BILL SUMMARY DETAILS

HB 231 (Baker) provides criminal penalties for persons who unlawfully and intentionally possess and expose first responders who are acting in their official capacity to Fentanyl and Fentanyl Analogs. (Cruz)

HB 49 (Chaney) makes changes to the employment restrictions for minors. Under the bill, minors 16 and 17 years of age will now be permitted to work the same number of hours as a person 18 years of age or older. The bill would also prohibit local governments from adopting or enforcing curfews on minors that are more stringent than those listed within the bill. (Cruz)

SB 350 (Osgood) addresses cold case murders by establishing a process for reviewing and reinvestigating such cases. The bill mandates that law enforcement agencies review cold cases upon receiving a written application from a designated person and outlines the criteria for conducting a full reinvestigation, including the identification of new probative leads or a likely perpetrator. The bill requires law enforcement agencies to develop a written application for cold case reviews and mandates training for employees on the procedures and requirements outlined in the bill. 

The bill also requires law enforcement agencies to report quarterly all relevant data to the Global Forensic and Justice Center at Florida International University. The bill directs the Center to establish a case tracking system and searchable public website. The bill also allows medical examiners to issue death certificates with nonspecific causes of death and manner of murder under certain conditions. (Cruz)

HB 191 (Brackett) – Town of Orchid, Indian River County

SB 290 (Wright) requires that certain public agency contracts include a requirement that service providers comply with public records laws. The bill defines a services provider as an individual, a partnership, a corporation or a business entity that enters into a contract for services with a public agency and is not acting on behalf of the public agency. Linked to SB 290, SB 292 (Wright) creates a public records exemption for contractors' and service providers' records related to audit or claims resolution, which are provided to a public agency pursuant to contract requirements. (Cruz)

HB 103 (Arrington) creates 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. (Cruz)

HB 157 (Caruso) would 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 bill does specify that meetings that include formal action on ordinances or are quasi-judicial hearings may not be conducted via teleconferencing or other technological means. (Cruz)

SB 224 (Wright) and HB 413 (Altman) authorize citizen volunteer advisory committees that are comprised of representatives from four or more counties to conduct public meetings and workshops using communications media technology. 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. (Cruz)

SB 400 (Burgess) specifies 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 bill reduces the timeframe from 12 months to six months, during which a former employee is prohibited from receiving both a reemployment salary and retirement benefits. (Chapman)

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 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. (Chapman)

SB 40 (Stewart) – Review of Employment Contracts

HB 175 (Benjamin) – Judgement Liens

HB 15 (Rudman) – Contracts for Live Entertainment

HJR 335 (Roth) – Requiring Broader Public Support for Constitutional Amendments or Revisions

HB 217 (Mooney) and SB 222 (Rodriguez) – College Campus Facilities in Areas of Critical State Concern

HB 109 (Andrade) and SB 246 (Harrell) – Conversion Charter Schools

HB 275 (Canady) and SB 340 (Yarborough) – Intentional Damage to Critical Infrastructure

HB 35 (Rudman) and SB 106 (Jones) – Acceptance of Cash Payments by Businesses

HB 141 (Abbott) and SB 196 (Simon) – Regional Rural Development Grants Program

HB 173 (Daniels) – Not-for-profit Corporations that Operate Residential Homeowners' Associations

HB 177 (Andrade) and SB 204 (Brodeur) – Competition for the Sale of Event Tickets

HB 189 (Salzman) – Gambling 

EEG1 (Ethics, Elections & Open Government Subcommittee) – OGSR/Preregistered Voters

EEG3 (Ethics, Elections & Open Government Subcommittee) – GSR/Financial Disclosure

EEG5 (Ethics, Elections & Open Government Subcommittee) – OGSR/Campus Emergency Response

HB 179 (Bell), SB 202 (Rodriguez) and HB 213 (Smith) make changes related to towing-storage operator practices, including allowable fees, payment, lien requirements, sale of unclaimed vehicles and record retention. Specifically, the bills share the following provisions:

•Reduce the timeframe in which a towing-storage operator must send the notice of lien from seven to four business days, and reduce storage charges that may be charged if a lienor fails to provide this notice.

•Provide that a towing-storage operator may only charge certain fees.

•Require towing-storage operators to accept specified forms of payment.

•Increase the timeframe an unclaimed vehicle or vessel three years of age or newer may be sold by a lienor from 50 days to 65 days from the storage date, and require the notice of lien must not be sent less than 60 days before the sale.

•Increase the timeframe for the public notice requirement related to sale on an unclaimed vehicle by a towing-storage operator from ten days to twenty days before the sale.

•Require a towing-storage operator to make a towed vehicle available for inspection during normal business hours within 30 minutes after arrival at a storage facility.

•Require a towing-storage operator to accept electronic titles as well as paper titles as evidence of a person’s interest in a vehicle or vessel. 

•Require a towing-storage operator to retain records of all vehicles and vessels recovered, towed or stored; all notice publications and certified mailings; and fees for at least three years.

•Provide that foreclosing a storage lien on a vehicle or vessel must be through the process as opposed to the warehouse lien and landlord and tenant statutes. 

•Create notice and bond requirements for foreclosure of storage liens on vehicles or vessels held by self-storage facilities.

Only HB 179 prohibits the Florida Highway Patrol from excluding a wrecker operator from its wrecker operator system based solely on a prior felony conviction, unless such conviction is for a specified felony offense. 

Only SB 202 and HB 213 preempt counties and cities from imposing any regulations upon a towing-storage operator more stringent than those within this legislation. (Chapman)

HB 355 (McFarland) is a comprehensive bill regulating the sale and resale of tickets. The bill preempts the regulation of the sale or resale of tickets to the state. (Cruz)

HB 421 (Gossett-Seidman) requires local governments and other entities to make best efforts to provide advance notice to the entity or person who installed a traffic-related roadside memorial commemorating a deceased person before altering, dismantling, destroying or removing it. (Cruz)

SB 166 (Polsky) creates the Medical Marijuana Public Employee Protection Act. The bill would prohibit a public employer from taking adverse personnel actions against an employee or job applicant who is a qualified patient for their use of medical marijuana unless that use is impairing the employee's ability to perform their job duties or responsibilities. (Chapman)

HB 395 (Black) prohibits a local government from removing historical monuments and memorials. A local government may only relocate a historical monument in certain circumstances. The bill provides that any person or entity that damages, defaces, destroys or removes an existing monument or memorial will be civilly liable for the costs to return, repair or replace the monument or memorial unless the person was authorized or the entity was the owner. (Cruz)

HB 271 (Lopez, V.) and SB 388 (Garcia) narrow the current preemption on the regulation of private parking lot operations to include a preemption only on the rates charged for parking and for violating the parking lot rules. The bills would restrict parking lot owners from charging a late fee until after 30 days from the date the invoice was postmarked. The bill also prohibits parking lot owners from charging for parking if the vehicle is on the property for less than 10 minutes. (Branch)

SB 110 (Jones) would repeal the preemption of city and county ordinances and rules imposing price controls on rent or other lawful business activity. (Chapman)

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