Subcommittee advances bill to expand compensation for wrongfully incarcerated Floridians

The Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted to report HB 59 favorably as amended on a 17-0 roll call, moving legislation that would expand avenues for compensation for people who were wrongfully incarcerated in Florida.

HB 59 would extend the deadline for exonerees to file for state compensation from 90 days to two years, remove the statute's "clean hands" provision and allow exonerees to pursue either a civil lawsuit or the state's compensation process rather than forcing a waiver of the civil option. Supporters said the changes would remove procedural barriers that have denied compensation to many exonerees.

The bill's sponsor explained the three primary changes at the committee hearing and described the measure as aimed at reducing legal barriers that have kept exonerees from receiving compensation. Committee members adopted a technical amendment, barcode 384739, which the sponsor said aligns the bill with its Senate companion and removes conflicting statutory language. The committee adopted that amendment by voice vote and later approved the bill on a 17-0 roll call.

A number of criminal-justice advocacy groups registered support and waived public testimony, including the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Florida Smart Justice Alliance, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Innocence Project of Florida. Committee members who spoke in favor cited anecdotal cases of long delays in compensation; one member said a man compensated after exoneration died within 18 months of release.

Supporters told the committee that, since the state's compensation statute was enacted in 2018, 18 exonerees have been denied state compensation under the statute’s existing restrictions, a figure the sponsor said represents roughly 300 years of wrongful incarceration in aggregate and an estimated fiscal exposure of about $15,000,000 if those 18 individuals were compensated under the statute’s formulas. Those numbers were presented at the hearing by the bill’s sponsor and proponents.

Representative Hart and other members expressed personal support for expanding access, and the bill’s closing remarks emphasized the committee's view that when the state makes a mistake that deprives someone of liberty, the state should provide a path toward redress. With no recorded opposition at the committee level, the subcommittee voted to report HB 59 favorably as amended; the measure will be transmitted to the next stage of the process.

Votes and formal actions recorded in the hearing: the committee adopted amendment barcode 384739 (technical alignment with the Senate companion) and then voted 17 yeas, 0 nays to report HB 59 favorably as amended.