Rep. Linda Chaney

Areas of Critical State Concern; Provides exemption from specified payment & performance bond requirements for specified entities; extends specific Florida Forever appropriations to be used for purchase of lands in Florida Keys Area of Critical State Concern.

Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances; Prohibits, beginning on specified date, certain use & sale, purchase, or distribution of aqueous film-forming foam; requires, beginning on specified date, certain entities to submit aqueous film-forming foam inventories & disposal plans to DEP; prohibits, beginning on specified date, possession & use of aqueous film-forming foam; authorizes DEP to administer certain grants or cost share programs; provides penalties & injunctive relief; requires certain public entities disposing of domestic wastewater biosolids and treated effluent to quarterly conduct specified samplings & submit results to DEP; limits purpose such samplings until specified standards are established by EPA & adopted by DEP.

Maddy summaryHB 477 revises Florida's definition of "drug paraphernalia" to exclude specific testing products like fentanyl test strips and reagent kits. These products, which identify dangerous substances such as fentanyl, xylazine, cocaine, or amphetamines, are now explicitly exempt from being classified as drug paraphernalia. The bill excludes only products used solely to detect presence - not quantity or potency - and aims to support harm reduction by enabling users to avoid lethal substances. This change directly affects Floridians who use these testing tools to prevent overdoses, aligning with legislative findings on the opioid crisis.

Maddy summaryHB 1343 revises Florida's requirements for obtaining an insurance customer representative license. It expands qualifying pathways by adding specific industry designations (like AAI, CIC, or CPSR) and mandating a new high school course in insurance and personal finance. The bill requires Florida schools to develop a 0.5-credit course by 2027, covering property and casualty insurance basics, for use starting in the 2027-2028 school year. This directly affects current license applicants seeking alternative qualifications and future students who may complete the high school course. The changes take effect July 1, 2026.

Domestic Violence and Protective Injunctions; Reclassifying penalties for committing a domestic violence offense if a person has a prior conviction for domestic violence; providing that sentencing and incentive gain-time eligibility determinations are made without regard to a penalty enhancement; establishing an electronic monitoring pilot program in a specified county; requiring the sheriff, in consultation with certain persons, to design and implement the pilot program; providing requirements for the pilot program; requiring the Department of Corrections to complete an evaluation and provide specified reports to the Legislature; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to enter injunctions against dating violence and sexual violence into a statewide verification system, etc.

School Safety; Requires sheriffs to assist public postsecondary educational institutions in implementing guardian programs under certain provisions; authorizes public postsecondary educational institutions to participate in the school guardian program; requires a sheriff to establish a guardian training program or contract with certain other sheriff's offices to do so in certain circumstances; creates the offense of discharging a weapon or firearm within 1,000 feet of a school; provides that a person arrested for certain offenses must be held in custody until brought before the court for admittance to bail; ranks an offense created by the act on the offense severity ranking chart of the Criminal Punishment Code; authorizes the State Board of Education and the Board of Governors to adopt rules and regulations, respectively, etc.

Animal Welfare; Creating the offense of causing or enticing a minor to commit, or in the presence of a minor committing, animal cruelty; requiring a court to order a minor who commits specified acts of animal cruelty to undergo a psychological evaluation and receive counseling and treatment for a specified time period; requiring the minor's parent or guardian or the state to pay the cost of such evaluation, counseling, and treatment; providing an exception; authorizing the court to hold the parent or guardian in contempt under certain circumstances; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to post on its website specified information relating to each individual convicted of specified animal cruelty offenses; specifying time periods for which the information shall be posted; requiring the department to develop a procedure to allow a person to petition for the removal of his or her information under specified circumstances; requiring the department to remove specified information under specified circumstances; specifying the time period within which such information must be removed; authorizing the department to adopt rules; requiring clerks of court and county detention facilities to provide the Department of Law Enforcement with specified information, data, and images; creating the offense of causing or enticing a minor to commit, or in the presence of a minor committing, fighting or baiting animals; creating the offense of causing or enticing a minor to commit, or in the presence of a minor committing, sexual activities involving animals; increasing the maximum civil penalty for specified violations of ordinances relating to animal control or cruelty; increasing the level on the offense severity ranking chart for fighting or baiting animals; ranking offenses created by the act on the offense severity ranking chart, etc.

Building Permits and Inspections; Providing for expiration of certain building permits issued by a county; requiring the Department of Management Services to enter into and maintain state term contracts for building code inspection services; providing that certain persons are not subject to discipline for performing a job without applicable permits and inspections if otherwise authorized by law; prohibiting the Department of Business and Professional Regulation from denying a building permit for certain residential manufactured buildings; prohibiting a local government from adopting or enforcing a certain zoning, land use, or development regulation that treats an offsite-constructed residential dwelling differently or more restrictively than certain dwellings in the same district; requiring local governments to exempt certain owners and contractors from requiring a building permit for the installation of temporary residential hurricane and flood protection walls or barriers that meet certain requirements; requiring a local government to make certain decisions relating to certain building permits within a specified timeframe; prohibiting an association or certain committees from requiring a building permit as a prerequisite for a certain review, etc.

Local Administration of Vessel Restrictions; Authorizes counties & municipalities to adopt ordinances authorizing code enforcement officers to administer enforcement of certain provisions relating to vessels at risk of becoming derelict & long-term anchoring permit requirements, respectively; provides that such ordinances may not take effect until reviewed & approved by FWCC; requires FWCC to adopt rules; revises exemption from anchoring limitation area requirements for certain vessels; authorizes municipalities & counties to adopt ordinances to extend boating-restricted areas under certain conditions; requires boundaries of such areas to be clearly marked with specified markers.

Systems of Law and Terrorist Organizations; Providing that the Department of State may administratively dissolve a corporation that has been designated as a terrorist organization in certain situations; providing that a person who receives military training from a domestic terrorist organization in certain situations commits a specified crime; providing a person who knowingly provides or attempts or conspires to provide material support or resources to a domestic terrorist organization commits a specified crime; providing that a person who willfully becomes a member of a domestic terrorist organization and serves under the direction or control of such organization with a specified intent commits a specified crime; authorizing the Chief of Domestic Security to designate an organization a domestic terrorist organization or a foreign terrorist organization if certain requirements are met; requiring the Chief to provide specified written notice to the Governor, the Cabinet, and the organization of the designation; providing that the Governor and the Cabinet may by a majority vote approve or reject the designation; requiring the Chief to publish such designation in the Florida Administrative Register within a specified time period after approval of the designation by the Governor and the Cabinet; providing that certain students of school districts and Florida College System institutions are ineligible for specified fee waivers; prohibiting students who promote domestic terrorist organization or foreign terrorist organizations from being awarded certain public institution funds, etc.