Florida Senate - 2009 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 1892 Barcode 940922 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 04/15/2009 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Criminal Justice (Crist) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 Delete everything after the enacting clause 4 and insert: 5 Section 1. Section 775.0862, Florida Statutes, is created 6 to read: 7 775.0862 Sexual battery offenses against students by 8 authority figures; reclassification.— 9 (1) For purposes of this section, the term: 10 (a) “Authority figure” means a school officer, a teacher or 11 other instructional person, an administrator or other school 12 administrative person, a school volunteer, an educational 13 support employee, or an education service provider who is 14 employed by, under contract with, working at, or providing 15 volunteer services to an educational institution. 16 (b) “Educational institution” means an entity providing 17 instructional programs of study by means of regular classes, 18 activities, or courses, including virtual courses, to students 19 in early learning programs or in prekindergarten through grade 20 12. 21 (c) “Student” means any early learning or prekindergarten 22 through grade 12 child who is enrolled in an educational 23 institution. 24 (2) The felony degree of any violation of: 25 (a) Any offense listed in s. 775.21(4)(a)1.; or 26 (b) Any offense listed in s. 943.0435(1)(a)1.a. 27 28 shall be, unless the offense falls within s. 794.011(4)(g), 29 reclassified as provided in this section if the offense is 30 committed by an authority figure of any educational institution 31 against a student of any educational institution. 32 (3)(a) In the case of a felony of the third degree, the 33 offense is reclassified to a felony of the second degree. 34 (b) In the case of a felony of the second degree, the 35 offense is reclassified to a felony of the first degree. 36 (c) In the case of a felony of the first degree, the 37 offense is reclassified to a life felony. 38 39 For purposes of sentencing under chapter 921 and determining 40 incentive gain-time eligibility under chapter 944, a felony 41 offense that is reclassified under this subsection is ranked one 42 level above the ranking under s. 921.0022 or s. 921.0023 of the 43 offense committed. 44 Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 921.0022, Florida 45 Statutes, is amended to read: 46 921.0022 Criminal Punishment Code; offense severity ranking 47 chart.— 48 (2) The offense severity ranking chart has 10 offense 49 levels, ranked from least severe, which are level 1 offenses, to 50 most severe, which are level 10 offenses, and each felony 51 offense is assigned to a level according to the severity of the 52 offense. For purposes of determining which felony offenses are 53 specifically listed in the offense severity ranking chart and 54 which severity level has been assigned to each of these 55 offenses, the numerical statutory references in the left column 56 of the chart and the felony degree designations in the middle 57 column of the chart are controlling; the language in the right 58 column of the chart is provided solely for descriptive purposes. 59 Reclassification of the degree of the felony through the 60 application of s. 775.0845, s. 775.0861, s. 775.0862, s. 61 775.087, s. 775.0875, s. 794.023, or any other law that provides 62 an enhanced penalty for a felony offense, to any offense listed 63 in the offense severity ranking chart in this section shall not 64 cause the offense to become unlisted and is not subject to the 65 provisions of s. 921.0023. 66 Section 3. This act shall take effect October 1, 2009. 67 68 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 69 And the title is amended as follows: 70 Delete everything before the enacting clause 71 and insert: 72 A bill to be entitled 73 An act relating to sexual misconduct with students by 74 authority figures; creating s. 775.0862, F.S.; 75 providing definitions; providing for reclassification 76 of specified sexual offenses committed against 77 students by an authority figure; providing for 78 severity ranking of offenses; amending s. 921.0022, 79 F.S.; providing for application of the severity 80 ranking chart of the Criminal Punishment Code; 81 providing an effective date.