House Bill 0817c1

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.







    Florida House of Representatives - 2000              CS/HB 817

        By the Committee on Education/K-12 and Representatives C.
    Green and Cantens





  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to hazardous walking

  3         conditions; requiring school districts to

  4         conduct a study on hazardous walking

  5         conditions; requiring a report; providing an

  6         effective date.

  7

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

  9

10         Section 1.  Study of hazardous walking

11  conditions.--Each school district and the state or local

12  governmental entity having jurisdiction shall conduct a study

13  of hazardous walking conditions. Each school district shall

14  include charter schools in its study. Each district shall

15  report its findings to the Department of Education by December

16  31, 2000. The Department of Education shall submit a statewide

17  report of the districts' findings to the Legislature by March

18  1, 2001.

19         (1)  Each school district and the state or local

20  governmental entity having jurisdiction shall jointly develop

21  a priority list of hazardous walking conditions projects that

22  have been identified and have not yet been corrected. Each

23  school district shall use this part of the study to monitor

24  school transportation safety. The study must include the

25  following for the hazardous walking conditions determined

26  under the provisions of s. 234.021, Florida Statutes:

27         (a)  The number of hazardous walking conditions which

28  have been identified and have not been corrected by the state

29  or local governmental entity having jurisdiction within 5

30  years after identification of the hazard and a fiscal impact

31  of the cost to correct each hazard; and

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000              CS/HB 817

    185-724-00






  1         (b)  For each hazardous walking condition that has been

  2  identified and has not been corrected, a statement of the

  3  reason given for the deficiency by the state or local

  4  governmental entity having jurisdiction.

  5         (2)  The study must also include recommendations and

  6  fiscal estimates for:

  7         (a)  Any changes to current law for expanding the

  8  definition of student in s. 234.021(1), Florida Statutes, to

  9  include students in grades kindergarten through 12.

10         (b)  Any changes to current law for identifying

11  hazardous walking conditions for walkways parallel to the

12  road, including, but not limited to:

13         1.  Increasing the size of the walk area adjacent to

14  the road from 4 feet or making changes to the walk area

15  surface;

16         2.  Increasing the size of the current set off

17  requirement for uncurbed walkways to at least 6 feet or

18  decreasing the qualifying posted speed limit of 55 miles per

19  hour; or

20         3.  Amending the current exceptions to the criteria for

21  determining hazardous walking conditions for certain

22  residential areas and roads that have a certain volume of

23  traffic and a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour or less.

24         (c)  Any changes to current law for identifying

25  hazardous walking conditions for walkways perpendicular to the

26  road, including, but not limited to:

27         1.  Limitations in the volume of traffic for the road

28  or the direction of traffic.

29         2.  The definition of an uncontrolled crossing site.

30         3.  The identification of any hazards associated with

31  multilane crossings.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000              CS/HB 817

    185-724-00






  1         (d)  Any other recommendations, including, but not

  2  limited to, the consideration of additional criteria for

  3  determining hazardous walking conditions, such as crime,

  4  construction, adjacent bodies of water, or other risks,

  5  procedures for identifying hazardous walking conditions,

  6  procedures for locating bus stops, required level of auditing

  7  claims for funding, and identification of responsibilities of

  8  parents or guardians for the safety of their children when

  9  transportation is not required and is not provided by the

10  school district or charter school.

11         (3)  The study must also identify, by district, the

12  number of schools that:

13         (a)  Separate the school bus loading and departure

14  locations from the loading and departure locations for

15  parents, guardians, or others who provide transportation to

16  children.

17         (b)  Provide transportation to students for whom

18  transportation is not currently required under state law,

19  including data on the numbers of students and their grade

20  levels.

21

22  The identification of schools under this subsection may be

23  used as a basis for providing incentive funds to specific

24  school districts in the 2001-2002 General Appropriations Act.

25         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.

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