TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed another 10 bills into law.
While some are narrowly tailored, targeting smaller communities and specific industries, others concerning things such as criminal penalties and pregnancy advice may prove to be more far-reaching.
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The new laws include:
HB 1305 – Residential Tenancies
Amends section 83.43 of Florida state statutes to define “Florida financial institution.”
“Florida financial institution” means a bank, credit union, trust company, savings bank, or savings or thrift association doing business under the authority of a charter issued by the United States, this state, or any other state which is authorized to transact business in this state and whose deposits or share accounts are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.
HB 1305 (2024) lines 17-24
The law went into effect upon being signed.
HB 415 – Pregnancy and Parenting Resources Website
Requires the Florida Department of Health to contract with a third party — as well as consult with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Department of Children and Families — to develop and maintain a website by Jan. 1, 2025 that provides information and links to certain pregnancy and parenting resources, including but not limited to:
- Educational materials on pregnancy and parenting.
- Maternal health services.
- Prenatal and postnatal services.
- Educational and mentorship programs for fathers.
- Social services.
- Financial assistance.
- Adoption services.
$466,200 from the DCF’s Administrative Trust Fund will be appropriated for the 2024-2025 fiscal year to implement the law, which goes into effect on July 1.
HB 275 – Offenses Involving Critical Infrastructure
Provides criminal penalties for improperly tampering with or trespassing upon critical infrastructure, as well as for unauthorized access of electronic devices or networks associated with it.
The term “critical infrastructure” is defined in the bill as either a linear asset (road, pipelines, railroad tracks etc.) or anything “for which the owner or operator thereof has employed measures designed to exclude unauthorized persons,” such as a fenced-off mining facility or a power generation center with proper “no entry” signs.
The law goes into effect on July 1.
HB 191 – Town of Orchid, Indian River County
Allows the town of Orchid to hold public meetings within five miles of its exterior jurisdictional boundary, so long as its resident population stays below 1,250 people. The text notes that the town “currently owns no public meeting facilities within its jurisdiction and has no reasonable prospects for doing so in the future.”
The law went into effect upon being signed.
HB 509 – Collier Mosquito Control District, Collier County
Amends the boundaries of the Collier Mosquito Control District to add new lands.
This boundary expansion of the Collier Mosquito Control District was approved by a majority vote of those qualified electors residing within the areas being added to the boundaries of the Collier Mosquito Control District described in section 1 voting in a referendum held August 23, 2022.
HB 509 (2024) lines 467-471
The law goes into effect on Oct. 1.
HB 691 – Town of Horseshoe Beach, Dixie County
Horseshoe Beach is a Gulf Coast town of some 165 people, according to the 2020 Census.
The purpose of HB 691 is to require the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco to issue a special alcoholic beverage license “to a bona fide restaurant located within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Town of Horseshoe Beach which is licensed by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, occupies at least 1,700 square feet of contiguous space used as a part of the food service establishment, is equipped to serve meals to 50 persons at one time, and derives at least 51 percent of its gross food and beverage revenue from the sale of food and nonalcoholic beverages during the first 60-day operating period and each 12-month operating period thereafter.”
Failure to meet the required percentage of food and nonalcoholic beverage gross revenues during the applicable operating period could lead to the revocation of the license or denial of a pending application for a permanent license for the restaurants (or restaurant) that the bill is targeting.
The law went into effect upon being signed.
HB 1025 – Municipal Service District of Ponte Vedra Beach, St. Johns County
This provides term limits for district trustees of 12 years total, after which they may not appear on a ballot for reelection to another four-year term. Trusteed are otherwise now allowed to serve more than two consecutive four-year terms in a row.
Expenditures on any individual capital project, including acquisition of real or personal property, that exceed a total cost of $150,000 or 25% of the district’s current annual budgeted expenses, whichever is greater, must now first be approved by a voting majority of qualified voters in the district.
Additionally, contingency reserves — defined as the amount of funds remaining at the end of the fiscal year, less the amount required to operate the district at the beginning of the next fiscal year — shall not exceed $200,000 or 25% of the district’s current annual budgeted expenses, whichever is greater, in any fiscal year.
The law goes into effect on Oct. 1.
HB 1331 – Commodities Produced by Forced Labor
Requires the Florida Department of Management Services to create and maintain a “forced labor vendor list” to keep track of which companies to prohibit from certain procurement actions such as submitting bids, proposals or replies on a contract to provide commodities to any agency, be awarded a contract or perform work as a contractor, supplier, subcontractor or consultant, or transact business for the provision of commodities with any agency.
“Forced labor,” one of several terms defined in the law, is described in the text as “work or service exacted from any person, including a minor, under the menace of a penalty for nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself or herself voluntarily or an activity that violates s. 787.06.”
Companies which find themselves on the list are authorized to petition for their removal.
The law goes into effect on July 1.
SB 92 – Yacht and Ship Brokers’ Act
Revises the definition of “yacht” in state statutes, soon to be described forthwith as any vessel that is propelled by sail or machinery in the water, exceeds 32 feet in length and is manufactured or operated primarily for pleasure or leased, rented or charted to someone other than the owner for the other person’s pleasure.
The measure additionally provides that a license under the Yacht and Ship Brokers’ Act is no longer required for “a person who conducts business as a broker or salesperson in another state as his or her primary profession and engages in the purchase of a yacht under this act, if the transaction is executed in its entirety with a broker or salesperson licensed in this state.”
Where previously a person could be licensed as a broker if they could demonstrate they have been licensed as a salesperson for at least two consecutive years, this provision is changed to state “a person may not be licensed as a broker unless he or she has been licensed as a salesperson and can demonstrate that he or she has been directly involved in at least four transactions that resulted in the sale of a yacht or can certify that he or she has obtained at least 20 education credits approved by the division.”
The law goes into effect on Oct. 1
SB 892 – Dental Insurance Claims
A substantial bill that makes the following changes related to dental insurance claims:
- Prohibits contracts between health insurers and dentists which contain certain restrictions on payment methods — for example, contracts specifying that credit card payment is your only option.
- Prohibits health insurers from charging a fee to transmit a payment to a dentist through Automated Clearing House transfer unless the dentist has consented to such a fee.
- Prohibits a health insurer from denying claims for procedures included in a prior authorization.
- Prohibits contracts between prepaid limited health service organizations and dentists from containing certain restrictions on payment methods, similar to the first point.
The law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
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