House Bill 3255c1
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 CS/HB 3255
By the Committee on Law Enforcement & Public Safety and
Representatives Sindler, Safley, Feeney, Betancourt, Murman,
Fischer, Merchant, Saunders, Casey, Rojas, Littlefield, Wise,
Heyman and Fasano
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to court costs to fund law
3 enforcement programs; creating s. 938.06, F.S.;
4 imposing an additional court cost on fines for
5 criminal offenses in county and circuit courts;
6 providing for deposit in the Crime Stoppers
7 Trust Fund; amending s. 16.555, F.S.; providing
8 for distribution of such funds in the trust
9 fund by the Department of Legal Affairs to
10 counties to support official Crime Stoppers and
11 their programs; amending s. 318.18, F.S.;
12 including the court cost assessed pursuant to
13 s. 938.15 in court costs for noncriminal
14 traffic infractions; providing an effective
15 date.
16
17 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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19 Section 1. Section 938.06, Florida Statutes, is
20 created to read:
21 938.06 Additional cost for crime stoppers programs.--
22 (1) In addition to any fine prescribed by law for any
23 criminal offense, there is hereby assessed as a court cost an
24 additional surcharge of $20 on such fine, which shall be
25 imposed by all county and circuit courts and collected by the
26 clerks of the courts together with such fine. No political
27 subdivision shall be held liable for payment of costs under
28 this section.
29 (2) The clerk of the court shall collect and forward,
30 on a monthly basis, all costs assessed under this section,
31 less $3 per assessment as a service charge to be retained by
1
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 CS/HB 3255
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1 the clerk, to the Department of Legal Affairs for deposit in
2 the Crime Stoppers Trust Fund, to be used as provided in s.
3 16.555.
4 Section 2. Section 16.555, Florida Statutes, is
5 amended to read:
6 16.555 Crime Stoppers Trust Fund; rulemaking.--
7 (1) As used in this section, the term:
8 (a) "Department" shall mean the Department of Legal
9 Affairs.
10 (b) "Units of local government" shall mean the various
11 city and county governments of the state.
12 (c) "Crime Stoppers" shall mean members of the Florida
13 Association of Crime Stoppers, Incorporated, a Florida
14 Corporation.
15 (2) The department shall have all the powers necessary
16 or appropriate to carry out the purposes and provisions of
17 this act.
18 (3) The department shall establish a trust fund for
19 the purpose of grant administration to fund Crime Stoppers and
20 their crime fighting programs within the units of a local
21 government of the state.
22 (4)(a) The department shall make applications for all
23 federal and state or private grants which meet the purposes of
24 advancing Crime Stoppers in the State of Florida. Upon
25 securing such grants, the funds shall be deposited in the
26 "Crime Stoppers Trust Fund."
27 (b) The proceeds of the court cost imposed by s.
28 938.06 shall be deposited in a separate account in the trust
29 fund, and within that account the funds shall be designated
30 according to the judicial circuit in which they were
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 CS/HB 3255
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1 collected. The funds in this account shall be used as provided
2 in paragraph (5)(b).
3 (5)(a) The department shall then be the disbursing
4 authority for distribution of funding to units of local
5 government, upon their application to the department for
6 funding assistance.
7 (b) Funds deposited in the trust fund pursuant to
8 paragraph (4)(b) shall be disbursed as provided in this
9 paragraph. Any county may apply to the department for a grant
10 from the funds collected in the judicial circuit in which the
11 county is located under s. 938.06. A grant may be awarded
12 only to counties which are served by an official member of the
13 Florida Association of Crime Stoppers, and may only be used to
14 support Crime Stoppers and their crime fighting programs.
15 Only one such official member shall be eligible for support
16 within any county. In order to aid the department in
17 determining eligibility, the secretary of the Florida
18 Association of Crime Stoppers shall furnish the department
19 with a schedule of authorized crime stoppers programs and
20 shall update the schedule as necessary. The department shall
21 award grants to eligible counties from available funds and
22 shall distribute funds as equitably as possible, based on
23 amounts collected within each county, when more than one
24 county is eligible within a judicial circuit.
25 (6)(5) The department shall adopt and enforce rules to
26 implement the provisions of this act. Such rules shall
27 include, but shall not be limited to:
28 (a) Criteria for local governments to apply for
29 funding from the "Crime Stoppers Trust Fund" in order to aid
30 in their local law enforcement as provided in this section
31 agency.
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 CS/HB 3255
604-125-98
1 (b) The limits of funding to be distributed to local
2 government units based on a pro rata share of grants made
3 available through the "Crime Stoppers Trust Fund." pursuant to
4 paragraph (4)(a), and criteria for the equitable distribution
5 of funds available pursuant to paragraph (4)(b).
6 (c) Provisions for the return of unused funds to be
7 redeposited in the "Crime Stoppers Trust Fund" if for any
8 reason the unit of local government does not use the funds as
9 intended within an agreed upon time.
10 (d) Provisions for the coordination with appropriate
11 governmental agencies to support and enhance efforts to train
12 the public in crime prevention methods and in personal safety
13 principles, especially for citizens who live in, work at, or
14 frequent locations having high crime rates.
15 Section 3. Subsection (11) of section 318.18, Florida
16 Statutes, is amended to read:
17 318.18 Amount of civil penalties.--The penalties
18 required for a noncriminal disposition pursuant to s. 318.14
19 are as follows:
20 (11)(a) Court costs which are to be in addition to the
21 stated fine shall be imposed by the court in an amount not
22 less than the following:
23
24 For pedestrian infractions................................$ 3.
25 For nonmoving traffic infractions.........................$ 6.
26 For moving traffic infractions............................$10.
27 (b) In addition to the court cost assessed under
28 paragraph (a), the court shall impose a $3 court cost for each
29 infraction to be distributed as provided in s. 938.01
30 943.25(3) and a $2 court cost as provided in s. 938.15 when
31 assessed by a municipality or county.
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 CS/HB 3255
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1
2 In no event may court costs imposed under this subsection
3 exceed $30. A regional criminal justice assessment center or
4 other local criminal justice access and assessment center may
5 be funded from these court costs.
6 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1 of the
7 year in which enacted.
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