Florida Senate - 2011                                     SB 256
       
       
       
       By Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       39-00081-11                                            2011256__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to legislative travel reimbursement;
    3         amending s. 11.13, F.S.; authorizing legislators and
    4         their staff members to be reimbursed by the state
    5         under certain circumstances for travel to visit an
    6         immediate family member in the case of death or
    7         serious illness; defining the term “immediate family
    8         member”; providing an effective date.
    9  
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 11.13, Florida
   13  Statutes, is amended to read:
   14         11.13 Compensation of members.—
   15         (2)(a) During the time the Legislature is in session, each
   16  legislator shall be paid subsistence at a rate to be established
   17  by the President of the Senate for members of the Senate and the
   18  Speaker of the House of Representatives for members of the
   19  House. Each legislator, in addition to subsistence, shall be
   20  paid travel expenses in accordance with s. 112.061(7) and (8)
   21  for actual travel between the legislator’s home and the seat of
   22  government for not more than one round trip per week or fraction
   23  of a week during any regular, special, or extraordinary session
   24  of the Legislature or for the convening of either the House or
   25  Senate for official business.
   26         (b) If the cost of travel to visit an immediate family
   27  member in the case of death or serious illness is less than the
   28  cost of travel between the legislator’s or staff member’s home
   29  and the seat of government, each legislator and his or her staff
   30  members shall be paid travel expenses in accordance with s.
   31  112.061(7) and (8) for travel from the seat of government to
   32  visit an immediate family member in the case of death or serious
   33  illness for one single round trip during any regular, special,
   34  or extraordinary session of the Legislature or for the convening
   35  of either the House or Senate for official business. As used in
   36  this paragraph, the term “immediate family member” means a
   37  person having one of the following relationships to another:
   38  husband, wife, father, mother, son, or daughter.
   39         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.