Florida Senate - 2017 SB 1030
By Senator Broxson
1-00913-17 20171030__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to background screening of refugees;
3 amending s. 187.201, F.S.; adopting a policy
4 concerning background screening of potential refugees
5 as a part of the State Comprehensive Plan; amending s.
6 216.151, F.S.; specifying duties of the Office of
7 State-Federal Relations concerning background
8 screening of refugees; amending s. 402.86, F.S.;
9 specifying requirements for background screening of
10 refugees as a condition of state participation in
11 certain refugee resettlement or assistance programs;
12 providing an effective date.
13
14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (6) of section
17 187.201, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
18 187.201 State Comprehensive Plan adopted.—The Legislature
19 hereby adopts as the State Comprehensive Plan the following
20 specific goals and policies:
21 (6) PUBLIC SAFETY.—
22 (b) Policies.—
23 1. Maintain safe and secure prisons and other correctional
24 facilities with the required number of well-trained staff.
25 2. Provide effective alternatives to incarceration for
26 appropriate offenders and encourage victim restitution.
27 3. Make the corrections system as financially cost
28 effective as possible through prison industries and other inmate
29 work programs and through contractual agreements with public and
30 private vendors.
31 4. Continue to monitor educational and vocational training
32 of inmates to increase the likelihood of successful
33 reintegration into the community.
34 5. Provide all inmates with access to adequate health care,
35 including diagnostic and treatment programs for offenders
36 suffering from substance abuse or psychological disorders.
37 6. Provide incentives to attract and retain high-quality
38 law enforcement and correctional officers.
39 7. Emphasize the reduction of serious crime, particularly
40 violent, organized, economic, and drug-related crimes.
41 8. Increase the level of training and technical assistance
42 provided to law enforcement agencies.
43 9. Increase crime prevention efforts to enhance the
44 protection of individual personal safety and property.
45 10. Emphasize and protect the rights of crime victims.
46 11. Continue to implement coordinated and integrated
47 strategies to combat organized crime, economic crime, and drug
48 trafficking.
49 12. Expand the state’s provisions for the protection of
50 witnesses in criminal cases, especially organized crime cases.
51 13. Strengthen the state’s commitment to pursue, both
52 criminally and civilly, those individuals who profit from
53 economic crimes, in a manner that keeps pace with the level and
54 sophistication of these criminal activities.
55 14. Improve the efficiency of law enforcement through the
56 establishment of a close communication and coordination system
57 among agencies and a comprehensive reporting system for such
58 types of criminal activities as forcible felonies and organized,
59 economic, and drug crimes.
60 15. Improve the effectiveness of the delinquent juvenile
61 justice system commitment programs to reduce recidivism of
62 juveniles who would otherwise be recommitted to state
63 supervision.
64 16. Utilize alternative sentencing and dispute resolution
65 when appropriate, particularly in civil disputes and minor
66 criminal violations.
67 17. Increase the state’s commitment to stringent
68 enforcement of laws against drunken or drugged driving.
69 18. Expand public awareness campaigns that will emphasize
70 the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol or
71 drugs.
72 19. Promote efforts to encourage the use of personal safety
73 restraint devices for all persons traveling in motor vehicles.
74 20. Improve the enforcement of and compliance with safe
75 highway speed limits.
76 21. Provide effective and efficient driver licensing
77 systems, including a reliable testing system designed to
78 preclude unqualified drivers from receiving driver licenses.
79 22. Require local governments, in cooperation with regional
80 and state agencies, to prepare advance plans for the safe
81 evacuation of coastal residents.
82 23. Require local governments, in cooperation with regional
83 and state agencies, to adopt plans and policies to protect
84 public and private property and human lives from the effects of
85 natural disasters.
86 24. Require as a condition of participation in any program
87 of refugee resettlement that any refugee to be resettled in the
88 state receive a background investigation by the appropriate
89 federal agency, including the Department of Homeland Security
90 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to ensure that the
91 potential refugee is not a security threat before the refugee
92 may be received into the state or receive benefits from any
93 refugee resettlement program in the state. Such a background
94 investigation must include verification from the person’s
95 country of origin and residence in cooperation with the federal
96 agency vetting the potential refugee.
97 Section 2. Paragraph (e) is added to subsection (6) of
98 section 216.151, Florida Statutes, to read:
99 216.151 Duties of the Executive Office of the Governor.—It
100 shall be the duty of the Executive Office of the Governor to:
101 (6) Consult with the Office of State-Federal Relations in
102 Washington, D.C., under the Executive Office of the Governor, in
103 order to:
104 (e) Ensure that appropriate federal agencies shall take all
105 actions necessary to see that any refugee to be resettled in the
106 state receives a background investigation that ensures that the
107 potential refugee is not a security threat before the refugee
108 may be received into the state or receive benefits from any
109 refugee resettlement program in the state. Such a background
110 investigation must include verification from the person’s
111 country of origin and residence in cooperation with the federal
112 agency vetting the potential refugee.
113
114 The express intent of the endeavors enumerated in this
115 subsection shall be to secure a more equitable share of
116 available federal revenues.
117 Section 3. Section 402.86, Florida Statutes, is amended to
118 read:
119 402.86 Rulemaking authority for Refugee assistance program;
120 screening requirements; rulemaking.—
121 (1) The Department of Children and Families has the
122 authority to administer the refugee assistance program in
123 accordance with 45 C.F.R. parts 400 and 401. The department
124 shall require, to the extent permitted under federal law, as a
125 condition of the state’s participation in any program of refugee
126 resettlement or assistance that any refugee to be resettled in
127 the state receive a background investigation by the appropriate
128 federal agency, including the Department of Homeland Security
129 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to ensure that the
130 potential refugee is not a security threat before the refugee
131 may be received into the state or receive benefits from any
132 refugee resettlement or assistance program in the state. Such a
133 background investigation must include verification from the
134 person’s country of origin and residence in cooperation with the
135 federal agency vetting the potential refugee.
136 (2) The Department of Children and Families or a child
137 placing or child-caring agency designated by the department may
138 petition in circuit court to establish custody. Upon making a
139 finding that a child is an Unaccompanied Refugee Minor as
140 defined in 45 C.F.R. s. 400.111, the court may establish custody
141 and placement of the child in the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor
142 Program.
143 (3)(2) The Department of Children and Families shall adopt
144 any rules necessary for the implementation and administration of
145 this section.
146 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.