BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

SB 1494 (Pizzo) provides that a public agency that has custody of a public record may not charge a fee once an agency has received a request to produce records. The bill provides that any person who violates this chapter (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes) may be punished by a $5,000 fine and if the custodian knowingly deters a public records request, they commit a first degree misdemeanor. Lastly, the bill requires courts to set priority for public records cases over other pending hearings. (Wagoner)

CS/HB 103 (Arrington) and CS/SB 712 (Powell) create a public records exemption for the personal identifying and location information of current county and city attorneys and assistant/deputy county and city attorneys, as well as information regarding the spouses and children of those attorneys. CS/HB 103 passed the House (119-0) and the Senate (39-1) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Wagoner)

HB 811 (Gottlieb) and CS/SB 862 (Jones) create a public records exemption for the personal identifying and location information of current county administrators and city managers, as well as information regarding the names and locations of schools and daycare facilities attended by the children of current administrators and city managers. CS/SB 862 was amended and removed provisions providing protections for deputy and assistant county and city administrators and their spouses. (Wagoner)

HB 157 (Caruso) and CS/SB 894 (Bradley) allow local governments to meet and conduct official business via teleconferencing or other technological means, no more than two times per calendar year, as long as the meetings meet all of the requirements for public notice, public access and public participation. The bills do specify that meetings that include formal action on ordinances or are quasi-judicial hearings may not be conducted via teleconferencing or other technological means. CS/SB 894 was amended to provide that these provisions would be suspended for the first 60 days of a declared emergency. (Wagoner)

CS/CS/SB 224 (Wright) and CS/HB 413 (Altman) authorize citizen volunteer advisory committees that are comprised of representatives from four or more counties to conduct virtual public meetings and workshops using communications media technology. CS/HB 413 specifies that there must also be a 100-mile distance between the two most distant counties. The public notice must specify whether the meeting or workshop will be held in person or virtually and how members of the public can participate. CS/CS/SB 224 passed the Senate (39-0) and the House (112-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Wagoner)

HB 1089 (Shoaf) and SB 560 (Bradley) – Special Risk Class

HB 161 (Daley) and SB 362 (Bradley) – Medical Treatment Under the Workers’ Compensation Law

HB 1415 (Chamberlin) and SB 1712 (Bradley) – Peer Support for First Responders

HB 839 (Benjamin) – Employment Leave for Crime Victims and Witnesses

HB 945 (Gottlieb) and SB 762 (Rouson) – Heat Illness Prevention

HB 505 (Truenow) and SB 958 (Martin) – Local Government Employees 

HB 599 (Chamberlin) and SB 1382 (Martin) – Gender Identity Employment Practices

CS/SB 400 (Burgess) and HB 853 (McClure) specify that retired law enforcement officers can be reemployed in a position that qualifies for the Special Risk Class by an employer that participates in the Florida Retirement System. The bills reduce the timeframe from 12 months to 6 months during which a former employee is prohibited from receiving both a reemployment salary and retirement benefits. CS/SB 400 was amended to apply to all FRS retirees, not just law enforcement and includes employer contribution rate adjustments to meet actuarial projections. (Chapman)

SB 628 (Simon) requires certain contractors who contract with governmental entities to provide an affidavit attesting the contractor does not use coercion for labor or services. (Cruz)

HB 195 (Chambliss) requires the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission to consult with a national organization with expertise in mental health crisis intervention to establish minimum standards for basic skills and continued education training for law enforcement officers by July 1, 2025. (Cruz)

HB 765 (Daley) and SB 818 (Avila) provide that certain public officials and employees are entitled to their full pay for a leave of absence in which they are performing federal military service that is 90 days or more. SB 818 passed the Senate (40-0) and the House (113-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Cruz)

SB 710 (Ingoglia) and HB 443 (Alvarez) make several changes to the "The Police Officers' Bill of Rights." The Police Officers Bill of Rights is designed to ensure certain protections for law enforcement and correctional officers are provided to officers throughout the process of investigating complaints against an officer if the investigation can lead to disciplinary action, demotion or dismissal of the officer. The bills delete provisions from current law relating to complaint review boards. The bills authorize an officer to file a civil suit if he or she is subject to disciplinary action in violation of the Officer Bill of Rights. The bills grant officers certain increased protections for alleged violations of the process required in the Officer Bill of Rights. Lastly, the bills authorize an officer to address and remedy any violation in a court of competent jurisdiction and provide for the reversal of any disciplinary action requiring the employing agency to pay for an officer’s monetary damages, attorney fees and costs for any intentional violation of the Officer Bill of Rights. (Cruz)

HB 993 (Holcomb) and CS/SB 1490 (Burgess) expand the conditions in which first responders and certain personnel may receive posttraumatic stress benefits. The bills redefine the term “first responder” to include any full-time, part-time or volunteer law enforcement officer, firefighter, correctional officer, 911 public safety telecommunicator or federal law enforcement officer. The bills create a statutory framework for crime scene investigators to receive a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) evaluation and receive a diagnosis as a compensable occupational disease under specific circumstances. The bills also specify correctional officer PTSD evaluations may be conducted in person or through telehealth. The bills require an employing agency of a crime scene investigator to provide educational training related to mental health. (Cruz)

CS/HB 637 (Yeager) and CS/CS/SB 808 (DiCeglie) authorize a firefighter, a law enforcement officer, a correctional officer or a correctional probation officer requiring medical treatment for tuberculosis, heart disease or hypertension resulting in a total or partial disability to be treated by a medical specialist of their choosing. The treatment by a medical specialist must be reasonable, necessary, and related to tuberculosis, heart disease or hypertension and reimbursed at no more than 200% of the Medicare rate. The bills were amended to require written notice to the firefighter's or officer's workers’ compensation carrier, self-insured employer, or third-party administrator, and the carrier, self-insured employer, or third-party administrator must authorize the selected specialist or authorize an alternative specialist meeting the same or greater qualifications. The carrier, self-insured employer, or third-party administrator must, within five business days of the receipt of the notice, authorize treatment and schedule an appointment to be held within 30 days of the receipt of the notice with the selected specialist or the alternative specialist. If the carrier, self-insured employer, or third-party administrator fails to provide an alternative specialist within the five business days of receipt of the notice, the specialist selected by the employee shall be automatically authorized. CS/CS/SB 808 has passed the House (112-0) and the Senate (38-0) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Cruz)

CS/HB 151 (Busatta Cabrera) and SB 242 (Hooper) create an unfunded mandate for government entities that provide retirement benefits through the Florida Retirement System (FRS). Beginning on July 1, 2024, the cost-of-living benefit of each retiree and annuitant shall be adjusted without a requirement for the Legislature enacting sufficient funding. CS/HB 151 was amended to conduct a study on the feasibility and cost of providing a cost-of-living adjustment for employees initially enrolled in the FRS after July 1, 2011. The amendment also includes adjustments to the employee contribution levels to the FRS in order to meet actuarial projections. CS/HB 151 was amended to increase the employer contribution rates for regular class, special risk class and judiciary. Language was also added to limit the ability of retirees who are re-employed to receive both retirement benefits and salary for a period of six months. The language in this bill was included in the General Appropriations Act. (Chapman)

HB 119 (Melo) and SB 188 (Brodeur) – Trespass on Commercial Agricultural Property

HB 997 (Gottlieb) – Expedited Foreclosure Proceedings for Abandoned Real Property

SB 1370 (Torres) – Abandoned Residential Real Property

HB 1229 (Porras) and SB 1068 (Rodriguez) – Marketable Record Title to Real Property 

HB 799 (W. Robinson) and SB 814 (Yarborough) – Easements Affecting Real Property Owned by the Same Owner

CS/CS/HB 1621 (Beltran) authorizes municipalities to impose an enhanced fine for the unauthorized demolition of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places or designated as a local historic landmark if the code enforcement board or special magistrate makes specific findings. Fines imposed may not exceed an amount that is 20% of the property appraiser’s evaluation of the fair market value. (Cruz)

HB 397 (Cross) and SB 404 (Rouson) expand the urban agricultural pilot project to allow for commercial agricultural use of residential property in certain circumstances. (Cruz)

CS/HB 1647 (Roach) and CS/SB 1526 (Avila) restricts local governments from prohibiting, restricting, or preventing the demolition of nonconforming or unsafe structures. The bills authorize the demolition of a structure and automatic replacement without requiring the new structure to have historical features or characteristics. The bills also prohibit local governments from imposing additional restrictions on the demolition or redevelopment that depart from existing requirements for a similarly situated parcel. The bills specify the provisions do not apply to a structure individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places or a contributing structure listed prior to 2000, a single-family home, or a structure located on a barrier island in a municipality with a population less than 10,000, which has at least six city blocks that are not located within flood zones V, VE, AO or AE, as identified in Flood Insurance Rate Map issued by FEMA. CS/SB 1526 passed the Senate (36-2) and the House (86-29) and is awaiting action by the Governor. (Cruz)

HB 1635 (Steele) and SB 1796 (Burgess) require local governments to provide compensation for a nonmonetary exaction equal to the fair market value of the exaction imposed. The bills require a local government that adopts and collects impact fees by ordinance to ensure the impact fee is collected only if the relevant property receives the service for which the fee was assessed. The bills also require local governments to establish impact fee zones or districts to assist local governments in ensuring the fee is expended to provide additional capital facilities within the appropriate zone or district. HB 1635 places the maximum amount an impact fee may charge depending on the type of development in state law. The bill also prohibits the imposition of both an impact fee and a mobility fee for master planned unit developments and planned home developments. (Cruz)

SB 1184 (Ingoglia) and CS/CS/HB 1221 (McClain) are comprehensive bills relating to land use and development regulations. The bills amend various regulations relating to comprehensive plans. The bill would restrict optional elements of a comprehensive plan from containing a policy restricting density and intensity. The bills amend definitions of intensity, density, urban service area and urban sprawl to promote the construction of additional single-family, two-family and fee simple townhomes. The bills require local governments to adopt minimum lot sizes with single-family, two-family and fee simple townhouse zoning districts to accommodate the maximum density authorized in the comprehensive plan. The bills require local governments to adopt infill redevelopment regulations to administratively approve the development of infill single-family, two-family and fee simple townhouses. HB 1221 also contains a provision that would require the automatic rezoning of agricultural land for single family housing in certain circumstances. This provision is not found in SB 1184. CS/CS/HB 1221 has been significantly amended in committee. Relevant to municipal operation, the amendments inserted a provision that preempts local regulation relating to the building of new self-storage facilities and removed provisions related to the rezoning of agricultural enclaves. The bill was amended further to permit a final order or decision by a municipally established historic preservation board or commission to be appealed to the board of county commissioners. (Cruz)