Florida Senate - 2020                                     SB 700
       
       
        
       By Senator Perry
       
       
       
       
       
       8-00710-20                                             2020700__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to juvenile diversion program
    3         expunction; amending s. 943.0582, F.S.; deleting a
    4         requirement that limits diversion program expunction
    5         to programs for misdemeanor offenses; amending s.
    6         985.126, F.S.; conforming a provision to changes made
    7         by the act; providing an effective date.
    8          
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Subsection (1) and paragraph (b) of subsection
   12  (3) of section 943.0582, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   13         943.0582 Diversion program expunction.—
   14         (1) Notwithstanding any law dealing generally with the
   15  preservation and destruction of public records, the department
   16  shall adopt rules to provide for the expunction of a nonjudicial
   17  record of the arrest of a minor who has successfully completed a
   18  diversion program for a misdemeanor offense.
   19         (3) The department shall expunge the nonjudicial arrest
   20  record of a minor who has successfully completed a diversion
   21  program if that minor:
   22         (b) Submits to the department, with the application, an
   23  official written statement from the state attorney for the
   24  county in which the arrest occurred certifying that he or she
   25  has successfully completed that county’s diversion program, that
   26  his or her participation in the program was based on an arrest
   27  for a misdemeanor, and that he or she has not otherwise been
   28  charged by the state attorney with, or found to have committed,
   29  any criminal offense or comparable ordinance violation.
   30         Section 2. Subsection (5) of section 985.126, Florida
   31  Statutes, is amended to read:
   32         985.126 Diversion programs; data collection; denial of
   33  participation or expunged record.—
   34         (5) A minor who successfully completes a diversion program
   35  for a first-time misdemeanor offense may lawfully deny or fail
   36  to acknowledge his or her participation in the program and an
   37  expunction of a nonjudicial arrest record under s. 943.0582,
   38  unless the inquiry is made by a criminal justice agency, as
   39  defined in s. 943.045, for a purpose described in s.
   40  943.0582(2)(b)1.
   41         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.