CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.House Bill 0225e1
CS/HB 225, First Engrossed
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to driver licenses; amending s.
3 322.18, 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 for an appropriation; providing an effective
14 date.
15
16 WHEREAS, on an average day in the United States,
17 approximately 30,000 checks with a total value between $12
18 million and $18 million are returned for insufficient funds,
19 and
20 WHEREAS, business owners spend millions of dollars
21 trying to collect on worthless checks while trustworthy
22 consumers absorb the costs of worthless checks that are passed
23 on to them by the businesses that are suffering because of
24 untrustworthy customers, and
25 WHEREAS, recent studies show that 5 percent of the
26 people who issue worthless checks do so intentionally, and
27 WHEREAS, the Legislature intends to protect the public
28 from the negative effects of the passing of worthless bank
29 checks, NOW, THEREFORE,
30
31 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
CS/HB 225, First Engrossed
1 Section 1. Subsection (10) is added to section 322.18,
2 Florida Statutes, 1996 Supplement, 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 Department of Law Enforcement shall develop
16 and implement a plan to ensure the identification of persons
17 who are the subject of an outstanding warrant or capias for
18 passing worthless bank checks and identification of these
19 persons' driver's license records. If the Department of Law
20 Enforcement's records indicate that an applicant for a
21 driver's license renewal is the subject of an outstanding
22 warrant or capias for a worthless bank check, the department
23 shall not renew the driver's license. The applicant is
24 responsible for contacting the sheriff's office that entered
25 the warrant to satisfy its conditions. Once the warrant is
26 executed and the warrant entry is canceled from the Department
27 of Law Enforcement's records by the entering agency, the
28 applicant shall pay the department an additional $10 fee prior
29 to the department renewing the applicant's driver's license.
30 Such fees shall be placed in the Highway Safety Operating
31
2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
CS/HB 225, First Engrossed
1 Trust Fund. The department shall inform an applicant who is
2 subject to this paragraph of the terms of this paragraph.
3 (d) Information provided under paragraph (a) shall not
4 be part of a person's driver history.
5 Section 2. From the Highway Safety Operating Trust
6 Fund, $24,000 shall be appropriated for the programming and
7 computer hardware necessary to implement this program.
8 Section 3. This act shall take effect October 1, 1997.
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
3