Florida Senate - 2009                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 160
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 183722                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/18/2009           .                                
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       The Committee on Criminal Justice (Deutch) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2         
    3         Delete lines 60 - 102
    4  and insert:
    5         (2) For purposes of this section, the “sanctioning
    6  authority of an independent youth athletic team” includes the
    7  independent organization with authority to sanction an
    8  independent youth athletic team, any local office of that
    9  organization, and any office or entity that is authorized by
   10  that organization to perform any of its functions or represent
   11  its interests.
   12         (3)(a) Prior to a person in this state being hired as a
   13  sports coach of an independent youth athletic team, the
   14  sanctioning authority of the independent youth athletic team
   15  must screen the person through the public website on sexual
   16  offenders and sexual predators maintained by the Department of
   17  Law Enforcement and the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public
   18  Website maintained by the United States Department of Justice.
   19         (b) The sanctioning authority shall disqualify an applicant
   20  for sports coach from being a sports coach if the applicant
   21  appears on either registry.
   22         (c) The sanctioning authority must notify in writing each
   23  applicant for sports coach of his or her right to obtain a copy
   24  of the screening report. An applicant disqualified to be a
   25  sports coach based on the screening may appeal to the
   26  sanctioning authority the accuracy and completeness of any
   27  information contained in the screening report. Unless otherwise
   28  prohibited by state or federal law, an applicant appealing his
   29  or her disqualification as a sports coach may be placed on
   30  probationary status pending resolution of the appeal.
   31         (4) Each sanctioning authority must sign an affidavit
   32  annually, under penalty of perjury, stating that all persons who
   33  have applied for a position as a sports coach of an independent
   34  youth athletic team under its jurisdiction have been screened in
   35  compliance with subsection (3).
   36         (5) In any civil action brought against a sanctioning
   37  authority in which it is alleged that the sanctioning authority
   38  was negligent in the hiring of a sports coach because of sexual
   39  misconduct committed by the sports coach, a rebuttable
   40  presumption is created that the sanctioning authority was:
   41         (a) Not negligent in the hiring of the sports coach if the
   42  sanctioning authority conducted a screening of the sports coach
   43  in compliance with subsection (3).
   44         (b) Negligent in hiring of the sports coach if the
   45  sanctioning authority did not conduct a screening of the sports
   46  coach in compliance with subsection (3).
   47         
   48  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   49         And the title is amended as follows:
   50         Delete lines 3 - 30
   51  and insert:
   52  defining the terms “independent youth athletic team,” “minor,”
   53  and “sports coach”; specifying what is included as a
   54  “sanctioning authority of an independent youth athletic team”;
   55  requiring the sanctioning authority of an independent youth
   56  athletic team to an applicant for sports coach through
   57  designated public websites maintained by the Department of Law
   58  Enforcement and the United States Department of Justice;
   59  requiring the sanctioning authority to disqualify any applicant
   60  from being a sports coach if that applicant appears on either
   61  registry; requiring the sanctioning authority to notify the
   62  applicant of his or her right to obtain a copy of the screening
   63  report; providing that an applicant disqualified from being a
   64  sports coach based on the screening may appeal to the
   65  sanctioning authority the accuracy and completeness of the
   66  screening report; providing that the sanctioning authority may
   67  place an applicant appealing his or her disqualification as a
   68  sports coach on probationary status pending resolution of the
   69  appeal; requiring each sanctioning authority to sign an
   70  affidavit annually, under penalty of perjury, stating that all
   71  persons who have applied for a position as a sports coach of an
   72  independent youth athletic team under its jurisdiction have been
   73  screened; creating rebuttable presumptions in a civil action
   74  brought against a sanctioning authority in which it is alleged
   75  that the sanctioning authority was negligent in the hiring of a
   76  sports coach because of sexual misconduct committed by the
   77  sports coach; providing legislative intent encouraging