Senate Bill sb1096c1

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    Florida Senate - 2005                           CS for SB 1096

    By the Committee on Judiciary; and Senators Smith, Klein,
    Atwater, Campbell and Aronberg




    590-2037-05

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the Freedom to Worship

  3         Safely Act; providing a popular name; creating

  4         s. 775.0861, F.S.; providing for the upgrading

  5         of the degree of an offense that involves the

  6         use or threat of physical force or violence

  7         against any individual if the offense is

  8         committed at a location where a religious

  9         institution is conducting or carrying on

10         religious services or activities; providing for

11         the severity ranking of offenses; amending s.

12         921.0022, F.S.; providing for application of

13         the severity ranking chart of the Criminal

14         Punishment Code; providing applicability;

15         providing an effective date.

16  

17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

18  

19         Section 1.  This act may be cited as the "Freedom to

20  Worship Safely Act."

21         Section 2.  Section 775.0861, Florida Statutes, is

22  created to read:

23         775.0861  Offenses against persons on the grounds of

24  religious institutions; reclassification.--

25         (1)  The felony or misdemeanor degree of any violation

26  of:

27         (a)  Section 784.011, relating to assault;

28         (b)  Section 784.021, relating to aggravated assault;

29         (c)  Section 784.03, relating to battery;

30         (d)  Section 784.041, relating to felony battery;

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2005                           CS for SB 1096
    590-2037-05




 1         (e)  A statute defining any offense listed in s.

 2  775.084(1)(b)1.; or

 3         (f)  Any other statute defining an offense that

 4  involves the use or threat of physical force or violence

 5  against any individual,

 6  

 7  shall be reclassified to the next higher degree as provided in

 8  this section if the offense is committed at a location where a

 9  religious institution as defined in s. 496.404 is conducting

10  or carrying on religious services or activities at the time of

11  the offense.

12         (2)(a)  In the case of a misdemeanor of the second

13  degree, the offense is reclassified to a misdemeanor of the

14  first degree.

15         (b)  In the case of a misdemeanor of the first degree,

16  the offense is reclassified to a felony of the third degree.

17  For purposes of sentencing under chapter 921, such offense is

18  ranked in level 2 of the offense severity ranking chart.

19         (3)(a)  In the case of a felony of the third degree,

20  the offense is reclassified to a felony of the second degree.

21         (b)  In the case of a felony of the second degree, the

22  offense is reclassified to a felony of the first degree.

23  

24  For purposes of sentencing under chapter 921, a felony offense

25  that is reclassified under this subsection is ranked one level

26  above the ranking under s. 921.0022 or s. 921.0023 of the

27  offense committed.

28         Section 3.  Subsection (2) of section 921.0022, Florida

29  Statutes, is amended to read:

30         921.0022  Criminal Punishment Code; offense severity

31  ranking chart.--

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    Florida Senate - 2005                           CS for SB 1096
    590-2037-05




 1         (2)  The offense severity ranking chart has 10 offense

 2  levels, ranked from least severe, which are level 1 offenses,

 3  to most severe, which are level 10 offenses, and each felony

 4  offense is assigned to a level according to the severity of

 5  the offense. For purposes of determining which felony offenses

 6  are specifically listed in the offense severity ranking chart

 7  and which severity level has been assigned to each of these

 8  offenses, the numerical statutory references in the left

 9  column of the chart and the felony degree designations in the

10  middle column of the chart are controlling; the language in

11  the right column of the chart is provided solely for

12  descriptive purposes. Reclassification of the degree of the

13  felony through the application of s. 775.0845, s. 775.0861, s.

14  775.087, s. 775.0875, s. 794.023, or any other law that

15  provides an enhanced penalty for a felony offense, to any

16  offense listed in the offense severity ranking chart in this

17  section shall not cause the offense to become unlisted and is

18  not subject to the provisions of s. 921.0023.

19         Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005,

20  and shall apply to offenses committed on or after that date.

21  

22          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
23                         Senate Bill 1096

24                                 

25  This committee substitute deletes a reference to incentive
    gain-time provisions, as offense levels are no longer relevant
26  to the awarding of incentive gain-time for any offense
    committed after October 1, 1995.
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