HB 1005

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to citrus canker; amending s. 120.80,
3	F.S.; excluding certain statements and actions by the
4	Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services from
5	application of certain rules; creating s. 933.40, F.S.;
6	providing definitions; providing for issuance of
7	agriculture warrants for certain purposes under certain
8	circumstances; requiring probable cause; providing
9	criteria procedures for issuing such warrants; providing
10	certain guidelines and limitations on required notice;
11	providing for ex parte hearing for certain warrant
12	applications; providing a time limit on the effectiveness
13	of certain warrants; providing a criminal penalty for
14	refusal to permit execution of a warrant; prohibiting
15	certain persons from giving certain information as a
16	confidential informant under certain circumstances;
17	providing construction; amending s. 581.184, F.S.;
18	authorizing the destruction of certain trees; providing a
19	notice requirement to certain property owners; preempting
20	regulation of tree removal and destruction to the state;
21	providing an effective date.
22
23	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
24
25	Section 1.  Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (2) of
26	section 120.80, Florida Statutes, to read:
27	120.80  Exceptions and special requirements; agencies.--
28	(2)  DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES.--
29	(c)  The provisions of ss. 120.54 and 120.56 shall not
30	apply to any statement or action by the department in
31	furtherance of its duties pursuant to s. 581.184(2).
32	Section 2.  Section 933.40, Florida Statutes, is created to
33	read:
34	933.40  Agriculture warrants.--
35	(1)  As used in this section:
36	(a)  "Agriculture warrant" means an order in writing, in
37	the name of the people, signed by a person competent to issue
38	search warrants pursuant to s. 933.01, authorizing department
39	employees to exercise any duty or power granted by chapter 581
40	or chapter 585 with respect to any plant pest or animal pest
41	identified in the warrant, including, but not limited to,
42	conducting inspections, setting traps, examining records,
43	testing, dipping, disinfecting, treating, identifying,
44	quarantining, taking samples and measurements, and seizing or
45	destroying property.
46	(b)  "Animal pest" means any biological or chemical residue
47	as defined in s. 585.01(4), pathogenic organism or virulent
48	organism as defined in s. 585.01(15), or any transmissible,
49	communicable, contagious, or infectious disease as described in
50	s. 585.01(18).
51	(c)  "Department" means the Department of Agriculture and
52	Consumer Services.
53	(d)  "Electronic signature" means any letters, characters,
54	symbols, or process manifested by electronic or similar means
55	and attached to or logically associated with a record and
56	executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the
57	record.
58	(e)  "Parcel number" means the distinct parcel
59	identification number assigned to a parcel of property by the
60	property appraiser for the county in which the property is
61	located.
62	(f)  "Plant pest" means any plant pest, noxious weed, or
63	arthropod declared a nuisance by the department pursuant to s.
64	581.031(6), or any plant infected or exposed to infection as
65	defined in s. 581.184(1).
66	(g)  When capitalized, "Section" has the meaning ascribed
67	in 43 U.S.C. s. 751.
68	(2)  An agriculture warrant shall be issued only upon
69	application supported by affidavit and shall describe the street
70	address and city or the parcel number and county of each
71	property to be subject to the warrant and each type of plant
72	pest or animal pest which will be the subject of the warrant.
73	(3)  An agriculture warrant shall be issued only upon
74	probable cause. For the issuance of one or more agriculture
75	warrants, any of the following findings is sufficient to support
76	a determination of probable cause:
77	(a)  The property to be subject to the agriculture warrant
78	is located within an area subject to a quarantine which has been
79	established by the department with respect to the plant pest or
80	animal pest that is the subject of the warrant; or
81	(b)  Under all of the circumstances set forth in the
82	affidavit, there is a fair probability the property subject to
83	the agriculture warrant:
84	1.  Contains a plant pest;
85	2.  Is located in an area which may reasonably be suspected
86	of being infested or infected with a plant pest due to its
87	proximity to a known infestation, or if it is reasonably exposed
88	to infestation;
89	3.  Is located in a Section in which the department has
90	diagnosed the presence of one or more plants infected with
91	citrus canker as defined in s. 581.184(1)(a) or is located in a
92	Section adjacent thereto;
93	4.  Contains animals affected with any animal pest or which
94	have been exposed to and are liable to spread the animal pest;
95	or
96	5.  Contains any other property that is liable to convey an
97	animal pest.
98	(4)  A single warrant application shall be sufficient for
99	the issuance of multiple agriculture warrants if the application
100	for the warrants describes the street address and city or the
101	parcel number and county of each property subject to an
102	agriculture warrant and all such properties are located within
103	the same county.
104	(5)  Agriculture warrants may be signed by any person
105	competent to issue search warrants under s. 933.01, either
106	manually, by signature stamp, or by electronic signature. The
107	judge or magistrate, upon examination of the application and
108	proofs submitted, if satisfied that probable cause exists for
109	the issuing of one or more agriculture warrants, shall issue
110	such agriculture warrants with his or her signature and office
111	affixed thereto. Such agriculture warrants may be served and
112	executed by employees of the department, with the assistance of
113	third parties supervised by department employees, and shall
114	authorize department employees with such assistance to undertake
115	all actions authorized by the warrant.
116	(6)  Prior notice to the owner or occupant of the property
117	to be subject to the agriculture warrant, or to any other
118	person, of the application for agriculture warrants shall not be
119	required as a condition for the issuance of warrants under this
120	section. At the time of execution of the agriculture warrant, a
121	copy, including any applicable renewal or extension thereof
122	under subsection (8), shall be delivered to a person 18 years of
123	age or older who is occupying or living on the property subject
124	to the warrant or shall be attached to a conspicuous place on
125	that property.
126	(7)  The department shall be entitled to an ex parte
127	hearing forthwith on an application for an agriculture warrant.
128	(8)  An agriculture warrant shall be effective for 60 days
129	and shall authorize multiple executions of the warrant prior to
130	its expiration. An agriculture warrant may be extended or
131	renewed by the judge or magistrate who signed and issued the
132	original warrant upon satisfaction of such official that
133	probable cause continues to exist for the reissuance of the
134	warrant. Such warrant must be returned to the issuing official
135	prior to the expiration date specified in the warrant or within
136	the extended or renewed time.
137	(9)  An agriculture warrant shall not:
138	(a)  Be executed between 7 p.m. of any day and 7 a.m. of
139	the succeeding day, or on any legal holiday;
140	(b)  Authorize the entry into or inspection of the interior
141	of any occupied dwelling or any automobile; or
142	(c)  Be issued in blank.
143	(10)  Any person who willfully refuses to permit execution
144	of any agriculture warrant commits a misdemeanor of the second
145	degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
146	(11)  A person executing an agriculture warrant pursuant to
147	this section shall not give information as a confidential
148	informer, testify as a witness, or execute an affidavit as a
149	predicate for the issuance of a criminal search warrant or for
150	probable cause to search any dwelling or other building without
151	a criminal search warrant.
152	(12)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to
153	restrict the powers granted by general law to an agency of the
154	state, or to a unit of local government acting on behalf of such
155	agency pursuant to a contract with the agency, to conduct
156	inspections with or without warrant as authorized by general
157	law.
158	Section 3.  Subsections (2) and (4) of section 581.184,
159	Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
160	581.184  Adoption of rules; citrus canker eradication;
161	voluntary destruction agreements.--
162	(2)(a)  The department shall remove and destroy all
163	infected citrus trees and all citrus trees exposed to infection.
164	The department may destroy by chipping trees removed pursuant to
165	this section. Notice of the removal of such trees, by immediate
166	final order, shall may be provided to the owner of the property
167	on which such trees are located. An immediate final order issued
168	by the department pursuant to this section shall notify the
169	property owner that the citrus trees that are the subject of the
170	immediate final order will be removed and destroyed unless the
171	property owner, no later than 10 days after delivery of the
172	immediate final order pursuant to subsection (3), requests and
173	obtains a stay of the immediate final order from the district
174	court of appeal with jurisdiction to review such requests. The
175	property owner shall not be required to seek a stay of the
176	immediate final order by the department prior to seeking the
177	stay from the district court of appeal.
178	(b)  Regulation of the removal or destruction of citrus
179	trees pursuant to this section is hereby preempted to the state.
180	No county, municipal, or other local ordinance or other
181	regulation that would otherwise impose requirements,
182	restrictions, or conditions upon the department or its
183	contractors with respect to the removal or destruction of citrus
184	trees pursuant to this section shall be enforceable against the
185	department or its contractors. Notwithstanding the provisions of
186	paragraph (a), and for the 2003-2004 fiscal year only, notice of
187	the removal of infected citrus trees and citrus trees exposed to
188	infection, by immediate final order, shall be provided to the
189	owner of the property on which such trees are located. This
190	paragraph expires July 1, 2004.
191	(4)  Simultaneously with the delivery of an immediate final
192	order, the department shall also provide the following
193	information to a property owner:
194	(a)  The physical location of the infected tree which has
195	necessitated removal and destruction of the property owner's
196	tree.
197	(b)  The diagnostic report that resulted in the
198	determination that the infected tree is infected with the citrus
199	canker.
200	(c)  The distance between the infected citrus tree and a
201	property owner's exposed citrus trees.
202	Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

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