Senate Bill 1822

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 1822

    By Senator Kirkpatrick





    5-1059-00

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to grant proposals for county

  3         courthouse facilities; authorizing the Supreme

  4         Court, through the Department of Management

  5         Services, to administer a grant program to

  6         provide small counties with funding for the

  7         acquisition, renovation, or construction of

  8         county courthouse facilities; authorizing small

  9         counties to apply for such grants; requiring

10         that the recipient provide certain matching

11         funds; providing for a grant review panel and

12         its membership and terms of office; requiring

13         the review panel to annually recommend grant

14         recipients to the Department of Management

15         Services; providing that the Department of

16         Management Services may not allocate a project

17         grant unless the project is approved by the

18         Legislature; authorizing the Department of

19         Management Services to establish the process

20         and the procedure for submission and review of

21         applications; providing criteria for review of

22         grant applications; providing an effective

23         date.

24

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

26

27         Section 1.  Small county courthouse facilities; grants

28  for acquisition, renovation, or construction; funding;

29  approval; allocation.--

30         (a)  "Small county" means a county that has a

31  population of fewer than 75,000.

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 1822
    5-1059-00




  1         (b)  "Department" means the Department of Management

  2  Services.

  3         (2)  The Small County Courthouse Facilities Grant

  4  Review Panel is created in the Department of Management

  5  Services for the purpose of receiving and reviewing grant

  6  applications that seek funds to acquire, renovate, or

  7  construct small county courthouse facilities and making

  8  recommendations regarding those applications to the

  9  department.

10         (3)(a)  The panel shall consist of five members, and

11  the following persons and organizations shall each make one

12  appointment to the panel: the President of the Senate, the

13  Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of

14  the Supreme Court, the Florida Association of Court Clerks and

15  Comptrollers, and the Florida Association of Counties. The

16  members appointed by the associations must reside in small

17  counties.

18         (b)  All initial members of the panel must be appointed

19  by July 15, 2000, and shall initially be appointed as follows:

20  the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of

21  Representatives, and the Florida Association of Court Clerks

22  and Comptrollers shall each appoint one member to serve a

23  1-year term; and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and

24  the Florida Association of Counties shall each appoint one

25  member to serve a 2-year term. Subsequent appointments to the

26  panel shall be for 3-year terms. Panel members may not be

27  reappointed to the panel within 1 year after serving a 3-year

28  term.

29         (c)  A vacancy on the panel shall be filled for the

30  unexpired portion of the term in the same manner as the

31  original appointment. The panel shall elect a chairperson from

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 1822
    5-1059-00




  1  among its members to serve a 1-year term. The chairperson may

  2  be subsequently reelected.

  3         (4)  The panel shall review each grant application

  4  seeking funds to acquire, renovate, or construct small county

  5  courthouse facilities. The panel shall then make

  6  recommendations to the secretary of the department regarding

  7  the applications. The panel and the department shall use the

  8  following criteria when reviewing, evaluating, recommending,

  9  and approving grant applications:

10         (a)  Whether the chief judge of the circuit of the

11  county submitting the grant application expressly recommends

12  that a need exists for courthouse facility acquisition,

13  renovation, or construction;

14         (b)  Whether the county submitting the application has

15  matching funds, either in-kind or cash, available for the

16  project;

17         (c)  Whether the application requests funds to address:

18  physical access to the courts and compliance with the

19  Americans with Disabilities Act; fire safety; air quality;

20  structural integrity; physical security of courthouse

21  facilities; compliance with court orders mandating renovation,

22  expansion, and construction of courthouse facilities to

23  provide safer workplaces for court-related business;

24  appropriate space to conduct court proceedings; or compliance

25  with other state and federal construction requirements;

26         (d)  Whether the county submitting the grant

27  application has a minimum millage rate of 9 mills; and

28         (e)  Other criteria that the department determines

29  would facilitate the equitable distribution of grant funds

30  based on need.

31

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    Florida Senate - 2000                                  SB 1822
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  1  When reviewing and approving grant applications, the panel and

  2  the department shall assume that the funding available for

  3  distribution is the same level of recurring funding

  4  appropriated in the previous fiscal year.

  5         (5)  The Department of Management Services is

  6  responsible for submitting its recommendations, in priority

  7  order, to the Office of the State Courts Administrator by

  8  August 15 of each year for inclusion in the State Court

  9  System's legislative budget request for the subsequent fiscal

10  year. The Office of State Courts Administrator shall include

11  the department's recommendations in the legislative budget

12  request without modification.

13         (6)  Any grant application that is approved and

14  recommended for funding by the department but is not

15  subsequently funded by the Legislature must be updated and

16  resubmitted by the grant applicant for consideration in

17  subsequent years.

18         (7)  The department shall specify the process and

19  procedures for submitting and reviewing grant applications.

20  Notice to submit applications for grants of state funds shall

21  be published in the Florida Administrative Weekly.

22         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

23  law.

24

25            *****************************************

26                          SENATE SUMMARY

27    Provides for a grant program to provide small counties
      with funding for the acquisition, renovation, or
28    construction of courthouse facilities. Provides
      procedures and criteria for the award of such grants.
29

30

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