Florida Senate - 2023 SB 480



By Senator Powell





24-01131-23 2023480__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the first-time offender plea deal
3 pilot program; creating a first-time offender plea
4 deal pilot program; providing eligibility requirements
5 for the program; allowing eligible offenders to be
6 resentenced in accordance with a previously declined
7 plea agreement; specifying duties of the Department of
8 Corrections; providing for expiration of the program;
9 providing an effective date.
10
11 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
12
13 Section 1. First-time offender plea deal pilot program.—
14 (1) There is created a pilot program for inmates in the
15 custody of the Department of Corrections. To qualify for the
16 program an inmate must:
17 (a) Be a first-time felony offender.
18 (b) Have served 20 years or more of his or her sentence.
19 (c) Have been offered a plea agreement before trial which
20 he or she declined to accept. Such a plea agreement must:
21 1. Have provided the inmate with a shorter sentence than
22 the sentence the inmate ultimately received; and
23 2. Be provable either through documentation or other
24 evidence.
25 (d) Maintain eligibility to earn gain-time due to a lack of
26 a disciplinary violation while he or she has been incarcerated.
27 (e) Not have been convicted for actually killing a victim
28 or for actually engaging in an act constituting a sexual battery
29 as defined in s. 794.011(1).
30 (2) Beginning October 1, 2023, an inmate eligible under
31 subsection (1) may petition either the circuit court that
32 originally sentenced the inmate or the circuit court that has
33 jurisdiction over the area in which the inmate currently resides
34 and may request that he or she be resentenced in accordance with
35 the terms of the declined plea agreement.
36 (3) If the circuit court determines by a preponderance of
37 the evidence that the inmate is eligible under subsection (1),
38 the court must resentence the inmate in accordance with the
39 terms of sentence in the plea agreement. When the circuit court
40 determines the inmate’s eligibility, the Department of
41 Corrections shall release the inmate or recalculate the release
42 date accordingly, as appropriate.
43 (4) This section expires September 30, 2025.
44 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.