BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 1472 (Book) authorizes the governor to mandate certain improvements to a local government’s public safety communications system if the Department of Management Services finds that the system is inadequate. A system can be found “inadequate” if the system is unable to support the public safety needs of a community based on the age of the system, the number of towers available within the community or the ability of the system as a whole to withstand high volumes of radio and cellular traffic during a specific timeframe. The bill requires local governments to reimburse the state for improvements made to inadequate community communication systems. (Cook)

HB 453 (Duggan) and SB 884 (Hooper) – Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers

SB 456 (Rodriguez) and HB 691 (Jacquet) – Minimum Wage 

HB 161 (Toledo) and SB 206 (Rouson) – Prohibited Discrimination

SB 90 (Stewart) and HB 739 (Thompson) – Discrimination in Labor and Employment

HB 589 (Duggan) and SB 1142 (Hooper) – Offenses against Firefighters

HB 635 (Watson) and HB 863 (Watson) – Unlawful Discrimination

SB 644 (Braynon) – Florida Civil Rights Act

HB 795 (Joseph) – Pregnant Employees

HB 889 (Davis) and SB 1194 (Cruz) – Employee Practices

SB 1168 (Braynon) – Public Records/Complaints Related to Discrimination Based on Height or Weight

HB 3297 (Aloupis) – Firefighter Cancer Initiative

SB 760 (Brandes) and HB 1331 (Roach) – Intergovernmental Programs

SB 1734 (Taddeo) – Reemployment After Retirement of Instructional Personnel

SB 1586 (Perry) – First Responders Suicide Deterrence Task Force

SB 992 (Brandes) makes several changes related to employer and employee contributions, as well as account allocations, under the Florida Retirement System Investment Plan. SB 992 clarifies that if an employee defaults into the investment plan retroactively to the date of employment, the employee and employer begin paying employee and employer contributions at the applicable rate for investment plan members only after the default has occurred and not retroactively to the date of hire. The bill would also allow FRS investment plan members to make voluntary, after-tax employee contributions to their investment plan accounts, up to the maximum allowed by IRS rules. Employee contribution rates to the investment plan are currently 3% of gross compensation. Beginning July 1, 2021, SB 992 would increase member contribution rates for investment plan members initially enrolled before July 1, 2020, until the rate of all membership classes under the investment plan is 5%. The bill incrementally increases allocations to investment plan accounts. In order to fund the increased allocations to investment plan member accounts under SB 992, required employer contribution rates would be increased by an amount that has yet to be determined by the Legislature. Finally, the bill requires the State Board of Administration to prepare a report that examines the adequacy and use of current annuity options available to members of the investment plan. (Hughes)

SB 7044 (Government Oversight and Accountability) and HB 5007 (Appropriations Committee) revise the required employer retirement contribution rates for each membership class and subclass of the Florida Retirement System. The aggregate employer contributions anticipated to be paid into the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund in Fiscal Year 2020-2021 will increase by approximately $404.5 million when compared to the employer contributions paid in Fiscal Year 2019-2020. (Hughes)

SB 936 (Gainer) and HB 593 (Williamson) allow a Florida Retirement System member who is receiving care at a federal Veterans’ Health Administration facility to provide certification by two licensed physicians employed by the facility as proof of total and permanent disability; regardless of the state in which the physicians are licensed. (Hughes)

SB 804 (Brandes) and CS/HB 1 (Grant, J.) revise the requirements for an employee to authorize the deduction and collection of dues and uniform assessments by an employer. The bills require a public employee who desires to join an employee organization must sign a membership authorization form that contains a specific acknowledgement. The bill requires that dues and uniform assessments may not be deducted from an employee’s salary until the employer receives a signed authorization form from the bargaining agent and is able to confirm with the employee that he or she authorized such deductions. The deductions are in force until the certified bargaining agent ratifies a new collective bargaining agreement with the public employer or for three years after the date the deduction begins, whichever is earlier. CS/HB 1 passed the House (63-52) and is awaiting Senate action. (Hughes)

HB 1033 (Raschein) extends membership in the Special Risk Class to individuals employed by a local government as a pilot or registered nurse and who perform their primary duties on an air ambulance service and operated by the local government. (Hughes)

SB 1630 (Flores) and HB 785 (Rodriguez, Anthony) adds employees of water, sewer or other public works departments of participating employers who work in hazardous conditions to the Special Risk Class of the Florida Retirement System. (Hughes)

CS/SB 566 (Bracy) and HB 761 (Brown) amend the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 to incorporate certain hairstyles as protected from discrimination. The bills prohibit employers from discriminating against an individual for having a protected hairstyle. (Hughes)

SB 616 (Powell) and HB 473 (Omphroy) prohibit a public employer from inquiring into or considering an applicant’s criminal history on an initial employment application unless otherwise required by law. A public employer could inquire into or consider an applicant’s criminal history only after the applicant’s qualifications have been screened and the employer has determined the applicant meets the minimum employment requirements for the position. (Hughes)

CS/CS/SB 160 (Perry) and CS/CS/HB 573 (Casello) provides confidentiality for peer-to-peer communications between first responders, such as law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians/paramedics, public safety communications officers and dispatchers. The bills provide that such peer-to-peer communications are confidential and prevent first responders from testifying to the contents of such communications during legal proceedings and disciplinary hearings. The bills also create several exceptions to the confidentiality. (Hughes)

CS/CS/CS/SB 664 (Lee) requires public employers to register with and use an employment verification system to validate the work authorization status of all new employees and identify whether an employee is an unauthorized alien. Additionally, contractors and subcontractors who have entered into, or are attempting to enter into, a contract with a public employer must register with and use E-Verify. These requirements take effect for public employers and their contractors and subcontractors on July 1, 2021. CS/CS/CS/SB 664 also requires specific private employers to register with and use the E-Verify system or an alternative verification system to verify the employment eligibility of new employees. The requirement that private employers use an employment verification system will generally apply to employers that have 20 or more Florida employees once it has been phased in on a specified schedule. (Hughes)

CS/HB 1265 (Byrd) was amended to reflect many of the components in CS/CS/SB 664. The bill requires all public employers to register and use the E-Verify system for all employees beginning January 1, 2021. The bill also applies to public contractors and subcontractors regardless of the amount of the contract or their number of employees. The bill directs public employers who believe that a contractor has knowingly violated the E-Verify requirement to terminate the contract, the bill also specifies that this termination would not be a breach of contract. Contractors who have their public contract terminated in this manner would not be eligible for another contract for at least one year. CS/HB 1265 also applies to private employers, requiring them to use the E-Verify system for all employees or contract employees hired after January 1, 2021. The bill also gives private employers the option to verify a person’s eligibility using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9). (Hughes)

SB 1822 (Gruters) requires public employers, contractors and subcontractors to register with and use the E-Verify system to verify the work authorization status of all newly hired employees. E-Verify is a United States Department of Homeland Security website that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees, both U.S. and foreign citizens, to work in the United States. The bill also requires private employers to verify a person’s employment eligibility either through the E-Verify system or by requiring other specified documentation. (Hughes)

HB 425 (Clemons) and CS/SB 858 (Gruters) require the Department of Management Services to calculate a cost-of-living factor for each retiree and beneficiary who was a member of the Special Risk Class on June 30, 2011, is a member of the Special Risk Class on his or her effective date of retirement and retires on or after July 1, 2011, with service credit earned before July 1, 2011. This factor shall equal the product of 3 percent multiplied by the quotient of the sum of the member's service credit earned for service before July 1, 2011, divided by the sum of the member's total service credit earned as of June 30, 2020. CS/SB 858 was amended to include the increased required employer contribution rates for members of the Florida Retirement System to fund these benefit changes. (Hughes)

HB 75 (Hill) revises payment amounts under the salary incentive program for law enforcement officers. Beginning in January 2021, the bill provides for annual inflation adjustment amounts. (Hughes)

CS/HB 487 (Fetterhoff) and SB 1092 (Bean) create the Firefighter Cancer Decontamination Grant Program. The grant will provide financial assistance to help fire departments procure equipment, supplies, and education training designed to mitigate exposure to hazardous, cancer-causing chemicals. The Division of State Fire Marshal within the Department of Financial Services will administer the program and annually award grants to fire departments on an as-needed basis. (Hughes)

HB 305 (Rommel) and SB 1126 (Gruters) prohibit a political subdivision, including a municipality, from establishing, mandating or otherwise requiring an employer to offer conditions of employment not otherwise required by state or federal law. An “employer” is defined as any person who is engaged in any activity, enterprise or business in this state and employs at least one employee. The bills expressly preempt the regulation of minimum wage and other conditions of employment to the state. The bills do not limit the authority of a political subdivision to regulate minimum wage or to require conditions of employment for employees of the political subdivision, employees of a contractor or subcontractor who provides goods or services to the political subdivision and employees of an employer receiving a direct tax abatement or subsidy from the political subdivision as a condition of the direct tax abatement or subsidy. Any ordinance, regulation or policy of a political subdivision that is preempted by the bills and which existed before or on the effective date of this act is void. (Hughes)

HB 215 (Casello) and CS/SB 620 (Hooper) revise the current process that must be followed for the interrogation of firefighters. The bills revise the definition of “interrogation” to include questioning related to informal inquiries. The bills require all witnesses to be interviewed prior to beginning the interrogation of the firefighter when possible. The bills also require that the firefighter be provided the complaint, all witness statements and all other existing evidence before the interrogation. A firefighter being interrogated may not be threatened with transfer, dismissal or disciplinary action. The bills also set a timeline for certain information to be provided to the firefighter and prohibit any retaliatory action against the firefighter for exercising his or her rights. The complaint and other investigative information are confidential and exempt from public records pursuant to the current law, and the “informal inquiry” does not include discussions such as safety sessions, normal operations fire debriefings and routine work-related discussions. (Hughes)

HB 799 (Gregory), SB 1534 (Baxley) and HB 801 (Gregory) – Pub. Rec./Trade Secrets

SB 966 (Gainer) – Public Records/Disaster Recovery Assistance

HB 1035 (Raschein) – Pub. Rec./Records and Information Provided to Specified Entities for Disaster Recovery Assistance

HB 755 (Dubose) and SB 1060 (Thurston) – Pub. Rec. and Meetings/911 and E911 Communication Systems

HB 1007 (Valdes) and SB 1030 (Stargel) – Public Records

SB 1862 (Brandes) – Public Records/Criminal History Records and Related Information

SB 196 (Taddeo) requires cities to provide an electronic payment option for the payment of fees associated with a public record request. (Cook)