Florida Senate - 2023                                     SB 568
       
       
        
       By Senator Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       
       40-01257-23                                            2023568__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to assault or battery on hospital
    3         personnel; amending s. 784.07, F.S.; defining the term
    4         “hospital personnel”; providing enhanced criminal
    5         penalties for persons who knowingly commit assault or
    6         battery upon hospital personnel; providing an
    7         effective date.
    8          
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Section 784.07, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   12  read:
   13         784.07 Assault or battery of law enforcement officers,
   14  firefighters, emergency medical care providers, hospital
   15  personnel, public transit employees or agents, or other
   16  specified officers; reclassification of offenses; minimum
   17  sentences.—
   18         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   19         (a) “Emergency medical care provider” means an ambulance
   20  driver, emergency medical technician, paramedic, registered
   21  nurse, physician as defined in s. 401.23, medical director as
   22  defined in s. 401.23, or any person authorized by an emergency
   23  medical service licensed under chapter 401 who is engaged in the
   24  performance of his or her duties. The term “emergency medical
   25  care provider” also includes physicians, employees, agents, or
   26  volunteers of hospitals as defined in chapter 395, who are
   27  employed, under contract, or otherwise authorized by a hospital
   28  to perform duties directly associated with the care and
   29  treatment rendered by the hospital’s emergency department or the
   30  security thereof.
   31         (b) “Firefighter” means any person employed by any public
   32  employer of this state whose duty it is to extinguish fires; to
   33  protect life or property; or to enforce municipal, county, and
   34  state fire prevention codes, as well as any law pertaining to
   35  the prevention and control of fires.
   36         (c) “Hospital personnel” means a health care practitioner
   37  as defined in s. 456.001 or an employee, an agent, or a
   38  volunteer who is employed by, under contract with, or otherwise
   39  authorized by a hospital as defined in s. 395.002 to perform
   40  duties directly associated with the care and treatment rendered
   41  by any department of a hospital or with the security thereof.
   42         (d)(c) “Law enforcement explorer” means any person who is a
   43  current member of a law enforcement agency’s explorer program
   44  and who is performing functions other than those required to be
   45  performed by sworn law enforcement officers on behalf of a law
   46  enforcement agency while under the direct physical supervision
   47  of a sworn officer of that agency and wearing a uniform that
   48  bears at least one patch that clearly identifies the law
   49  enforcement agency that he or she represents.
   50         (e)(d) “Law enforcement officer” includes a law enforcement
   51  officer, a correctional officer, a correctional probation
   52  officer, a part-time law enforcement officer, a part-time
   53  correctional officer, an auxiliary law enforcement officer, and
   54  an auxiliary correctional officer, as those terms are
   55  respectively defined in s. 943.10, and any county probation
   56  officer; an employee or agent of the Department of Corrections
   57  who supervises or provides services to inmates; an officer of
   58  the Florida Commission on Offender Review; a federal law
   59  enforcement officer as defined in s. 901.1505; and law
   60  enforcement personnel of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation
   61  Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection, or the
   62  Department of Law Enforcement.
   63         (f)(e) “Public transit employees or agents” means bus
   64  operators, train operators, revenue collectors, security
   65  personnel, equipment maintenance personnel, or field
   66  supervisors, who are employees or agents of a transit agency as
   67  described in s. 812.015(1)(l).
   68         (g)(f) “Railroad special officer” means a person employed
   69  by a Class I, Class II, or Class III railroad and appointed or
   70  pending appointment by the Governor pursuant to s. 354.01.
   71         (2) Whenever any person is charged with knowingly
   72  committing an assault or battery upon a law enforcement officer,
   73  a firefighter, an emergency medical care provider, hospital
   74  personnel, a railroad special officer, a traffic accident
   75  investigation officer as described in s. 316.640, a nonsworn law
   76  enforcement agency employee who is certified as an agency
   77  inspector, a blood alcohol analyst, or a breath test operator
   78  while such employee is in uniform and engaged in processing,
   79  testing, evaluating, analyzing, or transporting a person who is
   80  detained or under arrest for DUI, a law enforcement explorer, a
   81  traffic infraction enforcement officer as described in s.
   82  316.640, a parking enforcement specialist as defined in s.
   83  316.640, a person licensed as a security officer as defined in
   84  s. 493.6101 and wearing a uniform that bears at least one patch
   85  or emblem that is visible at all times that clearly identifies
   86  the employing agency and that clearly identifies the person as a
   87  licensed security officer, or a security officer employed by the
   88  board of trustees of a community college, while the officer,
   89  firefighter, emergency medical care provider, hospital
   90  personnel, railroad special officer, traffic accident
   91  investigation officer, traffic infraction enforcement officer,
   92  inspector, analyst, operator, law enforcement explorer, parking
   93  enforcement specialist, public transit employee or agent, or
   94  security officer is engaged in the lawful performance of his or
   95  her duties, the offense for which the person is charged shall be
   96  reclassified as follows:
   97         (a) In the case of assault, from a misdemeanor of the
   98  second degree to a misdemeanor of the first degree.
   99         (b) In the case of battery, from a misdemeanor of the first
  100  degree to a felony of the third degree. Notwithstanding any
  101  other provision of law, a person convicted of battery upon a law
  102  enforcement officer committed in furtherance of a riot or an
  103  aggravated riot prohibited under s. 870.01 shall be sentenced to
  104  a minimum term of imprisonment of 6 months.
  105         (c) In the case of aggravated assault, from a felony of the
  106  third degree to a felony of the second degree. Notwithstanding
  107  any other provision of law, any person convicted of aggravated
  108  assault upon a law enforcement officer shall be sentenced to a
  109  minimum term of imprisonment of 3 years.
  110         (d) In the case of aggravated battery, from a felony of the
  111  second degree to a felony of the first degree. Notwithstanding
  112  any other provision of law, any person convicted of aggravated
  113  battery of a law enforcement officer shall be sentenced to a
  114  minimum term of imprisonment of 5 years.
  115         (3) Any person who is convicted of a battery under
  116  paragraph (2)(b) and, during the commission of the offense, such
  117  person possessed:
  118         (a) A “firearm” or “destructive device” as those terms are
  119  defined in s. 790.001, shall be sentenced to a minimum term of
  120  imprisonment of 3 years.
  121         (b) A semiautomatic firearm and its high-capacity
  122  detachable box magazine, as defined in s. 775.087(3), or a
  123  machine gun as defined in s. 790.001, shall be sentenced to a
  124  minimum term of imprisonment of 8 years.
  125  
  126  Notwithstanding s. 948.01, adjudication of guilt or imposition
  127  of sentence shall not be suspended, deferred, or withheld, and
  128  the defendant is not eligible for statutory gain-time under s.
  129  944.275 or any form of discretionary early release, other than
  130  pardon or executive clemency, or conditional medical release
  131  under s. 947.149, prior to serving the minimum sentence.
  132         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2023.