CRC - 2017                                                  P 70
       
       
        
       By Commissioner Keiser
       
       keiserb-00083A-17                                       201770__
    1                        A proposal to create                       
    2         a new section in Article X of the State Constitution
    3         to establish the right to a tuition and fee waiver for
    4         the survivors of specified military members.
    5          
    6  Be It Proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission of
    7  Florida:
    8  
    9         A new section is added to Article X of the State
   10  Constitution to read:
   11                              ARTICLE X                            
   12                            MISCELLANEOUS                          
   13         Tuition and fee waivers for survivors of military members.—
   14         (a) A tuition and fee waiver shall be provided for by funds
   15  from general revenue when an active duty member of the United
   16  States Armed Forces or Florida National Guard, while engaged in
   17  the performance of his or her official duties, is:
   18         (1) Accidentally killed or receives accidental bodily
   19  injury which results in the loss of the individual’s life,
   20  provided that such killing is not the result of suicide and that
   21  such bodily injury is not intentionally self-inflicted; or
   22         (2) Unlawfully and intentionally killed or dies as a result
   23  of such unlawful and intentional act.
   24         (b) An eligible military member must have been a Florida
   25  resident or whose duty post was within the State of Florida at
   26  the time of death.
   27         (c) If an active duty member of the United States Armed
   28  Forces or the Florida National Guard is accidentally killed as
   29  specified in paragraph (a)(1), or unlawfully and intentionally
   30  killed as specified in paragraph (a)(2), the state shall waive
   31  certain tuition and fee expenses that the child or spouse of the
   32  deceased military member incurs while obtaining a career
   33  certificate, an undergraduate education, or a postgraduate
   34  education. The amount waived by the state shall be an amount
   35  equal to the cost of tuition and matriculation and registration
   36  fees for a total of 120 credit hours. The child or spouse may
   37  attend a state career center, a Florida College System
   38  institution, or a state university. The child or spouse may
   39  attend any or all of the institutions specified in this
   40  subsection, on either a full-time or part-time basis. The
   41  benefits provided to a child under this subsection continue
   42  until the child’s 25th birthday. The benefits provided to a
   43  spouse under this subsection must commence within 5 years after
   44  the death occurs, and entitlement thereto shall continue until
   45  the tenth anniversary of that death.
   46         (d) This section does not limit the legislature from
   47  enacting laws consistent with this section.
   48         (e) This amendment becomes effective upon approval by the
   49  electors.