CS/CS/HB 99 - Florida Safe Harbor Act

• Establishes the "Florida Safe Harbor Act" to treat sexually exploited children as dependent children rather than delinquents, with goals of ensuring safety, severing bonds with traffickers, and enabling children to testify against offenders.

• Creates short-term and long-term "safe houses" operated by licensed residential child-caring agencies to provide secure shelter, counseling, medical care, and educational services to sexually exploited children ages 6 and older.

• Requires the Department of Children and Family Services to assess sexually exploited dependent children for safe house placement and submit annual reports to the Legislature on placement criteria, number of children evaluated, and placement availability by county.

• Increases civil penalty for soliciting another to commit prostitution from $500 to $5,000, with first $500 going to drug court programs and remainder funding safe houses through the Department of Children and Family Services.

• Allows sexually exploited children to be eligible for victim compensation and exempts them from certain disqualifying factors, and permits law enforcement training on identifying and serving sexually exploited children.