Senate Bill 1478c1

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1478

    By the Committee on Comprehensive Planning, Local and Military
    Affairs; and Senator Mitchell




    316-1873-99

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to Crime Stoppers funds;

  3         creating s. 932.80, F.S.; specifying the

  4         purposes for which special county trust fund

  5         moneys may be expended by the Sheriff or other

  6         law enforcement entity that operates a Crime

  7         Stoppers program; amending s. 938.06, F.S.;

  8         providing for the surcharge assessed as an

  9         additional court cost to be deposited in the

10         special county trust funds for use as provided

11         in s. 932.80; repealing s. 16.555, F.S., which

12         provides for the Crime Stoppers Trust Fund in

13         the Department of Legal Affairs; providing for

14         the distribution of funds in the department's

15         trust fund; providing an effective date.

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

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19         Section 1.  Section 932.80, Florida Statutes, is

20  created to read:

21         932.80  Crime Stoppers funds.--

22         (1)  All funds collected by the clerk of court under s.

23  938.06 shall be deposited into a special trust fund of the

24  county. Such moneys and interest accruing thereon, shall be

25  segregated in the special trust fund and may only be expended

26  for:

27         (a)  Rewards for information leading to the arrest and

28  prosecution of persons who have committed, or are committing,

29  crimes;

30         (b)  Community notification of the presence of sexual

31  predators, sexual offenders, or violent offenders;

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1478
    316-1873-99




  1         (c)  Crime prevention awareness;

  2         (d)  Publicity, advertisement and promotion of Crime

  3  Stoppers programs and services;

  4         (e)  Administrative costs of Crime Stoppers programs

  5  receiving funds pursuant to subsection (2); and

  6         (f)  Starting a new Crime Stoppers program in counties

  7  where none exists.

  8         (2)  In any county in which a Crime Stoppers program is

  9  operated in cooperation with the sheriff or the person in

10  charge of a county law enforcement agency and a majority of

11  the chiefs of police of municipalities within the county, in

12  consultation with the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers,

13  Inc., all funds relating to s. 938.06 in the county's special

14  trust fund shall be distributed to that Crime Stoppers program

15  for the purposes provided in subsection (1).

16         (3)  If a Crime Stoppers program is not operated within

17  a county, the county may expend funds relating to s. 938.06 in

18  the special trust fund for the purposes provided in subsection

19  (1).

20         (4)  In order to establish a multi-county Crime

21  Stoppers program, two or more counties may agree to approve a

22  single multi-county Crime Stoppers program that will receive

23  funds related to s. 938.06 from the special trust funds of the

24  respective counties.

25         (5)  To ensure compliance with this section, each Crime

26  Stoppers program receiving funds relating to s. 938.06 from a

27  county's special trust fund shall, at the county's option and

28  at Crime Stoppers' expense, be subject to an annual audit of

29  expenditures of moneys from the special trust fund.

30         Section 2.  Section 938.06, Florida Statutes, is

31  amended to read:

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1478
    316-1873-99




  1         938.06  Additional cost for crime stoppers programs.--

  2         (1)  In addition to any fine prescribed by law for any

  3  criminal offense, there is hereby assessed as a court cost an

  4  additional surcharge of $20 on such fine, which shall be

  5  imposed by all county and circuit courts and collected by the

  6  clerks of the courts together with such fine. No political

  7  subdivision shall be held liable for payment of costs under

  8  this section.

  9         (2)  The clerk of the court shall collect and forward,

10  on a monthly basis, all costs assessed under this section,

11  less $3 per assessment as a service charge to be retained by

12  the clerk, to a special trust fund in the county and invested

13  in the same manner as other funds the Department of Legal

14  Affairs for deposit in the Crime Stoppers Trust Fund to be

15  used as provided in s. 932.80 s. 16.555.

16         Section 3.  Section 16.555, Florida Statutes, as

17  amended by section 2 of chapter 98-319, Laws of Florida, is

18  repealed.

19         Section 4.  All funds in the Department of Legal

20  Affairs' Crime Stoppers Trust Fund as of July 1, 1999, shall

21  be remitted to the counties where the funds were originally

22  collected and shall be deposited into each county's special

23  trust fund to be used as provided in section 932.80, Florida

24  Statutes.

25         Section 5.  This act shall take effect July 1, 1999.

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    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1478
    316-1873-99




  1          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
  2                         Senate Bill 1478

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  4  The CS differs from the bill in the following ways:

  5  It changes authorized uses of Crime Stopper funds;

  6  It allows counties to create multi-county Crime Stopper
    programs;
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    Subjects Crime Stopper programs receiving surcharge revenues
  8  to an annual audit; and

  9  It requires that all funds in the Department of Legal Affairs'
    Crime Stoppers Trust Fund as of July 1, 1999, be remitted to
10  the counties where the funds were collected.

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