(1) There is created within the Department of Financial Services a Stop Inmate Fraud Program.

(2) The Department of Financial Services is directed to implement the Stop Inmate Fraud Program in accordance with the following guidelines:

(a) The program shall establish procedures for sharing public records not exempt from the public records law among social services agencies regarding the identities of persons incarcerated in state correctional institutions, as defined in s. 944.02, or in county, municipal, or regional jails or other detention facilities of local governments under chapter 950 or chapter 951 who are wrongfully receiving public assistance benefits or entitlement benefits.

(b) Pursuant to these procedures, the program shall have access to records containing correctional information not exempt from the public records law on incarcerated persons which have been generated as criminal justice information. As used in this paragraph, the terms “record” and “criminal justice information” have the same meanings as provided in s. 943.045.

(c) Database searches shall be conducted of the inmate population at each correctional institution or other detention facility. A correctional institution or a detention facility shall provide the Stop Inmate Fraud Program with the information necessary to identify persons wrongfully receiving benefits in the medium requested by the Stop Inmate Fraud Program if the correctional institution or detention facility maintains the information in that medium.

(d) Data obtained from correctional institutions or other detention facilities shall be compared with the client files of the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Economic Opportunity, and other state or local agencies as needed to identify persons wrongfully obtaining benefits. Data comparisons shall be accomplished during periods of low information demand by agency personnel to minimize inconvenience to the agency.

(e) Results of data comparisons shall be furnished to the appropriate office for use in the county in which the data originated. The program may provide reports of the data it obtains to appropriate state, federal, and local government agencies or governmental entities, including, but not limited to:

1. The Child Support Enforcement Program of the Department of Revenue, so that the data may be used as locator information on persons being sought for purposes of child support.

2. The Social Security Administration, so that the data may be used to reduce federal entitlement fraud within the state.

(f) Reports by the program to another agency or entity shall be generated bimonthly, or as otherwise directed, and shall be designed to accommodate that agency’s or entity’s particular needs for data.

(g) Only those persons with active cases, or with cases that were active during the incarceration period, shall be reported, in order that the funding agency or entity, upon verification of the data, may take whatever action is deemed appropriate.

(h) For purposes of program review and analysis, each agency or entity receiving data from the program shall submit reports to the program which indicate the results of how the data was used.

History.—s. 10, ch. 95-431; s. 43, ch. 96-175; s. 219, ch. 97-101; s. 31, ch. 97-173; s. 10, ch. 99-333; s. 6, ch. 2000-214; s. 318, ch. 2011-142; s. 23, ch. 2011-213; s. 38, ch. 2013-116; s. 231, ch. 2014-19.

Note.—Former s. 409.3251.