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2008 Session Summary PDF

322 Pages·2008·0.95 MB·English
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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, (850) 487-5915 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

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