Florida Senate - 2017                                    SB 1068
       
       
        
       By Senator Brandes
       
       
       
       
       
       24-00545-17                                           20171068__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to sentencing; creating s. 950.021,
    3         F.S.; authorizing a court to sentence certain
    4         offenders to a county jail for up to 24 months if the
    5         offender meets specified criteria and if the county
    6         has a contract with the Department of Corrections;
    7         providing contractual requirements; requiring specific
    8         appropriations; providing for such appropriations;
    9         requiring validation of per diem rates; providing an
   10         effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Section 950.021, Florida Statutes, is created to
   15  read:
   16         950.021 Sentencing of offenders to county jail.—
   17         (1) Notwithstanding s. 921.0024 or any other provision of
   18  law, and effective for offenses committed on or after July 1,
   19  2017, a court may sentence an offender to a term in the county
   20  jail in the county where the offense was committed for up to 24
   21  months if the offender meets all of the following criteria:
   22         (a) The offender’s total sentence points score, as provided
   23  in s. 921.0024, is more than 44 points but no more than 60
   24  points.
   25         (b) The offender’s primary offense is not a forcible felony
   26  as defined in s. 776.08; however, an offender whose primary
   27  offense is a third degree felony under chapter 810 is eligible
   28  to be sentenced to a county jail under this paragraph.
   29         (c) The offender’s primary offense is not punishable by a
   30  minimum mandatory sentence of more than 24 months.
   31         (2)(a) The court may only sentence an offender to a county
   32  jail pursuant to this section if there is a contractual
   33  agreement between the chief correctional officer of that county
   34  and the Department of Corrections.
   35         (b) If the chief correctional officer of a county requests
   36  the Department of Corrections to enter into a contract that
   37  allows offenders to be sentenced to the county jail pursuant to
   38  subsection (1), subject to the restrictions of this paragraph
   39  and subsections (3) and (6), the Department of Corrections must
   40  enter into such a contract. The contract must specifically
   41  establish the maximum number of beds and the validated per diem
   42  rate. The contract must provide for per diem reimbursement for
   43  occupied inmate days based on the contracting county’s most
   44  recent annual adult male custody or adult female custody per
   45  diem rates, not to exceed $60 per inmate.
   46         (3) A contract under this section is contingent upon a
   47  specific appropriation in the General Appropriations Act.
   48  Contracts shall be awarded by the Department of Corrections on a
   49  first-come, first-served basis up to the maximum appropriation
   50  allowable in the General Appropriations Act for this purpose.
   51  The maximum appropriation allowable consists of funds
   52  appropriated in or transferred to the specific appropriation in
   53  the Inmates Sentenced to County Jail appropriation category.
   54  Prior to any transferred appropriation under this section, the
   55  Inmates Sentenced to County Jail appropriation category provides
   56  for an estimated incremental appropriation for county jail beds
   57  contracted under this section in excess of the Department of
   58  Corrections’ per diem for adult male and female inmates.
   59         (4) The Department of Corrections shall transfer funds
   60  pursuant to s. 216.177 from other appropriation categories
   61  within the Adult Male Custody Operations or Adult and Youthful
   62  Offender Female Custody Operations budget entities to the
   63  Inmates Sentenced to County Jail appropriation category in an
   64  amount necessary to satisfy the requirements of each executed
   65  contract, but not to exceed the Department of Corrections’
   66  average total per diem published for the preceding fiscal year
   67  for adult male custody or adult and youthful offender female
   68  custody inmates for each county jail bed contracted.
   69         (5) The Department of Corrections shall assume maximum
   70  annual value of each contract when determining the full use of
   71  funds appropriated and must ensure that the maximum
   72  appropriation allowable is not exceeded.
   73         (6) All contractual per diem rates under this section as
   74  well as the per diem rates used by the Department of Corrections
   75  must be validated by the Auditor General before payments are
   76  made.
   77         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.