SB 162 Florida Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Protection from Surgical Smoke

Summary

Protection from Surgical Smoke; Defining the terms “smoke evacuation system” and “surgical smoke”; requiring hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, by a specified date, to adopt and implement policies to prevent patients and personnel from being exposed to harmful surgical smoke, etc.

Issues: ✓ Healthcare

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Mar 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

S 162 Filed → S 162 c1 · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill was amended to strengthen protections against surgical smoke exposure by adding explicit requirements to prevent harm to both patients and personnel, rather than just requiring equipment use. The amendment clarifies that facilities must use smoke evacuation systems or other appropriate measures when medical evidence demonstrates surgical smoke poses a health risk. The effective date and implementation deadline remain unchanged at July 1, 2026 and January 1, 2027 respectively.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to explicitly protect both patients and personnel from harmful surgical smoke exposure, rather than only requiring equipment use.

REQUIREMENT

Added explicit requirement to prevent patients and personnel from being exposed to harmful surgical smoke, rather than just requiring smoke evacuation system use

Added language requiring facilities to use smoke evacuation systems or any other appropriate measure when medical evidence demonstrates surgical smoke causes harm

DEFINITION

Modified the smoke evacuation system definition to remove the phrase 'eliminates surgical smoke' and replace with 'captures and filters surgical smoke'

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)

upper

Feb 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

CS by Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services; YEAS 8 NAYS 0

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, 02/25/26, 10:00 am, 412 Knott Building

upper

Jan 21, 2026

Upper · Passed

Now in Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services

upper

Jan 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

Favorable by Health Policy; YEAS 10 NAYS 1

upper

Jan 15, 2026

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Health Policy, 01/20/26, 3:30 pm, 412 Knott Building

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

upper

Oct 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to Health Policy; Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services; Rules

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors