Senate Bill 0190c1

    Florida Senate - 1998                            CS for SB 190

    By the Committee on Transportation and Senator McKay





    306-583-98

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to driver's licenses; amending

  3         s. 322.18, F.S.; prohibiting the Department of

  4         Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles from renewing

  5         a driver's license if its records show that the

  6         driver is the subject of an outstanding warrant

  7         for worthless checks; directing the Department

  8         of Law Enforcement to provide the Department of

  9         Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles with

10         electronic access; providing circumstances for

11         renewal of license; providing for

12         confidentiality; providing for a fee; providing

13         an effective date.

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15         WHEREAS, on an average day in the United States,

16  approximately 30,000 checks with a total value between $12

17  million and $18 million are returned for insufficient funds,

18  and

19         WHEREAS, business owners spend millions of dollars

20  trying to collect on worthless checks while trustworthy

21  consumers absorb the costs of worthless checks that are passed

22  on to them by the businesses that are suffering because of

23  untrustworthy customers, and

24         WHEREAS, recent studies show that 5 percent of the

25  people who issue worthless checks do so intentionally, and

26         WHEREAS, the Legislature intends to protect the public

27  from the negative effects of the passing of worthless bank

28  checks, NOW, THEREFORE,

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30  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1998                            CS for SB 190
    306-583-98




  1         Section 1.  Subsection (10) is added to section 322.18,

  2  Florida Statutes, to read:

  3         322.18  Original applications, licenses, and renewals;

  4  expiration of licenses; delinquent licenses.--

  5         (10)(a)  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the

  6  contrary, no person shall be issued a renewal of a driver's

  7  license if the department's records reveal that the person has

  8  an outstanding warrant for passing a worthless bank check in

  9  violation of s. 832.05.

10         (b)  The Department of Law Enforcement shall provide

11  electronic access to the department for the purpose of

12  identifying persons who are the subject of an outstanding

13  warrant or capias for passing worthless bank checks.

14         (c)  The Department of Highway Safety and Motor

15  Vehicles and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shall

16  develop and implement a plan to ensure the identification of

17  persons who are the subject of an outstanding warrant or

18  capias for passing worthless bank checks and the

19  identification of these persons' driver's license records. If

20  the Department of Law Enforcement's records indicate that an

21  applicant for a driver's license renewal is the subject of an

22  outstanding warrant or capias for a worthless bank check, the

23  department shall not renew the driver's license.  The

24  applicant is responsible for contacting the sheriff's office

25  that entered the warrant to satisfy its conditions. Once the

26  warrant is executed and the warrant entry is canceled from the

27  Department of Law Enforcement's records by the entering

28  agency, the applicant shall pay the department an additional

29  $10 fee prior to the department renewing the applicant's

30  driver's license.  Such fees shall be placed in the Highway

31  Safety Operating Trust Fund. The department shall inform an

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1998                            CS for SB 190
    306-583-98




  1  applicant who is subject to this paragraph of the terms of

  2  this paragraph.

  3         (d)  Information provided under paragraph (a) shall not

  4  be part of a person's driver history.

  5         Section 2.  This act shall take effect October 1, 1998.

  6

  7          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
  8                         Senate Bill 190

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10  The CS directs the Department of Highway Safety and the
    Department of Law Enforcement to develop and implement a plan
11  to ensure the identification of persons who are the subject of
    an outstanding warrant for passing worthless bank checks and
12  the identification of these persons' driver's license records.

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