Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1958
Barcode 631288
CHAMBER ACTION
Senate House
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11 The Committee on Judiciary (Aronberg) recommended the
12 following amendment:
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14 Senate Amendment
15 On page 17, line 2, through
16 page 19, line 16, delete those lines
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18 and insert: Investigation or the Department of Law
19 Enforcement for the criminal background investigation. The
20 agency that operates the equipment used by the guardian may
21 charge the guardian an additional fee, not to exceed $10, for
22 the use of the equipment. The agency completing the
23 investigation must immediately send the results of the
24 criminal background investigation to the clerk of the court
25 and the Statewide Public Guardianship Office. The clerk of the
26 court shall maintain the results in the guardian's file and
27 shall make the results available to the court; or
28 (b) A criminal background investigation using a
29 fingerprint card. The clerk of the court shall obtain
30 fingerprint cards from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
31 make them available to guardians. Any guardian who is so
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Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1958
Barcode 631288
1 required shall have his or her fingerprints taken and forward
2 the proper fingerprint card along with the necessary fee to
3 the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for processing. The
4 professional guardian shall pay to the clerk of the court a
5 fee of up to $7.50 for handling and processing professional
6 guardian files. The results of the fingerprint card background
7 investigations checks shall be forwarded to the clerk of the
8 court who shall maintain the results in the guardian's a
9 guardian file and shall make the results available to the
10 court and the Statewide Public Guardianship Office.
11 (3)(a) A professional guardian, and each employee of a
12 professional guardian who has a fiduciary responsibility to a
13 ward, must complete, at his or her own expense, a level 2
14 background screening as set forth in s. 435.04, before and at
15 least once every 5 years after the date the guardian is
16 appointed. A professional guardian, and each employee of a
17 professional guardian who has a fiduciary responsibility to a
18 ward, must complete, at his or her own expense, a level 1
19 background screening as set forth in s. 435.03, at least once
20 every 2 years after the date the guardian is appointed.
21 However, a person is not required to resubmit fingerprints for
22 a criminal background investigation if he or she has been
23 screened using inkless electronic fingerprinting equipment
24 that is capable of notifying the clerk of the court of any
25 crime charged against the person in the State of Florida or
26 elsewhere as appropriate.
27 (b) Effective December 15, 2005, all fingerprints
28 electronically submitted to the Department of Law Enforcement
29 under this section shall be retained by the Department of Law
30 Enforcement in a manner provided by rule and entered in the
31 statewide automated fingerprint identification system
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1:43 PM 04/05/05 s1958.ju27.001
Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1958
Barcode 631288
1 authorized by s. 943.05(2)(b). The fingerprints shall
2 thereafter be available for all purposes and uses authorized
3 for arrest fingerprint cards entered in the statewide
4 automated fingerprint identification system under s. 943.051.
5 (c) Effective December 15, 2005, the Department of Law
6 Enforcement shall search all arrest fingerprint cards received
7 under s. 943.051 against the fingerprints retained in the
8 statewide automated fingerprint identification system under
9 paragraph (b). Any arrest record that is identified with the
10 fingerprints of a person described in this paragraph must be
11 reported as soon as possible to the clerk of court. The clerk
12 of court must forward any arrest record received for a
13 professional guardian to the Statewide Public Guardianship
14 Office within 5 days. Each guardian who elects to undergo an
15 inkless electronic background investigation shall participate
16 in this search process by paying an annual fee to the clerk of
17 court and by informing the clerk of court of any change in the
18 status of his or her guardianship appointment. The amount of
19 the annual fee to be imposed upon each clerk of court for
20 performing these searches and the procedures for the retention
21 of guardian fingerprints and the dissemination of search
22 results shall be established by rule of the Department of Law
23 Enforcement. The fee may be borne by the clerk of court or the
24 guardian, but may not exceed $10.
25 (4)(a) A professional guardian, and each employee of a
26 professional guardian who has a fiduciary responsibility to a
27 ward, must complete, at the person's own expense, an
28 investigation of the credit history of the person before and
29 at least once every 2 years after the date of the guardian's
30 appointment.
31 (b) The Statewide Public Guardianship Office shall
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1:43 PM 04/05/05 s1958.ju27.001
Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1958
Barcode 631288
1 adopt a rule detailing the acceptable methods for completing a
2 credit investigation under this section. If appropriate, the
3 Statewide Public Guardianship Office may administer credit
4 investigations. If the office chooses to administer the credit
5 investigation, the office may adopt a rule setting a fee, not
6 to exceed $25, to reimburse the costs associated with the
7 administration of a credit investigation.
8 (5) The Statewide Public Guardianship Office may
9 inspect at any time the results of any credit or criminal
10 investigation of a public or professional guardian conducted
11 under this section. The office shall maintain copies of the
12 credit or criminal results in the guardian's registration
13 file. If the results of a credit or criminal investigation of
14 a public or professional guardian have not been forwarded to
15 the Statewide Public Guardianship Office by the investigating
16 agency, the clerk of the court shall forward copies of the
17 results of the investigations to the office upon receiving
18 them. If credit or criminal investigations are required, the
19 court must consider the results of the investigations before
20 appointing a guardian. Professional guardians and all
21 employees of a professional guardian who have a fiduciary
22 responsibility to a ward, so appointed, must resubmit, at
23 their own expense, to an investigation of credit history, and
24 undergo level 1 background screening as required under s.
25 435.03, at least every 2 years after the date of their
26 appointment. At any time, the court may require guardians or
27 their employees to submit to an investigation of credit
28 history and undergo level 1 background screening as required
29 under s. 435.03. The court must consider the results of these
30 investigations in reappointing a guardian.
31 (1) Upon receiving the results of a credit or criminal
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1:43 PM 04/05/05 s1958.ju27.001
Florida Senate - 2005 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1958
Barcode 631288
1 investigation of any public or professional guardian, the
2 clerk of the court shall forward copies of the results to the
3 Statewide Public Guardianship Office in order that the results
4 may be maintained in the guardian's registration file.
5 (6)(2) The requirements of this section do does not
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