Statute was not enforced for 10 years
BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE— Sheriff’s in Bradford, Union and Clay counties said they will start enforcing the state’s new noise statute on July 1.
A previous state law regulating noise emitting from vehicles was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in 2012. The court said the statute was unconstitutionally vague.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1435 on May 26. The law allows police to ticket motorists for playing loud radios or sound devices that can be heard 25 feet away from vehicles.
Starke police said they will not immediately issue the $114 tickets for infractions. Instead, the agency said it would educate violators on the new law beginning in July.
The statute also allows law enforcement to declare special event zones in reaction to pop-up parties. Fines within the zone for noncriminal traffic infractions are doubled, police can impound a vehicle for up to 72 hours and can recover costs involved with enforcing the special event zone from the organizer or promoter of the event.
Several other laws affecting law enforcement agencies went into effect on July 1. Among them are:
Bonuses and raises
The legislature created the Florida Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program within the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity to provide one-time bonus payments of up to $5,000 to newly employed law enforcement officers.
House Bill 3 also gave a $5,000-a-year raise to sheriffs and allows sheriffs to transfer funds between budget line items without seeking approval from boards of county commissioners.
The budget provision nullifies the recent Supreme Court ruling in Alachua County, FL v. Watson, which required that sheriffs seek permission from their county commissions to move budgeted funds among the law enforcement, corrections, and judicial operations functions, as well as the personnel, operating, and capital objects in their budgets.
The law also creates $1,000 scholarships for officer training, provides up to $1,000 in training reimbursements for out-of-state law enforcement officers moving into Florida, and provides up to a $25,000 benefit for law enforcement officers adopting children,
Pretrial detention for juveniles
House Bill 7029 was sponsored by MacClenny’s Chuck Brannan and the accompanying Senate Bill 7040 was sponsored by Gainesville’s Keith Perry.
The measure extends the time a juvenile can be detained before a trial. The prior limit was 21 days.
Jail standards
Lawmakers established the Florida Model Jail Standards Working Group to create standards for the state’s jails. The new statute requires that all jails be inspected twice a year and imposes penalties for detention facilities that fail to meet minimum standards.
Any notable deficiency uncovered during an inspection must be corrected within 30 days, and jails will be fined $500 a day for violations not corrected after 30 days, $1,000 a day for deficiencies not corrected after 60 days, and $2,000 a day for violations not corrected after 90 days.
For any serious deficiency not corrected within 24 hours, a jail will be fined $2,000 a day after the 24-hour grace period. All fines must be contributed into the facility’s inmate welfare fund.
For repeat violations, a jail could be ordered to cease operations.
The new law also removes the requirement that those awaiting trial must be housed separately from convicted inmates, and it specifies that jails should give special consideration to inmates who are pregnant.
Drug offenses
Effective Oct. 1, a new law adds methamphetamine to the list of controlled substances which, if the substance caused or is proven to have been the proximate cause in producing the victim’s death, can subject the person who distributed the controlled substance to a conviction for first-degree murder.
The new law also increases the penalties for selling illegal drugs within 1,000 feet of schools, churches and other structures. In addition, it increases the penalties for selling fentanyl or fentanyl derivatives.
Mental health
A new law makes it a misdemeanor to furnish false information for the purpose of obtaining the involuntary commitment of a person under the state’s Baker Act.
A second statute requires law enforcement to use the least restrictive restraints possible when transporting a person involuntarily committed to a receiving facility.
Residential picketing
A new law makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to picket or protest outside another person’s home in order to harass or disturb the resident.
Before making an arrest, the statute requires law enforcement to first warn a protester and give the offender an opportunity to leave the scene.
Street takeovers and stunt driving
Lawmakers added activities to the first-degree misdemeanor of street racing. The updated statute now makes street takeovers, stunt driving, burnouts, doughnuts, drifting and wheelies illegal on public roads. The law also prohibits spectators from passively participating in such activities by filming or recording the infractions.
Overdose prevention
A new law allows pharmacists to dispense opioid antagonists, like Narcan to patients or caregivers without a prescription.
The law also authorizes law enforcement officers and probation officers to possess and administer the antagonists and shields such personnel from civil or criminal liability resulting from the administration of emergency opioid antagonists.
Retail theft
Rep. Chuck Clemmons of Gainesville sponsored a new law that defines two new organized retail theft crimes.
The first is a third-degree felony when an individual, acting alone or in concert with one or more other persons, commits five or more retail thefts within a 30-day period, and in committing such thefts: the offender obtains or uses 10 or more items of merchandise, regardless of the value of such merchandise, and two or more of the thefts occur at different physical merchant locations.
A second-degree felony is committed when an offender commits the acts described above, except the number of items obtained, is 20 or more.
Sexual offenses
A new law creates criminal and civil penalties for persons who promote certain altered sexual depictions, commonly called “deep fakes.”
Deep fakes are altered images that depict individuals engaging in sexual behavior that they did not engage in.
The law also makes illegal the act of obtaining sexually explicit images and using those images for financial gain.
It also defines as a second-degree felony, the act of promoting a sexually explicit image of an identifiable person without that person’s consent.
