Senate Bill sb0490c1
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 490
By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
Senator Fasano
586-2395-07
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to an electronic monitoring
3 program for tracking lost persons; establishing
4 a grant program to encourage counties to
5 implement county lifesaver programs; describing
6 the components of such a program; designating
7 the Department of Law Enforcement as the
8 administrative agency; providing for
9 application for state grant funds and requiring
10 local matching funds; providing a cap on the
11 amount of the grant and for prioritizing and
12 prorating grants; requiring the county
13 sheriff's office or other lead agency to use
14 the funds for purchasing equipment and
15 training; requiring the solicitation of private
16 moneys and the achievement of financial
17 independence for the program within a specified
18 time; providing an effective date.
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20 WHEREAS, more than 5 million United States residents
21 have Alzheimer's disease and more than 50 percent of those
22 individuals wander and become lost, and
23 WHEREAS, autism is the fastest-growing serious
24 developmental disability in the United States, and many
25 autistic individuals wander and are attracted to water,
26 causing drowning to be the leading cause of death for children
27 who have autism, and
28 WHEREAS, Project Lifesaver is a search-and-rescue
29 program that can quickly find wandering individuals who have
30 Alzheimer's disease, autism, Downs syndrome, or other mental
31 impairments, and
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 490
586-2395-07
1 WHEREAS, Project Lifesaver was established in Virginia
2 in 1999 and has been implemented by law enforcement agencies
3 and public safety agencies across the country, and
4 WHEREAS, agencies that sponsor local lifesaver programs
5 have stated that the program materially reduces the time
6 required to find lost persons, often to less than one-half
7 hour after the person is reported missing, within which period
8 there is a 100-percent recovery rate, and
9 WHEREAS, 16 Florida counties and 5 police departments
10 have implemented lifesaver programs, NOW, THEREFORE,
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12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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14 Section 1. Lifesaver program grants.--
15 (1) A state grant program is established to encourage
16 each county in this state to implement a lifesaver program
17 that is modeled after Project Lifesaver, a search-and-rescue
18 program designed to quickly find a lost or wandering person
19 who is mentally impaired due to Alzheimer's disease, autism,
20 Downs syndrome, or other causes. The program uses small
21 transmitters, which are usually worn on a participant's wrist,
22 to electronically track lost or wandering participants. A
23 county sheriff's office or other lead agency is equipped with
24 receivers that track the transmitters.
25 (2) The Department of Law Enforcement shall administer
26 the grant program, manage the state moneys appropriated for
27 the purpose of starting county programs, and serve as a
28 liaison to county lifesaver programs.
29 (3) To apply for state grant moneys to implement a
30 county lifesaver program, a county sheriff's office or other
31
2
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 490
586-2395-07
1 lead agency must submit an application annually by October 1,
2 which includes:
3 (a) An estimate of the number of people who might
4 qualify for lifesaver assistance;
5 (b) An estimate of the startup cost;
6 (c) A statement of the number of personnel available
7 for tracking lost individuals; and
8 (d) The source or sources and the amount of local
9 funds available for matching state grant moneys.
10 (4) The department shall prioritize the grant moneys
11 in accordance with the respective counties' needs for tracking
12 services, the availability of local sources to provide
13 matching funds, and the date the application was received by
14 the department. The maximum grant that a county may receive
15 for startup is $10,000, and the amount awarded must be
16 matched, dollar for dollar, by local funds. Grants awarded to
17 qualifying counties must be prorated in accordance with the
18 availability of state funds.
19 (5) The county sheriff's office or other lead agency
20 shall use the grant money and matching funds to purchase the
21 necessary equipment and training to implement a county
22 lifesaver program. Through its community resource officer, the
23 sheriff's office or other lead agency shall solicit moneys
24 from private sources so as to ensure that within 3 years the
25 lifesaver program is self-supporting and no longer requires
26 state funding.
27 Section 2. The sum of $670,000 is appropriated from
28 the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Law Enforcement
29 for the purpose of awarding grants to counties that qualify
30 under this act to start a county lifesaver program.
31 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 490
586-2395-07
1 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
2 Senate Bill 490
3
4 The committee substitute:
5 - Provides for the establishment of a state grant program
to encourage counties to implement a lifesaver program
6 modeled after Project Lifesaver.
7 - Provides that to receive state grant moneys a county
sheriff's office or other lead agency must submit an
8 application by October 1 that includes a list of items.
9 - Provides that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
(FDLE) must grant moneys to applicants with respect to an
10 applicant's need for tracking services, the availability
of matching funds, and the date the application is
11 received.
12 - Provides that a county must match the state grant moneys,
dollar-for-dollar.
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- Specifies that the county sheriff's office or lead agency
14 must purchase the necessary equipment and training needed
to implement a county lifesaver program.
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- Corrects technical deficiencies.
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