BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 226 (Powell) and CS/HB 25 (Killebrew) create the Care for Retired Law Enforcement Dog Program within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The bills require that the FDLE contract with a nonprofit corporation to administer and manage the program. (Taggart)

HB 493 (Botana) and SB 606 (Garcia) create additional safety provisions and requirements for boat liveries or privately owned boat rental companies. Of importance to local governments, the bills require livery owners to notify local law enforcement if a vessel is unnecessarily overdue more than one hour after the contracted time. Additionally, the bills appropriate funding for the creation of an Illegal Boating Strike Team for the purposes of increasing intergovernmental coordination while addressing illegal boating activity. (Taggart)

SB 614 (Garcia) and HB 721 (Buchanan) authorize certain housing authorities to adopt ordinances, rules or policies relating to dangerous dogs. The bills remove an exemption for local ordinances adopted before a specified date that pertain to dogs that have bitten or attacked persons or domestic animals. (Branch)

SB 1672 (Berman) and HB 1271 (Morales) provide for the development and implementation of an active shooter alert system by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The bills allow for FDLE to partner with local governments to assist in the development and implementation of the alert system. Once created and upon request by a local law enforcement agency, FDLE may activate the alert system to assist the local agency when responding to an active shooter event. (Taggart)

HB 699 (McFarland) and SB 934 (Gruters) – Pub. Rec./Homelessness Counts and Databases

HB 983 (Stevenson) – Pub. Rec./Voters and Voter Registration

SB 1282 (Diaz) – Public Records/Investigation of a Murder

SB 1920 (Gruters) – Public Records/Election Workers

HB 1547 (Overdorf) and SB 1848 (Gruters) prohibit public agencies from requiring an individual to provide personal information. The bills also prohibit agencies from releasing, publishing or otherwise publicly disclosing personal information. “Personal information” is defined as any compilation of data that directly or indirectly identifies a person as a member, supporter, volunteer or donor of a financial or nonfinancial support to any nonprofit entity. The bills specify how an impacted party may file a lawsuit, set fees for each violation and allow for a judge to award attorneys fees to the complaint bringing the action. (Taggart)

HB 773 (Willhite) and SB 1046 (Hooper) exempt from public records requirements law enforcement officers and law enforcement vehicle geolocation information. The bills specify that the exemption would be applied retroactively. (Taggart)

HB 1121 (Brannan) and CS/SB 1614 (Harrell) revise an exemption from public records requirements for written reports of crashes. Crash reports held by an agency may now be made available to any private person or entity acting on behalf of a federal, state or local governmental agency in carrying out its functions. (Taggart)

SB 1420 (Burgess) and HB 1213 (Arrington) create a public records exemption for the personal identifying and location information of current and former county and city attorneys and assistant county and city attorneys, as well as information regarding the spouses and children of those attorneys. (Taggart)

HB 307 (Hawkins) and SB 716 (Bradley) provide a public records exemption for the personal information of individuals who adopt an animal from an animal shelter or animal control agency operated by a local government. (Taggart)

SB 1472 (Stewart) requires agencies to respond to a public records request within five business days by: a) making the records available, b) denying the request or c) providing a statement of how long the request will take and the reason for the delay. (Taggart)

SB 674 (Cruz) suspends the physical quorum requirement for local governmental bodies during a declared state of emergency. The bill would allow meetings of any board or commission to be held via telephone, real-time videoconferencing or similar real-time electronic or video communication for no more than six months from the start of the declared state of emergency, unless extended by the governor by executive order. (Taggart)

SB 7006 (Education) saves from repeal the public records exemption relating to any portion of a campus emergency response held by a public postsecondary institution, a state or local law enforcement agency, a county or municipal emergency management agency, the Executive Office of the Governor, the Department of Education, the Board of Governors of the State University System, or the Division of Emergency Management, as well as that portion of a public meeting which would reveal information related to a campus emergency response. (Taggart)

HB 1057 (Andrade) and SB 1952 (Albritton) state 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. (Taggart)

CS/SB 954 (Brodeur) and 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/SB 954 was amended to 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. (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 1247 (Grieco) and SB 1606 (Polsky) – Medical Marijuana Public Employee Protection

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

HB 1551 (Tomkow) – Florida Retirement System

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)

CS/SB 266 (Diaz) revises the definition of "law enforcement officer" to specify that time spent on certain activities, such as portal-portal travel in an agency-issued vehicle, is a part of service as a law enforcement officer. (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)