BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 842 (Harrell) provides a public records exemption for the personal identifying information of a person reporting a potential code violation. (Taggart)

HB 157 (Holcomb) and SB 518 (DiCeglie) provide a public records exemption for the personal information of individuals who foster or adopt an animal from an animal shelter or animal control agency operated by a local government. (Taggart)

CS/SB 216 (Burgess) and CS/HB 525 (Arrington) create a public records exemption for the personal identifying and location information of current county and city attorneys and assistant/deputy county and city attorneys, as well as information regarding the spouses and children of those attorneys. (Taggart)

HB 495 (Antone) creates the Commission on Public Safety in Urban and Inner-City Communities within the Department of Law Enforcement. The purpose of the commission is to investigate system failures and the causes and reasons for high crime and gun violence incidents in urban and inner-city neighborhoods and communities and to develop recommendations for system improvements. Linked to HB 495, HB 497 (Antone) creates a public meeting exemption for the Commission on Public Safety in Urban and Inner-City Communities when exempt or confidential information is discussed. This provision is set to sunset in 2028. (Taggart)

HB 7007 (Ethics, Elections & Open Government Subcommittee) and SB 7040 (Banking and Insurance) save from repeal the public record and public meeting exemption for security or firesafety system plans for any property owned by or leased to the state or any of its political subdivisions or for any privately owned or leased property held by an agency, information related to such systems, as well as any portion of a meeting relating directly to or that would reveal such systems, plans or information. HB 7007 passed the House (115-0) and is awaiting action by the Senate. (Taggart)

HB 7001 (Yarkosky) and SB 7006 (Governmental Oversight and Accountability) save from repeal the public record exemption for information related to the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network. SB 7006 passed the Senate (38-0) and the House (108-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Taggart)

HB 7009 (Ethics, Elections & Open Government Subcommittee) and SB 7008 (Governmental Oversight and Accountability) save from repeal the public record exemption for building plans, blueprints and schematic drawings. The exemption does not apply to comprehensive plans or site plans that are submitted for approval or that have been approved under local land development regulations, local zoning regulations or development-of-regional-impact review. SB 7008 passed the Senate (38-0) and the House (109-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Taggart)

HB 279 (Jacques) and SB 310 (Collins) would require federal law enforcement agencies that are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and have a physical office in Florida to comply with the state's public records requirements. (Taggart)

SB 1264 (Rouson) requires an agency to provide an electronic option for the payment of any fee associated with a request to inspect or copy public records. (Taggart)

SB 1516 (Pizzo) and HB 1527 (Joseph) require governmental agencies to provide members of the Legislature and the Florida cabinet any requested documents within seven days after receiving the request. The governmental entity may not redact the records and must waive all fees associated with the request. The legislative member or the cabinet member requesting the records is responsible for keeping the records confidential and may only share the records with another member of the Legislature. The requestee must submit a form to the agency releasing the records acknowledging this obligation. (Taggart)

SB 918 (DiCeglie) directs the Office of Supplier Diversity of the Department of Management Services to establish a Small Business Certification Program. The bill requires local governments to accept this small business certification regardless of any additional local certification process. (Taggart)

CS/CS/SB 264 (Collins) and CS/CS/HB 1355 (Borrero) prohibit governmental agencies from knowingly entering into a contract with an entity that would give access to an individual’s personal information if the entity is owned by a foreign country of concern or a foreign country of concern has a controlling interest in the entity. These provisions would also apply to entities that have their principal place of business in a foreign country of concern. Beginning January 1, 2024, the bills require governmental agencies to receive a signed affidavit under penalty of perjury attesting that they do not meet the criteria as described above. Foreign countries of concern include: the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Cuba, the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro and the Syrian Arab Republic. The bills direct the Attorney General to enforce these provisions. The bills also prohibit governmental entities from providing economic incentives to foreign countries of concern. CS/CS/SB 264 passed the Senate (38-0) and is awaiting action by the House. (Taggart)

CS/CS/SB 284 (Brodeur) and CS/CS/HB 1025 (Caruso) revise the vehicle procurement requirements for the state purchasing plan. Specifically, the bills require vehicles of a given use class to be selected for procurement based on the lowest lifetime ownership costs rather than the greatest fuel efficiency. Before July 1, 2024, the Department of Management Services (DMS) shall make recommendations to all governmental agencies regarding the procurement of electric vehicles and best practices for integrating such vehicles into existing fleets. The bills direct DMS to rank vehicles based on the lowest cost of ownership over five years. Any vehicle purchased under the state’s purchasing plan must be ranked in the top five of the Department’s rankings. Law enforcement vehicles are exempt from this requirement. CS/CS/SB 284 passed the Senate (39-0) and is awaiting action by the House. (Branch)

CS/CS/HB 1123 (Gossett-Seidman) and CS/SB 1646 (Davis) require commercial service airports to post certain information on their website and modify certain purchasing requirements. The airport must post online the airport’s master plan and any contract or contract amendments for the purchase of commodities or contractual services in excess of category five. The bills also increase the threshold that requires commercial service airports to use a competitive solicitation process from category three to category five. The bills were amended to specify that contract approval must be placed as a separate line item on a meeting agenda for all contracts. The amendment also creates a scaled threshold for this requirement ranging from $500,000-$1.5 million depending on the airport size instead of $4 million as originally filed. CS/CS/HB 1123 passed the House (112-0) and is awaiting action by the Senate. (Taggart)

SB 830 (Hooper) clarifies that a public works project for the purposes of repair or maintenance also includes projects that utilize a consortium or cooperative purchasing agreement. (Taggart)

HB 239 (Bussatta Cabrera) and SB 224 (Hooper) – Special Risk Class Retirement Date

HB 291 (Holcomb) and SB 436 (Rodriguez) – 911 Public Safety Telecommunicators

HB 1121 (Bartleman) and SB 1156 (Burton) – Florida Retirement System 

SB 632 (Powell) and HB 687 (Daniels) – Veteran's Preference for Promotion

SB 576 (Book) and HB 663 (Cassel) – Employment Protections

SB 972 (Polsky) and HB 1065 (Nixon) – Protections for Public Employees Who Use Medical Marijuana as Qualified Patients

SB 1026 (Stewart) – Discrimination in Labor and Employment

HB 1109 (Barnaby) and SB 1310 (DiCeglie) – Expanding Public Sector Career Opportunities

HB 1445 (Black) and SB 256 (Ingoglia) – Employee Organizations Representing Public Employees

HB 1311 (Porras) and SB 1452 (Rodriguez) – Survivor Benefits

SB 7024 (Government Oversight and Accountability) – Retirement

CS/HB 95 (Duggan) and CS/CS/SB 618 (Yarborough) will amend the "law enforcement officer bill of rights" to prohibit a law enforcement officer or correctional officer from being discharged, suspended, demoted or otherwise disciplined solely as a result of a prosecuting agency determining that the officer withheld exculpatory evidence or that officer’s name was included on the Brady identification system. The Brady identification system is a database that contains information about police misconduct, public complaints, use-of-force reports, etc. CS/HB 95 passed the House (93-17) and is awaiting action by the Senate. (Cruz)

HB 927 (Alvarez) and SB 1086 (Gruters) require an agency to provide notice to a law enforcement or correctional officer within 180 days after an alleged misconduct before any disciplinary action, suspension, demotion, or dismissal can be taken.  (Chapman)

CS/SB 696 (Ingoglia) and HB 729 (Holcomb) prohibit a municipality from renewing, extending, or renegotiating employments contracts with the Chief Executive Officer of a municipality or a municipal attorney within 12 months before an August primary election for the municipality’s mayor or for members of the governing body. CS/SB 696 amended the original bill to now prohibit a municipality from renewing or extending, employments contracts with the Chief Executive Officer of a municipality or the city’s general counsel within 8 months before a general election for the municipality’s mayor or for members of the governing body.  (Chapman)

HB 181 (Lopez) and SB 1354 (Stewart) specify the minimum factor used to calculate the cost-of-living adjustment for certain retirees and beneficiaries of the Florida Retirement System. (Cruz)