BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

CS/CS/HB 1057 (Andrade) states that agencies who require vendors to demonstrate financial stability during the competitive solicitation process must accept any of the following as evidence of such stability: audited financial statements, documentation of an investment-grade rating from a credit rating agency, or for vendors with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion, a letter issued by the chief financial officer or controller of that vendor. CS/CS/HB 1057 passed the House (112-0) and the Senate (37-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Taggart)

CS/CS/SB 954 (Brodeur) and CS/HB 1139 (Drake) 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, 2023, the Department of Management Services (DMS) shall make recommendations regarding the procurement of electric vehicles and best practices for integrating such vehicles into existing fleets. CS/HB 1139 directs 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. (Taggart)

HB 6091 (Gregory) and SB 1520 (Gruters) remove a provision in the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act (CCNA) that requires a municipality to consider an equitable distribution of contracts among all qualified firms during the competitive selection process. (Taggart)

HB 293 (Thompson) and SB 322 (Stewart) – Discrimination in Labor and Employment 

SB 376 (Book) and HB 291 (Woodson) – Employment Protections

SB 382 (Brandes) – Minimum Wage Training

SB 550 (Cruz) and HB 853 (Daley) – Unlawful Employment Practices

SB 720 (Ausley) – The Florida Retirement System 

SB 688 (Cruz), SB 629 (Nixon) and HB 627 (Nixon) – Employment Practices for Family Medical Leave

SB 656 (Cruz) and HB 629 (Nixon) – Family and Medical Leave Insurance Benefits Fund 

HB 949 (Chambliss) – Employment Accommodations for Family or Household Members of Homicide Victims

HB 1197 (Byrd) and SB 1458 (Baxley) – Employee Organization Representing Public Employees

HB 1247 (Grieco) and SB 1606 (Polsky) – Medical Marijuana Public Employee Protection

HB 1253 (Brown) and SB 1608 (Bracy) – Prohibited Discrimination Based on Hairstyle

HB 1551 (Tomkow) and SB 1810 (Perry) – Florida Retirement System

HB 1191 (Altman) and SB 1618 (Broxson) – Restrictions on Employment

SB 1736 (Hooper) and HB 453 (Duggan) – Records of Physical Examinations

SB 446 (Taddeo) and HB 6047 (Smith, C.) repeal the preemption on political subdivisions' ability to establish a minimum wage other than the state or federal minimum wage. (Hughes)

HB 57 (Fine) and SB 242 (Gruters) prohibit municipalities, and other governmental entities, from including in any mandatory employee training "divisive concepts" as defined by the bills.

The bills also require that each municipality ensure that all diversity and inclusion efforts encourage employees not to judge each other on color, race, ethnicity, sex or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law. (Hughes)

CS/SB 1124 (Gruters) and CS/HB 943 (Harding) create the "Wage Mandate Preemption Act," which revise prohibitions relating to political subdivisions, including municipalities. The bills prohibit a political subdivision from enacting a wage mandate on an employer in an amount greater than the state minimum wage. The bills do not apply to employees of the political subdivision or if federal law requires the payment of a minimum wage to persons working on projects funded by federal funds. (Hughes)

CS/SB 266 (Diaz) requires an agency that employs law enforcement officers and allows those officers to take home an agency-owned vehicle to maintain motor vehicle insurance, including bodily injury, death and property damage liability coverage that covers the time an officer spends while going to or coming from work or any other agency assignment in an official law enforcement vehicle. The bill provides specific instances when the motor vehicle insurance would not have to provide coverage. CS/SB 266 passed the Senate (37-0) and the House (117-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Hughes)

CS/HB 3 (Leek) provides multiple new and expanded benefits and training for first responders. Of note to municipalities, the bill creates the Florida Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Payment Program within the Department of Economic Opportunity. The program is a one-time, up to $5,000, bonus payment to newly employed officers within the state to aid in the recruitment of officers. Bonus payments are contingent upon legislative appropriations. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the Legislature appropriated $20 million for this program. CS/HB 3 passed the Senate (34-0) and the House (114-3) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Hughes)

HB 645 (Gottlieb) and SB 992 (Book) require employers of full-time law enforcement, corrections and corrections probation officers to extend employer-paid health insurance benefits to the officer's surviving spouse and each dependent child if the officer dies in the line of duty as a result of exposure to a pandemic disease that is the subject of a public health emergency. These bills apply retroactively to March 1, 2020. (Hughes)

CS/HB 7 (Avila) and SB 148 (Diaz) make subjecting any individual, as a condition of employment, to specific concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, sex, color, sex or national origin and is an unlawful employment practice. CS/HB 7 passed the House (74-41) and the Senate (24-15) and is awaiting action by the governor. (Hughes)

HB 5007 (Appropriations) establishes the contribution rates paid by employers participating in the Florida Retirement System beginning July 1, 2022. These rates are intended to fund the full normal cost and the amortization of the unfunded actuarial liability of the FRS. The bill also modifies DROP to allow a member of the Special Risk Class who is a law enforcement officer to participate for up to 36 calendar months beyond the 60-month period if he or she enters DROP on or before June 30, 2028. (Hughes)

HB 31 (Busatta Cabrera) extends certain provisions of the Firefighters' Bill of Rights to questioning conducted under an informal inquiry. The bill specifies that an informal inquiry does not include routine work-related discussions, such as safety sessions or normal operational fire debriefings. The bill requires an informal inquiry of a firefighter to be of reasonable duration with permitted periods for rest and personnel necessities and not subject the firefighter to offensive language or offer any incentive as an inducement to answer any questions. During an informal inquiry or interrogation, a firefighter may not be threatened with a transfer, suspension, dismissal or other disciplinary action. HB 31 passed the House (118-0) and the Senate (39-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Hughes)

CS/SB 838 (Wright) expands the eligibility for certain cancer treatment benefits to include full-time, Florida-certified fire investigators. CS/SB 838 passed the Senate (37-0) and the House (112-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Hughes)

CS/HB 301 (Roach) and CS/CS/SB 510 (Brodeur) require all municipal elected officials and all municipal managers to file an annual full disclosure of financial interests (Form 6) with the Florida Commission on Ethics. These individuals are currently required to file only a Limited Disclosure of Financial Interests (Form 1). In addition, CS/CS/SB 510 requires members of the Florida Elections Commission and the Florida Commission on Ethics to file full financial disclosures annually. CS/CS/SB 510 also removes current law provisions which give the Ethics Commission discretion to dismiss complaints concerning financial disclosures involving de minimus or inadvertent errors and authorizes the commission to dismiss proceedings involving executive branch lobbyist disclosures if it determines the public interest would not be served by proceeding further. CS/CS/SB 510 passed the Senate (30-7) but was not taken up by the House. (Hughes)

CS/HB 105 (Fine) authorizes cities and counties to restrict smoking within the boundaries of any public beach or park they own. The bills specify that municipalities can restrict smoking within the boundaries of a beach or park that is owned by the county but located within the city, as long as it does not conflict with any county ordinance. The bill prevents cities and counties from restricting unfiltered cigars. CS/HB 105 passed the House (105-10) and the Senate (30-7) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Taggart)

SB 262 (Rodriguez) and HB 6011 (Roach) – Damages Recoverable by Parents of an Adult Child in Medical Negligence Actions

HB 295 (Fernandez-Barquin) – Workers' Compensation Coverage by Employee Leasing Companies

HB 335 (Fabricio)  HB 353 (Fabricio)– Satisfaction of Mortgages

HB 383 and HB 385 (Maney) – Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsels

HB 431 (Barnaby) and SB 1680 (Gruters) – Office of Financial Regulation

HB 465 (Sirois) and SB 438 (Burgess) – Unites States Armed Forces

HB 471 (Roth) – Town of Lake Clarke Shores, Palm Beach County

SB 468 (Perry) and HB 503 (Gregory) – Insurance 

SB 560 (Rodriguez) and HB 6039 (Hinson)– Recovery for Wrongful Death

SB 596 and SB 598 (Baxley) – Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsels

SB 610 (Brandes) and SB 7014 (Judiciary)– COVID-19 Related Claims Against Health Care Providers

HB 695 (Stevenson) and SB 1058 (Hutson) – Property Insurer Reimbursements

HB 829 (Bryd) and SB 1342 (Diaz) – Civil Actions for Deprivation of Rights, Privileges, or Immunities

HB 1123 (Maney) and SB 1274 (Broxson) – Ratification of Rules of the Department of Financial Services

HB 6111 (Learned) – Establishment of Recreational Customary Use

HB 1185 (Plakon) and SB 1276 (Diaz) – Legislative Review of Proposed Regulation on Unregulated Functions

SB 1548 (Perry) – Occupational Licensing 

HB 7013 (Fabricio) and SB 7018 (Banking & Insurance) – OGSR/Workers' Compensation/Department of Financial Services

HB 2239 (Smith, D.) – UCF-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic for Florida Veterans and First Responders

HB 429 (Goff-Marcil) and SB 532 (Stewart) – Private Schools

HB 619 (Rodriguez) and SB 1336 (Boyd) - United States-produced Iron and Steel in Public Works Projects

HB 631 (Grall) and SB 780 (Hutson) - Airports 

HB 719 (Smith) and SB 1044 (Hooper) – Swim-up Bars

SB 812 (Baxley) and HB 815 (Killebrew) – Digital License Plate Pilot Program

HB 894 (Farmer) – Strategic Fuel Reserve Plan

SB 1524 (Boyd) – Recreation Districts

SB 178 (Pizzo) and HB 285 (Benjamin) – Visiting County and Municipal Detention Facilities

SB 162, SB 164, & SB 326 (Brandes), HB 333 (Williamson) and HB 1585 (Williams)– Physicians Certifications for the Medical Use of Marijuana

HB 467 (Hinson), HB 549 (Omphroy), HB 551 (Omphroy), SB 776 (Brandes) and SB 1884 (Powell)  – Legalization of Recreational Marijuana

SB 556 (Cruz) – Medical Marijuana Identification Cards for Service-disabled Veterans

HB 575 (McClain) and SB 1216 (Hutson) – Vacation and Timeshare Plans

HB 679 (Learned) and SB 1268 (Gruters) – Cannabis Regulation

HB 693 (Drake) and SB 768 (Rodriguez) – Department of Health

SB 704 (Harrell) and HB 479 (Caruso) – Substance Abuse Service Providers

SB 944 (Baxley) and HB 1227 (Toledo) – Online Marketplace Transparency  

SB 990 (Diaz) and HB 867 (Rizo) – Towing Vehicles

HB 1061 (Chaney) and SB 1750 (Wright)  – Sale of Cats and Dogs

SB 1144 (Brodeur) and HB 1321 (Melo) – Advanced Life Support Nontransport Services and Medical Countermeasures

HB 1471 (Smith) – Availability of Marijuana for Adult Use

SB 1624 and SB 1696 (Farmer) – Fees/Marijuana Establishments

SB 1906 (Rouson) – Hemp Extract Products

HB 1075 (Slosberg-King) and SB 1508 (Taddeo) create the “Penny Bautista Act.” The bills prohibit a person from tethering a domestic dog or domestic cat unless the person is physically present with and attending to the dog or cat and the dog or cat remains visible to the person at all times while tethered. (Taggart)

HB 253 (Killebrew) prohibits a for-profit business from selling domestic cats and dogs. The bill does not prohibit a city or county from adopting an ordinance on the sale of animals that is more stringent than the bill. (Taggart)

SB 1022 (Ausley) and HB 6081 (Hunschofsky) repeal the state preemption on the regulation of tobacco and nicotine products. Current law preempts local governments from regulating the marketing, sale or delivery of tobacco products. (Taggart)