Florida Senate - 2017                                     SB 126
       
       
        
       By Senator Steube
       
       23-00268-17                                            2017126__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public officers and employees;
    3         amending s. 112.3135, F.S.; authorizing an agency to
    4         promote or advance an employee who is a relative of a
    5         public official if certain conditions are met;
    6         providing an effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 112.3135, Florida
   11  Statutes, is amended to read:
   12         112.3135 Restriction on employment of relatives.—
   13         (2)(a) A public official may not appoint, employ, promote,
   14  or advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion,
   15  or advancement, in or to a position in the agency in which the
   16  official is serving or over which the official exercises
   17  jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the
   18  public official. An individual may not be appointed, employed,
   19  promoted, or advanced in or to a position in an agency if such
   20  appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement has been
   21  advocated by a public official, serving in or exercising
   22  jurisdiction or control over the agency, who is a relative of
   23  the individual or if such appointment, employment, promotion, or
   24  advancement is made by a collegial body of which a relative of
   25  the individual is a member. However, this subsection shall not
   26  apply to appointments to boards other than those with land
   27  planning or zoning responsibilities in those municipalities with
   28  less than 35,000 population. This subsection does not apply to
   29  persons serving in a volunteer capacity who provide emergency
   30  medical, firefighting, or police services. Such persons may
   31  receive, without losing their volunteer status, reimbursements
   32  for the costs of any training they get relating to the provision
   33  of volunteer emergency medical, firefighting, or police services
   34  and payment for any incidental expenses relating to those
   35  services that they provide.
   36         (b) An agency that uses a comprehensive application and
   37  hiring process that includes an independent promotional
   38  examination may promote or advance a relative to a new position
   39  if the relative had been previously employed with such agency
   40  before the public official’s appointment or election to the
   41  agency.
   42         (c) Mere approval of budgets shall not be sufficient to
   43  constitute “jurisdiction or control” for the purposes of this
   44  section.
   45         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.