Florida Republican Legislative Bills Passed 2019 - 2022
Education
SB 7070 – Family Empowerment Scholarship (2019) – created new private school scholarship program funded from general revenues, with eligibility criteria matching that of the existing Corporate Tax Credit (CTC) Scholarship program; initially creates slots for 18,000 students.
HB 7045 – Family Empowerment Scholarship (2021) – expands school choice scholarship eligibility so that any family of four with annual income below $100k qualifies; also creates 51,000 new slots, making this the largest expansion of a school choice scholarship program in U.S. history
HB 1557 – Parents Rights in Education (2022) – restricted grades pre-K to third grade from classroom discussions on gender identity or sexual orientation, provided parents with mechanisms to review and protest materials
HB 7 – Stop WOKE Act (2022) – restricted both educational and employment trainings from including mandatory sessions that include anything promoting Critical Race Theory or ideologies that present one race as an oppressor or oppressed.
HB 233 – Campus Intellectual Freedom (2021) – mandates DOE conduct a survey of faculty and students on all public higher education campuses to gauge academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and levels of speech protection.
SB 1028 – Fairness in Women’s Sports Act (2021) – requires high school athletes in public schools to participate in competitive sports according to their biological gender.
HB 1767 – School Boards (2022) – 12-year term limits for all school board members
HB 1115 – Financial Literacy (2022) – requires HS students to pass a half-credit course on financial literacy for graduation.
Healthcare
HB 21 – Certificate of Need Repeal (2019) – repealed almost all of Florida’s certificate of need regs governing healthcare facilities and services. Only ones remaining are hospice/nursing homes and ambulance services.
HB 607 – Nurse Scope of Practice Expansion (2020) – allows independent practice for Advance Practice Registered Nurses
HB 389 – Pharmacist Test and Treat (2020) – allowed pharmacists to test and treat for flu, strep, and several other common ailments.
HB 23 – Telehealth Expansion (2019) – comprehensive telehealth legislation for video-enabled telehealth
HB 59 – Automated Prescription Dispensing Machines (2020) – enabling legislation for large “ATM-style” dispensing machines for roughly 200 of the most common medications dispensed (no controlled substances).
HB 37 – Direct Primary Care Agreements (2019) – enabling legislation to allow DPC subscriptions to operate independently of all insurance regulations within the state.
Technology
HB 273 – Money Transmission (2022) – deregulation of cryptocurrency in Florida, clarifies that only intermediaries, such as a platform that enables cryptocurrency transactions, requires a money transmitter license, individuals seeking to sell cryptocurrency are not subject to licensure requirements.
HB 1391 – FinTech Regulatory Sandbox (2020) – enables financial technology innovators to test new products and services within the consumer finance, payment instruments sellers, and money transmitter programs.
HB 1239 – Broadband Internet Infrastructure (2021) – first steps in creating proper market conditions for broadband deployment to hard-to-reach areas (mainly pole lease attachment regs).
Elections
SB 90 – Election Reform (2021) – restricted use of drop boxes, required voters to request mail-in ballots more frequently, banned third-party non-profit donations to elections’ offices.
SB 524 – Election Reform (2022) – built upon prior year’s legislation, created a statewide election fraud and security office, tightened controls on ballot drop boxes, greater accountability on voter roll clean up at county election offices, made ballot harvesting/trafficking a third-degree felony.
Regulatory Reform
HB 1193 – Occupational Licensing Reform (2020) – comprehensive deregulation of occupational licensing categories in several industries. Removed/reduced requirements across more than 30 categories.
HB 735 – Preemption of Local Occupational Licensing (2021) – preempts local governments from requiring a local license for any person whose job scope does not substantially correspond to that of a contractor or journeyman type licensed by the Construction Industry Licensing Board, within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
SB 72 – Covid Liability Protection (2021) – shielded businesses and healthcare workers from frivolous litigation, provided they were making a good faith effort to adhere to CDC guidelines.
SB 7014 – Covid Liability Protection Healthcare Workers (2022) – extended liability protection window for healthcare workers for an additional 14 months.
HB 403 – Home-Based Business Protection (2021) – allows home-based businesses to operate and preempts local governments from restricting beyond standard zoning laws.
SB 280 – Mother of All Preemptions (2022) – requires local governments to obtain business impact statement for any local rule/regulation that could negatively affect businesses, provides avenue for local businesses to sue and injunct any local regulation with a negative business impact of 15 percent or more. (Vetoed by DeSantis)
HB 741 – Net Metering Reform (2022) – glide path off net metering rules for new solar installations in the state (from retail to wholesale rate for excess generation). (Vetoed by DeSantis)
HB 1B/2B – Covid Mandate Bans (2021 special session) - prohibits vaccination mandates for employees in government and public education and protects parental choice on masks, vaccines, and quarantine, private-sector employers can require vaccinations, but must offer the following five exemptions:
- Medical reasons, as determined by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) or physician assistant (PA). Medical reasons include pregnancy or expectation of pregnancy.
- Religious reasons, based on a sincerely held belief
- Immunity based on prior COVID-19 infection, as documented by a lab test
- Periodic testing, agreeing to comply with regular testing at no cost to the employee
- Personal protective equipment (PPE), agreeing to comply with use of employer-provided PPE
Immigration
SB 1808 – Immigration Reform (2022) – restricts common carrier companies engaged in the Biden administration’s immigrant transport program from getting any contract with a state or local government agency in Florida.
Other
HB 5 – Abortion Restriction (2022) – no abortions after 15 weeks, except for cases in which life of mother is in direct jeopardy (no rape/incest exception).
HB 241 – Parental Rights for Minors (2021) – among other rights, requires parental consent for a minor to obtain an abortion.
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