The Florida Capitol. | News Service of Florida
Published on June 25, 2024 at 10:13 am
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Florida’s 2024-2025 fiscal year will arrive next week with a fresh $116.5 billion budget and nearly 200 new laws.
Lawmakers also tucked another $2 billion in spending into bills, with that money not showing up in the budget (HB 5001). Among the measures slated to take effect July 1:
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- HB 21: Provides $20 million to compensate victims of abuse at the shuttered Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna and another state reform school in Okeechobee County
- HB 49: Eases regulations on hours that 16- and 17-year-old youths can work, including allowing parents and school superintendents to waive a 30-hour-a-week limit when school is in session.
- HB 87: Bolsters self-defense arguments for people who shoot bears on their property.
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- HB 117: Allows the release of grand jury testimony involving the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
- SB 330: Creates behavioral health teaching hospitals linked to universities to help address issues with treating patients for mental health conditions.
- HB 385: Gives courts the power to require parents to use “neutral safe exchange” locations at sheriffs’ offices when they share custody of children.
- HB 415: Directs the Florida Department of Health to set up a website that provides information and links to certain “pregnancy and parenting resources.”
- HB 433: Prevents local governments from imposing requirements on businesses about heat exposure protections for workers.
- SB 544: Requires the Department of Health to establish a network of providers to participate in a swimming lesson voucher program.
- HB 601: Restricts citizen review boards from investigating alleged wrongdoing by police officers.
- HB 919: Requires political ads that contain “images, video, audio, graphics, or other digital content” created using artificial intelligence to include a disclaimer.
- HB 931: Authorizes school districts to allow volunteer school chaplains.
- SB 968: Designates property at Tyndall Air Force Base in Bay County and within the former boundaries of Homestead Air Force Base in Miami-Dade County as “spaceport territory.”
- SB 1264: Adds the history of communism to required instruction in public schools starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
- HB 1291: Prevents “identity politics” from being included in college and university teacher preparation programs.
- HB 1503: Allows what are known as “surplus lines” carriers to take out some nonhomesteaded properties from the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
- HB 1645: Repeals parts of state law about greenhouse gas emissions and bans wind turbines offshore.
- SB 1764: Increases penalties for participants in “street takeovers.”
- SB 7002: Part of a school “deregulation” effort led by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, includes allowing districts to publish notices of intent to adopt tentative budgets on school board websites instead of in newspapers.
- SB 7028: Includes $200 million to continue the My Safe Florida Home program, which helps residents harden their homes against storms.
- SB 7032: Provides tuition and fee waivers for high school dropouts who pursue diplomas and workforce credentials at state colleges.
- HB 7063: Prevents strippers under age 21 from working in adult-entertainment businesses.
