Sen. Carlos Smith

Speech and Debate Education; Creating the Florida Speech and Debate Hall of Fame; designating Florida Speech and Debate Week annually in February; establishing the Florida Debate Initiative, Inc., (FDI) as a statewide speech and debate organization that performs certain functions in support of the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative (FCDI) in the Department of Education; requiring the Board of Governors of the State University System and the State Board of Education to develop specified undergraduate and graduate coursework, certificates, and micro-credentials, etc. APPROPRIATION: $2,400,000

Recovery of Damages for Medical Negligence Resulting in Death; Deleting a provision that precludes certain persons from recovering damages for medical negligence resulting in death, etc.

Housing; Citing this act as the “Real Affordable Housing Relief Act”; deleting provisions prohibiting municipalities, counties, or other entities of local government from adopting or maintaining certain laws relating to rent control; authorizing counties and municipalities to create community land bank programs for a certain purpose; providing requirements for the sale of certain property to land banks; providing conditions for the subsequent resale of property acquired by land banks; requiring the Department of Financial Services to adopt a home resiliency grading scale for a specified purpose; creating the Affordable Housing Construction Loan Program for a certain purpose, etc.

Joint Resolution/Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission; Proposing amendments to the State Constitution to declare collective responsibility for certain animal life and to revise the composition of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and appointments thereto, etc.

Coverage for Orthotics and Prosthetics Services; Authorizing the Agency for Health Care Administration to authorize and pay for specified orthotics and prosthetics services for Medicaid recipients who are eligible individuals; requiring the agency to seek federal approval and amend contracts as necessary to implement the act; requiring individual health insurance policies; group, blanket, and franchise health insurance policies; and health maintenance contracts, respectively, to provide coverage for specified orthotics and prosthetics services for eligible individuals, etc.

Florida Public Service Commission; Requiring the commission to implement specified measures to improve transparency and accountability; requiring the commission to ensure that public utilities do not recover certain costs from ratepayers regardless of whether such costs take a specified form; requiring the commission to ensure that the allowable return on equity for public utilities does not exceed certain metrics; requiring that certain cost-tracking mechanisms for a public utility to recover changes in electric supply costs provide a specified cost-sharing structure, etc.

Implementation of the Recommendations of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force; Requiring owners of certain onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems to have the systems periodically inspected beginning on a specified date; requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to administer the inspection program and implement program standards, procedures, and requirements; requiring that estimated pollutant load reductions in basin management action plans meet or exceed certain total maximum daily load requirements; revising requirements for the allocation of pollutant load reductions in such plans, etc.

Muslim-American Heritage Month; Recognizing February 2026 as “Muslim-American Heritage Month” in Florida and celebrating the heritage and culture of Muslim Americans in this state, etc.

Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsperson; Creating the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsperson within the Department of Corrections; establishing the Corrections Oversight Committee; authorizing the office to subpoena department records, employees, or contractors; requiring the office to conduct periodic inspections of department facilities; requiring the office to create an electronic family form and make it available on the office’s public website for a specified purpose, etc. APPROPRIATION: $1,500,000

Office of the Corrections Ombudsman; Creating the Office of the Corrections Ombudsman within the legislative branch; requiring the Legislature to establish a Corrections Oversight Committee on or before a certain date; requiring the Department of Corrections to provide the Ombudsman and committee members with access to certain department facilities and records; requiring confidentiality of in-person communications between incarcerated persons or facility staff members and the Ombudsman or a committee member, etc. APPROPRIATION: $250,000