Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 490
Barcode 500282
CHAMBER ACTION
Senate House
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04/10/2007 07:08 PM .
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11 The Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs
12 (Haridopolos) recommended the following amendment:
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14 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
15 Delete everything after the enacting clause
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17 and insert:
18 Section 1. Lifesaver program grants.--
19 (1) A state grant program is established to encourage
20 each county in this state to implement a lifesaver program
21 that is modeled after Project Lifesaver, a search-and-rescue
22 program designed to quickly find a lost or wandering person
23 who is mentally impaired due to Alzheimer's disease, autism,
24 Downs syndrome, or other causes. The program uses small
25 transmitters, which are usually worn on a participant's wrist,
26 to electronically track lost or wandering participants. A
27 county sheriff's office or other lead agency is equipped with
28 receivers that track the transmitters.
29 (2) The Department of Law Enforcement shall administer
30 the grant program, manage the state moneys appropriated for
31 the purpose of starting county programs, and serve as a
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Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 490
Barcode 500282
1 liaison to county lifesaver programs.
2 (3) To apply for state grant moneys to implement a
3 county lifesaver program, a county sheriff's office or other
4 lead agency must submit an application annually by October 1,
5 which includes:
6 (a) An estimate of the number of people who might
7 qualify for lifesaver assistance;
8 (b) An estimate of the startup cost;
9 (c) A statement of the number of personnel available
10 for tracking lost individuals; and
11 (d) The source or sources and the amount of local
12 funds available for matching state grant moneys.
13 (4) The department shall prioritize the grant moneys
14 in accordance with the respective counties' needs for tracking
15 services, the availability of local sources to provide
16 matching funds, and the date the application was received by
17 the department. The maximum grant that a county may receive
18 for startup is $10,000, and the amount awarded must be
19 matched, dollar for dollar, by local funds. Grants awarded to
20 qualifying counties must be prorated in accordance with the
21 availability of state funds.
22 (5) The county sheriff's office or other lead agency
23 shall use the grant money and matching funds to purchase the
24 necessary equipment and training to implement a county
25 lifesaver program. Through its community resource officer, the
26 sheriff's office or other lead agency shall solicit moneys
27 from private sources so as to assure that within 3 years the
28 lifesaver program is self-supporting and no longer requires
29 state funding.
30 Section 2. The sum of $670,000 is appropriated from
31 the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Law Enforcement
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Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 490
Barcode 500282
1 for the purpose of awarding grants to counties that qualify
2 under this act to start a county lifesaver program.
3 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.
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6 ================ T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ===============
7 And the title is amended as follows:
8 Delete everything before the enacting clause
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10 and insert:
11 A bill to be entitled
12 An act relating to an electronic monitoring
13 program for tracking lost persons; establishing
14 a grant program to encourage counties to
15 implement county lifesaver programs; describing
16 the components of such a program; designating
17 the Department of Law Enforcement as the
18 administrative agency; providing for
19 application for state grant funds and requiring
20 local matching funds; providing a cap on the
21 amount of the grant and for prioritizing and
22 prorating grants; requiring the county
23 sheriff's office or other lead agency to use
24 the funds for purchasing equipment and
25 training; requiring the solicitation of private
26 moneys and the achievement of financial
27 independence for the program within a specified
28 time; providing an effective date.
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30 WHEREAS, more than 5 million United States residents
31 have Alzheimer's disease and more than 50 percent of those
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Florida Senate - 2007 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 490
Barcode 500282
1 individuals wander and become lost, and
2 WHEREAS, autism is the fastest-growing serious
3 developmental disability in the United States, and many
4 autistic individuals wander and are attracted to water,
5 causing drowning to be the leading cause of death for children
6 who have autism, and
7 WHEREAS, Project Lifesaver is a search-and-rescue
8 program that can quickly find wandering individuals who have
9 Alzheimer's disease, autism, Downs syndrome, or other mental
10 impairments, and
11 WHEREAS, Project Lifesaver was established in Virginia
12 in 1999 and has been implemented by law enforcement agencies
13 and public safety agencies across the country, and
14 WHEREAS, agencies that sponsor local lifesaver programs
15 have stated that the program materially reduces the time
16 required to find lost persons, often to less than one-half
17 hour after the person is reported missing, within which period
18 there is a 100-percent recovery rate, and
19 WHEREAS, 16 Florida counties and 5 police departments
20 have implemented lifesaver programs, NOW, THEREFORE,
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