of
49 participants, the nature of the participants’ special needs, the
50 number of participants who elope, the amount of time taken to
51 rescue such participants following elopement, and the outcome of
52 any rescue attempts. The final report must also provide
53 recommendations for modification or continued implementation of
54 the projects.
55 (6) The projects shall operate to the extent of available
56 funding within the respective centers’ existing resources.
57 (7) This section expires June 30, 2018.
58 Section 2. For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the sum of
59 $100,000 is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the
60 Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at the University of
61 Florida and the sum of $100,000 is appropriated from the General
62 Revenue Fund to the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities
63 at Florida Atlantic University for the purpose of implementing
64 this act.
65 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.