House Bill hb0533

    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 533

        By Representative Miller






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to professions regulated by the

  3         Department of Business and Professional

  4         Regulation; amending s. 455.2281, F.S.;

  5         authorizing any profession regulated by the

  6         department which offers services that are not

  7         subject to regulation when provided by an

  8         unlicensed person to use funds in its

  9         unlicensed activity account to inform the

10         public of such situation; authorizing a board

11         or profession regulated by the department to

12         transfer funds in its operating fund account to

13         its unlicensed activity account under certain

14         circumstances; providing an effective date.

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

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18         Section 1.  Section 455.2281, Florida Statutes, is

19  amended to read:

20         455.2281  Unlicensed activities; fees; disposition.--In

21  order to protect the public and to ensure a consumer-oriented

22  department, it is the intent of the Legislature that vigorous

23  enforcement of regulation for all professional activities is a

24  state priority. All enforcement costs should be covered by

25  professions regulated by the department. Therefore, the

26  department shall impose, upon initial licensure and each

27  renewal thereof, a special fee of $5 per licensee. Such fee

28  shall be in addition to all other fees collected from each

29  licensee and shall fund efforts to combat unlicensed activity.

30  Any profession regulated by the department which offers

31  services that are not subject to regulation when provided by

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






    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 533

    721-130-01






  1  an unlicensed person may use funds in its unlicensed activity

  2  account to inform the public of such situation. The board with

  3  concurrence of the department, or the department when there is

  4  no board, may earmark $5 of the current licensure fee for this

  5  purpose, if such board, or profession regulated by the

  6  department, is not in a deficit and has a reasonable cash

  7  balance. A board or profession regulated by the department may

  8  authorize the transfer of funds from the operating fund

  9  account to the unlicensed activity account of that profession

10  if the operating fund account is not in a deficit and has a

11  reasonable cash balance. The department shall make direct

12  charges to this fund by profession and shall not allocate

13  indirect overhead. The department shall seek board advice

14  regarding enforcement methods and strategies prior to

15  expenditure of funds; however, the department may, without

16  board advice, allocate funds to cover the costs of continuing

17  education compliance monitoring under s. 455.2177. The

18  department shall directly credit, by profession, revenues

19  received from the department's efforts to enforce licensure

20  provisions, including revenues received from fines collected

21  under s. 455.2177. The department shall include all financial

22  and statistical data resulting from unlicensed activity

23  enforcement and from continuing education compliance

24  monitoring as separate categories in the quarterly management

25  report provided for in s. 455.219. The department shall not

26  charge the account of any profession for the costs incurred on

27  behalf of any other profession. For an unlicensed activity

28  account, a balance which remains at the end of a renewal cycle

29  may, with concurrence of the applicable board and the

30  department, be transferred to the operating fund account of

31  that profession.

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






    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                 HB 533

    721-130-01






  1         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2001.

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  4                          HOUSE SUMMARY

  5
      Authorizes any profession regulated by the Department of
  6    Business and Professional Regulation which offers
      services that are not subject to regulation when provided
  7    by an unlicensed person to use funds in its unlicensed
      activity account to inform the public of such situation.
  8    Authorizes a board or profession regulated by the
      department to transfer funds from its operating fund
  9    account to its unlicensed activity account if the former
      account is not in a deficit and has a reasonable cash
10    balance.

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