Rep. Passidomo Honored For Public Safety Support

Photo by Cpl. Efrain Hernandez/CCSO

Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk has presented state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo with a Florida Sheriff’s Association Legislation Award for her support to public safety.

Sheriff Rambosk recognized Rep. Passidomo, R-Naples, at the CCSO monthly supervisors meeting Monday at the Professional Development Center, 615 Third Ave. S., Naples.

“Representative Passidomo is looking out for public safety in the Legislature,” Sheriff Rambosk said.

Over the past several years Rep. Passidomo has worked to make business identity theft a crime in Florida, hold pawn shop brokers accountable and make it easier to locate life-saving devices for sudden cardiac arrest victims, the Sheriff said.

Rep. Passidomo co-sponsored a bill that became law during this year’s legislative session that requires secondhand dealers such as pawnshop brokers to photograph items they buy off the street. It also expands the holding period for certain second-hand goods, including art, antique furnishings and jewelry, from 15 days to 30 days.

“With this increase in time from 15 to 30 days and a photo of the missing items, deputies now have a better chance of recovering certain stolen goods,” Sheriff Rambosk said.

Rep. Passidomo is active, along with Sheriff Rambosk, in the Collier County Identity Fraud Task Force. She has helped lead the fight to modernize Florida’s laws and give victims of identity theft the tools they need to restore their rights.

She co-authored a bill that was signed into law last year making it a crime to steal the identity of a business. 2015’s HB 157 also created a streamlined process that provides victims proof of fraud and allows courts to issue orders to correct public records containing false information. It also increases penalties for medical fraud and makes it a crime to knowingly provide false information to the public record.

Rep. Passidomo also sponsored legislation that was signed into law allowing 911 dispatchers to direct civilian responders to nearby automated external defibrillators when they are helping victims of sudden cardiac arrest.

Prior to the passage of House Bill 801, while owners of automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, could register their ownership with the local emergency medical services director and volunteer to take calls to come to the aid of an individual suffering cardiac arrest, due to privacy laws 911 operators did not have the authority to notify those AED owners that a call had come in from someone having a cardiac emergency. Thus, precious time was lost while the 911 operators dispatched EMS services to the scene of the emergency.