Florida Senate - 2016 SB 708
By Senator Joyner
19-00638B-16 2016708__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Arthur G. Dozier School for
3 Boys; directing the Department of State to preserve
4 historical resources, records, archives, and
5 artifacts, to create and maintain a memorial to
6 victims, and to continue the department’s research and
7 development of evidence; authorizing the department to
8 reimburse the next of kin of children whose bodies are
9 buried and exhumed at the Dozier School for the costs
10 associated with funeral services and reinterment;
11 requiring the department to identify and locate such
12 next of kin within a specified timeframe; requiring
13 that the costs for which the next of kin is reimbursed
14 be documented; requiring that payment be made within a
15 specified timeframe; authorizing the department to
16 make direct payment to the provider for such services;
17 authorizing reimbursement if an exhumation occurs
18 after a specified date, subject to the availability of
19 funding; authorizing the department to adopt rules;
20 providing an appropriation; providing an effective
21 date.
22
23 WHEREAS, the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, or the
24 Dozier School, operated from 1900 until it was closed in 2011
25 after allegations of abuse were confirmed in separate
26 investigations by the Department of Law Enforcement in 2010 and
27 the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of
28 Justice in 2011, and
29 WHEREAS, official records indicated that 31 graves had been
30 dug at the facility between 1914 and 1952, and
31 WHEREAS, a forensic investigation by the University of
32 South Florida found that there are no records of where children
33 who died at the Dozier School are buried and that a second
34 cemetery is likely to exist, and
35 WHEREAS, exhumations of bodies began in August 2013, and
36 the excavations yielded remains of 55 bodies, 24 more bodies
37 than reported in official records, and
38 WHEREAS, one of the bodies exhumed during the forensic
39 investigation was of a child reported missing since 1940, and
40 WHEREAS, representatives of children formerly held at the
41 Dozier School have estimated that there could be 100 more bodies
42 buried on the grounds of the school, and
43 WHEREAS, many families of children whose bodies have been
44 exhumed lack the resources to properly reinter those children at
45 a suitable location, and
46 WHEREAS, the State of Florida recognizes an obligation to
47 help the families of children formerly buried at the Dozier
48 School reinter the bodies of those children, NOW, THEREFORE,
49
50 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
51
52 Section 1. (1) The Department of State is directed to
53 preserve historical resources, records, archives, and artifacts;
54 to create and maintain a memorial for victims; and to continue
55 its research and development of evidence at the Arthur G. Dozier
56 School for Boys.
57 (2) The department is authorized to reimburse up to $7,500
58 for funeral, reinterment, and grave marker expenses to the next
59 of kin of each child buried and exhumed at the Dozier School.
60 The department shall identify and locate eligible families of
61 exhumed children within 1 year after the effective date of this
62 act and shall pay up to the maximum allowed to the next of kin
63 no later than 6 months after locating the next of kin.
64 (a) The child’s next of kin must submit receipts or
65 documentation of the expenses to the department in order to
66 receive reimbursement, which must be processed and remitted
67 within 14 days of the department’s receipt of the request for
68 reimbursement and required documentation.
69 (b) If a family cannot pay the funeral, reinterment, or
70 grave marker expenses, the department may, upon receipt of an
71 invoice, pay such expenses directly to the funeral home or other
72 appropriate entity.
73 (3) Subject to the appropriation of funds by the
74 Legislature, if the remains of a child are found and exhumed at
75 the Dozier School after June 30, 2017, the next of kin must be
76 identified within a reasonable time and reimbursed up to $7,500
77 for funeral, reinterment, and grave marker expenses within 1
78 year after the exhumation of the child. Reimbursement must be
79 made subject to the requirements specified in paragraphs (2)(a)
80 and (b).
81 (4) The department may adopt rules necessary to administer
82 this section.
83 Section 2. For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the sum of $1.5
84 million in nonrecurring funds is appropriated from the General
85 Revenue Fund to the Department of State for the purpose of
86 implementing this act.
87 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.