Sen. Corey Simon

Public Records/Sealed Criminal History Records; Expanding an existing public records exemption to include sealed criminal history records of persons adjudicated guilty of certain acts or nonviolent misdemeanor offenses; authorizing disclosure of criminal history records to a state attorney for a specified purpose; providing for future review and repeal of the expanded exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.

State Lotteries; Revising the powers and duties of the Department of the Lottery; revising the information required to be provided to the department by persons who submit a bid, a proposal, or an offer to negotiate a contract for major procurement; authorizing the Division of Security’s sworn law enforcement officers to purchase and present lottery tickets to a lottery retailer to claim a prize under certain circumstances; prohibiting certain false claims relating to state lottery tickets, etc.

Administrative Efficiency in Public Schools; Exempting district school boards from requirements for adopting certain rules; deleting a requirement for a district school board to employ an internal auditor in certain circumstances; revising requirements relating to district school board attendance policies for Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Programs; prohibiting a school from being required to use a certain parameter as the sole determining factor to recruit instructional personnel; specifying requirements for advanced degrees that may be used to set salary schedules for instructional personnel and school administrators hired after a specified date; revising eligibility requirements for individuals to participate in the Teacher Apprenticeship Program, etc.

Educational Scholarship Programs; Creating a categorical fund for implementing the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program; creating the educational enrollment stabilization program to provide supplemental state funds to address changes in full-time equivalent student enrollment; renaming the Hope Scholarship Program as the Hope Program; requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to provide a parent with certain information on scholarship programs; requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to create a single application for all educational scholarship programs, etc.

Public Records/State Retirement Plan/Division of Retirement; Providing an exemption from public records requirements for all records identifying participants in any state retirement plan administered by the Division of Retirement of the Department of Management Services and held by the division or the State Board of Administration; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; deleting provisions providing a limited exemption from public records requirements for certain retirement records; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.

Department of Law Enforcement; Authorizing the Department of Law Enforcement to adopt rules relating to the Florida Medal of Valor and the Florida Blue/Red Heart Medal; specifying the circumstances under which an appointment or reappointment to the Medical Examiners Commission is considered in force; requiring the commission, rather than the Governor, to appoint district medical examiners for each medical examiner district; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to accept and process fingerprints taken of natural persons who are control persons of a licensee or are applicants for licensure, etc.

Rural Communities; Requiring the state land planning agency to give preference for technical assistance funding to local governments located in a rural area of opportunity; revising the conditions required for a county to be considered a fiscally constrained county; creating the Office of Rural Prosperity within the Department of Commerce; requiring the Office of Rural Prosperity to administer the Renaissance Grants Program to provide block grants to eligible communities; creating the Public Infrastructure Smart Technology Grant Program within the Office of Rural Prosperity; creating the Florida Arterial Road Modernization Program within the Department of Transportation, etc. APPROPRIATION: $144,813,977

Clerks of the Court; Authorizing the cumulative excess of funds to be used in the development of the total combined budgets of the clerks of the court; requiring that a court use certain sale procedures in a foreclosure action; providing that only a clerk of court may conduct a foreclosure sale, etc.

Requirements for a Standard High School Diploma; Providing that students can substitute marching band experience for physical education and performing fine arts credit requirements for a standard high school diploma; providing that students with disabilities may participate in the Special Olympics to meet the physical education requirement for a standard high school diploma, etc.

Maddy summarySB 778 clarifies who qualifies as a "forensic client" under Florida law, specifically defining it as defendants committed to state agencies under sections 916.13, 916.15, 916.302, or 916.303(3). The bill amends two statutes (916.106 and 402.164) to update this definition consistently across related laws. It does not create new services or funding but ensures existing forensic services programs apply to the correct group of defendants. The change takes effect July 1, 2026.