Florida Senate - 2016 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 708
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
01/26/2016 .
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The Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability
(Bullard) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete lines 52 - 87
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. (1) Any historical resource, record, archive, or
6 artifact and any human remains that are recovered from the
7 Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys must be transferred to the
8 Department of State. The department shall retain and preserve
9 such historical resources, records, archives, and artifacts.
10 (2) The Department of State shall reimburse the next of kin
11 or pay directly to the provider up to $7,500 for funeral,
12 reinterment, and grave marker expenses for each child whose body
13 was buried and exhumed at the Dozier School. The department
14 shall identify and locate eligible next of kin of such children
15 by December 31, 2017.
16 (a) To receive reimbursement, the next of kin must submit
17 to the department receipts for or documentation of expenses.
18 Reimbursement shall be made pursuant to s. 215.422.
19 (b) If expenses are to be paid directly to the provider,
20 the funeral home or other similar entity shall submit an invoice
21 to the department for the cost of the child’s funeral,
22 reinterment, and grave marker expenses. Payment shall be made
23 pursuant to s. 215.422.
24 (c) A charitable donation made toward funeral, reinterment,
25 and grave marker expenses is not eligible for reimbursement.
26 (3) By February 1, 2018, the Department of State shall
27 report to the Legislature on the status of payments and
28 reimbursements required by this act.
29 (4)(a) A task force, as defined in s. 20.03, is established
30 adjunct to the Department of State to make recommendations to
31 the department regarding the creation and maintenance of a
32 memorial and the location of a site for the reinterment of
33 unidentified or unclaimed remains.
34 (b) Task force members shall be appointed by the secretary
35 of the Department of State and shall serve without compensation,
36 but are entitled to reimbursement for per diem and travel
37 expenses in accordance with s. 112.061.
38 (c) The recommendations of the task force must be submitted
39 to the Department of State by October 1, 2016, at which time the
40 task force is abolished.
41 (5) The department may adopt rules necessary to administer
42 this section.
43 Section 2. For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the sum of
44 $500,000 in nonrecurring funds is appropriated from the General
45 Revenue Fund to the Department of State for the purpose of
46 implementing this act. The unexpended balance of such funds
47 shall revert immediately on July 1, 2017, and is appropriated
48 for the 2017-2018 fiscal year for the same purpose.
49 Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming law.
50
51 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
52 And the title is amended as follows:
53 Delete lines 5 - 36
54 and insert:
55 artifacts; directing the department to reimburse the
56 next of kin of children whose bodies are buried and
57 exhumed at the Dozier School or to pay directly to a
58 provider for the costs associated with funeral
59 services, reinterment, and grave marker expenses;
60 providing a process for reimbursement by the
61 department; providing that a charitable donation made
62 toward funeral, reinterment, and grave marker expenses
63 is not eligible for reimbursement; establishing a task
64 force to make recommendations regarding a memorial and
65 a location of a site for the reinterment of
66 unidentified or unclaimed remains; providing that
67 members of the task force shall serve without
68 compensation but are entitled certain per diem and
69 travel expenses; requiring the task for to submit its
70 recommendation to the department by a certain date, at
71 which time the task force is abolished; authorizing
72 the department to adopt rules; providing
73 appropriations; providing an effective date.
74
75 WHEREAS, the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, or the
76 Dozier School, operated from 1900 until it was closed in 2011
77 after allegations of abuse were confirmed in separate
78 investigations by the Department of Law Enforcement in 2010 and
79 the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of
80 Justice in 2011, and
81 WHEREAS, official records indicated that 31 graves had been
82 dug at the facility between 1914 and 1952, and
83 WHEREAS, a forensic investigation by the University of
84 South Florida found that there are no records of where children
85 who died at the Dozier School are buried and that a second
86 cemetery is likely to exist, and
87 WHEREAS, exhumations of bodies began in August 2013, and
88 the excavations yielded 55 burial sites, 24 more bodies