Florida Senate - 2010 SB 2698
By Senator Wise
5-01745-10 20102698__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to international development relief
3 and outreach activities in Haiti; creating s.
4 288.0252, F.S.; providing a definition; requiring the
5 Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development to
6 contract with the state’s international volunteer
7 corps to provide certain relief activities for the
8 people of Haiti; requiring that such activities focus
9 on certain rural Haitian communities; requiring that
10 such activities be conducted by volunteers with
11 certain qualifications; directing the international
12 volunteer corps to raise public and private funding to
13 support the relief activities; authorizing the
14 international volunteer corps to establish certain
15 partnerships and build long-term relationships;
16 providing for the award of grants to certain
17 grassroots organizations; providing that professionals
18 licensed by the Department of Business and
19 Professional Regulation shall receive continuing
20 education credit for certain volunteer services
21 provided in Haiti; providing for future repeal;
22 providing appropriations; providing an effective date.
23
24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
25
26 Section 1. Section 288.0252, Florida Statutes, is created
27 to read:
28 288.0252 International development relief and outreach
29 activities in Haiti.—
30 (1) As used in this section, the term “international
31 volunteer corps” means the Florida Association for Volunteer
32 Action in the Caribbean and the Americas, Inc.
33 (2) The Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development
34 shall contract with the state’s international volunteer corps to
35 provide the following rescue, recovery, rebuilding, and
36 sustainable humanitarian outreach activities for the people of
37 the Republic of Haiti:
38 (a) Emergency disaster response and recovery, including
39 food and relief supply distribution, coordination with existing
40 relief efforts, and the support of firefighters, emergency
41 medical technicians, paramedics, and urban search and rescue
42 professionals.
43 (b) Health care, including emergency rescue, emergency
44 medical services, and post-traumatic stress counseling.
45 (c) Domestic security, including the improvement of local
46 food security.
47 (d) Rebuilding, including alternative energy placement and
48 structural engineering to assess damage to buildings,
49 infrastructure, and other construction essential to the recovery
50 and rebuilding of the country.
51 (e) Sustainable economic development, including job
52 creation, enterprise development, and the recovery of
53 agriculture.
54 (3) Such activities shall focus on rural communities
55 receiving Haitian refugees and other residents from disaster
56 stricken or otherwise impoverished areas of the country.
57 (4) The international volunteer corps must require that
58 such activities be conducted by qualified volunteers who are
59 citizens of the state and who each have at least 5 years of
60 experience in coordinating international volunteer programs in
61 Haiti.
62 (5) The international volunteer corps shall, to the maximum
63 extent practicable, leverage the state funding provided to
64 implement this section by raising funds from public and private
65 sources, including, but not limited to, the Federal Government
66 and charitable foundations, to support the activities described
67 in subsection (2).
68 (6) To support the activities described in subsection (2),
69 the international volunteer corps may:
70 (a) Establish partnerships with organizations and
71 individuals.
72 (b) Build long-term social and economic relationships with
73 businesses and organizations based in this state.
74 (c) Award grants of at least $1,000 but not more than
75 $5,000 to grassroots organizations in this state that have
76 previously completed successful international volunteer corps
77 assignments in Haiti.
78 (7) Notwithstanding any provision of law, a professional
79 licensed by the Department of Business and Professional
80 Regulation shall receive one continuing education credit or
81 unit, regardless of required categories, for each hour of
82 volunteer service provided in Haiti in coordination with the
83 state’s international volunteer corps, not to exceed 100 percent
84 of his or her annual professional requirement for continuing
85 education.
86 (8) This section is repealed July 1, 2020, unless reviewed
87 and reenacted by the Legislature before that date.
88 Section 2. The recurring sum of $2 million is appropriated
89 annually from the General Revenue Fund to the Office of Tourism,
90 Trade, and Economic Development for the 2010-2011, 2011-2012,
91 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017
92 2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 fiscal years for the purpose of
93 implementing s. 288.0252, Florida Statutes.
94 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.