House Bill 4793

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 4793

        By Representative Fischer






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public hurricane evacuation

  3         shelters; amending s. 240.295, F.S.;

  4         prescribing duties of the Board of Regents with

  5         respect to identifying public shelter space;

  6         amending s. 252.385, F.S.; authorizing the use

  7         of private buildings as shelters; providing for

  8         school boards and community colleges to assist

  9         in coordinating certain surveys; providing for

10         public facilities to be made available for use

11         as shelters; requiring the Department of

12         Management Services to incorporate public

13         shelter provisions into leases for certain

14         public facilities; amending s. 252.51, F.S.;

15         exempting the state, its political

16         subdivisions, employees, agents, and others

17         from liability for damages caused by emergency

18         management workers in certain situations;

19         providing an effective date.

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

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23         Section 1.  Subsection (4) of section 240.295, Florida

24  Statutes, is amended to read:

25         240.295  State University System; authorization for

26  fixed capital outlay projects.--

27         (4)  The Board of Regents shall, in consultation with

28  local and state emergency management agencies, assess existing

29  facilities to identify the extent to which each campus has

30  public hurricane-evacuation shelter space. adequate to house

31  those students, faculty, and employees expected to seek public

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 4793

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  1  shelter prior to or during a disaster and those other persons

  2  for which the campus has agreed with the local emergency

  3  management agency or other voluntary organization to provide

  4  shelter space.  The board shall submit a report describing the

  5  results of its assessment to the Governor and the Legislature

  6  by February 1, 1994.  At the discretion of the board, this

  7  report may be accompanied by a list of proposed improvements

  8  to existing buildings to improve shelter capacity and an

  9  estimate of the costs associated with implementing these

10  improvements.  Until a campus has sufficient shelter space,

11  any building for which a design contract is entered into

12  subsequent to July 1, 1994, must be constructed in accordance

13  with public shelter standards unless the board, with the

14  concurrence of the local emergency management agency or the

15  Department of Community Affairs, exempts the building or part

16  thereof from shelter standards because of its location, size,

17  or other characteristic.

18         Section 2.  Section 252.385, Florida Statutes, is

19  amended to read:

20         252.385  Public shelter space.--

21         (1)  It is the intent of the Legislature that this

22  state not have a deficit of safe public hurricane-evacuation

23  shelter space in any region of the state by 1998 and

24  thereafter.

25         (2)  The division shall administer a program to survey

26  existing schools, universities, community colleges, and other

27  state-owned, municipally owned, and county-owned public

28  buildings and any private facility that the owner, in writing,

29  agrees to provide for use as a public hurricane-evacuation

30  shelter to identify those that are appropriately designed and

31  located to serve as such shelters.  The owners of the

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 4793

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  1  facilities must shall be given the opportunity to participate

  2  in the surveys.  The Board of Regents, district school boards,

  3  community college boards of trustees, and the Department of

  4  Education are responsible for coordinating and implementing

  5  the survey of public schools, universities, and community

  6  colleges with the division or the local emergency management

  7  agency.

  8         (3)  Beginning no later than September 1, 1994, The

  9  division shall annually provide to the President of the

10  Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the

11  Governor a list of facilities recommended to be retrofitted

12  using state funds. State funds should be targeted to counties

13  with hurricane-evacuation shelter deficits. Retrofitting

14  facilities in regions with public hurricane-evacuation shelter

15  deficits shall be given first priority and should be completed

16  by 1998.  All appropriate facilities should be retrofitted by

17  2008 2003. The owner or lessee of a shelter that is included

18  on the retrofit list is not required to perform any

19  recommended improvements.

20         (4)(a)  Public facilities, including schools,

21  postsecondary education facilities, and other facilities owned

22  or leased by the state or local governments which are suitable

23  for use as hurricane-evacuation shelters shall be made

24  available at the request of the local emergency management

25  agencies. Such agencies shall coordinate with the appropriate

26  school board, university, community college, or local

27  governing board when requesting the use of such facilities as

28  hurricane-evacuation shelters.

29         (b)  The Department of Management Services shall

30  incorporate the use of suitable leased public facilities as

31  public hurricane-evacuation shelters into lease agreements for

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 4793

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  1  state agencies. Suitable leased public facilities include

  2  leased public facilities that are solely occupied by state

  3  agencies and have at least 2,000 square feet of net floor area

  4  in a single room or in a combination of rooms having a minimum

  5  of 400 square feet in each room. The net square footage of

  6  floor area must be determined by subtracting from the gross

  7  square footage the square footage of spaces such as mechanical

  8  and electrical rooms, storage rooms, open corridors,

  9  restrooms, kitchens, science or computer laboratories, shop or

10  mechanical areas, administrative offices, records vaults, and

11  crawl spaces.

12         Section 3.  Section 252.51, Florida Statutes, is

13  amended to read:

14         252.51  Liability.--

15         (1)  Any person or organization, public or private,

16  owning or controlling real estate or other premises who

17  voluntarily and without compensation grants a license or

18  privilege or otherwise permits the designation by the local

19  emergency management agency or use of the whole or any part of

20  such real estate or premises for the purpose of sheltering

21  persons during an actual, impending, mock, or practice

22  emergency, together with her or his successor in interest, if

23  any, shall not be liable for the death of, or injury to, any

24  person on or about such real estate or premises during the

25  actual, impending, mock, or practice emergency, or for loss

26  of, or damage to, the property of such person, solely by

27  reason or as a result of such license, privilege, designation,

28  or use, unless the gross negligence or the willful and wanton

29  misconduct of such person owning or controlling such real

30  estate or premises or her or his successor in interest is the

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 4793

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  1  proximate cause of such death, injury, loss, or damage

  2  occurring during such sheltering period.

  3         (2)  Neither the state nor any political subdivision of

  4  the state, nor their agents or employees, except for bad

  5  faith, gross negligence, malicious purpose, or wanton and

  6  willful disregard of human rights, safety, or property, shall

  7  be liable for personal injury, death, or property damage

  8  sustained by any person as a result of the acts or omissions

  9  of any emergency management worker complying with this chapter

10  or any order, rule, ordinance, or resolution adopted pursuant

11  to this chapter. As used in this subsection, the term

12  "emergency management worker" includes any full-time or

13  part-time paid or volunteer employee or agent of this state,

14  its political subdivisions, other states, territories, or

15  possessions, the District of Columbia, or the Federal

16  Government who is performing emergency management activities

17  in this state and who is subject to the order or control of or

18  pursuant to the request of the state, its agencies, or its

19  political subdivisions. The rights of any person to receive

20  benefits to which they would otherwise be entitled under

21  chapter 440 or any pension law, or any act of Congress are not

22  affected by this subsection.

23         Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1 of the

24  year in which enacted.

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HB 4793

    580-116-98






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  2                          SENATE SUMMARY

  3    Revises provisions relating to the use of public
      facilities as public hurricane-evacuation shelters.
  4    Authorizes the use of certain private buildings as public
      hurricane-evacuation shelters. Requires school boards and
  5    community college boards of trustees to assist in certain
      surveys regarding such shelters. Requires the Department
  6    of Management Services to incorporate certain provisions
      regarding their use as shelters in leases for public
  7    facilities. Exempts the state and political subdivisions
      from liability for damages caused by emergency management
  8    workers. (See bill for details.)

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