Florida Senate - 2017                                    SB 1740
       
       
        
       By Senator Stewart
       
       
       
       
       
       13-01090A-17                                          20171740__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to access to clinics; providing a
    3         directive to the Division of Law Revision and
    4         Information; creating s. 762.01, F.S.; providing a
    5         short title; creating s. 762.02, F.S.; defining terms;
    6         creating s. 762.03, F.S.; defining the term “minor
    7         child or ward”; prohibiting a person from committing
    8         certain acts against reproductive health services
    9         clients, providers, or assistants; prohibiting a
   10         person from damaging certain properties; providing
   11         penalties; providing construction; creating s. 762.04,
   12         F.S.; providing criminal penalties and fines;
   13         providing enhanced penalties for second or subsequent
   14         offenses; providing requirements for departures from
   15         the sentences and fines; creating s. 762.05, F.S.;
   16         providing civil remedies for those aggrieved by
   17         specified violations against reproductive health
   18         services clients, providers, or assistants or against
   19         certain properties; authorizing the Attorney General,
   20         a state attorney, or a city attorney to bring a civil
   21         action for such violations; creating s. 762.06, F.S.;
   22         requiring a court to take actions necessary to
   23         safeguard the health, safety, or privacy of certain
   24         people and entities under certain circumstances,
   25         including granting restraining orders to specified
   26         persons, placing restrictions on the photographing of
   27         specified persons, and authorizing specified persons
   28         to use pseudonyms in a civil action; providing an
   29         effective date.
   30          
   31  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   32  
   33         Section 1. The Division of Law Revision and Information is
   34  directed to create chapter 762, Florida Statutes, consisting of
   35  ss. 762.01-762.06, Florida Statutes, to be entitled “Protection
   36  of the Exercise of Constitutional Rights.”
   37         Section 2. Section 762.01, Florida Statutes, is created to
   38  read:
   39         762.01 Short title.—Sections 762.01-762.06 may be cited as
   40  the “Florida Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act” or the
   41  “Florida FACE Act.”
   42         Section 3. Section 762.02, Florida Statutes, is created to
   43  read:
   44         762.02 Definitions.—As used in ss. 762.01-762.06, the term:
   45         (1) “Crime of violence” means an offense that involves the
   46  use or attempted or threatened use of physical force against the
   47  person or property of another.
   48         (2) “Interfere with” means to restrict a person’s freedom
   49  of movement.
   50         (3)“Intimidate” means to place a person in reasonable
   51  apprehension of bodily harm to herself or himself or to another.
   52         (4)“Nonviolent” means conduct that would not constitute a
   53  crime of violence.
   54         (5)“Physical obstruction” means rendering ingress to or
   55  egress from a reproductive health services facility impassable
   56  to another person, or rendering passage to or from a
   57  reproductive health services facility unreasonably difficult or
   58  hazardous to another person.
   59         (6)“Reproductive health services” means reproductive
   60  health services provided in a hospital, clinic, physician’s
   61  office, or other facility and includes medical, surgical,
   62  counseling, or referral services relating to the human
   63  reproductive system, including services relating to pregnancy or
   64  the termination of a pregnancy.
   65         (7)“Reproductive health services client, provider, or
   66  assistant” means a person or entity that is or was involved in
   67  obtaining or seeking to obtain, providing or seeking to provide,
   68  or assisting or seeking to assist another person at that other
   69  person’s request to obtain or provide any services in a
   70  reproductive health services facility, or a person or entity
   71  that is or was involved in owning or operating, or seeking to
   72  own or operate, a reproductive health services facility.
   73         (8)“Reproductive health services facility” means a
   74  hospital, clinic, physician’s office, or other facility that
   75  provides or seeks to provide reproductive health services and
   76  includes the building or structure in which the facility is
   77  located.
   78         Section 4. Section 762.03, Florida Statutes, is created to
   79  read:
   80         762.03 Prohibited acts.—
   81         (1) As used in this section, the term “minor child or ward”
   82  means a person’s child or legal guardian’s ward who is 16 years
   83  of age or younger.
   84         (2) A person may not commit any of the following acts:
   85         (a)Intentionally injuring, intimidating, interfering with,
   86  or attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere with a person
   87  or an entity by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction
   88  because that person or entity is a reproductive health services
   89  client, provider, or assistant, or in order to intimidate a
   90  person or entity, or a class of persons or entities, from
   91  becoming or remaining a reproductive health services client,
   92  provider, or assistant or reproductive health services clients,
   93  providers, or assistants.
   94         (b)Intentionally injuring, intimidating, interfering with,
   95  or attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere with, by
   96  nonviolent physical obstruction, a person or entity because that
   97  person or entity is a reproductive health services client,
   98  provider, or assistant, or in order to intimidate a person or
   99  entity, or a class of persons or entities, from becoming or
  100  remaining a reproductive health services client, provider, or
  101  assistant or reproductive health services clients, providers, or
  102  assistants.
  103         (c)Intentionally damaging or destroying a facility or the
  104  property of a person or entity, or attempting to do so, because
  105  the facility, person, or entity is a reproductive health
  106  services client, provider, assistant, or facility.
  107         (3) A person who violates this section is subject to the
  108  penalties specified in s. 762.04.
  109         (4) This section does not prohibit a parent or legal
  110  guardian from restricting a minor child or ward’s access to a
  111  reproductive health services facility.
  112         Section 5. Section 762.04, Florida Statutes, is created to
  113  read:
  114         762.04 Penalties.—
  115         (1)A person who violates s. 762.03(2)(b) for the first
  116  time commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable by
  117  imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding 6 months and by a
  118  fine not exceeding $2,000. A second or subsequent offense
  119  constitutes a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable by
  120  imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding 6 months and by a
  121  fine not exceeding $5,000.
  122         (2)A person who violates s. 762.03(2)(a) or (c) for the
  123  first time commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable
  124  by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding 1 year and by a
  125  fine not exceeding $25,000. A second or subsequent offense
  126  constitutes a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable by
  127  imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding 1 year and by a fine
  128  not exceeding $50,000.
  129         (3)Departures from the presumptive sentences and fines
  130  established in this section shall be articulated in writing and
  131  made when circumstances or factors reasonably justify the
  132  aggravation or mitigation of the sentence and fines.
  133         Section 6. Section 762.05, Florida Statutes, is created to
  134  read:
  135         762.05 Civil actions.—
  136         (1)A person aggrieved by a violation of s. 762.03 may
  137  bring a civil action to enjoin the violation, for compensatory
  138  and punitive damages, and for the costs of the suit and
  139  reasonable fees for attorneys and expert witnesses, except that
  140  only a reproductive health services client, provider, or
  141  assistant may bring an action for a violation under s.
  142  762.03(2)(a), (b), or (c). With respect to compensatory damages,
  143  the plaintiff may elect, at any time before the rendering of a
  144  final judgment, to recover, in lieu of actual damages, an award
  145  of statutory damages in the amount of $1,000 for each
  146  exclusively nonviolent violation and $5,000 for each violation
  147  other than an exclusively nonviolent violation.
  148         (2)The Attorney General, a state attorney, or a city
  149  attorney may bring a civil action to enjoin a violation under s.
  150  762.03 for compensatory damages to persons aggrieved, as
  151  described in subsection (1), and for the assessment of a civil
  152  penalty against each respondent. The civil penalty may not
  153  exceed $2,000 for an exclusively nonviolent first violation and
  154  $15,000 for any other first violation, and may not exceed $5,000
  155  for a subsequent exclusively nonviolent violation and $25,000
  156  for any other subsequent violation.
  157         Section 7. Section 762.06, Florida Statutes, is created to
  158  read:
  159         762.06 Safety and privacy.—
  160         (1)A court in which a criminal or civil proceeding is
  161  filed for a violation under s. 762.03(2)(a), (b), or (c) shall
  162  take all action reasonably required, including granting
  163  restraining orders, to safeguard the health, safety, or privacy
  164  of:
  165         (a)A reproductive health services client, provider, or
  166  assistant who is a party or witness in the proceeding; and
  167         (b)A person who is a victim of, or is at risk of becoming
  168  a victim of, an act prohibited under s. 762.03(2)(a), (b), or
  169  (c).
  170         (2)A restraining order issued pursuant to this section may
  171  include provisions prohibiting or restricting the photographing
  172  of a person described in subsection (1) if reasonably required
  173  to safeguard the person’s health, safety, or privacy.
  174         (3)A court may authorize a person described in subsection
  175  (1) to use a pseudonym in a civil action described in s. 726.05
  176  if reasonably required to safeguard the person’s health, safety,
  177  or privacy.
  178         Section 8. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.