2008 Session Summary

322 Pages·2008·0.95 MB·English

2008 Regular Session
Summary of Legislation Passed

Compiled and Edited by
Office of the Senate Secretary

This document can be accessed on the Senate’s Web page (http://www.flsenate.gov), and copies are
available in the Senate Document Center, 304 Capitol, [phone]
The 2008 Regular Session Summary of Legislation Passed is a collection of reports
submitted by Senate Committees to the Secretary of the Senate. These reports have
been compiled and edited for standardization. This summary is provided for
information only and does not represent the opinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or
Senate Office.
Table of Contents
Committee Summaries
Agriculture..................................................................................................................................... 1
Banking and Insurance ................................................................................................................ 3
Health Insurance ....................................................................................................................... 3
Property Insurance .................................................................................................................. 13
Other Insurance ....................................................................................................................... 21
Financial Matters .................................................................................................................... 30
Miscellaneous ......................................................................................................................... 36
Children, Families, and Elder Affairs ....................................................................................... 41
Commerce .................................................................................................................................... 57
Communications and Public Utilities ........................................................................................ 69
Community Affairs ..................................................................................................................... 71
Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations .............................................................................. 83
Criminal Justice .......................................................................................................................... 87
Controlled Substances ............................................................................................................. 87
Corrections .............................................................................................................................. 88
Criminal Offenses and Penalties ............................................................................................. 90
Law Enforcement .................................................................................................................... 96
Public Safety ........................................................................................................................... 98
Public Records ...................................................................................................................... 102
Pretrial Release ..................................................................................................................... 104
Victim Protection .................................................................................................................. 104
Education Pre-K – 12................................................................................................................ 107
Ethics in Education ............................................................................................................... 107
School Standards, Accountability, and Grading ................................................................... 108
School Safety and Wellness .................................................................................................. 110
School and Program Choice .................................................................................................. 112
Exceptional Student Awareness ............................................................................................ 119

Summary of Legislation Passed i
Early Learning ...................................................................................................................... 120
Educational Facilities Construction ...................................................................................... 120
Education Pre-K – 12 Appropriations .................................................................................... 123
Environmental Preservation and Conservation ..................................................................... 127
Ethics and Elections .................................................................................................................. 147
Finance and Tax ........................................................................................................................ 153
Fiscal Policy and Calendar Committee ................................................................................... 159
General Government Appropriations ..................................................................................... 185
Trust Fund Bills .................................................................................................................... 185
Other Bills ............................................................................................................................. 186
Governmental Operations ........................................................................................................ 193
Cultural and Historic Resources ........................................................................................... 193
Infrastructure Operations ...................................................................................................... 196
Personnel and Benefit Systems ............................................................................................. 197
Health and Human Services Appropriations ......................................................................... 201
Trust Fund Bills .................................................................................................................... 201
Other Bills ............................................................................................................................. 205
Health Policy.............................................................................................................................. 209
Health Regulation ..................................................................................................................... 213
Health Care Practitioners ...................................................................................................... 213
Health Care Facilities and Services ...................................................................................... 220
Public Health ......................................................................................................................... 224
Higher Education ...................................................................................................................... 231
State College System ............................................................................................................ 231
Textbook Affordability ......................................................................................................... 233
State Universities .................................................................................................................. 234
Community Colleges ............................................................................................................ 235

ii 2008 Regular Session
Higher Education Appropriations .......................................................................................... 237
Judiciary .................................................................................................................................... 241
Wrongful Incarceration ......................................................................................................... 241
Family Law ........................................................................................................................... 244
Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law ................................................................................. 245
Judicial Sales ......................................................................................................................... 246
Public Records ...................................................................................................................... 247
Military Affairs and Domestic Security .................................................................................. 249
Military Affairs ..................................................................................................................... 249
Veterans' Affairs ................................................................................................................... 250
Regulated Industries ................................................................................................................. 257
Hotels and Restaurants .......................................................................................................... 257
Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco ........................................................................................ 258
Professions ............................................................................................................................ 260
Residential Tenancies ........................................................................................................... 262
Community Associations and Professional Regulation ........................................................ 262
Transportation .......................................................................................................................... 271
Transportation Administration .............................................................................................. 271
Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles .................................................................................... 279
Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations .............................................. 293
Other Summaries
Senate Memorials and Concurrent Resolutions..................................................................... 297
Memorials ............................................................................................................................. 297
Concurrent Resolutions ......................................................................................................... 297
Senate Special Master ............................................................................................................... 299
Claim Bills ............................................................................................................................ 299
Index
Index ........................................................................................................................................... 301

Summary of Legislation Passed iii
Senate Committee on
Agriculture
SB 230 — State Symbols/ Florida Cracker Horse
by Senator Baker
This bill designates the Florida Cracker Horse (Marshtackie) as the official state horse. In
addition, it designates the Loggerhead Turtle as the official Florida state salt water reptile. The
bill provides for future legislative review and repeal.
If approved by the Governor, these provisions take effect July 1, 2008.
Vote: Senate 38-1; House 116-1

SB 1630 — OGSR/Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
by Agriculture Committee
This bill reenacts the public records exemption that allows the Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services (department) to keep confidential any federal records which are provided to
the department during a joint food safety or food-borne illness investigation. Before the
exemption, federal agencies would not allow the department to fully participate in these
investigations because the state's Open Government laws require any data given to the
department to be made public. The goal of this exemption is to allow federal and state agencies
to share information and fully participate together to achieve timely resolutions of causal or
contributing factors to outbreaks. The result of this exemption has been a safer and more secure
food supply for the consuming public.

Senate staff was required to review the exemption in s. 500.148, F.S., pursuant to the Open
Government Sunset Review Act, and found that the exemption from the public records law
meets the statutory criteria for reenactment.
If approved by the Governor, these provisions take effect October 1, 2008.
Vote: Senate 39-0; House 119-0

CS/HB 219 — Gertrude Maxwell Save a Pet Act
by Environment and Natural Resources Council and Rep. Domino and others (CS/CS/SB 1994
by Governmental Operations Committee; Agriculture Committee; and Senator Atwater)
This bill, known as the "Gertrude Maxwell Save a Pet Act," creates the Gertrude Maxwell Save a
Pet Direct-Support Organization within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
This direct-support organization (DSO) is created for the purposes of providing grants to animal
shelters for spaying and neutering, for sheltering and providing services during times of

Summary of Legislation Passed 1
Senate Committee on Agriculture

emergencies, and for developing and disseminating educational materials concerning the care of
pets. The DSO will be governed by a board of directors made up of eight members and three
honorary members.
If approved by the Governor, these provisions take effect upon becoming law.
Vote: Senate 38-0; House 114-0

CS/SB 2222 — Citrus
by Agriculture Committee
This bill provides for the use of Casuarina cunninghamiana (specific variety of Australian Pine)
as a windbreak for commercial citrus groves. The bill creates a five year pilot program for use of
Casuarina cunninghamiana as a windbreak to protect fresh fruit groves in Indian River, St. Lucie,
and Martin Counties where citrus canker is determined by the Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services (department) to be widespread. This pilot program must be reevaluated
annually, and a comprehensive review is required in 2013.

Property owners who participate in the program are required to obtain a special permit from the
department. The department is authorized to charge a fee for the special permit, not to exceed
$500. The Casuarina cunninghamiana must be produced in an authorized registered nursery and
certified by the department as being vegetatively propagated from male plants. Nurseries which
are authorized to produce the plants must obtain a special permit from the department certifying
that the plants have been vegetatively propagated from sexually mature male source trees
currently grown in the state. The bill authorizes the department to charge a special permit fee, not
to exceed $200. The department is authorized to charge an annual fee, not to exceed $50 for each
tree registered as a source tree.

All Casuarina cunninghamiana must be destroyed by the property owner within six months if the
site is no longer used for commercial citrus production, has not been used for commercial citrus
production for a period of five years, or if the department determines that the trees have become
invasive. If the owner neglects to comply the department may proceed to destroy the plants. The
cost of the destruction by the department will be assessed, collected, and enforced against the
owner. Upon failure to pay the assessed cost, the department is authorized to record a lien against
the property. The bill authorizes the department to require a permit holder to provide verified
statements of the planted acreage subject to the special permit. It also authorizes the department
to review the permit holder's business or planting records at his or her place of business during
normal business hours. Failure to produce such information is cause for suspension or revocation
of the special permit.
If approved by the Governor, these provisions take effect July 1, 2008.
Vote: Senate 39-0; House 116-0

2 2008 Regular Session
Senate Committee on
Banking and Insurance
HEALTH INSURANCE
CS/CS/SB 2534 — Health Insurance
by Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee; Banking and Insurance Committee;
and Senators Peaden and Gaetz
The bill provides for two significant new programs designed to provide more affordable access
to coverage for health care, primarily for individuals who are uninsured and small employers.

Cover Florida Health Access Program
Creates the "Cover Florida Health Access Program Act," which is designed to provide affordable
health care options for uninsured residents. The program will allow insurers, HMOs,
health-care-sponsored-organizations, or health care districts to offer consumers a choice of
benefit plans at affordable prices. A Cover Florida plan entity must provide non-catastrophic
coverage and may provide catastrophic coverage, supplemental insurance, and discount medical
plan product options to enrollees.

Enrollment Eligibility Requirements:

• Resident of Florida;
• Ages 19 to 64;
• Not covered by private insurance or eligible for public insurance; and
• Uninsured for at least the prior 6 months, with exceptions for persons who lost coverage
within the past 6 months under certain conditions.

Administration of the Cover Florida Health Access Program:
The Agency for Health Care Administration and the Office of Insurance Regulation are jointly
responsible for establishing and administering the program. The agency and the office are
required to issue an invitation to negotiate no later than July 1, 2008, to health insurers, health
maintenance organizations, health care provider-sponsored organizations, and health care
districts ("Cover Florida plan entities"). The agency and the office are required to approve at
least one Cover Florida plan entity having an existing statewide provider network, and may
approve at least one regional network plan in each Medicaid area.

Changes in plan benefits, premiums, and forms are subject to regulatory oversight by the agency
and the office. The agency is required to ensure that the plans follow standardized grievance
procedures. The office and the agency are required to submit an annual report to the Governor,

Summary of Legislation Passed 3
Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance

the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on the status of the
program.

Health Flex Plan Program
The Health Flex Plan Program was established to offer basic affordable health care services to
low income, uninsured residents. The amendment provides the following changes to the
program:

• Expands the population eligible to purchase health flex plans by raising the family
income limit from 200 to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL).
• Allows a person who is covered under subsidized Medicaid or KidCare coverage and
who lost eligibility due to the income limits to apply for coverage without a lapse in
coverage if all other requirements are met. Under current law, these persons would be
required to be uninsured for the prior 6 months prior to enrolling in a health flex plan.
• Expands the population eligible for health flex plans by allowing individuals who are
covered under an individual contract issued by an HMO that has an approved health flex
plan, as of October 1, 2008, to enroll in the HMO's health flex plan. These individuals
would not be subject to the current requirement of being uninsured for the prior 6 months.
• Allows a person who is part of an employer group with at least 75 percent of the
employees having income equal to or less than 300 percent of the FPL and not covered
by private insurance during the last 6 months to be eligible for coverage. If the health flex
plan is an insurer, only 50 percent of the employees must meet the income test.
• Extends the expiration date of the program from July 1, 2008 to July 1, 2013.

Florida Health Choices Program
The bill creates the Florida Health Choices Program ("program"). The program is designed to be
a single, centralized market for the sale and purchase of health care products including, but not
limited to: health insurance plans, HMO plans, prepaid services, service contracts, and flexible
spending accounts. Products sold as part of the program would be exempt from regulation under
the Insurance Code and laws governing health maintenance organizations.

Authorized Vendors
The following entities are authorized to be eligible vendors of these products and plans: (1)
insurers authorized under ch. 624, F.S., (2) HMOs authorized under ch. 641, F.S., (3) prepaid
health clinics licensed under ch. 641, part II, F.S., (4) health care providers, including hospitals
and other licensed health facilities, health care clinics, pharmacies, and other licensed health care
providers, (5) provider organizations, including services networks, group practices, and
professional associations, and (6) corporate entities providing specific health services. Vendors
may not sell products that provide "risk-bearing coverage" unless those vendors are authorized

4 2008 Regular Session