On Friday, it will become a hate crime to attack a homeless person in Florida specifically because they are homeless.
“It was just time,” said bill sponsor Rep. Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs. “Maryland had passed their law the year before in their assembly because of the footage that had been caught by (a) Florida Atlantic University (FAU) camera. So we were one-upped by a state that was disgusted by what they saw in our state.”
In 2006, cameras on the FAU campus caught several men using baseball bats and sticks to beat homeless men sleeping in three separate locations. The incident, combined with others, spurred a movement around the country examining crimes against homeless people. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, Florida led the country in violence against street dwellers from 2005 to 2008, and was second to California in 2009. The center reported that there were 16 crimes specifically directed at homeless people in Florida in 2009. California had 27.
Under the legislation, HB 11, passed by Florida lawmakers this past spring, attackers would face steeper penalties when they’re found to have targeted a person specifically because the victim was homeless. An attack that currently would be a first degree misdemeanor, bringing a maximum one year prison sentence, on Oct. 1 will become a third degree felony, punishable by up to five years.
“I think the facts have to demonstrate that the reason they were pursued was because they were homeless,” Porth said. “Something that was said by the aggressors. In the case of the incident in 2006, the young men went out in Fort Lauderdale to specifically find men or women that were sleeping on benches, that were homeless. That is what they set out to do that night.”
Penalties will also be enhanced for drug dealers pushing methadone, come Oct. 1. Under the new law, SB 808, methadone dealers whose clients overdose on the drug and die could face a first degree murder charge, which could lead to a death penalty or life in prison. The new law mirrors one involving heroin dealers.
“You can’t distribute narcs to someone and just walk away and say OK,” said Rep. Will Snyder, R-Stuart.
Other bills set to become law on Friday include:
-A bill that increases regulation for pain clinics and physicians that own them or work there. The “pill mill” legislation prevents pain clinics from dispensing more than a three-day supply of pills to anyone paying in cash or credit cards. Last week, owners of the National Pain Institute asked a federal judge in Tallahassee to declare the new law unconstitutional, a case that is pending.
-The Luis Ortega Street Racing Act, increases fines and penalties for repeated street racing violations.
-A measure that amends debt collection practices by requiring more records and sets statewide standards. It also increases the maximum fine for unscrupulous debt collectors.
– A bill updating the law covering threats made in writing, to make it clear that a threat of injury or death that is sent by e-mail or other electronic communications is punishable by up to 15 years in prison just as if it were made on paper.
-A measure that makes it illegal to impersonate a military veteran to solicit donations.
Several new license plates will be created on Oct. 1. These include the St. Johns River plate, the Endless Summer plate, and the Creates Catch Me, Release Me license tag, the Florida Horse Park license plate, & Florida Biodiversity Foundation license plate.
By Kathleen Haughney
The News Service of Florida
