Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 394 > Part V - Involuntary Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators

• Accessible electronic information and information technology: means electronic information and information technology that conforms to the standards for accessible electronic information and information technology as set forth by…. See Florida Statutes 282.602
• Affiliate: means an entity that is related through a parent corporation's controlling interest. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Agency: means any official, officer, department, board, commission, division, bureau, section, district, office, authority, committee, or council, or any other unit of organization, however designated, of the executive branch of state government, and the Public Service Commission. See Florida Statutes 283.30
• agency computing facility: means agency space containing fewer than a total of 10 physical or logical servers, but excluding single, logical-server installations that exclusively perform a utility function such as file and print servers. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Agency with jurisdiction: means the entity that releases, upon lawful order or authority, a person who is serving a sentence in the custody of the Department of Corrections, a person who was adjudicated delinquent and is committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice, a person who was involuntarily committed to the custody of the Department of Children and Families upon an adjudication of not guilty by reason of insanity, or a person who is serving a sentence in a county or municipal jail for a sexually violent offense as defined in paragraph (9)(i). See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assessable improvements: means , without limitation, any and all public improvements and community facilities that the district is empowered to provide in accordance with this act. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Assessment bonds: means special obligations of the district which are payable solely from proceeds of the special assessments levied for an assessable project. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Average daily balance: means the average daily balance of public deposits held during the reported month. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Average monthly balance: means the average monthly balance of public deposits held by the depository during any 12 calendar months. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• board of supervisors: means the governing board of the district or, if such board has been abolished, the board, body, or commission succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to whom the powers given to the board by this act have been given by law. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Bond: includes "certificate" and the provisions which are applicable to bonds are equally applicable to certificates. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Community development district: means a local unit of special-purpose government which is created pursuant to this act and limited to the performance of those specialized functions authorized by this act; the governing head of which is a body created, organized, and constituted and authorized to function specifically as prescribed in this act for the purpose of the delivery of urban community development services; and the formation, powers, governing body, operation, duration, accountability, requirements for disclosure, and termination of which are as required by general law. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convicted of a sexually violent offense: means a person who has been:
  (a) Adjudicated guilty of a sexually violent offense after a trial, guilty plea, or plea of nolo contendere;
  (b) Adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity of a sexually violent offense; or
  (c) Adjudicated delinquent of a sexually violent offense after a trial, guilty plea, or plea of nolo contendere. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Cost: when used with reference to any project, includes, but is not limited to:
  (a) The expenses of determining the feasibility or practicability of acquisition, construction, or reconstruction. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Custodian: means the Chief Financial Officer or a bank, credit union, savings association, or trust company that:
  (a) Is organized and existing under the laws of this state, any other state, or the United States;
  (b) Has executed all forms required under this chapter or any rule adopted hereunder;
  (c) Agrees to be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state, or of the courts of the United States which are located within this state, for the purpose of any litigation arising out of this chapter; and
  (d) Has been approved by the Chief Financial Officer to act as a custodian. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Customer entity: means an entity that obtains services from the Department of Management Services. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Cybersecurity: means the protection afforded to an automated information system in order to attain the applicable objectives of preserving the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data, information, and information technology resources. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Data: means a subset of structured information in a format that allows such information to be electronically retrieved and transmitted. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Data governance: means the practice of organizing, classifying, securing, and implementing policies, procedures, and standards for the effective use of an organization's data. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Default or insolvency: includes , without limitation, the failure or refusal of a qualified public depository to pay a check or warrant drawn upon sufficient and collected funds by a public depositor or to return a deposit on demand or at maturity together with interest as agreed; the issuance of an order by a supervisory authority restraining such depository from making payments of deposit liabilities; or the appointment of a receiver for such depository. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Management Services. See Florida Statutes 283.30
• Department: means the Department of Management Services. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Department: means the Department of Children and Families. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Disaster recovery: means the process, policies, procedures, and infrastructure related to preparing for and implementing recovery or continuation of an agency's vital technology infrastructure after a natural or human-induced disaster. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• District: means the community development district. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• District manager: means the manager of the district. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• District roads: means highways, streets, roads, alleys, sidewalks, landscaping, storm drains, bridges, and thoroughfares of all kinds and descriptions. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Duplicating: means the process of reproducing an image or images from an original to a final substrate through the electrophotographic, xerographic, laser, or offset process or any combination of these processes, by which an operator can make more than one copy without rehandling the original. See Florida Statutes 283.30
• Elector: means a landowner or qualified elector. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Electronic: means technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Electronic information and information technology: includes information technology and any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in creating, converting, or duplicating data or information. See Florida Statutes 282.602
• Eligible collateral: means securities, Federal Home Loan Bank letters of credit, and cash, as designated in…. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Enterprise: means state agencies and the Department of Legal Affairs, the Department of Financial Services, and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Enterprise architecture: means a comprehensive operational framework that contemplates the needs and assets of the enterprise to support interoperability. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Event: means an observable occurrence in a system or network. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Financial institution: means , including, but not limited to, an association, bank, brokerage firm, credit union, industrial savings bank, savings and loan association, trust company, or other type of financial institution organized under the laws of this state or any other state of the United States and doing business in this state or any other state, in the general nature of the business conducted by banks and savings associations. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• General obligation bonds: means bonds which are secured by, or provide for their payment by, the pledge, in addition to those special taxes levied for their discharge and such other sources as may be provided for their payment or pledged as security under the resolution authorizing their issuance, of the full faith and credit and taxing power of the district and for payment of which recourse may be had against the general fund of the district. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Governmental unit: means the state or any county, school district, community college district, state university, special district, metropolitan government, or municipality, including any agency, board, bureau, commission, and institution of any of such entities, or any court. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Incident: means a violation or an imminent threat of violation, whether such violation is accidental or deliberate, of information technology resources, security, policies, or practices. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Information technology: means equipment, hardware, software, firmware, programs, systems, networks, infrastructure, media, and related material used to automatically, electronically, and wirelessly collect, receive, access, transmit, display, store, record, retrieve, analyze, evaluate, process, classify, manipulate, manage, assimilate, control, communicate, exchange, convert, converge, interface, switch, or disseminate information of any kind or form. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Information technology: means any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. See Florida Statutes 282.602
• Information technology policy: means a definite course or method of action selected from among one or more alternatives that guide and determine present and future decisions. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Interoperability: means the technical ability to share and use data across and throughout the enterprise. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Landowner: means the owner of a freehold estate as appears by the deed record, including a trustee, a private corporation, and an owner of a condominium unit; it does not include a reversioner, remainderman, mortgagee, or any governmental entity, who shall not be counted and need not be notified of proceedings under this act. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Likely to engage in acts of sexual violence: means the person's propensity to commit acts of sexual violence is of such a degree as to pose a menace to the health and safety of others. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Local general-purpose government: means a county, municipality, or consolidated city-county government. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Loss to public depositors: means loss of all principal and all interest or other earnings on the principal accrued or accruing as of the date the qualified public depository was declared in default or insolvent. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Mental abnormality: means a mental condition affecting a person's emotional or volitional capacity which predisposes the person to commit sexually violent offenses. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Open data: means data collected or created by a state agency, the Department of Legal Affairs, the Department of Financial Services, and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and structured in a way that enables the data to be fully discoverable and usable by the public. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Performance metrics: means the measures of an organization's activities and performance. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Person: means an individual 18 years of age or older who is a potential or actual subject of proceedings under this part. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• political subdivision: include counties, cities, towns, villages, special tax school districts, special road and bridge districts, bridge districts, and all other districts in this state. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Project: means any development, improvement, property, utility, facility, works, enterprise, or service now existing or hereafter undertaken or established under the provisions of this act. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Project: means an endeavor that has a defined start and end point; is undertaken to create or modify a unique product, service, or result; and has specific objectives that, when attained, signify completion. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Project oversight: means an independent review and analysis of an information technology project that provides information on the project's scope, completion timeframes, and budget and that identifies and quantifies issues or risks affecting the successful and timely completion of the project. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Public: means those entities and persons other than subordinate and functionally related or connected federal, state, or local governmental agencies. See Florida Statutes 283.30
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Public deposit: means the moneys of the state or of any state university, county, school district, community college district, special district, metropolitan government, or municipality, including agencies, boards, bureaus, commissions, and institutions of any of the foregoing, or of any court, and includes the moneys of all county officers, including constitutional officers, which are placed on deposit in a bank, credit union, savings bank, or savings association. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Public depositor: means the official custodian of funds for a governmental unit who is responsible for handling public deposits. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Public deposits program: means the Florida Security for Public Deposits Act contained in this chapter and any rule adopted under this chapter. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Publication: means any document, whether produced for public or internal distribution. See Florida Statutes 283.30
• Qualified public depository: means a bank, credit union, savings bank, or savings association that:
  (a) Is organized and exists under the laws of the United States, the laws of this state, or the laws of any other state or territory of the United States. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Ransomware incident: means a malicious cybersecurity incident in which a person or an entity introduces software that gains unauthorized access to or encrypts, modifies, or otherwise renders unavailable a state agency's, county's, or municipality's data and thereafter the person or entity demands a ransom to prevent the publication of the data, restore access to the data, or otherwise remediate the impact of the software. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Refunding bonds: means bonds issued to refinance outstanding bonds of any type and the interest and redemption premium thereon. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Reported month: means the month for which a monthly report is due from qualified public depositories. See Florida Statutes 280.02
• Revenue bonds: means obligations of the district which are payable from revenues derived from sources other than ad valorem taxes on real or tangible personal property and which do not pledge the property, credit, or general tax revenue of the district. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Risk assessment: means the process of identifying security risks, determining their magnitude, and identifying areas needing safeguards. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Children and Families. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Service level: means the key performance indicators (KPI) of an organization or service which must be regularly performed, monitored, and achieved. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Service-level agreement: means a written contract between the Department of Management Services or a provider of data center services and a customer entity which specifies the scope of services provided, the service level, the duration of the agreement, the responsible parties, and the service costs. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• sewer system: includes treatment plants, pumping stations, lift stations, valves, force mains, intercepting sewers, laterals, pressure lines, mains, and all necessary appurtenances and equipment; all sewer mains, laterals, and other devices for the reception and collection of sewage from premises connected therewith; and all real and personal property and any interest therein, rights, easements, and franchises of any nature relating to any such system and necessary or convenient for operation thereof. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• Sexually motivated: means that one of the purposes for which the defendant committed the crime was for sexual gratification. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Sexually violent offense: means :
  (a) Murder of a human being while engaged in sexual battery in violation of…. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Sexually violent predator: means any person who:
  (a) Has been convicted of a sexually violent offense; and
  (b) Suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility for long-term control, care, and treatment. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Standards: means required practices, controls, components, or configurations established by an authority. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• State agency: means any official, officer, commission, board, authority, council, committee, or department of the executive branch of state government; the Justice Administrative Commission; and the Public Service Commission. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• State agency: means any agency of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of state government. See Florida Statutes 282.602
• SUNCOM Network: means the state enterprise telecommunications system that provides all methods of electronic or optical telecommunications beyond a single building or contiguous building complex and used by entities authorized as network users under this part. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Telecommunications: means the science and technology of communication at a distance, including electronic systems used in the transmission or reception of information. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Threat: means any circumstance or event that has the potential to adversely impact a state agency's operations or assets through an information system via unauthorized access, destruction, disclosure, or modification of information or denial of service. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Total confinement: means that the person is currently being held in any physically secure facility being operated or contractually operated for the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Justice, or the Department of Children and Families. See Florida Statutes 394.912
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Undue burden: means significant difficulty or expense. See Florida Statutes 282.602
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Variance: means a calculated value that illustrates how far positive or negative a projection has deviated when measured against documented estimates within a project plan. See Florida Statutes 282.0041
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• veteran: means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under honorable conditions only or who later received an upgraded discharge under honorable conditions, notwithstanding any action by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs on individuals discharged or released with other than honorable discharges. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Victim advocate: work with prosecutors and assist the victims of a crime.
• water management and control facilities: includes all real and personal property and any interest therein, rights, easements, and franchises of any nature relating to any such water management and control facilities or necessary or convenient for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, operation, or maintenance thereof. See Florida Statutes 190.003
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01