SB 398 Florida Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Child Pornography Terminology

Summary

Child Pornography Terminology; Replacing the terms “pornography” and “child pornography” with the term “child sexual abuse material”, etc.

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 398 Filed → S 398 c1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was revised from a Senate-filed version to a Committee Substitute, incorporating significant changes to the Criminal Punishment Code and related statutes. The primary substantive change involves the reorganization of felony severity rankings, which altered the specific offenses listed under Level 5, Level 6, and Level 7, effectively shifting which crimes are assigned to which severity tier. Additionally, the bill formally updates terminology to replace 'child pornography' with 'child sexual abuse material' across multiple sections.

Scope change

The scope of the bill was expanded to include the Criminal Punishment Code and the reclassification of specific felony offenses under different severity levels (Levels 5, 6, and 7), whereas the original version focused primarily on terminology updates.

DEFINITION

Updated statutory language to replace the terms 'pornography' and 'child pornography' with 'child sexual abuse material' throughout the bill.

Updated the definition of 'identified victim of child sexual abuse material pornography' to align with the new terminology and ensure consistency in victim identification processes.

REQUIREMENT

Reorganized the Criminal Punishment Code's offense severity chart, moving specific offenses between Level 5, Level 6, and Level 7 categories and adding new offenses to the list.

ENFORCEMENT

Amended the list of 'qualifying offenses' used to revoke probation or community control, ensuring the updated severity levels are applied correctly during sentencing enhancements.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

upper

Dec 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Dec 1, 2025

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Criminal Justice, 12/09/25, 10:00 am, 37 Senate Building

upper

Nov 17, 2025

Committee

Referred to Criminal Justice; Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; Rules

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors