SB 1178 Florida Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Foreign Influence

Summary

Foreign Influence; Citing this act as the “Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act”; prohibiting preplanned adoption agreements unless certain conditions are met; prohibiting specified persons from soliciting or accepting anything of value from a designated foreign terrorist organization, a foreign country of concern, or persons or entities representing such organizations or countries; authorizing any appropriate tax collector to revoke or refuse to renew business tax receipts of specified individuals, businesses, or entities; prohibiting a governmental entity from knowingly entering into certain contracts with foreign sources of concern; removing the Florida-China Institute from the list of linkage institutes, etc.

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Mar 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

S 1178 c1 → S 1178 c2 · 8 edits

MODERATE

The bill was significantly expanded from a focus on foreign influence and election security to include broad restrictions on preplanned adoptions, new lobbying disclosure requirements, and expanded powers for tax collectors to revoke business licenses. While the core definition of 'foreign countries of concern' remained largely the same, the legislation added new prohibitions on surrogacy contracts, increased penalties for foreign agents, and introduced mechanisms for the Governor to suspend certain Cuba-related laws.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from primarily regulating foreign agents and government contracts to include private sector activities such as adoption agencies, surrogacy arrangements, and lobbying firms, as well as granting new administrative powers to tax collectors and the Governor.

REQUIREMENT

Added strict requirements for preplanned adoption agreements, mandating specific terms regarding parental rights, medical evaluations, and financial compensation to ensure they are not exploitative.

Required lobbyists to disclose on registration forms whether their principals are foreign countries of concern or entities owned by them.

Added restrictions on gestational surrogacy contracts, requiring the commissioning couple to be legally married and domiciled in Florida.

Modified the registration requirements for foreign-supported political organizations, changing the ownership threshold from 20 percent to 25 percent beneficial ownership.

ENFORCEMENT

Authorized tax collectors to revoke or refuse to renew business tax receipts for individuals or entities doing business with Cuba in violation of federal law.

Increased the minimum mandatory prison sentence for certain felonies committed by foreign agents to 15 years.

DEFINITION

Modified the definition of 'controlling interest' in several sections to presume control if a person or entity owns 25 percent or more of voting interests or profits.

TIMELINE

Added a provision allowing the Governor to suspend laws restricting interactions with Cuba for a limited period if the Federal Government changes Cuba's diplomatic status.

S 1178 Filed → S 1178 c1 · 8 edits

MODERATE

The bill was revised from a filed version to a committee substitute version, primarily involving the addition of Senator Avila as a sponsor and the renaming of the act to the 'Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act.' The substantive policy content regarding foreign influence registration, contract prohibitions, and critical infrastructure protections remains largely identical, though some section numbers and specific phrasing in definitions were adjusted during the committee process.

Scope change

The bill's scope and applicability remain unchanged; it continues to apply to agents of foreign countries of concern, foreign-supported political organizations, governmental entities, and critical infrastructure facilities.

TECHNICAL

The bill title was updated to include the official short title 'Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act,' and Senator Avila was added as a co-sponsor alongside Senator Grall.

The bill number was updated from the original filing number to the committee substitute number (20261178c1), reflecting its progression through the legislative process.

DEFINITION

Minor phrasing adjustments were made to definitions of 'foreign country of concern' and 'foreign source of concern' to ensure consistency across different sections of the statute, specifically removing the reference to Qatar in the definition of 'foreign country of concern' in the committee version.

REQUIREMENT

The registration requirements for foreign agents and organizations remain the same, but the text was slightly reorganized to clarify the list of required information on registration forms.

Prohibitions on governmental entities entering into contracts with foreign sources of concern were refined to explicitly mention the prohibition on extending or renewing certain contracts and accepting bids involving information technology or access to personal identifying information.

Requirements for linkage institutes were updated to explicitly prohibit them from entering into agreements with foreign countries of concern, and the list of approved institutes was modified to replace the Florida-China Institute with the Florida-Japan Institute.

The definition of 'business entity' was added to the critical infrastructure section to clarify that private businesses with access to such facilities are also subject to the new registration and contract prohibitions.

TIMELINE

The effective date for the act remains July 1, 2026, but the specific dates for contract prohibitions and registration deadlines were slightly adjusted in the text to align with the committee's final wording.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 4, 2026

Upper · Passed

Pending reference review -under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)

upper

Feb 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Appropriations, 03/02/26, 12:00 pm, 110 Senate Building

upper

Feb 3, 2026

Upper · Passed

Favorable by Judiciary; YEAS 11 NAYS 0

upper

Jan 29, 2026

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Judiciary, 02/03/26, 1:00 pm, 110 Senate Building

upper

Jan 29, 2026

Upper · Passed

Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)

upper

Jan 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Ethics and Elections, 01/28/26, 10:30 am, 37 Senate Building

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

upper

Jan 12, 2026

Committee

Referred to Ethics and Elections; Judiciary; Appropriations

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor