Predator act fallout hits contractors

10/23/05

A last-minute amendment to the Jessica Lunsford Act -- the popular law that tightened the noose on the actions of sexual predators -- is wreaking financial havoc for contractors across Florida.

When Gov. Jeb Bush signed the act into law on May 2, he called the measure "right and just."

But a requirement for contractors to go through an extensive background check before stepping foot on school property -- a check known as Level 2 screening that includes fingerprinting -- has created both confusion and added high costs.

With school districts like Hillsborough County budgeted to spend $595.4 million on construction maintenance and renovations for the 2005-06 school year, there's a sizeable chunk of business being threatened.

"There has to be an easier, more efficient way of doing this," said Steve P. Cona Jr., president and CEO of the Florida Gulf Coast chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, a statewide advocacy organization. "Talking to my counterparts around the state, there is not a clear interpretation of what the law states as far as Level 2 screening."

Broad powers

The law demands school districts screen contractors who come on site with a full background check that includes a criminal history, and gives them broader powers in banning contractors from school campuses. School districts set the requirements needed for the background checks, which is costing an estimated $61 per contractor.

Those dollars add up, said Cona.

"It's hard to determine what the (overall) costs is going to be," Cona said. "Not only do you have the fingerprinting at $65, but you also have four to eight hours of time to get in line, get fingerprinted and get the job done. Some of these sites can have anywhere from 10 to 150 to 250 people working on the job site."

The amendment impacting contractors does have its problems, said State Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

"I think it's unfortunate the way the law is written," Lynn said. "It left a great deal up to interpretation. I think we need to clarify what the act intended to do."

The law was meant to prevent another Jessica Lunsford-style incident. Last February, 9-year-old Jessica was kidnapped from her Homosassa residence and later found dead near her father's mobile home. John Evander Couey was arrested for her murder a month later. Couey apparently had worked as a subcontractor at Jessica's school where he reportedly originally found out about her.

But the new law doesn't even cover subcontractors like Couey was, said John Bowen, school board attorney with the Manatee County School District.

"Obviously, they intended to include such people, but the simple fact of the matter is, they didn't put subcontractors in there," Bowen said. "They're not required to undergo Level 2 screening."

Others making it work

While there may be questions about how to implement the law, not all contractors have a problem with the bill.

"It's a good plan out there up front. It just has to be executed properly," said Fred Hames, executive VP for Skanska USA Building Inc., a company that is working on several school projects. "It is necessary, I guess, in today's environment to protect the kids that are out there. It does create some headache, and there's a cost, of course, of doing it. It is more difficult, but it's nowhere near as bad as people are making it out to be."

Those who don't think the same way have been developing ideas of their own to fix what they perceive are problems with the law. Cona, through the Associated Builders and Contractors of Florida, has been pushing through a revision to the law that would require contractors to provide a sworn written certification to the school board on an annual basis that all of its employees who provide or deliver goods, materials or services on school property while students are present have been screened to determine whether they are a sexual offender or sexual predator. It also calls for violators to be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor.

Bowen said he has an even simpler idea.

"Make it a felony in the third degree for somebody who is a sexual predator or sexual offender to go on school grounds while students are present," Bowen said. "It would be easy to implement. All you have to go is go on the Web site for FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) or the U.S. Department of Justice, and see if that person is on there. And if they are, have them arrested.

"They are unlikely to go on campus if they are going to be subject to a felony of the third degree. And it covers everyone. If you're a parent and you're on the list, you better stay off that campus. I don't care if your kids go to school there or not."

Making changes

The Lunsford Act itself went through proper committees before becoming law, but Lynn admits the amendment regarding school contractors didn't. She said it's possible that legislators could readdress that issue when they go back into session next spring.

The fallout is mounting.

The law doesn't determine who is going to pick up the tab for the extra costs. In many cases, school districts are forcing contractors to pay those extra costs, but Cona said it's very possible that those costs will end up being redirected back to taxpayers with higher construction costs.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9800818#storyContinued

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