House Bill hb0459
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Florida House of Representatives - 2001 HB 459
By Representative Brutus
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to restriction on employment of
3 relatives by public officials; amending s.
4 112.3135, F.S.; eliminating exemptions from the
5 prohibition against employment of relatives by
6 public officials to apply the prohibition to
7 public officials of universities, community
8 colleges districts, and district school boards,
9 for which there are penalties for violation;
10 providing an effective date.
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12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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14 Section 1. Section 112.3135, Florida Statutes, is
15 amended to read:
16 112.3135 Restriction on employment of relatives.--
17 (1) In this section, unless the context otherwise
18 requires:
19 (a) "Agency" means:
20 1. A state agency, except an institution under the
21 jurisdiction of the Division of Universities of the Department
22 of Education;
23 2. An office, agency, or other establishment in the
24 legislative branch;
25 3. An office, agency, or other establishment in the
26 judicial branch;
27 4. A county;
28 5. A city; and
29 6. Any other political subdivision of the state,
30 except a district school board or community college district.
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1 (b) "Collegial body" means a governmental entity
2 marked by power or authority vested equally in each of a
3 number of colleagues.
4 (c) "Public official" means an officer, including a
5 member of the Legislature, the Governor, and a member of the
6 Cabinet, or an employee of an agency in whom is vested the
7 authority by law, rule, or regulation, or to whom the
8 authority has been delegated, to appoint, employ, promote, or
9 advance individuals or to recommend individuals for
10 appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement in
11 connection with employment in an agency, including the
12 authority as a member of a collegial body to vote on the
13 appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement of
14 individuals.
15 (d) "Relative," for purposes of this section only,
16 with respect to a public official, means an individual who is
17 related to the public official as father, mother, son,
18 daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew,
19 niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law,
20 son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law,
21 stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother,
22 stepsister, half brother, or half sister.
23 (2)(a) A public official may not appoint, employ,
24 promote, or advance, or advocate for appointment, employment,
25 promotion, or advancement, in or to a position in the agency
26 in which the official is serving or over which the official
27 exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a
28 relative of the public official. An individual may not be
29 appointed, employed, promoted, or advanced in or to a position
30 in an agency if such appointment, employment, promotion, or
31 advancement has been advocated by a public official, serving
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Florida House of Representatives - 2001 HB 459
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1 in or exercising jurisdiction or control over the agency, who
2 is a relative of the individual or if such appointment,
3 employment, promotion, or advancement is made by a collegial
4 body of which a relative of the individual is a member.
5 (b) However, This subsection does shall not apply to:
6 1. Appointments to boards other than those with
7 land-planning or zoning responsibilities in those
8 municipalities with less than 35,000 population.
9 2. This subsection does not apply to Persons serving
10 in a volunteer capacity who provide emergency medical,
11 firefighting, or police services. Such persons may receive,
12 without losing their volunteer status, reimbursements for the
13 costs of any training they get relating to the provision of
14 volunteer emergency medical, firefighting, or police services
15 and payment for any incidental expenses relating to those
16 services that they provide.
17 (c)(b) Mere approval of budgets shall not be
18 sufficient to constitute "jurisdiction or control" for the
19 purposes of this section.
20 (3) An agency may prescribe regulations authorizing
21 the temporary employment, in the event of an emergency as
22 defined in s. 252.34(3), of individuals whose employment would
23 be otherwise prohibited by this section.
24 (4) Legislators' relatives may be employed as pages or
25 messengers during legislative sessions.
26 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2001.
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Florida House of Representatives - 2001 HB 459
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2 HOUSE SUMMARY
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Eliminates exemptions from the prohibition against
4 employment of relatives by public officials to apply the
prohibition to public officials of universities,
5 community colleges districts, and district school boards,
violation of which subjects the official to any one or
6 more of the following: removal or suspension from
office, public censure and reprimand, forfeiture of a
7 portion of monthly salary for a limited period, a civil
penalty, or restitution of pecuniary benefits received.
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