House would allow the incarcerated to obtain credits for vocational licenses
4th Street Barber in St. Petersburg. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)
A bill that would ensure that credits earned from prison-based classes count toward professional licensing requirements has passed in the Florida House of Representatives and is headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis' desk for consideration.
The House on Tuesday unanimously passed the Senate version (SB 472), sponsored by Central Florida Republican Keith Truenow, which passed unanimously in that chamber earlier this month.
The measure requires the Correctional Education Program (CEP) within the Department of Corrections to provide educational programming to inmates in state correctional facilities. The CEP provides 92 career and technical education courses in 37 vocational trades that are aligned to Florida's in-demand occupations, including barbering, cosmetology, electrical contracting, landscaping, plumbing, and HVAC contracting, according to a bill analysis.
The CEP has awarded 36,689 certificates and industry-recognized credentials over the last four years. However, these certificates were largely only valid while the people receiving them were incarcerated, and they are not recognized outside of prison, according to the Florida Policy Institute.
The House measure (HB 195) is sponsored by Miami-Dade Democrat Kevin Chambliss and Seminole County Republican Rachel Plakon.
'I'm reminded of the women who are girlfriends, who are wives and even the moms of the loved ones who are incarcerated,' said Plakon. 'And the theme that comes up again and again is hope. They say, 'Please give them something to hope for.' And I think they're right, because when someone has served their time and they want to choose a different path, let's give them the education, let's give them something to hope for a second chance.'
Chambliss has sponsored a version of this bill for the past several sessions, calling it a 'labor of love.'
'We know that our prisons are overcrowded, but we also know that our labor force has in-demand jobs that are readily available. This bill addresses that,' he said.
The measure is similar to a proposal that Gov. DeSantis vetoed last year, with one major omission.
In his veto message, DeSantis specifically referred to a provision that would have reduced the time from five years to three years that the Barbers' Board and Board of Cosmetology could use a criminal conviction as ground to deny licenses. He wrote in his message that 'there may be good reason for the board to have this information before making a decision regarding a particular applicant.'
This year's bill does not include that provision.
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