Florida Senate - 2017 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 780
Ì649144.Î649144
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/21/2017 .
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The Committee on Education (Stargel) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) and subsections
6 (3) and (7) of section 409.1664, Florida Statutes, are amended,
7 and paragraph (d) is added to subsection (2) of that section, to
8 read:
9 409.1664 Adoption benefits for qualifying adoptive
10 employees of state agencies.—
11 (1) As used in this section, the term:
12 (b) “Qualifying adoptive employee” means a full-time or
13 part-time employee of a state agency, a charter school as
14 defined in s. 1002.33, or the Florida Virtual School established
15 under s. 1002.37 who is paid from regular salary appropriations,
16 or otherwise meets his or her the state agency employer’s
17 definition of a regular rather than temporary employee, and who
18 adopts a child within the child welfare system pursuant to
19 chapter 63 on or after July 1, 2015. The term includes
20 instructional personnel, as defined in s. 1012.01, who are
21 employed by the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.
22 (2) A qualifying adoptive employee who adopts a child
23 within the child welfare system who has special needs described
24 in s. 409.166(2)(a)2. is eligible to receive a lump-sum monetary
25 benefit in the amount of $10,000 per such child, subject to
26 applicable taxes. A qualifying adoptive employee who adopts a
27 child within the child welfare system who does not have special
28 needs described in s. 409.166(2)(a)2. is eligible to receive a
29 lump-sum monetary benefit in the amount of $5,000 per such
30 child, subject to applicable taxes.
31 (d) A qualifying adoptive employee of a charter school or
32 the Florida Virtual School may retroactively apply for the
33 adoption benefit if he or she was employed by a charter school
34 or the Florida Virtual School at the time of the adoption of a
35 child from the child welfare system pursuant to chapter 63 and
36 the adoption occurred on or after July 1, 2015.
37 (3) A qualifying adoptive employee must apply to his or her
38 agency head or, in the case of an employee of a charter school
39 or the Florida Virtual School, to the school director to obtain
40 the monetary benefit provided in subsection (2). Applications
41 must be on forms approved by the department and must include a
42 certified copy of the final order of adoption naming the
43 applicant as the adoptive parent. Monetary benefits shall be
44 approved on a first-come, first-served basis based upon the date
45 that each fully completed application is received by the
46 department.
47 (7) The Chief Financial Officer shall disburse a monetary
48 benefit to a qualifying adoptive employee upon the department’s
49 submission of a payroll requisition. The Chief Financial Officer
50 shall transfer funds from the department to a state university,
51 Florida College System institution, school district unit,
52 charter school, the Florida Virtual School, or water management
53 district, as appropriate, to enable payment to the qualifying
54 adoptive employee through the payroll systems as long as funds
55 are available for such purpose.
56 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.
57
58 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
59 And the title is amended as follows:
60 Delete everything before the enacting clause
61 and insert:
62 A bill to be entitled
63 An act relating to adoption benefits; amending s.
64 409.1664, F.S.; revising the definition of the term
65 “qualifying adoptive employee” to include persons
66 employed by charter schools and the Florida Virtual
67 School for the purpose of extending adoption benefits
68 to those employees; authorizing such employees of
69 charter schools and the Florida Virtual School to
70 apply retroactively for the adoption benefit in
71 certain circumstances; providing an effective date.