Bill > H0705

This bill, known as the "Florida First Step Act," makes several changes to Florida's sentencing and incarceration laws. The key provisions include: 1. Requiring the Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide inmates with a comprehensive community reentry resource directory before release, and allowing DOC to contract with veterans advocacy clinics to assist qualified veteran inmates in applying for benefits. 2. Authorizing DOC to establish a Prison Entrepreneurship Program, which would include at least 180 days of in-prison education and 90 days of post-release services. 3. Allowing DOC to grant an additional 60 days of gain-time to inmates who successfully complete the Prison Entrepreneurship Program or earn a high school equivalency diploma or vocational certificate. 4. Authorizing the transfer of eligible offenders to "administrative probation," a reduced level of supervision, after completing at least half of their probation term. 5. Establishing an alternative sanctioning program for probationers and offenders on community control who commit certain "technical violations," allowing probation officers to impose alternative sanctions instead of filing a violation report with the court. 6. Requiring the court to impose a sentence below the statutory minimum for certain drug trafficking offenses if certain criteria are met, such as the defendant not having a prior conviction for a violent crime and not using violence or possessing a firearm in connection with the offense.

Justice

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/705