Florida Senate - 2017                                     SB 382
       
       
        
       By Senator Gibson
       
       6-00381A-17                                            2017382__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to judicial accountability; creating
    3         s. 38.24, F.S.; requiring the Office of Program Policy
    4         Analysis and Government Accountability to collect
    5         specified information and prepare a report on the
    6         sentences imposed by each circuit judge and county
    7         judge in criminal and juvenile cases; requiring that
    8         the first report provide information for a specified
    9         period and that subsequent reports provide information
   10         for the previous calendar year; requiring the office
   11         to post the report annually by a specified date to its
   12         website; requiring disqualification of a judge from a
   13         case involving a member of a certain demographic group
   14         for which there is evidence of disparity in sentencing
   15         by that judge with regard to that demographic group;
   16         requiring the office to annually provide the report to
   17         the Chief Justice, the Governor, and specified members
   18         of the Legislature by a specified date; requiring the
   19         office to annually send each judge an individual
   20         report; providing an effective date.
   21          
   22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   23  
   24         Section 1. Section 38.24, Florida Statutes, is created to
   25  read:
   26         38.24 Judicial accountability.—
   27         (1) Pursuant to s. 11.51, the Office of Program Policy
   28  Analysis and Government Accountability shall collect data and
   29  prepare a report detailing the sentences imposed by each circuit
   30  judge and county judge in criminal cases and juvenile cases. The
   31  initial report must reflect data collected for the previous 5
   32  calendar years, and subsequent reports must include data
   33  collected for the previous calendar year. The data must
   34  identify:
   35         (a) The judge who presided over each trial;
   36         (b) The judge who presided over the sentencing phase;
   37         (c) The circuit and specific location of the court where
   38  each case was heard;
   39         (d) Each offense for which the defendant was convicted or
   40  pled nolo contendere to;
   41         (e) The range of possible sentences for each offense;
   42         (f) The sentence imposed for each offense, including, but
   43  not limited to, jail time, prison time, probation, a fine, or
   44  any other imposed terms; and
   45         (g) Demographic information about the defendant, including,
   46  but not limited to:
   47         1. Age.
   48         2. Sex.
   49         3. Race.
   50         4. Income.
   51         5. Prior criminal history.
   52         (2) The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
   53  Accountability must post the report by March 1 annually on its
   54  website.
   55         (3) Evidence of disparity in sentencing by a judge with
   56  regard to any demographic group is grounds for disqualification
   57  of that judge from any case involving a member of that
   58  demographic group, pursuant to s. 38.10.
   59         (4) Beginning on February 1, 2018, and each February 1
   60  thereafter, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
   61  Accountability shall provide the report to the Chief Justice of
   62  the Supreme Court, the Governor, the President of the Senate,
   63  the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the majority
   64  and minority leaders of the Senate and the House of
   65  Representatives. The office shall also send each circuit judge
   66  and county judge an individual annual report of his or her data.
   67         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.