Florida Senate - 2019                             CS for SB 1656
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senators Lee and
       Rouson
       
       
       
       
       591-03685-19                                          20191656c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to criminal statutes; creating s.
    3         775.022, F.S.; providing legislative intent; defining
    4         the term “criminal statute”; specifying that the
    5         reenactment or amendment of a criminal statute
    6         operates prospectively and does not affect or abate
    7         specified circumstances; providing exceptions;
    8         providing that a reference to any other chapter, part,
    9         section, or subdivision of the Florida Statutes in a
   10         criminal statute or a reference within a criminal
   11         statute constitutes a general reference under the
   12         doctrine of incorporation by reference; providing an
   13         effective date.
   14          
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Section 775.022, Florida Statutes, is created to
   18  read:
   19         775.022 Effect of reenactment or amendment of criminal
   20  statutes; references in criminal statutes.—
   21         (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that:
   22         (a) This section preclude the application of the common law
   23  doctrine of abatement to a reenactment or an amendment of a
   24  criminal statute; and
   25         (b) An act of the Legislature reenacting or amending a
   26  criminal statute not be considered a repeal or an implied repeal
   27  of such statute for purposes of s. 9, Art. X of the State
   28  Constitution.
   29         (2) As used in this section, the term “criminal statute”
   30  means a statute, whether substantive or procedural, dealing in
   31  any way with a crime or its punishment, defining a crime or a
   32  defense to a crime, or providing for the punishment of a crime.
   33         (3) Except as expressly provided in an act of the
   34  Legislature or as provided in subsections (4) and (5) the
   35  reenactment or amendment of a criminal statute operates
   36  prospectively and does not affect or abate any of the following:
   37         (a) The prior operation of the statute or a prosecution or
   38  enforcement thereunder.
   39         (b) A violation of the statute based on any act or omission
   40  occurring before the effective date of the act.
   41         (c) A prior penalty, prior forfeiture, or prior punishment
   42  incurred or imposed under the statute.
   43         (4) If a penalty, forfeiture, or punishment for a violation
   44  of a criminal statute is reduced by a reenactment or an
   45  amendment of a criminal statute, the penalty, forfeiture, or
   46  punishment, if not already imposed, must be imposed according to
   47  the statute as amended.
   48         (5) This section shall not apply to limit the retroactive
   49  effect of any defense to a criminal statute enacted or amended
   50  by the Legislature to any criminal case that has not yet reached
   51  final judgment.
   52         (6) A reference to any other chapter, part, section, or
   53  subdivision of the Florida Statutes in a criminal statute or a
   54  reference within a criminal statute constitutes a general
   55  reference under the doctrine of incorporation by reference.
   56         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.