SPB 7176 Summary

• Transfers primary responsibility for monitoring and certifying domestic violence centers from the Department of Children and Family Services to the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, with annual certification based on favorable coalition reviews.

• Requires the department to contract with the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence for managing domestic violence service delivery and with the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence for administering the STOP Violence Against Women Grant Program.

• Eliminates requirements that the department serve as an information clearinghouse on domestic violence and provide educational programs on the topic.

• Removes certification requirements for batterers' intervention programs and repeals the certification and monitoring office, instead establishing statutory requirements that such programs must meet (29-week minimum length, psychoeducational model, user-fee funding, victim safety priority).

• Authorizes the department to terminate contracts for forensic mental health, substance abuse, and mental health services with 24 hours' written notice if funding becomes unavailable, and creates an equity-based allocation model for distributing community-based care lead agency funding.