BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

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

HB 183 (Ponder) authorizes 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)

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)

SB 520 (Gruters) allows 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 bill would also permit a state agency or political subdivision to operate drones for assessing damage after a natural disaster. (Branch)

SB 140 (Hutson) and HB 65 (Rodriguez, A.M.) create an exemption allowing for the use of fireworks on four days: New Year’s Day (January 1), Memorial Day (last Monday in May), Independence Day (July 4) and New Year’s Eve (December 31). These bills appear to preempt any existing local regulations relating to the sale or use of fireworks on these four days. (Cook)

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)

SB 506 (Perry) and HB 441 (DiCeglie) amend current law to increase the maximum dollar amount for continuing contracts for public construction projects from $2 million to $5 million. The bills also increase the cap for study activity associated with public construction projects from $200,000 to $500,000. The bills also direct the Department of Management Services to annually adjust by rule the statutory maximum dollar amounts for continuing contracts based on the Engineering News-Record’s Construction Cost Index. (Cook)

HB 257 (Antone) amends the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act to clarify that cooperative purchasing between governmental agencies is allowed if certain conditions are met. (Cook)

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)

SB 160 (Perry) creates 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 bill provides that such peer-to-peer communications are confidential and prevents first responders from testifying to the contents of such communications during legal proceedings and disciplinary hearings. The bill also creates several exceptions to the privilege. (Hughes)

HB 425 (Clemons) requires 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. (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)

HB 305 (Rommel) prohibits 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 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 487 (Fetterhoff) creates the Firefighter Cancer Decontamination Grant Program. The program 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 99 (Andrade) requires entities that administer high-risk youth athletic activities or training related to such activities on land owned, leased, operated or maintained by the state or a political subdivision to require any unpaid or volunteer athletics personnel to complete a course approved by the Department of Health that provides information on how to prevent or decrease the chances of a participant from sustaining a serious physical injury. High-risk youth athletic activity is defined as any organized sport for children 14 years of age or younger in which there is a significant possibility for the child to sustain a serious physical injury. The term includes football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, ice or field hockey, cheerleading and lacrosse. (Cook)