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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to criminal justice accountability; 2
creating s. 16.081, F.S.; authorizing the Attorney 3
General to call upon a state attorney to appear before 4
the Cabinet for a certain purpose; creating s. 16.082, 5
F.S.; authorizing the Attorney General to r eceive 6
cases from certain state attorneys upon request of the 7
Governor; amending s. 16.09, F.S.; requiring state 8
attorneys' reports to be submitted to the Attorney 9
General as he or she prescribes, rather than 10
quarterly; amending s. 16.53, F.S.; revising th e use 11
of the Legal Affairs Revolving Trust Fund to pay for 12
the investigation, prosecution, and enforcement of 13
certain cases forwarded to the Attorney General; 14
amending s. 27.14, F.S.; authorizing the Governor to 15
move cases to the Attorney General from a st ate 16
attorney for prosecution under certain circumstances; 17
amending s. 43.16, F.S.; providing that the Attorney 18
General shall serve as a permeant member and chair of 19
the Justice Administrative Commission; expanding the 20
duties of the commission; revising app licability; 21
amending s. 900.05, F.S.; requiring state attorneys to 22
collect data on annual charges referred by law 23
enforcement agencies for which case numbers were not 24
assigned; requiring the Department of Legal Affairs, 25
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by a specified date, to develop a sc hedule for 26
auditing certain records, and review compliance and 27
performance of the reporting entities and the validity 28
of their reports; requiring the department, by a 29
specified date, to begin auditing certain entities; 30
requiring periodic auditing; reenacti ng s. 27.151(1) 31
and (3), F.S., relating to the confidentiality of 32
specified executive orders, to incorporate the 33
amendment made to s. 27.14, F.S., in references 34
thereto; reenacting s. 943.6871, F.S., relating to 35
criminal justice data transparency, to incor porate the 36
amendment made to s. 900.05, F.S., in references 37
thereto; providing an effective date. 38
39
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 40
41
Section 1. Section 16.081, Florida Statutes, is created to 42
read: 43
16.081 Prosecutorial ex pediency; enforcement. —The Attorney 44
General may, with the consent of the Governor, call upon a state 45
attorney to speak before the Cabinet to provide information 46
regarding the oversight of his or her office. 47
Section 2. Section 16.082, Florida Statutes, is created to 48
read: 49
16.082 Reception of cases for prosecution. —Upon request by 50
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the Governor, the Attorney General may receive cases forwarded 51
from a state attorney in a process under s. 27.14. 52
Section 3. Section 16.09, Florida Statutes, is amended to 53
read: 54
16.09 Regulations as to the reports of state attorneys. —55
The Attorney General shall prescribe the time and manner in 56
which regular quarterly reports must shall be made to him or her 57
by state attorneys, and they shall comply with the Attorney 58
General's instructions in this respect. 59
Section 4. Subsection (1) of section 16.53, Florida 60
Statutes, is amended to read: 61
16.53 Legal Affairs Revolving Trust Fund. — 62
(1) There is created in the State Treasury the Legal 63
Affairs Revolving Trust Fund, from w hich the Legislature may 64
appropriate funds for the purpose of funding investigation, 65
prosecution, and enforcement by the Attorney General of : 66
(a) the provisions of The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt 67
Organization Act., 68
(b) The Florida Deceptive and Un fair Trade Practices Act ., 69
(c) The Florida False Claims Act ., 70
(d) State or federal antitrust laws ., 71
(e) Section s. 501.1735., or 72
(f) Part V of chapter 501. 73
(g) Cases forwarded from state attorneys under s. 27.14. 74
Section 5. Subsection (1) of section 27.14, Florida 75
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Statutes, is amended to read: 76
27.14 Assigning state attorneys to other circuits. — 77
(1)(a) If any state attorney is disqualified to represent 78
the state in any investigation, case, or matter pending in the 79
courts of his or her circuit or if, for any other good and 80
sufficient reason, the Governor determines that the ends of 81
justice would be best served, the Governor may, by executive 82
order filed with the Department of State :, either 83
1. Order an exchange of circuits or of courts between such 84
state attorney and any other state attorney ; or 85
2. Order an assignment of any state attorney to discharge 86
the duties of the state attorney with respect to one or more 87
specified investigations, cases, or matters, spe cified in 88
general in the executive order of the Governor ; or 89
3. Order the assignment to the Attorney General for 90
prosecution one or more specified investigations, cases, or 91
matters of any state attorney, specified in general in the 92
executive order of the Governor. 93
(b) Any exchange or assignment of any state attorney to a 94
particular circuit shall expire 12 months after the date of 95
issuance, unless an extension is approved by order of the 96
Supreme Court upon application of the Governor showing good and 97
sufficient cause to extend such exchange or assignment. 98
Section 6. Subsections (2), (5), (7), and (8) of section 99
43.16, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 100
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43.16 Justice Administrative Commission; membership, 101
powers and duties.— 102
(2) Other than the Attorney General, members of the 103
Justice Administrative Commission shall serve for a period of 2 104
years, with the terms of each dating from July 1, 1985, except 105
that initially, one state attorney member and one public 106
defender member shall each serve a 1 -year term. The Attorney 107
General shall be a permanent member and shall serve as chair. 108
The remaining members shall be selected in the following manner: 109
(a) Two state attorneys, to be appointed by the president 110
of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Associatio n. 111
(b) Two public defenders, to be appointed by the president 112
of the Florida Public Defender Association. 113
(5) The duties of the commission shall include, but not be 114
limited to, the following: 115
(a) Providing information to each state attorney, public 116
defender, criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, and the 117
Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office to notify them of any 118
statutory changes that affect any such entities. 119
(b) Overseeing, directing, coordinating, and administering 120
all statutory requirements affecting the state attorney, public 121
defender, criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, and 122
Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office. 123
(c) Maintaining The maintenance of a central state office 124
for administrative services and assistance when possible to an d 125
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on behalf of the state attorneys and public defenders of 126
Florida, the capital collateral regional counsel of Florida, the 127
criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, and the Statewide 128
Guardian ad Litem Office. 129
(d)(b) Ensuring that each state attorney, public defender, 130
and criminal conflict and civil regional counsel and the 131
Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office shall continue to prepare 132
necessary budgets, vouchers that represent valid claims for 133
reimbursement by the state for authorized expenses, and oth er 134
things incidental to the proper administrative operation of the 135
office, such as revenue transmittals to the Chief Financial 136
Officer and automated systems plans, but will forward such items 137
to the commission for recording and submission to the proper 138
state officer. However, when requested by a state attorney, a 139
public defender, a criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, 140
or the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office, the commission will 141
either assist in the preparation of budget requests, voucher 142
schedules, and other forms and reports or accomplish the entire 143
project involved. 144
(7) This section is supplemental to chapter 16, relating 145
to the Attorney General; to chapter 27, relating to state 146
attorneys, public defenders, criminal conflict and civil 147
regional counsel, and capital collateral regional counsel; to 148
chapter 39, relating to the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office; 149
or to other laws pertaining hereto. 150
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(8) Chapter 120 does not apply to the Justice 151
Administrative Commission. 152
Section 7. Paragraph (b ) of subsection (3) of section 153
900.05, Florida Statutes, is amended, and subsection (7) is 154
added to that section, to read: 155
900.05 Criminal justice data collection. — 156
(3) DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING. —An entity required to 157
collect data in accordance wit h this subsection shall collect 158
the specified data and report them in accordance with this 159
subsection to the Department of Law Enforcement on a monthly 160
basis. 161
(b) State attorney.—Each state attorney shall collect the 162
following data: 163
1. Information rela ted to a human victim of a criminal 164
offense, including: 165
a. Identifying information of the victim, including race, 166
ethnicity, gender, and age at the time of the offense. 167
b. Relationship to the offender, if any. 168
2. Number of full-time prosecutors. 169
3. Number of part-time prosecutors. 170
4. Annual felony caseload. 171
5. Annual misdemeanor caseload. 172
6. Disposition of each referred charge, such as filed, 173
declined, or diverted. 174
7. Number of cases in which a no -information was filed. 175
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8. Information rela ted to each defendant, including: 176
a. Each charge referred to the state attorney by a law 177
enforcement agency or sworn complainant related to an episode of 178
criminal activity. 179
b. Case number, name, and date of birth. 180
c. Drug type for each drug charge, i f applicable. 181
d. Deferred prosecution or pretrial diversion agreement 182
date, if applicable. 183
e. Annual charges referred by any law enforcement agency 184
for which a case number was not assigned. 185
(7) AUDITING.— 186
(a) By December 31, 2025, the Department of Legal Affairs 187
shall develop a schedule for the auditing of records provided by 188
reporting entities under this section, having established the 189
scope of such audits that must review, at a minimum, the 190
compliance and performance of each entity with respect to the 191
requirements of this section, and the validity of such reports. 192
Each entity required to report under this section must be 193
notified of the scope and the schedule of such audits. 194
(b) Beginning July 1, 2026, the Department of Legal 195
Affairs shall begin auditing each entity pursuant to the scope 196
and schedule established in paragraph (a). Each entity must be 197
audited once every 5 years thereafter. 198
Section 8. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 199
made by this act to section 27.14, Florida Statut es, in 200
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references thereto, subsections (1) and (3) of section 27.151, 201
Florida Statutes, are reenacted to read: 202
27.151 Confidentiality of specified executive orders; 203
criteria.— 204
(1) If the Governor provides in an executive order issued 205
pursuant to s. 27.14 or s. 27.15 that the order or a portion 206
thereof is confidential, the order or portion so designated, the 207
application of the Governor to the Supreme Court and all 208
proceedings thereon, and the order of the Supreme Court shall be 209
confidential and exempt fr om the provisions of s. 119.07(1). 210
(3) To maintain the confidentiality of the executive 211
order, the state attorney, upon entering the circuit of 212
assignment, shall immediately have the executive order sealed by 213
the court prior to filing it with the clerk o f the circuit 214
court. The Governor may make public any executive order issued 215
pursuant to s. 27.14 or s. 27.15 by a subsequent executive 216
order, and at the expiration of a confidential executive order 217
or any extensions thereof, the executive order and all 218
associated orders and reports shall be open to the public 219
pursuant to chapter 119 unless the information contained in the 220
executive order is confidential pursuant to the provisions of 221
chapter 39, chapter 415, chapter 984, or chapter 985. 222
Section 9. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 223
made by this act to section 900.05, Florida Statutes, in 224
references thereto, section 943.6871, Florida Statutes, is 225
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reenacted to read: 226
943.6871 Criminal justice data transparency. —In order to 227
facilitate the avail ability of comparable and uniform criminal 228
justice data, the department shall: 229
(1) Collect, compile, maintain, and manage the data 230
submitted by local and state entities pursuant to s. 900.05 and 231
coordinate related activities to collect and submit data. T he 232
department shall create a unique identifier for each criminal 233
case received from the clerks of court which identifies the 234
person who is the subject of the criminal case. The unique 235
identifier must be the same for that person in any court case 236
and used across local and state entities for all information 237
related to that person at any time. The unique identifier shall 238
be randomly created and may not include any portion of the 239
person's social security number or date of birth. 240
(2) Promote criminal justice d ata sharing by making such 241
data received under s. 900.05 comparable, transferable, and 242
readily usable. 243
(3) Create and maintain an Internet -based database of 244
criminal justice data received under s. 900.05 in a modern, 245
open, electronic format that is machi ne-readable and readily 246
accessible through an application program interface. The 247
database shall allow the public to search, at a minimum, by each 248
data element, county, judicial circuit, or unique identifier. 249
The department may not require a license or char ge a fee to 250
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access or receive information from the database. 251
(4) Develop written agreements with local, state, and 252
federal agencies to facilitate criminal justice data sharing. 253
(5) Establish by rule: 254
(a) Requirements for the entities subject to the 255
requirements of s. 900.05 to submit data through an application 256
program interface. 257
(b) A data catalog defining data objects, describing data 258
fields, and detailing the meaning of and options for each data 259
element reported pursuant to s. 900.05. 260
(c) How data collected pursuant to s. 900.05 is compiled, 261
processed, structured, used, or shared. The rule shall provide 262
for tagging all information associated with each case number and 263
unique identifier. 264
(d) Requirements for implementing and monitoring the 265
Internet-based database under subsection (3). 266
(e) How information contained in the Internet -based 267
database under subsection (3) is accessed by the public. 268
(6) Consult with local, state, and federal criminal 269
justice agencies and other public and private use rs of the 270
database under subsection (3) on the data elements collected 271
under s. 900.05, the use of such data, and adding data elements 272
to be collected. 273
(7) Monitor data collection procedures and test data 274
quality to facilitate the dissemination of accura te, valid, 275
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reliable, and complete criminal justice data. 276
(8) Develop methods for archiving data, retrieving 277
archived data, and data editing and verification. 278
(9) Keep all information received by the department under 279
s. 900.05 which is confidential and exempt when collected by the 280
reporting agency confidential and exempt for purposes of this 281
section and s. 900.05. 282
(10)(a) By October 1, 2019, assist the Criminal and 283
Juvenile Justice Information Systems Council in developing 284
specifications for a uniform arrest affidavit to be used by each 285
state, county, and municipal law enforcement agency to 286
facilitate complete, accurate, and timely collection and 287
reporting of data from each criminal offense arrest. The uniform 288
arrest affidavit must at a minimum include all of the following: 289
1. Identification of the arrestee. 290
2. Details of the arrest, including each charge. 291
3. Details of each vehicle and item seized at the time of 292
arrest. 293
4. Juvenile arrestee information. 294
5. Release information. 295
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The uniform arrest affidavit specifications must also include 297
guidelines for developing a uniform criminal charge and 298
disposition statute crosswalk table to be used by each law 299
enforcement agency, state attorney, and jail administrator; and 300
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guidelines for developing a un iform criminal disposition and 301
sentencing statute crosswalk table to be used by each clerk of 302
the court. 303
(b) By January 1, 2020, subject to appropriation, the 304
department shall procure a uniform arrest affidavit, a uniform 305
criminal charge and disposition statute crosswalk table, and a 306
uniform criminal disposition and sentencing statute crosswalk 307
table following the specifications developed under paragraph 308
(a). The department shall provide training on use of the 309
affidavit and crosswalk tables to each state, county, and 310
municipal law enforcement agency, clerk of the court, state 311
attorney, and jail administrator, as appropriate. 312
(c) By July 1, 2020, each state, county, and municipal law 313
enforcement agency must use the uniform arrest affidavit, each 314
state attorney and jail administrator must use the uniform 315
criminal charge and statute crosswalk table, and each clerk of 316
the court must use the uniform criminal disposition and 317
sentencing statute crosswalk table. 318
Section 10. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 319