Sen. Loranne Ausley

Upgrades to Education Facilities as Emergency Shelters; Exempting costs of less than $2 million associated with certain upgrades to education facilities from being included in certain cost per student station calculations; requiring costs associated with certain upgrades to be consistent with prevailing market costs in the area where the education facility is located, etc.

Florida Seal of Fine Arts Program; Establishing the Florida Seal of Fine Arts Program within the Department of Education; specifying eligibility requirements for the awarding of a Seal of Fine Arts; requiring the Commissioner of Education and school districts to perform specified duties to administer the program; prohibiting a school district or the Department of Education from charging a fee for the seal, etc.

Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program; Citing this act as the "Hunger-Free Campus Act"; establishing the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; requiring the Commissioner of Agriculture to annually designate eligible public postsecondary educational institution campuses as Hunger-Free Campuses; providing eligibility requirements for a public postsecondary educational institution to participate in the program; requiring the commissioner, subject to the appropriation of funds, to award grants to public postsecondary educational institutions that have one or more campuses designated as a Hunger-Free Campus; requiring the commissioner to prioritize grants to public postsecondary educational institutions with the highest percentages of eligible Pell Grant recipients enrolled in the student body, etc.

Entertainment Industry; Creating the Targeted High Wage Production Program within the Department of Economic Opportunity under the supervision of the Commissioner of Film and Entertainment; requiring that film, television, and digital media projects being produced in this state meet specified criteria to be eligible for tax credit awards; requiring a certified project to make a good faith effort to use existing providers of infrastructure or equipment in this state and to employ residents of this state; requiring the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council to determine a score for each qualified project using specified criteria; requiring the department to disqualify a project under certain circumstances, etc.

District School Board Employment Contracts; Deleting prohibitions on district school boards from awarding annual contracts on the basis of unauthorized contingencies or conditions and from altering or limiting their authority to award or not award an annual contract, etc.

Energy Equity Task Force; Creating the task force adjunct to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for a specified purpose; providing for the membership and duties of the task force; requiring the department to provide staffing and administrative support to the task force; requiring the task force to submit a report to certain officials by a specified date, etc,

Early Learning Scholarship Program; Establishing the Early Learning Scholarship program, administered by the Division of Early Learning; specifying eligibility criteria; providing that a student who receives a scholarship remains eligible to participate until the student is admitted to kindergarten or attains the age of 6 years by a specified date; requiring the division to contract with an independent contractor to evaluate the program; requiring the division to submit a written copy of the evaluation to the Legislature and certain state agencies by a specified date; exempting the state from liability; providing that the program does not expand the regulatory authority of the state, etc.

Heat Illness Prevention; Providing responsibilities for certain employers and employees; providing an exception; requiring employers to provide annual training for employees and supervisors; requiring the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in conjunction with the Department of Health, to adopt specified rules, etc.

Florida Retirement System; Revising the definition of the term “continuous service” for purposes of the Florida Retirement System; revising an exception to the employment after retirement limitations for retired law enforcement officers who are reemployed with a covered employer, etc.

Tax Exemption; Revising the value of property subject to an ad valorem tax exemption, etc.