Rep. Debra Tendrich

West Palm Beach Police Pension Fund - Special Act Amendment; Revises professional & clerical services; revises West Palm Beach Police Pension Fund membership; age & service requirements for retirement; retirement pension calculation; optional forms of retirement income; chapter 185 share accounts; supplemental pension distributions; deferred retirement option plan (DROP); death benefits; investments; review procedures; lump sum payments of small retirement incomes; Internal Revenue Code limits; minimum distribution of benefits; rollovers from qualified plans; other police officer or military services; & reemployment after retirement.

West Palm Beach Firefighters Pension Fund, Palm Beach County; Revises definitions relating to West Palm Beach Firefighters Pension Fund; board members' credits for service; revenue; member contributions; custodian of funds; investments; service benefits; supplemental pension distribution; optional forms of benefits; share accounts; deferred retirement option plan (DROP); backwards deferred retirement option plan (BackDROP); disability pensions, medical examinations, return to work; beneficiary benefits; review procedures; Internal Revenue Code limits; minimum distribution of benefits; rollovers from qualified plans; & prior firefighter service.

Virtual Currency Kiosks; Revising the requirements for certain rules adopted by the Financial Services Commission; revising the actions by money services businesses, authorized vendors, or affiliated parties which constitute grounds for disciplinary action; prohibiting persons from engaging in certain business unless they are registered or exempt from registration; prohibiting a virtual currency kiosk business from operating in this state without registering or renewing its registration; requiring the Office of Financial Regulation to give a specified notice to applicants; specifying that certain money transmitters are exempt from registration as a virtual currency kiosk business but are subject to certain provisions; requiring applicants to submit certain information to the office to be registered as a virtual currency kiosk business; requiring a virtual currency kiosk business to ensure that its virtual currency kiosk requires certain attestations from the customer and displays a certain disclosure; requiring a virtual currency kiosk business to provide a customer with a specified physical or electronic receipt upon completion of a virtual currency transaction; requiring a virtual currency kiosk business to issue a full refund under certain circumstances, etc.

Maddy summaryHB 253 clarifies eligibility for Florida's Veterans Dental Care Grant Program, which provides dental care to veterans residing in the state. The bill specifies that veterans must have incomes at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level to qualify for the program. Administered by the Department of Veterans' Affairs, the program ensures access to oral health care for eligible veterans. This clarification takes effect on July 1, 2026.

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 such allegations to be immediately forwarded to a law enforcement agency upon completion of the department's investigation; 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 certain experience when evaluating certain reports; requiring the physician or advanced practice registered nurse who performed certain medical examinations to submit a written report to the department and certain persons within a specified timeframe, etc.

Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances; Prohibits, beginning on specified date, certain use & sale, purchase, or distribution of aqueous film-forming foam; requires, beginning on specified date, certain entities to submit aqueous film-forming foam inventories & disposal plans to DEP; prohibits, beginning on specified date, possession & use of aqueous film-forming foam; authorizes DEP to administer certain grants or cost share programs; provides penalties & injunctive relief; requires certain public entities disposing of domestic wastewater biosolids and treated effluent to quarterly conduct specified samplings & submit results to DEP; limits purpose such samplings until specified standards are established by EPA & adopted by DEP.

Veterans Affairs; Revises admissions process for veterans treatment court programs; authorizes court, in consultation with multidisciplinary team, to determine eligibility for veterans treatment court programs; requires court to consider recommendation of state attorney when making eligibility determination; authorizes sentencing courts to divert defendants to veterans treatment court programs under certain circumstances; requires certain notice be provided to defendants; provides for disposition of probation or community control violations by program participants.

Homestead Exemption and Public Safety Funding; Proposes amendments to State Constitution to revise homestead exemption, limit annual inflation adjustment, require funding for public safety remain at current levels, & require trust fund to provide supplemental funding to replace lost revenues.

Maddy summaryHB 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.

Domestic Violence and Protective Injunctions; Reclassifying penalties for committing a domestic violence offense if a person has a prior conviction for domestic violence; providing that sentencing and incentive gain-time eligibility determinations are made without regard to a penalty enhancement; establishing an electronic monitoring pilot program in a specified county; requiring the sheriff, in consultation with certain persons, to design and implement the pilot program; providing requirements for the pilot program; requiring the Department of Corrections to complete an evaluation and provide specified reports to the Legislature; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to enter injunctions against dating violence and sexual violence into a statewide verification system, etc.