CopyCited 3 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2015 Fla. App. LEXIS 5851, 2015 WL 1810302
...ending that the
Department enter a final order affirming the denial of appellant’s
application for certification as a Florida firesafety inspector “based on his
felony criminal history [from the 1993 plea] and pursuant to Sections
633.216(2) and
633.412(1)(b), Florida Statutes (2013).” The hearing officer
also rejected the argument that section
112.011, Florida Statutes,
prohibited the Department from denying appellant’s firesafety inspector
certification.
In November 2013, the Department issued a final order, adopting the
hearing officer’s findings....
...This appeal ensued.
On appeal, appellant argues that the Department erred as a matter of
law in its construction of the statutes governing his application for
certification as a firesafety inspector. He maintains that when construed
in harmony to give effect to each statute, sections
633.216(2),
633.412(1)(b) and
112.011(1)(b) compel that his application for
certification be granted....
...d
pursuant to state or local firesafety requirements shall be by a person
certified as having met the inspection training requirements set by the
State Fire Marshal.” §
633.216(2), Fla. Stat. (2013).2 “Such person shall
meet the requirements of s.
633.412(1)(a)-(d),” and must have satisfactorily
completed an examination and a training program. §
633.216(2), Fla. Stat.
(2013). Thus, to be certified as a firesafety inspector, an applicant must
first meet the requirements for certification as a firefighter set forth in
section
633.412(1)(a)-(d), Florida Statutes (2013).
Under section
633.412(1)(b), Florida Statutes (2013), a person applying
for certification as a firefighter must not have been convicted of a felony.
For purposes of section
633.412, the term “convicted” is defined as “a
finding of guilt or the acceptance of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, in
2Because the final agency action occurred in November 2013, we apply the 2013
statutes....
...See § 633.081(2)(b), Fla. Stat.
(2012).
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any federal or state court or a court in any other country, without regard
to whether a judgment of conviction has been entered by the court having
jurisdiction of the case.” § 633.412(1)(b), Fla....
...section does not apply to the employment practices of any fire department
relating to the hiring of firefighters.” The present case, however, involves
a certification rather than an initial hiring.
Analysis
Under the plain language of sections
633.216(2) and
633.412(1)(b),
Florida Statutes (2013), one of the requirements for becoming a firesafety
inspector is that the applicant has not entered a plea of nolo contendere
to a felony....
...Department’s conclusion that appellant was disqualified from serving as a
firesafety inspector. To the extent that section
112.011 conflicts with the
provisions of Chapter 633, it is axiomatic that a specific statute controls
over a general statute. Sections
633.216(2) and
633.412(1)(b) are the
statutes that specifically address qualifications for certification as a
firesafety inspector, and they therefore control over the general provisions
of section
112.011.
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We acknowledg...
