Bill Text: FL S0834 | 2020 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Emergency Alerts

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2020-03-14 - Died in Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development [S0834 Detail]

Download: Florida-2020-S0834-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2020                              CS for SB 834
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Infrastructure and Security; and Senator
       Simmons
       
       
       
       
       596-02229-20                                           2020834c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to emergency alerts; creating s.
    3         784.072, F.S.; defining terms; authorizing a local law
    4         enforcement agency to activate the emergency alert
    5         system and issue a Lockdown Alert to public and
    6         private schools and child care facilities under
    7         certain circumstances; requiring local law enforcement
    8         agencies to create and maintain a list of all public
    9         schools, private schools, and child care facilities
   10         within their jurisdictions which must be included in
   11         the Lockdown Alert; authorizing public or private
   12         schools or child care facilities to contact their
   13         local law enforcement agencies to verify that they are
   14         included on the list or to register for inclusion on
   15         the list; requiring a local law enforcement agency to
   16         take a private school or child care facility off the
   17         list if the school or facility requests that it be
   18         taken off the list; providing immunity from civil
   19         liability to certain persons for damages for complying
   20         in good faith with specified provisions; providing a
   21         presumption of good faith; providing construction;
   22         requiring the Department of Law Enforcement, in
   23         cooperation with the Department of Highway Safety and
   24         Motor Vehicles and the Department of Transportation,
   25         to activate the emergency alert system and issue an
   26         Imminent Threat Alert to the public at the request of
   27         a local law enforcement agency under certain
   28         circumstances; specifying information that must be
   29         provided in Imminent Threat Alerts, if available;
   30         requiring Imminent Threat Alerts to be disseminated to
   31         the public through the emergency alert system and
   32         through the use of certain dynamic message signs;
   33         providing that the agency responsible for posting the
   34         Imminent Threat Alert on the dynamic message sign does
   35         not violate this section if certain traffic emergency
   36         information is displayed on the sign in lieu of the
   37         alert; providing immunity from civil liability to
   38         certain persons for damages for complying in good
   39         faith with specified provisions; providing a
   40         presumption of good faith; providing construction;
   41         providing an effective date.
   42          
   43  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   44  
   45         Section 1. Section 784.072, Florida Statutes, is created to
   46  read:
   47         784.072 Notification of imminent threat to schools and
   48  child care facilities or the public; Lockdown Alert; Imminent
   49  Threat Alert.—
   50         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   51         (a) “Child care facility” has the same meaning as in s.
   52  402.302.
   53         (b) “Imminent Threat Alert” means a notification issued
   54  pursuant to subsection (3) which informs the public that an
   55  imminent threat exists such that the lives and safety of people
   56  are endangered, including, but not limited to, instances in
   57  which a person suspected of killing or causing serious bodily
   58  injury to another person or assaulting another person with a
   59  deadly weapon has fled the scene of the offense.
   60         (c) “Lockdown Alert” means a notification issued pursuant
   61  to subsection (2) which informs public schools, private schools,
   62  and child care facilities that an imminent threat exists,
   63  including, but not limited to, instances in which a person
   64  suspected of killing or causing serious bodily injury to another
   65  person or assaulting another person with a deadly weapon has
   66  fled the scene of the offense. The alert advises the schools and
   67  facilities to lock their doors and encourages persons in those
   68  schools and facilities to remain in lockdown and be vigilant in
   69  watching for and reporting any suspicious activity.
   70         (d) “Private school” has the same meaning as in s. 1002.01.
   71         (2)(a) A local law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction
   72  over the scene of an incident giving rise to an imminent threat
   73  to the public may activate the emergency alert system and issue
   74  a Lockdown Alert to all public and private schools and child
   75  care facilities it determines are at risk, given their proximity
   76  to the incident, including an incident in which all of the
   77  following conditions are satisfied:
   78         1. A person has been killed or has suffered serious bodily
   79  injury or a person has been assaulted with a deadly weapon by
   80  another person.
   81         2. The person suspected of committing the offense has fled
   82  the scene of the offense.
   83         3. The law enforcement agency investigating the offense has
   84  determined that the suspect poses an imminent threat to the
   85  public safety.
   86         (b) For purposes of complying with this subsection, each
   87  local law enforcement agency shall create and maintain a list of
   88  all public schools, private schools, and child care facilities
   89  within its jurisdiction.
   90         (c) A public or private school or child care facility may
   91  contact local law enforcement agencies to verify that it is
   92  included on the list of those that will receive a Lockdown Alert
   93  or to register to be included on the list. A local law
   94  enforcement agency must take a private school or child care
   95  facility off the list if the school or facility requests that it
   96  be taken off the list.
   97         (d)1. Upon recording, reporting, transmitting, displaying,
   98  or releasing information pertaining to a Lockdown Alert, the
   99  local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction; the Department
  100  of Law Enforcement; any state or local law enforcement agency
  101  and the personnel of these agencies; any radio or television
  102  network, broadcaster, or other media representative; any dealer
  103  of communications services as defined in s. 202.11; or any
  104  agency, employee, individual, or entity is immune from civil
  105  liability for damages for complying in good faith with this
  106  subsection and is presumed to have acted in good faith in
  107  recording, reporting, transmitting, displaying, or releasing
  108  information pertaining to a Lockdown Alert. The presumption of
  109  good faith is not overcome if a technical or clerical error is
  110  made by any agency, employee, individual, or entity acting at
  111  the request of the local law enforcement agency having
  112  jurisdiction, or if information pertaining to a Lockdown Alert
  113  is incomplete or incorrect because the information received from
  114  the local law enforcement agency was incomplete or incorrect.
  115         2. Neither this subsection nor any other law creates a duty
  116  of the agency, employee, individual, or entity to record,
  117  report, transmit, display, or release the Lockdown Alert
  118  information received from the local law enforcement agency
  119  having jurisdiction. The decision to record, report, transmit,
  120  display, or release information is discretionary with the
  121  agency, employee, individual, or entity receiving the
  122  information.
  123         (3) At the request of a local law enforcement agency, the
  124  Department of Law Enforcement, in cooperation with the
  125  Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the
  126  Department of Transportation, must activate the emergency alert
  127  system and issue an Imminent Threat Alert to the public when the
  128  local law enforcement agency confirms that an imminent threat to
  129  the public exists, including, but not limited to, circumstances
  130  in which all of the following conditions have been satisfied:
  131         (a) A person has been killed or has suffered serious bodily
  132  injury or a person has been assaulted with a deadly weapon by
  133  another person.
  134         (b) The person suspected of committing the offense has fled
  135  the scene of the offense.
  136         (c) The law enforcement agency has determined that the
  137  suspect poses an imminent threat to the public safety.
  138         (4) An Imminent Threat Alert must, to the extent
  139  practicable, provide a detailed description of a suspect’s
  140  vehicle or other means of escape, the license plate number of
  141  the suspect’s vehicle, or any other available information that
  142  may assist in averting further harm or in the apprehending of
  143  the suspect.
  144         (5)(a) An Imminent Threat Alert must be immediately
  145  disseminated to the public through the emergency alert system
  146  and through the use of the dynamic message signs that are
  147  located along the State Highway System.
  148         (b) If a traffic emergency arises requiring that
  149  information pertaining to the traffic emergency be displayed on
  150  a dynamic message sign on a state highway in lieu of an Imminent
  151  Threat Alert, the agency responsible for posting the Imminent
  152  Threat Alert on the dynamic message sign does not violate this
  153  section.
  154         (c)1. Upon receiving a request to record, report, transmit,
  155  display, or release Imminent Threat Alert information from the
  156  law enforcement agency having jurisdiction, the Department of
  157  Law Enforcement; any state or local law enforcement agency and
  158  the personnel of these agencies; any radio or television
  159  network, broadcaster, or other media representative; any dealer
  160  of communications services as defined in s. 202.11; or any
  161  agency, employee, individual, or entity is immune from civil
  162  liability for damages for complying in good faith with this
  163  subsection and is presumed to have acted in good faith in
  164  recording, reporting, transmitting, displaying, or releasing
  165  information pertaining to an Imminent Threat Alert. The
  166  presumption of good faith is not overcome if a technical or
  167  clerical error is made by any agency, employee, individual, or
  168  entity acting at the request of the local law enforcement agency
  169  having jurisdiction, or if information pertaining to an Imminent
  170  Threat Alert is incomplete or incorrect because the information
  171  received from the local law enforcement agency was incomplete or
  172  incorrect.
  173         2. Neither this subsection nor any other law creates a duty
  174  of the agency, employee, individual, or entity to record,
  175  report, transmit, display, or release the Imminent Threat Alert
  176  information received from the local law enforcement agency
  177  having jurisdiction. The decision to record, report, transmit,
  178  display, or release information is discretionary with the
  179  agency, employee, individual, or entity receiving the
  180  information.
  181         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2020.