Florida Senate - 2021                             CS for SB 1192
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senator Powell
       
       
       
       
       
       591-02628-21                                          20211192c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to mental illness training for law
    3         enforcement officers; creating s. 943.17161, F.S.;
    4         requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to
    5         establish a continued employment training component
    6         relating to mental illness; defining the term “mental
    7         illness”; requiring that the training component
    8         include instruction on the recognition of the symptoms
    9         or characteristics of and appropriate responses to
   10         individuals exhibiting certain symptoms or
   11         characteristics; authorizing completion of the
   12         training to count toward continued employment or
   13         appointment instruction requirements; providing an
   14         effective date.
   15          
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Section 943.17161, Florida Statutes, is created
   19  to read:
   20         943.17161 Continued employment training relating to mental
   21  illness.—The department shall establish a continued employment
   22  training component relating to mental illness. For purposes of
   23  this section, the term “mental illness” means an impairment of
   24  the mental or emotional processes that exercise conscious
   25  control of one’s actions or of the ability to perceive or
   26  understand reality, which impairment substantially interferes
   27  with the person’s ability to meet the ordinary demands of
   28  living. The training component must include, but need not be
   29  limited to, instruction on the recognition of the symptoms or
   30  characteristics of an individual with a mental illness and
   31  appropriate responses to an individual exhibiting such symptoms
   32  or characteristics. Completion of the training component may
   33  count toward the 40 hours of instruction for continued
   34  employment or appointment as a law enforcement officer required
   35  under s. 943.135.
   36         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.