Florida S694: Compensation of the Descendants of Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas

What the bill says

An act relating to compensation of the descendants of Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas; providing that certain facts are found and declared to be true; providing that a sum is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of State for specified relief; requiring that a specified percentage of such relief be provided to certain individuals and estates; providing that specified persons are ineligible for further compensation; providing an effective date.

From the introduced text, February 16, 2026:

A bill to be entitled An act relating to compensation of the descendants of Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas; providing that certain facts are found and declared to be true; providing that a sum is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of State for specified relief; requiring that a specified percentage of such relief be provided to certain individuals and estates; providing that specified persons are ineligible for further compensation; providing an effective date. WHEREAS, on July 16, 1949, a 17-year-old white woman and her estranged husband reported to police that they had been attacked and that she had been raped by four black men after the car that she and her husband were riding in broke down on a rural road outside Groveland, in Lake County, and WHEREAS, despite the lack of physical evidence in the case and the established alibis of the accused, Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas, the four men were presumed guilty, and WHEREAS, Mr. Irvin and Mr. Shepherd, both World War II veterans, acknowledged that they had stopped by the broken-down vehicle to see if they could assist the couple, but denied any involvement in the alleged rape, and WHEREAS, Mr. Greenlee, who was only 16 years old at the time, and Mr. Thomas …