BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 520 (Gruters) and HB 1433 (Yarborough) allow police and fire departments to use drones to manage crowd control and traffic as well as gather evidence at a crime or traffic crash scene. The bills also permit a state agency or political subdivision to operate drones for assessing damage after a natural disaster. (Branch)

SB 134 (Taddeo) and HB 6009 (Daley) repeal the current statutory preemption prohibiting cities from regulating firearms and ammunition. (Cook)

HB 1405 (Greico) requires public swimming pools to have a telephone available for all public swimming pool users in case of an emergency. (Cook)

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 6083 (Rodriguez, Anthony) preempts cities, counties and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles from installing, maintaining, or utilizing red light cameras effective July 1, 2023. (Branch)

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)

SB 162 (Perry) and HB 195 (Rodrigues) are two bills relating to public record requests. SB 162 provides that if an agency files an action for declaratory judgement that certain records are confidential or exempt, and the court determines that the records are neither, the court must assess the reasonable costs of enforcement, including attorney fees, against the responsible agency for the benefit of the named respondent.

HB 195 prohibits a city, after receiving a public record request, from filing an action for declaratory judgement against the individual or entity making the request. This bill would prevent cities from seeking clarification from the courts as to whether a record is public or not. (Cook)

CS/SB 506 (Perry) and CS/CS/HB 441 (DiCeglie) amend current law to increase the maximum dollar amount for continuing contracts for public construction projects from $2 million to $4 million. The bills also increase the cap for study activity associated with public construction projects from $200,000 to $500,000. (Cook)

HB 257 (Antone) and SB 1518 (Gruters) amend the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act to clarify that cooperative purchasing between governmental agencies is allowed if certain conditions are met. (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 1331 (Roach) – Fire Control Districts and Firefighter Pensions

HB 3297 (Aloupis) – Firefighter Cancer Initiative

SB 760 (Brandes) – Independent Special Fire Control Districts

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) revises 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 the physicians are licensed. (Hughes)

SB 804 (Brandes) and 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 for one year and must be reauthorized annually by the employee. (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/SB 160 (Perry) and CS/HB 573 (Casello) create a privileged exception 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 privilege. (Hughes)