Florida Senate - 2016                              CS for SB 620
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Fiscal Policy; and Senator Grimsley
       
       594-03752-16                                           2016620c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to medical examiners; amending s.
    3         382.011, F.S.; providing that a member of the public
    4         may not be charged for certain examinations,
    5         investigations, or autopsies; authorizing a county to
    6         charge a medical examiner approval fee under certain
    7         circumstances; providing an effective date.
    8          
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 382.011, Florida
   12  Statutes, is amended to read:
   13         382.011 Medical examiner determination of cause of death.—
   14         (1) In the case of any death or fetal death involving the
   15  circumstances due to causes or conditions listed in s. 406.11(1)
   16  s. 406.11, any death that occurred more than 12 months after the
   17  decedent was last treated by a primary or attending physician as
   18  defined in s. 382.008(3), or any death for which there is reason
   19  to believe that the death may have been due to an unlawful act
   20  or neglect, the funeral director or other person to whose
   21  attention the death may come shall refer the case to the
   22  district medical examiner of the county in which the death
   23  occurred or the body was found for investigation and
   24  determination of the cause of death. A county or district
   25  medical examiner may not charge a member of the public a fee for
   26  an examination, investigation, or autopsy performed to determine
   27  the cause of death involving the circumstances listed in s.
   28  406.11(1). However, a county, by resolution or ordinance of the
   29  board of county commissioners, may charge a member of the public
   30  a fee for medical examiner approval not to exceed $50 or the fee
   31  amount established by the board on or before February 17, 2016,
   32  in a county that issued more than 3,000 such approvals during
   33  the previous calendar year when a body is to be cremated, buried
   34  at sea, or dissected, provided the fee is not charged for a
   35  death under the jurisdiction of the medical examiner when such
   36  death involves the circumstances listed in s. 406.11(1)(a).
   37         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2016.