HB 1005

CS

CHAMBER ACTION

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

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