BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 1574 (Baxley) prohibits local or regional governmental entities from entering into contingency fee contracts with a private attorney or law firm to receive an aggregate contingency fee more than a specified amount when handling a lawsuit on behalf of the government entity. The bill establishes the rates that a private attorney or law firm may receive up to 5% recovery over $25 million and up to 25% recovery over $10 million. The aggregate contingency fee is capped at $20 million, not including reasonable costs and expenses. (Cruz)

SB 890 (Perry) and HB 1161 (Plakon) provide that an individual with a valid active local license may work in any local government jurisdiction without having to obtain additional local licensing, take additional examinations or pay additional local licensing fees. The bills explicitly state that this multijurisdictional approval does not impede a local government's ability to collect business taxes from businesses operating within the local government's boundaries. Local governments' disciplinary jurisdiction for licenses within their jurisdictions is also retained. The bills detail the process for a local government to execute its disciplinary jurisdiction. (Cruz)

CS/HB 3 (Grant, M.) and SB 1336 (Perry) expressly preempt the licensing of occupations to the state. The bill defines occupation to include a paid job, work, trade, employment or profession and defines licensing to include any training, education, test, certification, registration, procedure or license that are required for a person to perform an occupation. The bills provide limited exceptions for specified local licenses and any local government licensing of occupations that was expressly authorized by general law. The bills will prohibit a local government from requiring a person to obtain a license for a job scope that does not substantially correspond to the job scope of certain contractor categories set forth in Chapter 489, Florida Statutes. In addition, the bills will authorize local governments to issue journeyman licenses in specified trades. The bills are effective July 1, 2020. According to SB 1336, existing local regulations on businesses will sunset in July 2022. (Cruz)

CS/SB 1302 (Flores) designates the "Florida Fair Claims Act" and waives the sovereign immunity of the state and its agencies and subdivisions (includes cities) for tort claims for damages resulting from the actions of government employees acting in the scope of employment, if those actions are in bad faith, with a malicious purpose, or in a manner exhibiting a disregard for human rights, safety or property. As amended in committee, the bill also increases the per-occurrence limit on the collectability of judgments against government entities from $300,000 to $500,00 and eliminates the $200,000-per-claimant limit. These new limits will apply to lawsuits that have not been adjudicated before the effective date of the bill. Thus, making the new higher monetary limits retroactive. The bill further allows government entities to settle claims in any amount without the approval of a claim bill by the Legislature. In contrast, current law allows government entities to settle and pay amounts exceeding the sovereign immunity caps only to the extent of insurance coverage. Otherwise, current law requires that the payment of the portion of a claim or judgment exceeding the sovereign immunity caps be approved by the Legislature in a claim bill. (Cruz)

HB 6075 (Eskamani) and SB 1848 (Albritton) delete certain provisions that limit the authority of way. The bills also repeal the Advanced Wireless Infrastructure Deployment Act that relates primarily to the installation of small wireless facilities in public rights of way. (Hughes)

HB 969 (Drake) and CS/SB 1166 (Albritton) designate the Department of Economic Opportunity as lead state agency to facilitate expansion of broadband internet service. The bills require DEO to work collaboratively with certain entities including local governments. The bills create the Florida Office of Broadband within DEO for the purpose of developing, marketing and promoting broadband internet services in this state. (Hughes)

HB 9221 (LaMarca) provides a $500,000 appropriation for the Study of Broadband Service and Infrastructure Investment. (Hughes)

HB 1309 (Ausley) and SB 1776 (Montford) require the Department of Management Services to develop geographic information system maps in collaboration with internet service providers. These maps must identify geographic areas and locations in the state where broadband-capable networks exist and broadband internet service is available to end users and the download and upload data transmission speeds available in each geographic area. The bills require DMS to annually update the maps and establish a mechanism to receive and verify public input related to broadband internet service. DMS must also monitor, participate in and provide input in proceedings of the Federal Communications Commission related to broadband service. (Hughes)

SB 1128 (Diaz) and HB 1011 (Fischer) are filed relating to vacation rentals, also known as short-term rentals (STRs). The bills:

• preempt to the state the regulation of STRs, including licensure and inspections.

• undo any local registration, inspection or licensing requirements specific to STRs adopted since 2014.

• require that any ordinances (noise, parking, trash, etc.), must be applied uniformly to all residential properties, regardless of how the property is being used.

• further clarify that local regulations cannot prohibit ALL rentals (not just STRs), impose occupancy limits on rental properties or require inspections or licensing of rentals (specific to STRs). (Cook)

SB 23 (Gottlieb) and SB 70 (Book) – Panic Alarms in Public Schools

SB 94 (Book) – Transfer of Firearms

HB 451 (Good) – Weapons and Firearms

HB 37 (Zika) and SB 290 (Hooper) – School Bus Safety

HB 43 (Latvala) and SB 122 (Rouson) – Child Welfare

SB 210 (Thurston) – State Taxes and Fees

SB 266 (Farmer) – Safe Storage of Loaded Firearms

SB 270 (Farmer) – Sale and Delivery of Firearms

SB 304 (Cruz) and HB 1167 (Polsky) – School Safety Funding

SB 548 (Rodriguez) – Firearms 

HB 809 (Fernandez) – Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms

HB 839 (Daniels) – School District Police Chiefs

HB 6003 (Hill) – Firearms

SB 704 (Rouson) – Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders

HB 149 (Overdorf) – Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers

HB 797 (Thompson) and SB 212 (Thurston) – Medical Marijuana Retail Facilities

SB 1508 (Taddeo) and HB 1281(McGhee) – Police Vehicles

SB 736 (Diaz) and HB 747 (Williamson) – Coverage for Air Ambulance Services

HB 507 (Smith, D.) and SB 842 (Wright) – Injured Police Canines 

SB 320 (Stewart) – Emergency Medical Air Transportation Services

HB 245 (Polo) and SB 398 (Berman) – Concealed Weapons and Firearms

SB 1860 (Brandes) and HB 1389 (Smith, C.) – Availability for Marijuana for Adult Use

SB 7032 (Criminal Justice) and HB 7015 (Oversight, Transparency & Public Management) – Body Camera Recordings

SB 7028 (Infrastructure and Security) addresses a number of issues related to public safety. The proposed bill:

•requires select health care practitioners, emergency medical technicians and paramedics to

disclose confidential communications to a law enforcement agency to the extent necessary to

communicate a specific threat of serious bodily injury or death.

•specifies a documentation process to use for the sale of a firearm when the seller is not a

federal firearm licensee (FFL) and chooses not to use an FFL to complete the transaction.

•creates a new section of statute to provide that a person may not sell, offer for sale, transfer

or deliver any firearm to another person for consideration when any part of a transaction is

conducted on property to which the public has the right of access, unless a criminal history

records check of background information has been completed and a unique approval number

has been obtained from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).

•provides an FFL may charge a fee to cover administrative costs for facilitating the sale or

transfer of a firearm.

•revises current requirements related to the safe storage of firearms to provide that loaded

firearms must be securely stored to prevent access by minors under the age of 18, instead of

the current threshold of 16, and expands the safe storage requirement to include preventing

access by a person of unsound mind of any age.

•provides that the FDLE will develop a statewide strategy for targeted violence prevention (STVP).

•provides for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, 37 full-time equivalent positions and the recurring

sum of $4,827,538 and the nonrecurring sum of $1,043,415 from the General Revenue Fund

to the FDLE to implement a statewide STVP. (Cook)

HB 995 (Davis) and SB 1014 (Rouson) require certain 911 public safety telecommunicators to receive telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and the Department of Health to establish a procedure to monitor adherence to this training. (Cook)

CS/SB 788 (Book) and HB 997 (Casello) require the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), in consultation with law enforcement agencies throughout the state, to establish a uniform statewide rule on preparing for and responding to an active assailant. The bills also require each law enforcement agency to adopt an active shooter policy or rule, as appropriate, by January 1, 2021. (Cook)

SB 562 (Bracy) revises the circumstances under which a law enforcement officer is authorized to use objectively reasonable force. The bill prohibits the use of deadly force against a person based on the danger that person poses to the law enforcement officer, if an objectively reasonable law enforcement officer would believe that the person does not pose an imminent threat of death or serious physical harm to the law enforcement officer or others. (Cook)

HB 273 (Sabatini) removes a requirement that a license is needed to carry a concealed weapon or firearm. (Cook)

SB 428 (Braynon) adds performing arts centers or legitimate theaters to the list of places where weapons or firearms are prohibited. (Cook)

CS/HB 183 (Ponder) and SB 1524 (Gainer) authorize city and county commissioners who are appropriately licensed to carry concealed weapons or firearms to a meeting of the governing body of which he or she is a member. (Cook)

SB 242 (Braynon) and HB 25 (Jones) reduce criminal penalties for possession of 20 grams or less of cannabis and products containing less than 600 milligrams of THC and specify that first-time juvenile violators are eligible for civil citation or other prearrest diversion programs. (Cook)

CS/CS/CS/SB 140 (Hutson) and CS/CS/HB 65 (Rodriguez, A.M.) create an exemption allowing for the use of fireworks on four days: New Year’s Day (January 1), Independence Day (July 4) and New Year’s Eve (December 31). The bills were amended with language clarifying that any local government regulations relating to the use of fireworks are still in effect. (Cook)

HB 249 (Slosberg) prohibits a person from operating a motor vehicle while holding or touching a wireless communication device. 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)