Capitol Update: Quick highlights of health care issues discussed as the Florida Legislature moves toward the start of the 2026 Legislative Session.

Note: Friday marked the last of the legislative committee weeks.

• Many bills have yet to be filed, and many we will not see until the start of Session in January.

Speaker Perez unveiled several health care proposals this week, marking them as priorities for the House, but thus far no companion Senate bills are filed. Many of these large priority bills typically go into the category of issues that will quickly move through the House and then will be flagged as "horse trading" issues in return for the Senate President's priorities.

NOTE: HB 693 does include independent practice of ARNPs in all areas of the state (not limited to rural) and in any specialty (not limited to primary care).

➡️The following bills received successful passage in committee

SB 312 - Patient-directed Medical Orders

Senate Health Policy members primarily asked about how the online registry would protect patient confidentiality, ensure portability, and allow family access if the patient is incapacitated. Members supported the bill’s goal of honoring patient wishes.

SB 250 - Rural Communities

Dubbed as the "Rural Renaissance," the legislation is now ready for full consideration by the Florida Senate after unanimous support by Senate Appropriations.

HB 355 - Health Care Patient Protection

Dubbed the "Pediatric ER Readiness" bill, the legislation is now ready for full consideration by the Florida House after unanimous support by the House Health & Human Services Committee.

Political Clips: What Lawmakers are Reading

'Right to Repair,' Sovereign Immunity Caps, E-Verify Checks, & ER Ped Readiness Up in Committee

For the final day of the last interim committee week before the 2026 legislative session starts in January, several House committees are scheduled to meet.

• The House Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee is set to consider HB 487, known as the "Right to Repair Act for Mobility Devices," which would require manufacturers to provide documentation, parts, and tools necessary for maintenance and repairs of motorized wheelchairs.
• The House Commerce Committee is also slated to meet to take up legislation (HB 197) requiring all businesses — including those with less than 25 employees — to use the online federal E-Verify system to confirm the immigration status of new hires.
• Meanwhile, the House Health and Human Services Committee will consider a bill (HB 355) that would require emergency departments to adopt pediatric protocols, including training personnel and providing child-sized instruments
• While the House Judiciary Committee is poised to take up a high-profile proposal (HB 145) that would increase the amount government agencies must pay when people are injured due to negligence.

Senate Fast Tracks 'Rural Renaissance'

A Florida Senate committee on Wednesday unanimously advanced a sweeping "rural renaissance" bill designed to expand health care, education, transportation and economic development in rural communities.

The measure (SB 250), sponsored by Tallahassee Republican Sen. Corey Simon, is a top priority for Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and is now slated for a full floor vote during the first week of the 2026 regular legislative session next month.

Lawmakers passed a similar bill in the Senate last year, but it fell apart and failed to pass in the House. Simon said that while the 2025 effort stalled, the "challenges of rural Floridians did not go away."

The goal now, he said, is to ensure "families can stay and thrive in communities they love" by strengthening local economies and improving essential services.

The wide-ranging proposal would create an Office of Rural Prosperity within the Department of Commerce, offer incentives to attract doctors and other health providers to underserved areas, and direct funding to help rural communities repair and rebuild roads. It would also require preference for certain land planning technical assistance grants to communities in rural areas, change the conditions for counties to be considered "fiscally constrained," and set out millions in new money for modernizing certain rural "farm-to-market roads."

The roughly $218 million measure would also create a community block grant to provide open-ended funding for such communities, among other provisions.

A similar, but not identical, House bill (HB 723) was filed on Wednesday by DeFuniak Springs Republican Rep. Shane Abbott.