SB 1624 clarifies and updates Florida's legal definitions of "harass" and "cyberstalk" in the criminal code. It defines "harass" as conduct causing substantial emotional distress with no legitimate purpose, and "cyberstalk" as sending electronic communications causing distress or accessing someone's online accounts without permission. These changes directly affect victims of harassment or cyberstalking, as well as law enforcement and courts applying these definitions. The bill also updates related laws in schools (for bullying) and religious/ethnic harassment to align with these new definitions, effective July 1, 2026.
Government-facilitated Purchases and Sales of Individual and Small Employer Health and Dental Plans; Establishes Florida Health Insurance Exchange within OIR to facilitate purchase & sale of qualified health plans; provides duties of exchange; authorizes exchange to contract with eligible entity to perform exchange's functions; authorizes exchange to enter into agreements with governmental agencies & entities to carry out exchange's responsibilities; provides general requirements & prohibitions for exchange; provides certifications by exchange of health & dental benefit plans; authorizes Commissioner of Insurance Regulation & office to contract with vendor to build & manage exchange.
Salaries of Clerks of Circuit Court, County Comptrollers, and Supervisors of Elections; Increases base salaries of clerks of circuit court, county comptrollers, & supervisors of elections.
South Indian River Water Control District, Palm Beach County; Increases number of members of governing board; including fractions of acres in all gross acreage owned by landowner; provides for compensation for supervisors attending board meetings; requires competitive bidding for certain positions; revises residence requirements for members of board; provides for staggering of terms, annual elections, & election of board officers; requires election; removes outdated language; requires board to authorize formation of engineering plan; provides limitation of one-time special assessment; authorizes district money to be expended before levy of such special assessment.
Informed Consent for Assisted Reproductive Technology; Revises requirements for written disposition agreements required between commissioning couple & treating physician; prohibits health care providers from performing in vitro fertilization without first obtaining informed consent from commissioning couple; requires that such informed consent be obtained each time new in vitro fertilization cycle is undertaken; specifies requirements for informed consent form; requires health care providers to enter into disposition agreement with patients; specifies requirements for such agreements; prohibits health care providers from discarding embryos for nonpayment unless certain conditions are met; requires health care providers to disclose their policies and refer patients to facilities whose policies align with patients' elections; requires health care providers to provide certain disclosures within specified timeframe, with exception; requires health care providers to provide informed consent in patient's primary language or with qualified interpreter; requires informed consent form to state whether interpreter was used; requires health care providers to offer patients opportunity to ask questions & withdraw consent without penalty at any time before embryo transfer; requires health care providers to retain certain records for specified timeframe; requires health care providers to provide patients copy of their records upon request within specified timeframe; provides for disciplinary action.
Digital Voyeurism; Revising the definition of the term “reasonable expectation of privacy” for purposes relating to the offense of digital voyeurism, etc.
Public Records/Office of the Corrections Ombudsman and the Corrections Oversight Committee; Providing a public records exemption for correspondence and communications with the Office of the Corrections Ombudsman and the Corrections Oversight Committee; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.
Activities of Special Districts; Authorizes certain special districts meeting particular criteria to jointly enter into, participate in, establish, or control specified joint relationships or collaborations anywhere in boundaries of either or all such special districts; establishes state action immunity; authorizes such districts to exercise such powers regardless of certain consequences.
Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Fees; Authorizes tax collector to retain certain costs, charges, & fees; revises determination of certain handling charge; requires tax collector to determine certain costs; authorizes processing entity to retain certain record & driver license reinstatement fees; requires certain amount of replacement driver license & renewal & replacement identification card fees to be remitted to tax collector; requires specified fee to cover actual costs of any required criminal history check; requires tax collector to retain certain amount of such fee; increases amount of certain driver license reinstatement fees to be remitted to or retained by tax collector; authorizes processing entity or tax collector to retain certain driver license reinstatement fees.
Surrogacy and Assisted Reproduction; Providing that a preplanned adoption arrangement may not authorize certain actions under certain circumstances; requiring the Agency for Health Care Administration, in consultation with the Department of Health, to adopt certain rules for donor banks and fertility clinics by a specified date; requiring surrogacy agencies to require all participants to undergo certain mental health evaluations; requiring surrogacy agencies to obtain level 2 security background investigations for participants from the Department of Children and Families through the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse, etc.
Deferred and Unpaid Taxes; Limits specified tax deferral to properties with just value of $1 million or less; increases minimum value of tax certificate that may be sold at public auction or by electronic sale.
HB 6027 amends Florida's homestead assessment rules to clarify how property tax assessments transfer when homeowners move to a new primary residence. It directly affects homeowners who establish a new homestead after January 1, 1994, by adjusting their new property's tax assessment based on their previous homestead's value. The key change sets a $500,000 cap on the difference between the new home's value and the assessed value of the prior homestead, using specific calculation methods depending on whether the new home is more or less valuable. This bill updates existing statute language to align with the Florida Constitution, effective July 1, 2026.
