SB 42 Florida Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Specific Medical Diagnoses in Child Protective Investigations

Summary

Specific Medical Diagnoses in Child Protective Investigations; Providing an exception to the requirement that the Department of Children and Families immediately forward certain allegations to a law enforcement agency; requiring a child protective investigator to inform the subject of an investigation of a certain duty; requiring Child Protection Teams to consult with a licensed physician or advanced practice registered nurse with specified pediatric experience when evaluating certain reports; authorizing a parent or legal custodian of a child who is the subject of certain orders to request specified medical examinations of the child within a specified timeframe, etc.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Mar 5, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

S 42 c1 → S 42 c2 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was revised to include a new requirement that child protective investigators must inform subjects of their investigation about specific duties, such as reporting changes in residence and preexisting medical diagnoses. Additionally, the text was updated to clarify that medical examinations requested by parents must be paid for by them or their insurance, and the bill's title was adjusted to reflect it is a Committee Substitute.

Scope change

The bill's scope was slightly expanded to explicitly mandate that investigators inform subjects of their duties, while the applicability of the medical examination cost requirement was clarified.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement for child protective investigators to inform the subject of the investigation about specific duties, including reporting changes in residence and preexisting medical diagnoses.

Clarified that costs for requested medical examinations must be borne by the parent or legal custodian, including through health care coverage.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill header to reflect it is a 'Committee Substitute 2' instead of 'Committee Substitute 1' and adjusted the associated metadata.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 3, 2026

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Feb 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Fiscal Policy, 03/02/26, 12:00 pm, 412 Knott Building

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Feb 18, 2026

Upper · Passed

CS by Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services; YEAS 9 NAYS 0

upper

Feb 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, 02/18/26, 8:30 am, 412 Knott Building

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Introduced

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

Now in Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services

upper

Jan 12, 2026

Upper · Passed

Favorable by Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; YEAS 6 NAYS 0

upper

Jan 5, 2026

Upper · Passed

On Committee agenda-- Children, Families, and Elder Affairs, 01/12/26, 4:00 pm, 301 Senate Building

upper

Oct 6, 2025

Committee

Referred to Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services; Fiscal Policy

upper

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors