Sen. Lauren Book

Vulnerable Victims and Witnesses; Revising the standard for orders to protect certain testifying victims and witnesses; prohibiting depositions of certain victims and witnesses in certain proceedings without a showing of good cause; requiring the court to appoint a guardian ad litem or other advocate for the deponent under certain circumstances; authorizing the court to request the aid of an interpreter; requiring the court to make specific findings of fact on the record for certain orders and rulings, etc.

Child Welfare; Specifying circumstances under which a court is required, on or after a specified date, to appoint a guardian ad litem; renaming the Guardian Ad Litem Qualifications Committee as the Child Well-Being Qualifications Committee; specifying that the executive director of the Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Office may be reappointed; creating the Statewide Office of Child Representation within the Justice Administration Commission; specifying when the court is authorized or required to appoint an attorney for the child; requiring the court to appoint the Statewide Office of Child Representation, etc.

Special Risk Class of the Florida Retirement System; Adding certain employees of specified state hospitals and other facilities who spend a certain amount of time performing duties that involve contact with patients or inmates to the Special Risk Class of the Florida Retirement System, etc.

Removing Memorializations of the Confederate States of America; Deleting provisions prohibiting specified improper uses or mutilation of the flag or emblem of the Confederate States of America; repealing a provision relating to the mutilation of, or disrespect for, Confederate flags or replicas thereof; removing the designations of the Birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis and Confederate Memorial Day as legal holidays, etc.

Exemptions from School-entry Health Requirements; Deleting an exemption from school-entry health examinations for religious reasons; revising provisions relating to immunization requirements for children; authorizing the Department of Health to adopt certain emergency rules; requiring the Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine, jointly, to create a medical exemption review panel, etc.

Sexual Battery; Requiring certain licensed facilities to provide information regarding emergency contraception and its availability to victims of sexual assault, if requested; defining the term “emergency contraception"; revising the definitions of the terms “consent” and “sexual battery”, etc.

Child Welfare; Expanding the list of incidents or injuries that constitute harm to a child’s health or welfare; expanding the types of reports which the Department of Children and Families must refer to Child Protection Teams, etc.

Public Records; Citing this law as "Serena's Law"; requiring each county recorder or clerk of the court to make publicly available on an Internet website the identity of a defendant or respondent against whom a protective injunction is entered, as well as the fact that the injunction has been entered; providing for certain persons to request that such information be made available on the public website; requiring county recorders or clerks of the court to post such notices on the website and in the office of each county recorder or clerk of the court; specifying what must be included in notices; requiring that final judgments for injunctions for protection be recorded in official records, etc.

Victims of Sexual Offenses; Requiring counties to establish sexual assault response teams; requiring the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, in consultation with the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, to establish minimum standards for basic and advanced career development training programs for law enforcement officers that include a culturally responsive trauma-informed response to sexual assault; requiring the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission to incorporate a culturally responsive trauma-informed response to sexual assault into a certain course curriculum, etc.

Students with Disabilities in Public Schools; Requiring school districts to prohibit the use of seclusion on students with disabilities in public schools; requiring school districts to adopt approved behavioral interventions and restraint training, pursuant to State Board of Education rules; creating the Video Cameras in Public School Classrooms Pilot Program; requiring continuing education and inservice training for instructional personnel teaching students with emotional or behavioral disabilities, etc.