| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to crime victim compensation; amending |
| 3 | s. 960.03, F.S.; providing that the term "members of a |
| 4 | family" for purposes of crime victim compensation |
| 5 | includes domestic partners meeting specified criteria; |
| 6 | providing an effective date. |
| 7 |
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| 8 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 9 |
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| 10 | Section 1. Subsections (11) through (14) of section |
| 11 | 960.03, Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (12) |
| 12 | through (15), respectively, and a new subsection (11) is added |
| 13 | to that section, to read: |
| 14 | 960.03 Definitions; ss. 960.01-960.28.-As used in ss. |
| 15 | 960.01-960.28, unless the context otherwise requires, the term: |
| 16 | (11) "Members of a family" includes a domestic partner, |
| 17 | which is a person at least 18 years of age who: |
| 18 | (a) Is dependent upon the other partner for support as |
| 19 | shown by either unilateral dependence or mutual interdependence, |
| 20 | as evidenced by a nexus of factors that can include, but are not |
| 21 | limited to, common ownership of real or personal property, |
| 22 | common householding, children in common, signs of intent to |
| 23 | marry, and shared budgeting, or if the partner is deceased, was |
| 24 | so dependent on or interdependent with the partner immediately |
| 25 | prior to the person's death; or |
| 26 | (b) Has registered as the domestic partner with any |
| 27 | registry of domestic partnerships maintained by the employer of |
| 28 | either party, a state, a county, or any other governmental |
| 29 | entity. |
| 30 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012. |