Sen. Bobby Powell

Waiver of Fees for Affordable Housing Construction; Authorizing local governments to waive fees associated with enforcing the Florida Building Code for costs relating to the construction of affordable housing; authorizing local governments to adopt ordinances exempting permits relating to the construction of affordable housing from certain fees, etc.

Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program; Modifying initial eligibility requirements for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program, etc.

Designated Caregivers; Requiring certain facilities to provide patients admitted for inpatient treatment or their legal representatives with an opportunity to designate a caregiver for the patient’s aftercare within a specified timeframe; requiring facilities to notify a patient’s designated caregiver of the patient’s discharge or transfer from the facility within a specified timeframe; providing facilities, facility employees, and persons under contract with a facility immunity from liability in administrative, civil, and criminal actions for certain acts or omissions of designated caregivers, etc.

Minimum Qualifications for Law Enforcement or Correctional Officers; Providing additional criminal history screening standards for applicants; requiring applicants to pass a psychological screening; requiring applicants to provide names of any prior law enforcement agency employers; requiring such employers in this state to provide certain information concerning applicants; prohibiting the employment of an applicant until information is provided by such prior employers, etc.

Public Records/Division of Emergency Management or a Local Emergency Management Agency; Expanding an exemption from public records requirements for information furnished by a person or business to the Division of Emergency Management or a local emergency management agency to receive assistance with emergency planning to include emergency response assessment reports, evaluation tools, or after-action reports prepared by the division or a local emergency management agency; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.

Medical Use of Marijuana; Prohibiting an employer from taking adverse personnel action against an employee or a job applicant who is a qualified patient for his or her lawful use of medical marijuana; deleting a requirement that certain qualified physician examinations and assessments of a qualified patient be conducted while physically present in the same room as the qualified patient; authorizing certain third-party entities to grow, possess, test, transport, and lawfully dispose of marijuana for research purposes; authorizing telehealth providers to prescribe controlled substances to qualified patients through telehealth under certain circumstances, etc.

Taxes and Fees/Recreational Marijuana; Imposing an excise tax on recreational marijuana; providing for inflation adjustments to the tax rate; providing for collection of the tax; providing for distribution of tax revenues; authorizing an application fee for marijuana establishments, etc.

Unlawful Acts of Officers, Employees, or Agents of the State; Providing for a civil action against any officer, employee, or agent of the state or its political subdivisions for the deprivation of rights secured under the United States Constitution or State Constitution; providing for the award of attorney fees and costs to a prevailing plaintiff; prohibiting a plaintiff from recovering additional damages if he or she has recovered damages pursuant to a civil action brought by the Attorney General; requiring a law enforcement officer to intervene when another officer is using or attempting to use excessive force under certain circumstances; requiring disciplinary action against a law enforcement officer who knowingly fails to render aid to a victim of excessive force or who fails to report a use of excessive force by another officer; requiring a law enforcement officer to report the commission of a criminal offense by another officer while on duty, etc.

Black Business Loan Program; Revising the types of black business enterprises eligible to receive funds under the program; requiring that the application process and the annual certification process for the program be separate and distinct processes; requiring the Department of Economic Opportunity to consider certain factors when assessing applications; requiring that applications contain certain information; revising eligibility requirements for recipients under the program, etc.

No-knock Search Warrants; Requiring that no-knock search warrants only be issued in compliance with specified provisions; prohibiting the issuing of such search warrants for investigations of misdemeanor offenses; providing requirements for issuance of such warrants, etc.