Florida Senate - 2016 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 708
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
02/15/2016 .
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Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and
Economic Development (Thompson) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. (1)(a) Any historical resource, record, archive,
6 artifact, public research, or medical record that was recovered
7 from the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys by the University of
8 South Florida shall remain in the custody of the university for
9 archival and preservation until the Department of State requests
10 custody of such resource, record, archive, artifact, public
11 research, or medical record.
12 (b) Any human remains exhumed from the Arthur G. Dozier
13 School for Boys by the University of South Florida shall remain
14 in the custody of the university for identification purposes
15 until the remains are returned to the next of kin or reburied
16 pursuant to this act.
17 (2)(a) The Department of State shall contract with the
18 University of South Florida for the identification and location
19 of eligible next of kin for such children and the update of
20 information on associated artifacts and materials.
21 (b) No later than July 1, 2016, the University of South
22 Florida must provide the Department of State with contact
23 information for the next of kin for each set of human remains
24 which has been returned to a next to kin.
25 (c) For any identification of next of kin occurring on or
26 after July 1, 2016, the University of South Florida must provide
27 location information of the next of kin to the Department of
28 State at least 5 days before returning the human remains to the
29 next of kin.
30 (d) Beginning July 1, 2016, the Department of State must
31 notify the next of kin responsible for a set of human remains
32 about the payment or reimbursement provisions under subsection
33 (3). Such notification must be made within 15 business days
34 after the department’s receipt of the location information of
35 the next of kin.
36 (3) The Department of State shall reimburse the next of kin
37 or pay directly to the provider up to $7,500 for funeral,
38 reinterment, and grave marker expenses for each child whose body
39 was buried at and exhumed, or otherwise recovered, from the
40 Dozier School for Boys.
41 (a) In order to receive reimbursement, the next of kin must
42 submit to the department receipts for, or documentation of,
43 expenses. Reimbursement shall be made pursuant to s. 215.422,
44 Florida Statutes.
45 (b) If expenses are to be paid directly to the provider,
46 the funeral home or other similar entity must submit an invoice
47 to the department for the cost of the child’s funeral,
48 reinterment, and grave marker expenses. Payment shall be made
49 pursuant to s. 215.422, Florida Statutes.
50 (c) A charitable donation made toward funeral, reinterment,
51 and grave marker expenses is not eligible for reimbursement.
52 (4) By February 1, 2018, the Department of State shall
53 submit a report to the Governor and Cabinet, the President of
54 the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives
55 regarding any payments and reimbursements made pursuant to this
56 section.
57 (5) The department may adopt rules necessary to administer
58 this section.
59 Section 2. (1) A task force is established adjunct to the
60 Department of State to advise the department and, except as
61 otherwise provided in this section, shall operate consistent
62 with s. 20.052, Florida Statutes. The task force shall be known
63 as the “Dozier Task Force.” The Department of State shall
64 provide administrative and staff support services relating to
65 the functions of the task force.
66 (2)(a) The task force shall consist of the following
67 members:
68 1. The Secretary of State, or his or her designee, who
69 shall serve as the chair.
70 2. One person appointed by the President of the Florida
71 State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement
72 of Colored People.
73 3. One representative of the Florida Council of Churches,
74 appointed by the executive director of the council.
75 4. A next of kin of a deceased ward buried at the Dozier
76 School for Boys appointed by the Attorney General.
77 5. One representative who promotes the welfare of people
78 who are former wards of the Dozier School for Boys appointed by
79 the Chief Financial Officer.
80 6. One person appointed by the President of the Senate.
81 7. One person appointed by the Speaker of the House of
82 Representatives.
83 8. One person appointed by the Jackson County Board of
84 County Commissioners.
85 (b) By October 1, 2016, the task force shall submit its
86 recommendations to the Department of State regarding the
87 creation and maintenance of a memorial and the location of a
88 site for the reinterment of unidentified or unclaimed remains.
89 The recommendations shall also be submitted to the Governor and
90 Cabinet, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House
91 of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the Senate, and the
92 Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.
93 (3) This section is repealed December 31, 2016.
94 Section 3. For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the sum of
95 $500,000 in nonrecurring funds is appropriated from the General
96 Revenue Fund to the Department of State for the purpose of
97 implementing this act. Funds remaining unexpended or
98 unencumbered from this appropriation as of July 1, 2017, shall
99 revert and be reappropriated for the same purpose in the 2017
100 2018 fiscal year.
101 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.
102
103 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
104 And the title is amended as follows:
105 Delete everything before the enacting clause
106 and insert:
107 A bill to be entitled
108 An act relating to the Arthur G. Dozier School for
109 Boys; requiring certain historical resources, records,
110 archives, artifacts, researches, medical records, and
111 human remains to remain in the custody of the
112 University of South Florida; providing exceptions;
113 requiring the Department of State to contract with the
114 university for the identification and location of
115 eligible next of kin of certain children; requiring
116 the department to notify the next of kin of certain
117 payment or reimbursement provisions; requiring the
118 department to reimburse the next of kin of children
119 whose bodies are buried and exhumed at the Dozier
120 School or to pay directly to a provider for the costs
121 associated with funeral services, reinterment, and
122 grave marker expenses; providing a process for
123 reimbursement or payment by the department; providing
124 that a charitable donation made toward funeral,
125 reinterment, and grave marker expenses is not eligible
126 for reimbursement; requiring the department to submit
127 a report; establishing a task force to make
128 recommendations regarding a memorial and a location of
129 a site for the reinterment of unidentified or
130 unclaimed remains; providing membership of the task
131 force; requiring the task force to submit its
132 recommendation to the department by a certain date;
133 requiring the task force to submit its recommendations
134 to the Governor and Cabinet and to the Legislature;
135 authorizing the department to adopt rules; providing
136 appropriations; providing an effective date.
137
138 WHEREAS, the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, or the
139 Dozier School for Boys, operated from 1900 until it was closed
140 in 2011 after allegations of abuse were confirmed in separate
141 investigations by the Department of Law Enforcement in 2010 and
142 the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of
143 Justice in 2011, and
144 WHEREAS, official records indicated that 31 graves had been
145 dug at the facility between 1914 and 1952, and
146 WHEREAS, a forensic investigation by the University of
147 South Florida found that there are no records of where children
148 who died at the Dozier School for Boys are buried and that
149 families were often notified after the child was buried or
150 denied access to their remains at the time of burial, and
151 WHEREAS, exhumations of bodies began in August 2013, and
152 the excavations yielded 55 burial sites, 24 more sites than
153 reported in official records, and
154 WHEREAS, one of the bodies exhumed during the forensic
155 investigation was of a child reported missing since 1940, and
156 WHEREAS, nearly 100 deaths were recorded at the school and
157 51 sets of remains were exhumed from burials, and additional
158 victims of a fatal fire in 1914 are still buried with the fire
159 debris on site, and
160 WHEREAS, many families of children whose bodies have been
161 exhumed lack the resources to properly reinter those children at
162 a suitable location, and
163 WHEREAS, the State of Florida recognizes an obligation to
164 help the families of children formerly buried at the Dozier
165 School for Boys reinter the bodies of those children, NOW,
166 THEREFORE,