FSA SCORES MAJOR VICTORIES IN THE LEGISLATURE –

by Frank Messersmith

The Florida Sheriffs Association scored several major victories in the 2000 Florida legislative session. Not only did the FSA succeed with the passage of all of our major priorities, we were also able to kill or amend all proposed legislation that we either questioned or opposed.

In what has been described by many as the best session FSA has ever had when it comes to legislation that helps the people that work for sheriff’s offices, the legislature, with the endorsement of Gov. Jeb Bush, finally restored the full 3% Special Risk retirement rate for Special Risk Class Members that served in the period between 1978 and 1992. Members of DROP or those that have retired are not eligible, although we intend to address that situation next session. From a legislative standpoint, this was the #1 priority of the FSA. (This bill also provides for a 6-year vesting for all FRS members after 7/1/2001.)

The 3% reinstatement alone has a projected cost estimate of over $600 million. Thus, before session, we knew this to be an almost insurmountable task to overcome. But, a remarkable effort by the sheriffs and others on our team, coupled with the opportunities provided by a revenue surplus in FRS, and a good dose of political inside work resulted in the pension restoration that had been sought for over 20 years.

Additionally, Sheriffs were able to help their personnel even more with the passage of SB94 that increases the special-risk members’ disability pay to 65% of their average final compensation (was 42%). This issue was FSA’s #2 priority for this session.

The #3 priority was for tougher juvenile crime initiatives and adult sanctions for serious juvenile crimes. We succeeded in this area with the passage of SB1548, the 10-20-Life for juveniles, and SB1192, the Juvenile Tough Love legislation. There was also an Habitual Juvenile Offender Act, HB69, which is called the Juvenile "Four Strikes" Act.

Florida’s Juvenile Justice System was reorganized with SB1196, and SB2464, and it provided a new juvenile justice education initiative.

Suffice to say that succeeding with the three top priorities was a significant achievement for the FSA. However, there were numerous other issues that required our attention.

One bill that concerned us was the latest revision to the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, HB937 and SB1174, and the apparent effort by police unions to hamper a police administrator’s ability to adequately investigate or discipline their personnel, when necessary.

Initially, the FSA was intent upon killing this legislation. But, the Senate sponsor, Sen. Skip Campbell of Ft. Lauderdale suggested compromises in the language that made it more appealing to sheriffs.

With a few additional changes of our own, the compromise language became the substance of legislation that was accepted by both sides, and resulted in a more positive interaction with the police unions. Much to the surprise and relief of legislators that have been caught in the middle of this issue over the years, FSA and the police unions signed a letter of agreement and HB937 passed on to the Governor.

Another issue of particular concern and significant effort was the cleanup of the "Kayla McKean Act" (HB855 Representative Sandra Murman and SB1910 by Senator John Laurent). The original act that passed last session resulted in significant workload increases and budget overrides for most Sheriffs around the state. The focus of the effort this year was to change the statute and provide language that would direct only truly criminal abuse cases to law enforcement for investigation.

Ultimately, FSA prevailed with the passage of HB855, but only after extraordinary effort by many Sheriffs, coupled with the excellent support of Sen. Laurent and Rep. Murman.

An issue that required some intense inside work, but did not attract a great deal of public attention was the passage of SB388 which "fixed" and funded the statute relating to charitable, not-for-profit organizations such as FSA. As a result, FSA will no longer be at risk of losing its not-for-profit status, resulting in a projected savings of over $100,000 a year for the association.

A number of other issues also occupied the time and effort of the FSA during the legislative session.

HB177/SB408 was legislation filed that would have required extensive record-keeping by law enforcement officers each time they stopped a vehicle to check the vehicle or its occupants. These bills became commonly known as the "racial profiling" bills that were filed by Sen. Kendrick Meek and Rep. Tony Hill. FSA opposed any legislative mandates, and submitted an extensive response that outlined efforts being implemented voluntarily to eliminate the potential of racial profiling. With the assistance of Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite and Rep. Howard Futch, the legislation died in committee.

HB937/SB1598 was legislation that would have required the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to establish and operate a database to track property in pawnshops. The FSA supported this proposal, but unfortunately it died in the waning minutes of the legislature as time ran out. The good news is, however, that the new state budget provides $1 million to FDLE to implement such a database, and FDLE is going to proceed as planned by the legislative proposal.

HB1111/SB1432 was filed as a response to sexual violence in jails. While the FSA was not opposed to the general concept involved with the legislation, there were segments in both of the proposals that were unacceptable.

The House bill would have required all county jails to provide sexual abuse counselors, as well as materials and videos, at the request of anyone arrested. There was no funding attached to this issue and therefore Sheriffs would have to provide the materials and counselors out of existing budgets. FSA successfully amended the objectionable and expensive language out of the bill.

The Senate version of the same bill would have required the immediate termination of any jail employee who gave or accepted a gift to or from an inmate, no matter what the
circumstance. (For example, a correctional officer guarding a group of inmates on a road crew would be subject to immediate firing if he or she bought an exceptionally hard working inmate a candy bar or a coke.) The employee would also be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor. Again, the FSA was successful in amending the offensive language out of the bill with the assistance of Senator Ron Silver. In the end, the legislation did not pass, and died on the calendar.

HB128/SB359 would have mandated a two-year college degree as a minimum standard for all law enforcement officers beginning in 2005. FSA opposed this legislation also and worked with the sponsor, Representative Allen Trovillion, to find a compromise. The legislation died in committee, but we can expect to see it filed again next year.

HB539/SB752 dealt with writs of bodily attachment. FSA did not support or oppose this legislation, but worked with the sponsors in the event that a legislator might try to file amendments that we would oppose. In the end, though, the legislation died in committee.

HB2325/SB2110 was entitled Post-prison Supervision. The Florida Parole Commission would have been totally eliminated by this bill and significant responsibility and cost shifted to the Sheriff regarding the arrest and detention of parole violators. FSA worked to focus attention and possible funding on this issue, but it, too, died on the calendar.

HB1673/SB1472 was called a "Workforce Development" bill that, among other things, would have moved all existing police academies that are housed in vocational-technical institutes into their respective local community college. Initially, FSA worked intensely to assure that law enforcement academies would not be adversely affected if the law passed. But, fortunately, the proposed legislation was extremely controversial in many areas, and died on the calendar.

The FSA also spent considerable efforts on a Department of Corrections budget issue that would have eliminated funding for the housing of state prisoners in six county jail facilities. The effort was successful for this budget year, but next year this issue will again be on the table.

There were several other issues that involved FSA’s lobbying efforts, but those outlined here took the lion’s share of our time.