Local Government Cyber Security; Creating the Local Government Cybersecurity Protection Program within the Florida Digital Service, to be administered by the Florida Digital Service; requiring the Florida Digital Service to enter into certain data-sharing agreements with local governments for a specified purpose; requiring the Florida Digital Service to administer the grant program based on specified criteria to provide information technology commodities and services to local governments for a specified purpose; requiring the Florida Digital Service to contract for information technology commodities and services and award such commodities and services to local governments; requiring the Florida Digital Service to prepare and submit a specified report to the Governor's Office of Policy and Budget and the chairs of the legislative appropriations committees, etc.
HB 1407 amends Florida law regarding discrimination complaint procedures. It removes the requirement that the Florida Commission on Human Relations must send complaint copies to alleged violators via registered mail, allowing alternative delivery methods. The bill also establishes specific deadlines for filing civil lawsuits: within one year of the Commission's reasonable cause determination or the EEOC's Notice of Right to Sue, or within 18 months if no determination is made within 180 days of the complaint. These changes directly affect the Commission, individuals filing discrimination complaints, and businesses or entities accused of violations.
Background Screenings; Providing that, effective on a specified date, an independent sanctioning authority is deemed to be a qualified entity for the purpose of participating in the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse; requiring qualified entities to designate a user administrator for a specified purpose; prohibiting certain persons from denying or failing to acknowledge certain criminal history records that have been expunged or sealed, etc.
Professional Learning for Instructional and School Administrative Personnel; Requires certain professional learning systems to provide at least one autism-specific professional learning opportunity.
Educator Preparation and Certification; Authorizing an educator preparation institute to allow certain program participants to enroll in introductory coursework; revising the criteria for the award of a temporary educator certification to include certain persons with expired professional certificates; requiring that subject area coverages and endorsements for a certificateholder be reinstated with the certificateholder's professional certificate; revising requirements for reinstatement of a professional certificate; providing that certain requirements for reinstatement of a professional certificate may not be satisfied using specific inservice points; requiring the Florida Center for Teaching Excellence to collaborate with the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching for specified purposes; requiring, rather than authorizing, the center to submit a specified professional learning system for approval by the department; requiring the center to allow certain certified educators to use such professional learning system for specified purposes at no cost to the educator; requiring the center to submit inservice points for such educators to the department; requiring the center to provide information on certain school district professional learning systems to certain certified educators, etc.
School Counselors; Requires evaluation criteria for certified school counselors to be based on specified standards; provides that persons seeking employment as school counselors are exempt from specified educator certification requirements; & provides that school districts may require such persons to meet certain requirements as condition of employment.
Inmate Services ; Requires maintenance & repair deduction fees from contractor-operated correctional facilities to be deposited in Contractor-Operated Institutions Inmate Welfare Trust Fund; requires funds from Contractor-Operated Institutions Inmate Welfare Trust Fund to be used for specified purposes.
Dry Needling by Occupational Therapists ; Defines "dry needling" & "myofascial trigger point"; requires Board of Occupational Therapy Association to establish minimum standards of practice for performance of dry needling by occupational therapists; provides performance requirements; requires board to establish additional supervision & training requirements; requires DOH to submit specified report to Legislature by specified date.
Clerks of the Court; Authorizing the cumulative excess of funds to be used in the development of the total combined budgets of the clerks of the court; conforming provisions to changes made by the act; revising the definition of the term “publicly accessible website”; increasing the percentage of certain penalties which must be deposited into the fine and forfeiture fund and decreasing the percentage of certain penalties that must be paid to a municipality, etc.
Temporary Certificates for Practice in Areas of Critical Need; Revises conditions under which Board of Medicine, Board of Osteopathic Medicine, & Board of Nursing, respectively, may issue temporary certificates for practice in areas of critical need; authorizes certificateholders to continue primary care services after such areas lose their critical need designation under certain circumstances.
HB 327 requires Florida's Department of Health to add uterine fibroids to a state-maintained list of diseases used for research. This creates a new database to collect anonymized health data about uterine fibroids, specifically for research purposes, while prohibiting the inclusion of any personal identifying information about patients. The database will support studies on uterine fibroids, a condition affecting many women, without compromising individual privacy. The law takes effect on July 1, 2026.
Health Care Patient Protection; Requires hospital emergency departments to develop & implement policies & procedures, conduct training, record weights in certain manner, designate pediatric emergency care coordinator, & conduct specified assessments; authorizes hospital with emergency department to conduct National Pediatric Readiness Project's Open Assessment under certain conditions; requires agency to adopt certain rules for comprehensive emergency management plans, and, in consultation with Florida Emergency Medical Services for Children State Partnership Program, establish minimum standards for pediatric patient care in hospital emergency departments; requires agency to collect & publish results of specified assessments submitted by hospitals by specified dates; provides requirements for collection & publication of such assessment scores.
