BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

HB 785 (Botana) and SB 1190 (Boyd) authorize the use of two-way radio communication enhancement systems to comply with certain radio signal strength requirements in the Florida Building Code. The bills exempt apartment buildings that are 75 feet or less in height from requiring two-way radio communication systems. (Branch)

HB 6029 (Sabatini) preempts cities, counties and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles from installing, maintaining or utilizing red light cameras effective July 1, 2025. (Branch)

SB 890 (Burgess) and HB 593 (Trabulsy) require an employee of a public safety agency who answers emergency medical service calls to provide direct telephonic assistance in administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation or transfer calls to a dedicated telephone line, call center or other public safety agency with which the transferring public safety agency has a reciprocal agreement. The bills also require all 911 public safety telecommunicators who take telephone calls and provide dispatch functions for emergency medical conditions to complete telecommunicator cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and continuing education as deemed appropriate by the Department of Health. (Taggart)

SB 1482 (Bracy) requires the Department of Law Enforcement to establish and maintain a statewide police misconduct registry by June 30, 2023. The bill also specifies the type of incidents and complaints that would be required to be reported by the local agency. The bill would require this reporting to begin January 2, 2024, and information submitted every three months thereafter by the head of each local agency. (Taggart)

SB 802 (Gruters) and HB 1421 (Hawkins) require the Department of Education to work with local emergency management and law enforcement personnel to create a model reunification plan for use by child care facilities, K-12 schools and public postsecondary educational institutions for schools that are unexpectedly evacuated due to a disaster. Each school district will be required to adopt a district-specific plan by working with local law enforcement. The model plan will be required to be reviewed annually. The bills also require law enforcement officers responsible for responding to specific schools in the event of an active assailant emergency to be physically present on campus during the execution of active assailant emergency drills. The bills also direct the Department of Education to consult with local constituencies to establish minimum drill policies relating to the timing, frequency, participation, training, notification, accommodations and responses to threat situations by incident type, as well as to school level and characteristics. The bills specify that these drills be conducted at least annually. (Taggart)

SB 496 (Taddeo) and HB 6049 (Daley) repeal the current statutory preemption prohibiting cities and counties from regulating firearms and ammunition. (Taggart)

HB 189 (Duran), SB 410 (Rodriguez) and HB 797 (Overdorf) authorize a county or municipality to contract with a vendor to install cameras in school speed zones to enforce speed limits. Within the first 30 days after such a camera or cameras are installed in a school speed zone, a motor vehicle operator found to have violated the speed limit will be issued a warning and will not be liable for the civil penalty. (Branch)

SB 370 (Hooper) and HB 351 (Duggan) add service as a firefighter as grounds for increased criminal penalties for certain criminal offenses. (Taggart)

SB 1494 (Bracy) requires each law enforcement agency in this state to mandate that its

law enforcement officers wear body cameras and use vehicle dash cameras. (Taggart)

HB 11 (Rizo) and SB 1872 (Bean) prohibit a person from approaching a law enforcement officer after receiving a warning with intent to impede, provoke or harass. (Taggart)

SB 652 (Cruz) requires the employer of each athletic venue, entertainment venue and convention center capable of accommodating 5,000 persons or more to display a human trafficking public awareness sign. (Taggart)

SB 788 (Hooper) creates the Florida Hometown Hero Housing Program to assist frontline emergency workers, certain medical and health care personnel and educators in purchasing a home as their primary residence. (Branch)

HB 127 (Slosberg) prohibits the use of handheld wireless devices while operating a motor vehicle where first responders are actively working. This bill does provide several exceptions, such as first responders performing in their official capacity or drivers accessing safety-related information, including emergency, traffic or weather alerts. (Branch)

SB 544 (Boyd) and HB 731 (Caruso) require EMS providers to electronically report suspected or actual controlled substance overdoses using the Emergency Medical Service Tracking and Reporting System or other program as identified by department rule. Current law allows for optional reporting. (Taggart)

SB 226 (Powell) and 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

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)