Senate Bill sb1296c1
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Florida Senate - 2004 CS for SB 1296
By the Committee on Education; and Senator Aronberg
304-2059-04
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to school district and charter
3 school employees and contractors; amending s.
4 1012.32, F.S.; requiring both instructional and
5 noninstructional personnel of charter schools
6 to file fingerprints with the school board of
7 the district within which the charter school is
8 located; providing that contractors have the
9 same requirements for fingerprinting as
10 employees; providing duties of the Department
11 of Law Enforcement with respect to retention of
12 fingerprint records submitted on behalf of
13 school employees and contractors; providing for
14 the availability of such fingerprints;
15 requiring an arrest record to be reported to
16 the employing or contracting school district;
17 requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to
18 adopt rules setting an annual fee for
19 performing searches; providing an effective
20 date.
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22 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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24 Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 1012.32, Florida
25 Statutes, is amended to read:
26 1012.32 Qualifications of personnel.--
27 (2)(a) Instructional and noninstructional personnel
28 who are hired or contracted to fill positions requiring direct
29 contact with students in any district school system or
30 university lab school shall, upon employment or engagement to
31 provide services, file a complete set of fingerprints taken by
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Florida Senate - 2004 CS for SB 1296
304-2059-04
1 an authorized law enforcement officer or an employee of the
2 school or district who is trained to take fingerprints.
3 Instructional and noninstructional personnel who are hired or
4 contracted to fill positions in any charter school and members
5 of the governing board of any charter school, in compliance
6 with s. 1002.33(12)(g), shall, upon employment, engagement of
7 services, or appointment, file with the district school board
8 for the district in which the charter school is located a
9 complete set of fingerprints taken by an authorized law
10 enforcement officer or an employee of the school or district
11 who is trained to take fingerprints. These fingerprints shall
12 be submitted to the Department of Law Enforcement for state
13 processing and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for
14 federal processing. The new employees or contractors shall be
15 on probationary status pending fingerprint processing and
16 determination of compliance with standards of good moral
17 character. Employees or contractors found through fingerprint
18 processing to have been convicted of a crime involving moral
19 turpitude shall not be employed or engaged to provide services
20 in any position requiring direct contact with students.
21 Probationary employees or contractors terminated because of
22 their criminal record shall have the right to appeal such
23 decisions. The cost of the fingerprint processing may be borne
24 by the district school board, the charter school, or the
25 employee, or the contractor.
26 (b) Personnel who have been fingerprinted or screened
27 pursuant to this subsection and who have not been unemployed
28 or unengaged to provide services in a public or charter school
29 for more than 90 days shall not be required to be
30 refingerprinted or rescreened in order to comply with the
31 requirements of this subsection.
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Florida Senate - 2004 CS for SB 1296
304-2059-04
1 (c) Beginning July 1, 2004, all fingerprints submitted
2 to the Department of Law Enforcement as required by paragraph
3 (a) shall be retained by the Department of Law Enforcement and
4 entered in the statewide automated fingerprint identification
5 system authorized by s. 943.05(2)(b). Such fingerprints must
6 thereafter be available for all purposes and uses authorized
7 for arrest fingerprint cards entered in the statewide
8 automated fingerprint identification system pursuant to s.
9 943.051.
10 (d) Beginning December 15, 2004, the Department of Law
11 Enforcement shall search all arrest fingerprint cards received
12 under s. 943.051 against the fingerprints retained in the
13 statewide automated fingerprint identification system under
14 paragraph (c). Any arrest record that is identified with the
15 retained employee or contractual personnel fingerprints shall
16 be reported to the employing or contracting school district.
17 Each school district shall participate in this search process
18 by paying an annual fee to the Department of Law Enforcement
19 and by informing the Department of Law Enforcement of any
20 change in the employment or contractual status or place of
21 employment or contracting of its instructional and
22 noninstructional personnel whose fingerprints are retained
23 under paragraph (c). The Department of Law Enforcement shall
24 adopt a rule setting the amount of the annual fee to be
25 imposed upon each school district for performing these
26 searches and establishing the procedures for retaining the
27 fingerprints of employee or contractual personnel and for
28 disseminating search results. The fee may be borne by the
29 district school board or by the employee or contracted person.
30 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2004.
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Florida Senate - 2004 CS for SB 1296
304-2059-04
1 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
2 Senate Bill 1296
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4 The committee substitute requires the Department of Law
Enforcement to search all arrest fingerprint cards against the
5 fingerprints retained in the statewide automated fingerprint
identification system that are received by the Department of
6 Law Enforcement from school districts for personnel having
direct contact with students. The committee substitute
7 requires the Department of Law Enforcement to report any
arrest record matches to the school district. The committee
8 substitute requires each school district to participate in the
search process by paying a fee and authorizes the Department
9 of Law Enforcement to establish the fee by rule.
10 The committee substitute conforms the fingerprint requirements
of contractors with a school district to the fingerprint
11 requirements of contractors with a charter school as provided
in the bill.
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