CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
HOUSE AMENDMENT
Bill No. HB 1821
Amendment No. 1 (for drafter's use only)
CHAMBER ACTION
Senate House
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5 ORIGINAL STAMP BELOW
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11 The Committee on Child & Family Security offered the
12 following:
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14 Amendment (with title amendment)
15 Remove everything after the enacting clause
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17 and insert:
18 Section 1. Section 39.320, Florida Statutes, is
19 created to read:
20 39.320 The Commission on Marriage and Family Support
21 Initiatives.--
22 (1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.--
23 (a) the Legislature finds that Florida families
24 deserve respect and support. Children need support and
25 guidance from both mothers and fathers, and families need
26 support and guidance from community systems to help them
27 thrive.
28 (b) The Legislature finds that there are many problems
29 facing families, including but not limited to, poverty,
30 exposure to crime and drugs, exposure to violence, and lack of
31 access to needed educational and job skills opportunities.
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HOUSE AMENDMENT
Bill No. HB 1821
Amendment No. 1 (for drafter's use only)
1 (c) The Legislature finds that Florida is a state rich
2 in diversity, and its population and families come from all
3 over the world, representing many cultures, languages, belief
4 systems and experiences.
5 (d) The Legislature also finds that while some
6 relationships between mothers and fathers are broken and
7 beyond repair, others can be nurtured and salvaged with the
8 provision of appropriate community supports to fathers as well
9 as mothers. For parents, these supports may include
10 opportunities to obtain or increase educational levels and
11 employment skills, access to the justice system, support from
12 community agencies to help them become free of substance abuse
13 and violent relationships, and easy, affordable access to
14 relationship skills education. For some unwed parents, it will
15 be possible and desirable to help them move towards marriage;
16 for others, the optimum goal may be to help them co-parent,
17 spend time with their child, and pay child support regularly.
18 (e) The Legislature finds that assisting states to end
19 dependence of low-income parents by promoting job preparation,
20 work and marriage and assisting states to encourage the
21 formation and maintenance of two-parent families are the two
22 of four stated purposes of federal welfare reform enacted in
23 1996 that have been largely neglected by states and that
24 states are now urging Congress to designate 10 percent of all
25 welfare funds for relationship education and skills
26 development, responsible fatherhood programs, and community
27 support as it seeks to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance
28 for Needy Families Act in 2002.
29 (f) The Legislature further finds that public policy
30 should not operate to force people to get married, should not
31 withdraw or diminish benefits to single mothers merely because
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HOUSE AMENDMENT
Bill No. HB 1821
Amendment No. 1 (for drafter's use only)
1 they are not married, and should not keep people in abusive
2 relationships.
3 (g) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to
4 build on the accomplishments of the Commission on Responsible
5 Fatherhood, which has achieved recognition as a national model
6 of a comprehensive statewide strategy to address fatherhood
7 issues; to increase public awareness of the problems of
8 families including failing marriages, violence, poverty,
9 substance abuse, lack of access to community systems and help
10 and other supports families need; and to continue to develop
11 sound public policy related to parenting, marriage, and the
12 effects of poverty, violence and abuse on children and their
13 families through the work of the Commission on Marriage and
14 Family Support Initiatives. The Legislature further intends
15 that, to the extent practicable, the laws of this state should
16 do all that is possible to provide support for children and
17 encourage, promote, and value strong, safe, long-term
18 marriages and family life that includes grandparents, family
19 members, community support and all that children need to grow
20 up healthy and to thrive.
21 (2) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.--
22 (a) There is created within the Department of Children
23 and Family Services the Commission on Marriage and Family
24 Support Initiatives. The commission shall consist of 18
25 members, with 6 each appointed by the Governor, the President
26 of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of
27 Representatives. The commission must contain a minimum of 50
28 percent representation from the private sector. The commission
29 members shall include representatives of business, workforce
30 development, education, state government, local government,
31 the judicial system, the health care sector, the substance
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HOUSE AMENDMENT
Bill No. HB 1821
Amendment No. 1 (for drafter's use only)
1 abuse community, domestic violence centers, child development,
2 and community and faith-based organizations. The commission
3 may also designate liaisons to work with it to carry out its
4 mission. Liaisons may be designated from state and local
5 government agencies and others as the commission sees fit.
6 (b Initially, the Governor, the President of the
7 Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall
8 each appoint as members meeting the qualifications contained
9 in paragraph (1), 2 members for a term of 3 years, 2 members
10 for a term of 2 years, and 2 members for a term of 1 year.
11 Thereafter, after receiving recommendations from the
12 commission, the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the
13 Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint all
14 members for terms of 2 years. Any vacancy shall be filled by
15 appointment by the original appointing authority for the
16 unexpired portion of the term by a person who possesses the
17 proper qualifications for the vacancy.
18 (c) The members of the commission shall elect one of
19 their members to serve as chair. For the purpose of
20 maintaining continuity with the work of the Commission on
21 Responsible Fatherhood, the individual serving as the chair of
22 the Commission on Responsible Fatherhood at the time of the
23 effective date of this act shall remain as the chair of the
24 Commission on Marriage and Family Support Initiatives for a
25 term of 1 year, unless subsequently re-elected by the members
26 of the commission.
27 (d) Members of the commission shall not be entitled to
28 compensation for their services as members, but shall be
29 reimbursed for travel expenses as provided in s. 112.061.
30 (e) The commission shall meet semi-annually and more
31 frequently upon call of the chair. The commission may conduct
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Bill No. HB 1821
Amendment No. 1 (for drafter's use only)
1 its meetings through teleconferences or other similar means.
2 (3) SCOPE OF ACTIVITY.--The commission shall:
3 (a) Develop a report that details comprehensive
4 statewide strategies for Florida to promote safe,
5 violence-free, substance abuse-free, respectful, nurturing and
6 responsible parenting, including connection or recommendation
7 of responsible parents, both mothers and fathers, with their
8 families and children.
9 (b) Develop a report that makes recommendations on how
10 to increase the availability of and access to parenting and
11 relationship skills education and training, and to encourage
12 and support the formation and maintenance of two-parent
13 families and family structures that are best for the children.
14 This shall include providing a plan for delivering services
15 and supports to couples and families to help them learn
16 communication and conflict resolution skills prior to
17 marriage, enable couples to refresh those skills periodically
18 during marriage and, if the marriage fails, provide divorce
19 education, safety planning and mediation techniques that teach
20 parents how to be safe and to work through their problems and
21 how to minimize the impact of the divorce on their children.
22 (c) Produce and promote a promising practices manual
23 or tool that highlights successful efforts at promoting
24 marriage and Florida families and family life.
25 (d) Develop a community awareness campaign to promote
26 community collaboration and coordinated grass-roots programs
27 that show how people, advocates and agencies can work together
28 to promote marriage in Florida families;
29 (e) Serve as a clearinghouse for collecting and
30 disseminating information related to research findings on
31 poverty, violence and other social forces and their effects on
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HOUSE AMENDMENT
Bill No. HB 1821
Amendment No. 1 (for drafter's use only)
1 families, and innovative approaches to the delivery of
2 services necessary for the formation and maintenance of strong
3 families.
4 (f) By December 31 of each year, beginning December
5 31, 2002, issue an annual report to the Governor, the
6 President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
7 Representatives, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on
8 progress it is making on its responsibilities.
9 (g) The Commission on Marriage and Family Support
10 Initiatives shall stand repealed on June 30, 2007, unless
11 reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the
12 Legislature.
13 (4) COORDINATION.--The commission shall coordinate its
14 work with community-based organizations, including those that
15 are faith-based, with schools, courts, certified local
16 domestic violence centers, adult and juvenile criminal justice
17 systems, and agencies providing social welfare, welfare
18 transition, and child support services, and with any
19 appropriate research and policy development centers,
20 including, but not limited to, those within universities that
21 focus on issues related to families, fatherhood, motherhood,
22 low-income families, marriages, children and poverty,
23 parenting, and relationship skills.
24 (5) FUNDING.--The operation of the Commission on
25 Marriage and Family Support Initiatives shall be funded from
26 general revenue funds currently allocated to the Commission on
27 Responsible Fatherhood, shall maintain the current connection
28 with the Ounce of Prevention Fund, and shall support and
29 continue any community-based programs established by the
30 Commission on Responsible Fatherhood. The Commission on
31 Marriage and Family Support Initiatives may seek and accept
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HOUSE AMENDMENT
Bill No. HB 1821
Amendment No. 1 (for drafter's use only)
1 grants, funds, or gifts from any source, public or private,
2 federal, state, or local, to supplement its operation and
3 defray the expenses incurred in the operation and
4 implementation of this section.
5 Section 2. Sections 383.0112, 383.0113, and 383.0114,
6 Florida Statutes, are repealed.
7 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2002.
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11 And the title is amended as follows:
12 On page 1, lines 4-10,
13 remove: said lines
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15 and insert:
16 findings and intent; creating the Commission on
17 Marriage and Family Support Initiatives within
18 the Department of Children and Family Services;
19 providing for membership; providing scope of
20 activity; providing for coordination with other
21 organizations and entities; providing for
22 funding of the
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