Sen. Rosalind Osgood

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.

Uterine Fibroid Research Database; Deleting a prohibition on the inclusion of personal identifying information in the uterine fibroid research database, etc.

Candidate Qualification; Specifying that a person seeking to qualify for office as a candidate must be a registered member of a political party, or registered without any party affiliation, for 365 consecutive days preceding the beginning of qualifying for an election; authorizing qualified candidates or certain political parties to challenge compliance with specified provisions by filing suit in a specified circuit court; prohibiting a person from being qualified as a candidate for nomination or election and appearing on the ballot under specified circumstances, etc.

Young Adult Housing Support; Requiring each Florida College System institution and state university to develop plans for prioritizing the placement of certain students; requiring the Department of Children and Families, community-based care lead agencies, and housing authorities to take any action required by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer the federal Foster Youth to Independence initiative and other federal programs and vouchers; requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to conduct a study of the barriers to housing faced by young adults who are homeless or were formerly in foster care, etc.

Mental Health; Citing this act as the “Tristin Murphy Act”; expanding the programs and diversion initiatives supported by implementation or expansion grants to include training for 911 public safety telecommunicators and emergency medical technicians for certain purposes and to include veterans treatment court programs; encouraging communities to apply for specified grants to establish misdemeanor or ordinance violation mental health diversion programs; encouraging communities to apply for specified grants to establish pretrial felony mental health diversion programs; expanding eligibility for the Forensic Hospital Diversion Pilot Program to include Hillsborough County, etc. APPROPRIATION: $794,880

Maddy summarySB 1614 authorizes the Department of State to offer expedited services to individuals. This means a person can request faster processing for certain services provided by the Department. To utilize this option, individuals would follow a specified process, which includes paying an expedited service fee.

Fees/Expedited Services; Providing filing fees for expedited services; specifying manners in which expedited service fees may be paid; providing that expedited service fees are nonrefundable, etc.

Disqualification from Educator Certification and Employment; Prohibiting a person from being automatically found ineligible for educator certification and specified employment if certain offenses meet specified criteria, etc.

Restrictive Housing in Prisons; Requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to conduct a specified annual study, etc.

Maddy summarySB 698 establishes clear rules for when mailed tax returns are considered "timely filed" by the IRS deadline. It directly affects taxpayers who submit paper returns by mail, ensuring their return is treated as filed on time if postmarked by the due date. The key provision requires the IRS to accept mailed returns as timely filed if they bear a valid postmark showing the deadline date. This change simplifies compliance for mail filers and reduces the risk of penalties for returns delayed in transit.