Sen. Darryl Rouson

Educational Scholarship Programs; Creating a categorical fund for implementing the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program; creating the educational enrollment stabilization program to provide supplemental state funds to address changes in full-time equivalent student enrollment; renaming the Hope Scholarship Program as the Hope Program; requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to provide a parent with certain information on scholarship programs; requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to create a single application for all educational scholarship programs, etc.

Electronic Payment of Public Records Fees; Requiring an agency subject to ch. 119, F.S., to provide an electronic option for payment of fees associated with a public records request, etc.

Public Records/Judicial Qualifications Commission; Providing an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current and former employees of the Judicial Qualifications Commission and the personal identifying and location information of the spouses and children of such employees; providing for legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing for retroactive application of the exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.

Public Records/Appellate Court Clerks; Defining the term “appellate court clerk”; providing an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current appellate court clerks and the spouses and children of such appellate court clerks; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.

Impact of Perimenopause and Menopause on Women’s Health; Requiring the Department of Health to establish a perimenopause and menopause policy workgroup; requiring the department, in collaboration with others, to develop and make publicly available on its website information relating to perimenopause and menopause, etc.

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; requiring that a court use certain sale procedures in a foreclosure action; providing that only a clerk of court may conduct a foreclosure sale, etc.

Health Care Coverage; Establishing the Joint Legislative Committee on Medicaid Oversight for specified purposes; revising encounter data reporting requirements for prepaid Medicaid plans; requiring managed care plans to report to the agency and the Office of Insurance Regulation the existence of and specified details relating to certain affiliations by a specified date and annually thereafter; revising requirements for contracts between a pharmacy benefit manager and a participating pharmacy; revising and specifying additional practices pharmacy benefit managers are prohibited from engaging in, etc.

Claims Against the Government; Increasing the statutory limits on the liability of the state and its agencies and subdivisions for tort claims; revising exceptions relating to instituting actions on tort claims against the state or one of its agencies or subdivisions; revising the period after which the failure of certain entities to make a final disposition of a claim shall be deemed a final denial of the claim for certain purposes; revising the statute of limitations for tort claims against the state or one of its agencies or subdivisions and exceptions thereto, etc.

Offices of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel; Requiring that an office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel provide a certain written notice to the court under specified conditions; authorizing the court to appoint an office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel in another region for certain cases in certain circumstances; requiring the court to consider judicial economy and geographic proximity when making certain appointments; requiring such appointed counsel to provide certain documentation to the Justice Administrative Commission for reimbursement, subject to legislative appropriation, etc.

Maddy summarySB 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.