| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to seaport security; amending s. 311.12, |
| 3 | F.S.; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to |
| 4 | establish a waiver process to grant certain individuals |
| 5 | unescorted access to seaports or restricted access areas |
| 6 | under certain circumstances; providing waiver process |
| 7 | requirements; requiring the administrative staff of the |
| 8 | Parole Commission to review the waiver application and |
| 9 | transmit the findings to the department; requiring the |
| 10 | department to make a final disposition of the application |
| 11 | and notify the applicant and the seaport; exempting the |
| 12 | waiver process from administrative procedures |
| 13 | requirements; creating s. 311.1244, F.S.; authorizing the |
| 14 | state to refuse seaport access to certain operators and |
| 15 | vendors; authorizing the department to request information |
| 16 | for certain purposes; authorizing the department to |
| 17 | disqualify certain operators or vendors from eligibility |
| 18 | for access to seaports; providing severability; providing |
| 19 | an effective date. |
| 20 |
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| 21 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 22 |
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| 23 | Section 1. Paragraph (e) is added to subsection (3) of |
| 24 | section 311.12, Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 25 | 311.12 Seaport security standards.-- |
| 26 | (3) |
| 27 | (e) The Department of Law Enforcement shall establish a |
| 28 | waiver process to allow unescorted access to seaports in this |
| 29 | state to an individual who is found to be unqualified under |
| 30 | paragraph (c) and denied employment by a seaport. A waiver shall |
| 31 | be based upon the circumstances of any disqualifying act or |
| 32 | offense, any restitution made by the individual, or other |
| 33 | factors from which it may be determined that the individual does |
| 34 | not pose a risk of harming any person or engaging in theft, drug |
| 35 | trafficking, or terrorism within the public seaports regulated |
| 36 | under this chapter. The waiver process shall begin when an |
| 37 | individual who has been denied initial employment within or |
| 38 | regular unescorted access to restricted areas of a public |
| 39 | seaport as described in paragraph (c) submits to the department |
| 40 | an application for a waiver and a notarized letter or affidavit |
| 41 | from the individual's employer or union representative which |
| 42 | states the mitigating reasons for initiating the waiver process. |
| 43 | Upon receiving the application, the department shall immediately |
| 44 | transmit the application to the Parole Commission for review. No |
| 45 | later than 90 days after receiving the application from the |
| 46 | department, the administrative staff of the commission shall |
| 47 | conduct a factual review of the waiver application. Findings of |
| 48 | fact shall be transmitted to the department for review. The |
| 49 | department shall provide a copy of those findings to the |
| 50 | applicant before a final disposition of the waiver application. |
| 51 | The department shall make a final disposition of the waiver |
| 52 | application based on the factual findings of the investigation |
| 53 | by the commission. The seaport that originally denied employment |
| 54 | and the waiver applicant shall be notified of the final |
| 55 | disposition of the waiver application by the department. The |
| 56 | waiver process established under this paragraph is exempt from |
| 57 | chapter 120. |
| 58 | Section 2. Section 311.1244, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 59 | to read: |
| 60 | 311.1244 Refusal of access to seaports.--The state may |
| 61 | reserve the right to refuse access to seaport operators and |
| 62 | third-party vendors the Department of Law Enforcement reasonably |
| 63 | believes may pose a threat to the security interests of the |
| 64 | citizens of the state. The department may request from any |
| 65 | potential seaport contractor all information the department |
| 66 | deems necessary to make a determination of that contractor's |
| 67 | potential or creditable threat to seaport security. The failure |
| 68 | of any potential seaport contractor to timely provide any |
| 69 | requested information may be used by the department to |
| 70 | disqualify the contractor from eligibility to be granted access |
| 71 | to any seaport in this state. |
| 72 | Section 3. If any provision of this act or its application |
| 73 | to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity |
| 74 | does not affect other provisions or applications of the act |
| 75 | which can be given effect without the invalid provision or |
| 76 | application, and to this end the provisions of this act are |
| 77 | severable. |
| 78 | Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |