The Florida Senate

744.7082  Direct-support organization; definition; use of property; board of directors; audit; dissolution.--

(1)  DEFINITION.--As used in this section, the term "direct-support organization" means an organization whose sole purpose is to support the Statewide Public Guardianship Office and is:

(a)  A not-for-profit corporation incorporated under chapter 617 and approved by the Department of State;

(b)  Organized and operated to conduct programs and activities; to raise funds; to request and receive grants, gifts, and bequests of moneys; to acquire, receive, hold, invest, and administer, in its own name, securities, funds, objects of value, or other property, real or personal; and to make expenditures to or for the direct or indirect benefit of the Statewide Public Guardianship Office; and

(c)  Determined by the Statewide Public Guardianship Office to be consistent with the goals of the office, in the best interests of the state, and in accordance with the adopted goals and mission of the Department of Elderly Affairs and the Statewide Public Guardianship Office.

(2)  CONTRACT.--The direct-support organization shall operate under a written contract with the Statewide Public Guardianship Office. The written contract must provide for:

(a)  Certification by the Statewide Public Guardianship Office that the direct-support organization is complying with the terms of the contract and is doing so consistent with the goals and purposes of the office and in the best interests of the state. This certification must be made annually and reported in the official minutes of a meeting of the direct-support organization.

(b)  The reversion of moneys and property held in trust by the direct-support organization:

1.  To the Statewide Public Guardianship Office if the direct-support organization is no longer approved to operate for the office;

2.  To the Statewide Public Guardianship Office if the direct-support organization ceases to exist;

3.  To the Department of Elderly Affairs if the Statewide Public Guardianship Office ceases to exist; or

4.  To the state if the Department of Elderly Affairs ceases to exist.

The fiscal year of the direct-support organization shall begin on July 1 of each year and end on June 30 of the following year.

(c)  The disclosure of the material provisions of the contract, and the distinction between the Statewide Public Guardianship Office and the direct-support organization, to donors of gifts, contributions, or bequests, including such disclosure on all promotional and fundraising publications.

(3)  BOARD OF DIRECTORS.--The Secretary of Elderly Affairs shall appoint a board of directors for the direct-support organization from a list of nominees submitted by the executive director of the Statewide Public Guardianship Office.

(4)  USE OF PROPERTY.--The Department of Elderly Affairs may permit, without charge, appropriate use of fixed property and facilities of the department or the Statewide Public Guardianship Office by the direct-support organization. The department may prescribe any condition with which the direct-support organization must comply in order to use fixed property or facilities of the department or the Statewide Public Guardianship Office.

(5)  MONEYS.--Any moneys may be held in a separate depository account in the name of the direct-support organization and subject to the provisions of the written contract with the Statewide Public Guardianship Office. Expenditures of the direct-support organization shall be expressly used to support the Statewide Public Guardianship Office. The expenditures of the direct-support organization may not be used for the purpose of lobbying as defined in s. 11.045

(6)  AUDIT.--The direct-support organization shall provide for an annual financial audit in accordance with s. 215.981

(7)  DISSOLUTION.--After July 1, 2004, any not-for-profit corporation incorporated under chapter 617 that is determined by a circuit court to be representing itself as a direct-support organization created under this section, but that does not have a written contract with the Statewide Public Guardianship Office in compliance with this section, is considered to meet the grounds for a judicial dissolution described in s. 617.1430(1)(a). The Statewide Public Guardianship Office shall be the recipient for all assets held by the dissolved corporation which accrued during the period that the dissolved corporation represented itself as a direct-support organization created under this section.

History.--s. 9, ch. 2002-195; s. 14, ch. 2004-260.