Veterans

Department of Law Enforcement; Authorizing the Department of Law Enforcement to adopt rules relating to the Florida Medal of Valor and the Florida Blue/Red Heart Medal; specifying the circumstances under which an appointment or reappointment to the Medical Examiners Commission is considered in force; requiring the commission, rather than the Governor, to appoint district medical examiners for each medical examiner district; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to accept and process fingerprints taken of natural persons who are control persons of a licensee or are applicants for licensure, etc.

SB 96 establishes a Veterans Dental Care Grant Program within Florida's Department of Veterans’ Affairs to provide oral health care to eligible veterans. It directly affects Florida veterans with household incomes at or below 400% of the federal poverty level. The bill appropriates $500,000 from the General Revenue Fund for the 2026-2027 fiscal year to fund this program, which will cover dental services for qualifying veterans. The program becomes effective July 1, 2026, and is administered by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Veterans Affairs; Revising the admissions process for veterans treatment court programs; authorizing the multidisciplinary team to determine eligibility for veterans treatment court programs; authorizing sentencing courts to divert defendants to veterans treatment court programs under certain circumstances; requiring that a defendant’s satisfactory completion of the program be a condition of the defendant’s probation or community control, etc.