| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to an electronic monitoring program for |
| 3 | tracking lost persons; establishing a grant program to |
| 4 | encourage counties to implement county lifesaver |
| 5 | programs; describing the components of the program; |
| 6 | designating the Department of Law Enforcement as the |
| 7 | administrative agency; providing for application for |
| 8 | state grant funds and requiring local matching funds; |
| 9 | providing a cap on the amount of a grant and for |
| 10 | prioritizing and prorating grants; requiring the county |
| 11 | sheriff's office or other lead agency to use the funds |
| 12 | for purchasing equipment and training; requiring the |
| 13 | solicitation of private moneys and the achievement of |
| 14 | financial independence for the program within a |
| 15 | specified time; 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 |
| 22 | autistic individuals wander and are attracted to water, |
| 23 | causing drowning to be the leading cause of death for children |
| 24 | who have autism, and |
| 25 | WHEREAS, Project Lifesaver is a search-and-rescue program |
| 26 | that can quickly find wandering individuals who have |
| 27 | Alzheimer's disease, autism, Down syndrome, or other mental |
| 28 | impairments, 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 programs |
| 33 | have stated that the program materially reduces the time |
| 34 | required to find lost persons, often to less than one-half |
| 35 | hour after the person is reported missing, within which period |
| 36 | there is a 100 percent recovery rate, and |
| 37 | WHEREAS, 16 Florida counties and 5 police departments |
| 38 | have implemented lifesaver programs, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 39 |
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| 40 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 41 |
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| 42 | Section 1. Lifesaver program grants.-- |
| 43 | (1) A state grant program is established to encourage |
| 44 | each county in this state to implement a lifesaver program |
| 45 | that is modeled after Project Lifesaver, a search-and-rescue |
| 46 | program designed to quickly find a lost or wandering person |
| 47 | who is mentally impaired due to Alzheimer's disease, autism, |
| 48 | Down syndrome, or other causes. The program uses small |
| 49 | transmitters, which are usually worn on a participant's wrist, |
| 50 | to electronically track lost or wandering participants. A |
| 51 | county sheriff's office or other lead agency is equipped with |
| 52 | receivers that track the transmitters. |
| 53 | (2) The Department of Law Enforcement shall administer |
| 54 | the grant program, manage the state moneys appropriated for |
| 55 | the purpose of starting county programs, and serve as a |
| 56 | liaison to county lifesaver programs. |
| 57 | (3) To apply for state grant moneys for implementing a |
| 58 | county lifesaver program, a county sheriff's office or other |
| 59 | lead agency must submit an application annually by October 1, |
| 60 | which includes: |
| 61 | (a) An estimate of the number of people who might |
| 62 | qualify for lifesaver assistance; |
| 63 | (b) An estimate of the startup cost; |
| 64 | (c) A statement of the number of personnel available for |
| 65 | tracking lost individuals; and |
| 66 | (d) The source or sources and the amount of local funds |
| 67 | available for matching state grant moneys. |
| 68 | (4) The department shall prioritize the grant moneys in |
| 69 | accordance with the respective counties' needs for tracking |
| 70 | services, the availability of local sources to provide |
| 71 | matching funds, and the date the application was received by |
| 72 | the department. The maximum grant that a county may receive |
| 73 | for startup is $10,000, and the amount awarded must be |
| 74 | matched, dollar for dollar, by local funds. Grants awarded to |
| 75 | qualifying counties must be prorated in accordance with the |
| 76 | availability of state funds. |
| 77 | (5) The county sheriff's office or other lead agency |
| 78 | shall use the grant money and matching funds to purchase the |
| 79 | necessary equipment and training to implement a county |
| 80 | lifesaver program. Through its community resource officer, the |
| 81 | sheriff's office or other lead agency shall solicit moneys |
| 82 | from private sources so as to ensure that within 3 years the |
| 83 | lifesaver program is self-supporting and no longer requires |
| 84 | state funding. |
| 85 | Section 2. The sum of $670,000 is appropriated from the |
| 86 | General Revenue Fund to the Department of Law Enforcement for |
| 87 | the 2008-2009 fiscal year for the purpose of awarding grants |
| 88 | to counties that qualify under this act to start a county |
| 89 | lifesaver program. |
| 90 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2008. |