Florida Senate - 2023                              CS for SB 490
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Commerce and Tourism; and Senator Jones
       
       
       
       
       
       577-03155-23                                           2023490c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to investigations into the deaths of
    3         minors; providing a short title; amending s. 960.001,
    4         F.S.; requiring law enforcement agencies to provide
    5         certain information during the investigation of the
    6         death of a minor; providing an exception; providing
    7         construction; providing an effective date.
    8  
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. This act may be cited as “Curtis’ Law.”
   12         Section 2. Paragraph (v) is added to subsection (1) of
   13  section 960.001, Florida Statutes, to read:
   14         960.001 Guidelines for fair treatment of victims and
   15  witnesses in the criminal justice and juvenile justice systems.—
   16         (1) The Department of Legal Affairs, the state attorneys,
   17  the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile
   18  Justice, the Florida Commission on Offender Review, the State
   19  Courts Administrator and circuit court administrators, the
   20  Department of Law Enforcement, and every sheriff’s department,
   21  police department, or other law enforcement agency as defined in
   22  s. 943.10(4) shall develop and implement guidelines for the use
   23  of their respective agencies, which guidelines are consistent
   24  with the purposes of this act and s. 16(b), Art. I of the State
   25  Constitution and are designed to implement s. 16(b), Art. I of
   26  the State Constitution and to achieve the following objectives:
   27         (v) Information concerning an investigation into the death
   28  of a minor.—
   29         1. During the investigation of the death of a minor, the
   30  law enforcement agency that initiates or bears the primary
   31  responsibility for the investigation must provide the minor’s
   32  next of kin with all of the following information:
   33         a. The contact information for the primary contact, if
   34  known, for the particular investigation, as well as the contact
   35  information for each law enforcement agency involved in the
   36  investigation.
   37         b. The case number for the investigation, if applicable.
   38         c. A list of the minor’s personal effects that were found
   39  on or with the minor and information on how the minor’s next of
   40  kin can collect such personal effects.
   41         d. Information regarding the status of the investigation,
   42  at the discretion of the law enforcement agency.
   43         2. A law enforcement agency may not provide any of the
   44  information under this paragraph if doing so would jeopardize or
   45  otherwise interfere with an active investigation.
   46         3. This paragraph does not require a law enforcement agency
   47  to provide investigative records generated during its
   48  investigation to a minor’s next of kin for inspection.
   49         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.