| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to an electronic monitoring program for |
| 3 | tracking lost persons; providing legislative intent to |
| 4 | encourage counties to implement county lifesaver projects; |
| 5 | describing the components of such a project; designating |
| 6 | the Department of Law Enforcement as the administrative |
| 7 | agency; providing procedures for starting the program in a |
| 8 | county; providing for applying for state grant funds and |
| 9 | requiring local matching funds; providing for prioritizing |
| 10 | and prorating grants; requiring the county sheriff's |
| 11 | office or other lead agency to use the funds for specified |
| 12 | purchases and training; requiring the solicitation of |
| 13 | private moneys and the achievement of financial |
| 14 | independence for the program within a specified time; |
| 15 | providing an appropriation; providing an effective date. |
| 16 |
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| 17 | WHEREAS, more than 5 million United States residents have |
| 18 | Alzheimer's disease and more than 50 percent of those |
| 19 | individuals wander and become lost, and |
| 20 | WHEREAS, autism is the fastest-growing serious |
| 21 | developmental disability in the United States, and many autistic |
| 22 | individuals wander and are attracted to water, causing drowning |
| 23 | to be the leading cause of death for children who have autism, |
| 24 | and |
| 25 | WHEREAS, Project Lifesaver is a search-and-rescue program |
| 26 | that can quickly find wandering individuals who have Alzheimer's |
| 27 | disease, autism, Down's syndrome, or other mental impairments, |
| 28 | and |
| 29 | WHEREAS, Project Lifesaver was established in Virginia in |
| 30 | 1999 and has been implemented by law enforcement agencies and |
| 31 | public safety agencies across the country, and |
| 32 | WHEREAS, agencies that sponsor local lifesaver projects |
| 33 | have stated that the program materially reduces the time |
| 34 | required to find lost persons, often to less than one-half hour |
| 35 | after the person is reported missing, within which period there |
| 36 | is a 100-percent recovery rate, and |
| 37 | WHEREAS, 13 Florida counties and 5 police departments have |
| 38 | implemented a version of Project Lifesaver, and Pasco County |
| 39 | residents have taken the lead in extending the program |
| 40 | statewide, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 41 |
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| 42 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 43 |
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| 44 | Section 1. Project Lifesaver.-- |
| 45 | (1) The Legislature encourages each county in this state |
| 46 | to implement a county lifesaver project that is modeled after |
| 47 | Project Lifesaver, a search-and-rescue program designed to |
| 48 | quickly find a lost or wandering person who is mentally impaired |
| 49 | due to Alzheimer's disease, autism, Down's syndrome, or other |
| 50 | causes. The program uses small transmitters, which are usually |
| 51 | worn on a participant's wrist, to electronically track lost or |
| 52 | wandering participants. A law enforcement agency, usually the |
| 53 | sheriff's office, is equipped with receivers that track the |
| 54 | transmitters. |
| 55 | (2) The Department of Law Enforcement shall serve as the |
| 56 | liaison to county lifesaver projects and shall administer the |
| 57 | state grant moneys awarded for the purpose of starting the |
| 58 | projects. The maximum amount that a county may receive for |
| 59 | startup is $10,000, and the amount awarded must be matched 50-50 |
| 60 | by county funds, such as funds obtained from the forfeited |
| 61 | property of drug dealers. |
| 62 | (3) To initiate Project Lifesaver in a county, the |
| 63 | sheriff's office must approve the implementation. If the county |
| 64 | approves initiating the project in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, |
| 65 | the sheriff's office must, by October 1, 2008, submit to the |
| 66 | department an application that includes: |
| 67 | (a) An estimate of the number of people who might qualify |
| 68 | for assistance; |
| 69 | (b) An estimate of the startup cost; |
| 70 | (c) A statement of the number of personnel available for |
| 71 | tracking lost individuals; and |
| 72 | (d) The source or sources and the amount of local funds |
| 73 | available for matching state grant moneys. |
| 74 | (4) The department must prioritize the grant awards in |
| 75 | accordance with the respective counties' needs for tracking |
| 76 | services and the availability of local funding sources, as |
| 77 | documented in the applications. Awards to qualifying counties |
| 78 | must be prorated in accordance with the availability of state |
| 79 | funds. |
| 80 | (5) With the initial grant money and local matching funds, |
| 81 | the county sheriff's office shall purchase emergency response |
| 82 | kits, which include equipment necessary to track and triangulate |
| 83 | searches, as well as transmitters, and shall provide 3 days' |
| 84 | training for up to 17 deputies. Through its community resource |
| 85 | officer, the sheriff's office shall solicit moneys from private |
| 86 | sources so as to assure that within 3 years the program will be |
| 87 | self-supporting and will not require state funding. |
| 88 | Section 2. The sum of $670,000 is appropriated from the |
| 89 | General Revenue Fund to the Department of Law Enforcement for |
| 90 | the purpose of awarding grants to counties that qualify under |
| 91 | this act to start county lifesaver projects during the 2007-2008 |
| 92 | fiscal year. |
| 93 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |