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SB 2516 Florida Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Higher Education

Summary
Higher Education; Establishing the Florida Center for Nursing within the University of South Florida; providing that a specified fee waiver applies to a student’s out-of-pocket expenses for tuition and fees after other aid is applied; providing that the LINE Fund was established for shortages in health science professions in addition to nursing; requiring institutions awarded grant funds to submit an annual report by a certain date to the center instead of the Board of Governors or the Department of Education; requiring the Office of Reimagining Education and Career Help to provide specified data to the department, etc.
Issues: ✓ EducationSupports EducationEstablishes fee waiver for nursing students and funds health science shortages, directly supporting higher education access and program funding.90% confidence ✓ HealthcareSupports HealthcareBill establishes LINE Fund for health science profession shortages (including nursing) and creates nursing center to address healthcare workforce gaps, directly supporting healthcare workforce development.85% confidence
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Feb 2026
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 19, 2026 Last action Mar 13, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

S 2516 Filed → S 2516 pb · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was reclassified from an 'Original Filed' version to a 'Proposed Bill' (SPB), indicating it is now ready for legislative consideration rather than just filed. The filing date was updated to February 13, 2026, and the bill number was adjusted to reflect its new proposed status. These changes are primarily administrative and procedural, marking the bill's transition into the active legislative process.
Scope change
The bill's substantive scope regarding the Florida Center for Nursing, fee waivers, and the LINE Fund remains unchanged; only the procedural status and filing metadata were modified.
TIMELINE

The filing date was updated from February 18, 2026, to February 13, 2026.

TECHNICAL

The bill title was changed from 'Original Filed Version' to 'Proposed Bill' with the code updated to SPB.

The bill identifier was updated from 576-03003-26 to 576-02416A-26 to reflect the proposed status.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 20, 2026

How they voted

37–0
Passed · 3 other
Total votes 40
Feb 20, 2026
D Democratic11
9 Yea 2
81% Yea
I Independent1
1 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican28
27 Yea 1
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
14
Key actions
4
Committee
2
Feb 20, 2026
Upper · Passed
The Senate requests that the House pass the bill as passed by the Senate or agree to include the bill in the Budget Conference
upper
Feb 20, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed; YEAS 36 NAYS 0
upper
Feb 19, 2026
Introduced
Introduced
upper
Feb 18, 2026
Upper · Passed
Submitted as Committee Bill and Reported Favorably by Appropriations; YEAS 18 NAYS 0
upper
Feb 13, 2026
Upper · Passed
On Committee agenda-- Appropriations, 02/18/26, 1:30 pm, 412 Knott Building
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.