The Florida Senate

985.686  Shared county and state responsibility for juvenile detention.--

(1)  It is the policy of this state that the state and the counties have a joint obligation, as provided in this section, to contribute to the financial support of the detention care provided for juveniles.

(2)  As used in this section, the term:

(a)  "Detention care" means secure detention.

(b)  "Fiscally constrained county" means a county ¹within a rural area of critical economic concern as designated by the Governor pursuant to s. 288.0656 or each county for which the value of a mill will raise no more than $5 million in revenue, based on the certified school taxable value certified pursuant to s. 1011.62(4)(a)1.a., from the previous July 1.

²(3)  Each county shall pay the costs of providing detention care, exclusive of the costs of any preadjudicatory nonmedical educational or therapeutic services and $2.5 million provided for additional medical and mental health care at the detention centers, for juveniles for the period of time prior to final court disposition. The department shall develop an accounts payable system to allocate costs that are payable by the counties.

(4)  Notwithstanding subsection (3), the state shall pay all costs of detention care for juveniles for which a fiscally constrained county would otherwise be billed.

(a)  By October 1, 2004, the department shall develop a methodology for determining the amount of each fiscally constrained county's costs of detention care for juveniles, for the period of time prior to final court disposition, which must be paid by the state. At a minimum, this methodology must consider the difference between the amount appropriated to the department for offsetting the costs associated with the assignment of juvenile pretrial detention expenses to the fiscally constrained county and the total estimated costs to the fiscally constrained county, for the fiscal year, of detention care for juveniles for the period of time prior to final court disposition.

(b)  Subject to legislative appropriation and based on the methodology developed under paragraph (a), the department shall provide funding to offset the costs to fiscally constrained counties of detention care for juveniles for the period of time prior to final court disposition. If county matching funds are required by the department to eliminate the difference calculated under paragraph (a) or the difference between the actual costs of the fiscally constrained counties and the amount appropriated in small county grants for use in mitigating such costs, that match amount must be allocated proportionately among all fiscally constrained counties.

(5)  Each county shall incorporate into its annual county budget sufficient funds to pay its costs of detention care for juveniles who reside in that county for the period of time prior to final court disposition. This amount shall be based upon the prior use of secure detention for juveniles who are residents of that county, as calculated by the department. Each county shall pay the estimated costs at the beginning of each month. Any difference between the estimated costs and actual costs shall be reconciled at the end of the state fiscal year.

(6)  Each county shall pay to the department for deposit into the Juvenile Justice Grants and Donations Trust Fund its share of the county's total costs for juvenile detention, based upon calculations published by the department with input from the counties.

(7)  The Department of Juvenile Justice shall determine each quarter whether the counties of this state are remitting to the department their share of the costs of detention as required by this section.

(8)  The Department of Revenue and the counties shall provide technical assistance as necessary to the Department of Juvenile Justice in order to develop the most cost-effective means of collection.

(9)  Funds received from counties pursuant to this section are not subject to the service charges provided in s. 215.20

(10)  The department may adopt rules to administer this section.

History.--s. 1, ch. 2004-263; ss. 1, 2, ch. 2004-473; s. 3, ch. 2006-62; s. 95, ch. 2006-120; s. 4, ch. 2006-229; s. 11, ch. 2007-73.

¹Note.--As amended by s. 3, ch. 2006-62. Section 4, ch. 2006-229, used the words "that is entirely within" instead of the word "within."

²Note.--Section 11, ch. 2007-73, amended subsection (3) "[i]n order to implement Specific Appropriation 1169 of the 2007-2008 General Appropriations Act."

Note.--Former s. 985.2155.