A Senate Democrat on Friday proposed creating two compensation funds for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victims and family members and providing $160 million in state money for the programs.
Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, proposed three bills (SB 1678, SB 1680 and SB 1682) that would create and fund the programs.
One of the bills would create the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Victim Family Compensation Fund Program, which would provide money to family members of victims who died in the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting.
Another bill would create the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Victim Compensation Fund Program, which would provide money to victims who were shot and wounded.
The third bill would create a trust fund within the Florida Department of Education, which would manage the money. The proposal calls for providing $80 million to the compensation program for family members of victims who died and $80 million to the compensation program for victims who were wounded.
To receive money from the programs, people making claims would have to agree not to sue the state or other government agencies or seek legislative “claim” bills related to the shooting.
“It is the intent of the Legislature to provide a streamlined process for the presentation of and payment of each claim when the claimant agrees to forgo litigation and the claim bill process and to release the state and its political subdivisions from any and all claims arising out of the event,” the two bills setting up the programs said.
The shooting at the Broward County school killed 17 people and wounded 17.
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