HB 1515 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to children and families; providing
3	legislative findings and intent; creating the Commission
4	on Marriage and Family Support Initiatives within the
5	Department of Children and Family Services; providing for
6	membership; providing scope of activity; providing for
7	coordination with other organizations and entities;
8	providing for funding of the commission; repealing ss.
9	383.0112, 383.0113, and 383.0114, F.S., relating to the
10	Commission on Responsible Fatherhood and community-based
11	programs to encourage responsible fatherhood; providing an
12	effective date.
13
14	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16	Section 1. The Commission on Marriage and Family Support
17	Initiatives.--
18	(1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.--
19	(a) The Legislature finds that families in this state
20	deserve respect and support. Children need support and guidance
21	from both mothers and fathers and families need support and
22	guidance from community systems to help them thrive.
23	(b) The Legislature finds that there are many problems
24	facing families.
25	(c) The Legislature finds that Florida is a state rich in
26	diversity, and its population and families come from all over
27	the world, representing many cultures, languages, belief
28	systems, and experiences.
29	(d) The Legislature also finds that while some
30	relationships between mothers and fathers are broken and beyond
31	repair, others can be nurtured and salvaged with the provision
32	of appropriate community supports to fathers as well as mothers.
33	For parents, these supports may include opportunities to obtain
34	or increase educational levels and employment skills, access to
35	the justice system, support from community agencies to help them
36	become free of substance abuse and violent relationships, and
37	easy and affordable access to relationship skills education. For
38	some unwed parents, it will be possible and desirable to help
39	them move towards marriage; for others, the optimum goal may be
40	to help them co-parent, spend time with their child, and pay
41	child support regularly.
42	(e) The Legislature finds that assisting states to end
43	dependence of low-income parents by promoting job preparation,
44	work, and marriage and assisting states in encouraging the
45	formation and maintenance of two-parent families are the two of
46	four stated purposes of federal welfare reform enacted in 1996
47	which have been largely neglected by states and that states are
48	now urging Congress to designate 10 percent of all welfare funds
49	for relationship education and skills development, responsible
50	fatherhood programs, and community support as it seeks to
51	reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act in
52	2004.
53	(f) The Legislature further finds that public policy
54	should not operate to force people to get married, should not
55	withdraw or diminish benefits to single mothers merely because
56	they are not married, and should not keep people in abusive
57	relationships.
58	(g) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to build
59	on the accomplishments of the Commission on Responsible
60	Fatherhood, which has achieved recognition as a national model
61	of a comprehensive statewide strategy to address fatherhood
62	issues; to increase public awareness of the problems of
63	families, including failing marriages, violence, poverty,
64	substance abuse, and lack of access to community systems and
65	help, and other supports that families need; and to continue to
66	develop sound public policy related to parenting, marriage, and
67	the effects of poverty, violence, and abuse on children and
68	their families through the work of the Commission on Marriage
69	and Family Support Initiatives. The Legislature further intends
70	that, to the extent practicable, the laws of this state should
71	do all that is possible to provide support for children and
72	encourage, promote, and value strong, safe, long-term marriages
73	and family life that includes grandparents, family members,
74	community support, and all that children need to grow up healthy
75	and to thrive.
76	(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.--
77	(a) There is created within the Department of Children and
78	Family Services the Commission on Marriage and Family Support
79	Initiatives. The commission shall consist of 18 members, with
80	six each appointed by the Governor, the President of the Senate,
81	and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. At least 50
82	percent of the members of the commission must be from the
83	private sector. The commission members shall include
84	representatives of business, workforce development, education,
85	state government, local government, the judicial system, the
86	health care sector, the substance abuse community, domestic
87	violence centers, child development organizations, and community
88	and faith-based organizations. The commission may also designate
89	liaisons to work with it to carry out its mission. Liaisons may
90	be designated from state and local government agencies and
91	others as the commission sees fit.
92	(b) Initially, the Governor, the President of the Senate,
93	and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall each
94	appoint as members meeting the qualifications contained in
95	paragraph (a), two members for terms of 3 years each, two
96	members for terms of 2 years each, and two members for terms of
97	1 year each. Thereafter, after receiving recommendations from
98	the commission, the Governor, the President of the Senate, and
99	the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint all
100	members for terms of 2 years. Any vacancy shall be filled by
101	appointment by the original appointing authority for the
102	unexpired portion of the term by a person who possesses the
103	proper qualifications for the vacancy.
104	(c) The members of the commission shall elect one member
105	to serve as chair. For the purpose of maintaining continuity
106	with the work of the Commission on Responsible Fatherhood, the
107	individual serving as the chair of the Commission on Responsible
108	Fatherhood at the time of the effective date of this act shall
109	remain as the chair of the Commission on Marriage and Family
110	Support Initiatives for a term of 1 year, unless subsequently
111	reelected by the members of the commission.
112	(d) Members of the commission are not entitled to
113	compensation for their services as members, but may be
114	reimbursed for travel expenses as provided in s. 112.061,
115	Florida Statutes.
116	(e) The commission shall meet semiannually and more
117	frequently upon call of the chair. The commission may conduct
118	its meetings through teleconferences or other similar means.
119	(3) SCOPE OF ACTIVITY.--The commission shall:
120	(a) Develop a report that details comprehensive statewide
121	strategies for Florida to promote safe, violence-free,
122	substance-abuse-free, respectful, nurturing, and responsible
123	parenting, including connection or reconnection of responsible
124	parents, both mothers and fathers, with their families and
125	children.
126	(b) Develop a report that makes recommendations on how to
127	increase the availability of and access to parenting and
128	relationship skills education and training, and to encourage and
129	support the formation and maintenance of two-parent families and
130	family structures that are best for the children. This shall
131	include providing a plan for delivering services and supports to
132	couples and families to help them learn communication and
133	conflict-resolution skills prior to marriage, enable couples to
134	refresh those skills periodically during marriage and, if the
135	marriage fails, provide divorce education, safety planning, and
136	mediation techniques that teach parents how to be safe and to
137	work through their problems and how to minimize the impact of
138	the divorce on their children.
139	(c) Produce and promote a promising practices manual or
140	tool that highlights successful efforts at promoting marriage
141	and Florida families and family life.
142	(d) Develop a community awareness campaign to promote
143	community collaboration and coordinated grassroots programs that
144	show how people, advocates, and agencies can work together to
145	promote marriage in Florida families.
146	(e) Serve as a clearinghouse for collecting and
147	disseminating information related to research findings on
148	poverty, violence, and other social forces and their effects on
149	families and innovative approaches to the delivery of services
150	necessary for the formation and maintenance of strong families.
151	(f) By December 31 of each year, beginning December 31,
152	2003, issue an annual report to the Governor, the President of
153	the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the
154	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on progress it is making on
155	its responsibilities.
156	(g) This section shall stand repealed on June 30, 2008,
157	unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the
158	Legislature.
159	(4) COORDINATION.--The commission shall coordinate its
160	work with community-based organizations, including those that
161	are faith-based; with schools, courts, certified local domestic
162	violence centers, adult and juvenile criminal justice systems,
163	and agencies providing social welfare, welfare transition, and
164	child support services; and with any appropriate research and
165	policy development centers, including, but not limited to, those
166	within universities that focus on issues related to families,
167	fatherhood, motherhood, low-income families, marriages, children
168	and poverty, scientific methods to determine paternity for the
169	purpose of addressing support issues, parenting, and
170	relationship skills.
171	(5) FUNDING.--The operation of the Commission on Marriage
172	and Family Support Initiatives shall be funded from general
173	revenue funds currently allocated to the Commission on
174	Responsible Fatherhood, shall maintain the current connection
175	with the Ounce of Prevention Fund, and shall support and
176	continue any community-based programs established by the
177	Commission on Responsible Fatherhood. The Commission on Marriage
178	and Family Support Initiatives may seek and accept grants or
179	funds from any public source, federal, state, or local, to
180	supplement its operation and defray the expenses incurred in the
181	operation and implementation of this section.
182	Section 2. Sections 383.0112, 383.0113, and 383.0114,
183	Florida Statutes, are repealed.
184	Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2003.