HB 0749 2004
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to the City of Jacksonville, Duval County;
3	amending chapter 92-341, Laws of Florida, as amended;
4	amending the Charter of the City of Jacksonville;
5	establishing a special risk pension fund and an additional
6	funding source for pension benefits for correctional
7	officers of the Office of the Sheriff; providing an
8	effective date.
9
10	WHEREAS, the City of Jacksonville, Office of the Sheriff,
11	employs approximately 670 correctional officers whose primary
12	responsibility is the lawful detainment, supervision,
13	protection, custody and control, and investigation of all
14	inmates within the precincts of the Duval County jails and
15	prisons, and
16	WHEREAS, the correctional officers of the City of
17	Jacksonville, Office of the Sheriff, provide valuable services
18	to the city by administering drug treatment, work release, and
19	other programs for persons sentenced through the criminal
20	justice system, and
21	WHEREAS, the correctional officers of the City of
22	Jacksonville, Office of the Sheriff, perform duties that present
23	higher risk of injury and exposure to communicable diseases,
24	including, but not limited to, AIDS, tuberculosis, and
25	hepatitis, than other employees covered under the 1937 Pension
26	Fund for the Employees of the City of Jacksonville, and
27	WHEREAS, the correctional officers of the City of
28	Jacksonville, Office of the Sheriff, are the only correctional
29	officers in the counties or the State of Florida not allowed the
30	benefits extended through a special risk pension trust fund, and
31	WHEREAS, current pension benefits are inadequate to provide
32	pension benefits and protection for the correctional officers of
33	the City of Jacksonville, Office of the Sheriff, commensurate
34	with the pension benefits provided to other local law
35	enforcement or firesafety employees, as well as employees of
36	other like agencies throughout the state, NOW, THEREFORE,
37
38	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
39
40	Section 1. Section 16.06 of chapter 92-341, Laws of
41	Florida, as amended, is created to read:
42	ARTICLE 16. RETIREMENT AND PENSION BENEFITS
43	Section 16.06. Funding and enhanced pension benefits for
44	correctional officers.--
45	(1) A special risk pension fund, as defined in
46	chapter 121, Florida Statutes, is created for all correctional
47	officers employed by the City of Jacksonville, Office of the
48	Sheriff, who are not now members of any other special risk
49	pension fund.
50	(2) Each person who is arrested and booked into a
51	consolidated City of Jacksonville corrections facility shall pay
52	an administrative surcharge of $20, which shall be deposited
53	into the Correctional Officer Special Risk Pension Fund for the
54	purpose of enhancing the pension benefits of the correctional
55	officers of the City of Jacksonville, Office of the Sheriff.
56	Such surcharge shall be used only to supplement the pension
57	benefits for those members who are classified as correctional
58	officers of the City of Jacksonville, Office of the Sheriff, and
59	are members of said fund.
60	(3) Said fund shall be established, administered, and
61	maintained in like manner as prescribed by chapter 185, Florida
62	Statutes, as amended, and the City of Jacksonville Municipal
63	Ordinance Code, Chapter 121, except that the employees shall
64	elect an active Jacksonville correctional officer as trustee of
65	the fund.
66	(4) Effective upon this act's becoming a law, all assets
67	and accrued benefits, employee contributions, and employer
68	contributions, including interest, for all former and active
69	participants employed as correctional officers in the 1937
70	Pension Fund for the Employees of the City of Jacksonville shall
71	be transferred to the Correctional Officers Special Risk Pension
72	Fund.
73	Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.