CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.House Bill 0769c1
Florida House of Representatives - 1997 CS/HB 769
By the Committee on Corrections and Representatives Brooks
and Feeney
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to state correctional
3 facilities; creating the "Tobacco-free Prisons
4 Act"; providing legislative intent; requiring
5 the Department of Corrections and private
6 vendors operating state correctional facilities
7 to make smoking-cessation assistance available
8 to inmates; requiring full implementation of
9 the act by a specified date; providing
10 definitions; prohibiting an inmate within a
11 state correctional facility from possessing or
12 using tobacco products; permitting certain
13 inmates to possess or use tobacco products;
14 prohibiting employees or visitors from
15 possessing or using tobacco products while in a
16 state correctional facility; authorizing the
17 department to adopt rules allowing tobacco
18 possession or use by employees and visitors
19 under certain circumstances; providing
20 penalties; providing legislative intent to
21 direct the Department of Corrections to
22 identify and maintain data that can be used to
23 estimate health care cost savings attributable
24 to removal of tobacco products from
25 correctional facilities; providing legislative
26 intent that a certain percentage of the
27 estimated cost savings be appropriated for
28 incentive bonuses for correctional officers and
29 correctional probation officers; requiring the
30 Office of Program Policy Analysis and
31 Governmental Accountability to conduct a study
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Florida House of Representatives - 1997 CS/HB 769
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1 and to report its findings to the Legislature;
2 providing for future repeal; providing an
3 effective date.
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5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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7 Section 1. (1) SHORT TITLE.--This section may be
8 cited as the "Tobacco-free Prisons Act."
9 (2) LEGISLATIVE INTENT.--The purpose of this section
10 is to protect the health, comfort, and environment of
11 employees of the Department of Corrections, employees of
12 privately operated correctional facilities, employees of the
13 Correctional Privatization Commission, and inmates by
14 prohibiting inmates from using tobacco products in state
15 correctional facilities, and by ensuring that employees and
16 visitors do not use tobacco products in state correctional
17 facilities. Scientific evidence links the use of tobacco
18 products with numerous significant health risks. The use of
19 tobacco products by inmates, employees, or visitors is
20 contrary to efforts by the Department of Corrections to reduce
21 the costs of inmate health care and to limit unnecessary
22 litigation. The Department of Corrections and the private
23 vendors operating correctional facilities shall make smoking
24 cessation assistance available to inmates in order to
25 implement this section. The Department of Corrections and the
26 private vendors operating correctional facilities shall
27 implement this section as soon as possible, and all provisions
28 of this section must be fully implemented by July 1, 1998.
29 (3) DEFINITIONS.--As used in this section, the term:
30 (a) "Department" means the Department of Corrections.
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1 (b) "Employee" means an employee of the department or
2 a private vendor in a contractual relationship with either the
3 Department of Corrections or the Correctional Privatization
4 Commission, and includes persons such as contractors,
5 volunteers, or law enforcement officers who are within a state
6 correctional facility to perform a professional service.
7 (c) "State correctional facility" means a state or
8 privately operated correctional institution as defined in s.
9 944.02, or a correctional institution or facility operated
10 under s. 944.105 or chapter 957.
11 (d) "Tobacco products" means items such as cigars,
12 cigarettes, snuff, loose tobacco, or similar goods made with
13 any part of the tobacco plant, which are prepared or used for
14 smoking, chewing, dipping, sniffing, or other personal use.
15 (e) "Visitor" means any person other than an inmate or
16 employee who is within a state correctional facility for a
17 lawful purpose and includes, but is not limited to, persons
18 who are authorized to visit state correctional institutions
19 pursuant to s. 944.23, and persons authorized to visit as
20 prescribed by departmental rule.
21 (4) POSSESSION OR USE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS
22 PROHIBITED.--
23 (a) An inmate within a state correctional facility may
24 not possess or use tobacco products at any time while in the
25 custody of the department or under the supervision of a
26 private vendor operating a correctional facility, unless an
27 inmate leaves the confines of the facility pursuant to s.
28 945.091. Except as provided in s. 945.091, this prohibition
29 applies regardless of an inmate's location in relation to the
30 physical plant of a state correctional facility.
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Florida House of Representatives - 1997 CS/HB 769
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1 (b)1. An employee or visitor may not possess or use
2 any tobacco products while in a state correctional facility.
3 However, the department may promulgate rules and private
4 vendors operating correctional facilities may adopt policies
5 and procedures allowing the possession or use of tobacco
6 products by employees and visitors outside of the secure
7 perimeter of a state correctional facility, provided that such
8 tobacco possession or use does not occur in the presence of an
9 inmate. Under no circumstances shall possession or use of
10 tobacco products by employees or visitors be allowed inside
11 the secure perimeter. For state correctional facilities that
12 do not have a secure perimeter, the department shall define
13 the appropriate boundaries for purposes of implementing this
14 subsection.
15 2. The superintendent, warden, or supervisor of a
16 state correctional facility shall take reasonable steps to
17 ensure that the tobacco prohibition for employees and visitors
18 is strictly enforced.
19 (5) PENALTIES.--An inmate who violates this section
20 commits a disciplinary infraction and is subject to punishment
21 determined to be appropriate by the disciplinary authority in
22 the state correctional facility, including, but not limited
23 to, forfeiture of gain-time or the right to earn gain-time in
24 the future under s. 944.28.
25 Section 2. The Legislature has recognized, in the
26 passage of the Government Performance and Accountability Act,
27 the importance of measuring and evaluating the efficiency of
28 state agencies and providing incentives to reward agency
29 performance. It is the intent of the Legislature that the
30 Department of Corrections identify and maintain data that can
31 be used to estimate any health care cost savings directly
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1 attributable to the removal of tobacco products from
2 state-operated correctional facilities, and develop a measure
3 relating to such cost savings. The department shall begin
4 identifying and maintaining the data as soon as this act
5 becomes law. It is further the intent of the Legislature that
6 any health care cost savings achieved through the removal of
7 tobacco from correctional facilities be identified. It is the
8 intent of the Legislature that 50 percent of the cost savings
9 identified be appropriated for incentive bonuses for
10 correctional officers, as defined in s. 943.10(2), and
11 correctional probation officers, as defined in s. 943.10(3),
12 who are employed at a correctional facility operated by the
13 state. Contingent upon available funding, such bonuses shall
14 be paid beginning on July 1, 1999, and for each fiscal year
15 thereafter. The incentive bonuses shall be in addition to any
16 general salary increases and step increases given to
17 correctional officers and correctional probation officers.
18 Section 3. The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
19 Governmental Accountability shall conduct a study to determine
20 whether the prohibition against tobacco use in state
21 correctional facilities is effectively serving its intended
22 purpose of protecting the health, comfort, and environment of
23 inmates and employees. The study shall include a review of
24 inmate health care costs to determine whether any decrease in
25 those costs can be directly attributable to the removal of
26 tobacco products from correctional facilities. The Office of
27 Program Policy Analysis and Governmental Accountability shall
28 report its findings to the Legislature by December 31, 2000.
29 Section 4. Effective July 1, 2001, this act shall
30 stand repealed, unless saved from repeal through reenactment
31 by the Legislature.
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1 Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
2 law.
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