Sen. Lauren Book

State Symbols; Designating coconut patties as the official state candy, etc.

Transportation Facility Designations/Sergeant Tracy Vickers Memorial Expressway; Providing an honorary designation of a certain transportation facility in a specified county; directing the Department of Transportation to erect suitable markers, etc.

Early Childhood Courts; Authorizing circuit courts to create early childhood court programs; requiring that early childhood court programs have certain components; providing requirements and guidelines for the Office of the State Courts Administrator when hiring community coordinators and a statewide training specialist; requiring the Department of Children and Families to contract with certain university-based centers, etc.

Punitive Damages; Removing provisions requiring that a portion of the punitive damages awarded for claims brought under part II of ch. 400, F.S., relating to nursing homes, and part I of ch. 429, F.S., relating to assisted living facilities, be deposited into the Quality of Long-Term Care Facility Improvement Trust Fund, etc.

Declawing of Cats; Prohibiting a person from performing a declawing on a cat within this state; providing an exception; providing that a veterinarian who performs a prohibited declawing is subject to disciplinary action by the Board of Veterinary Medicine, etc.

Transportation Disadvantaged; Requiring community transportation coordinators, in cooperation with the coordinating board, to plan for and use any available and cost-effective regional fare payment systems that enhance cross-county mobility for specified purposes for the transportation disadvantaged; requiring each coordinating board to evaluate multicounty or regional transportation opportunities to include any available regional fare payment systems that enhance cross-county mobility for specified purposes for the transportation disadvantaged, etc.

Firearms; Authorizing a law enforcement officer acting in accordance with certain provisions to serve and execute a court order on any day and at any time; authorizing a court to remove the right to purchase, own, sell, or possess firearms or ammunition or to possess a license to carry concealed weapons or firearms of a person found to be incapacitated; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement, in certain cases, to investigate individuals upon whom a firearm disability is imposed on or after a certain date and, if the individuals are in possession of firearms or ammunition, to seize the firearms and ammunition by following specified procedures, etc.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse; Requiring that respondents with a serious mental illness be informed of the essential elements of recovery and be provided assistance with accessing a continuum of care regimen; authorizing the state to establish that a transfer evaluation was performed by providing the court with a copy of the evaluation before the close of the state’s case in chief; revising the requirements for when a person may be ordered for involuntary inpatient placement; authorizing the court or clerk of the court to waive or prohibit any service of process fees for an indigent petitioner; expanding the exemption from the requirement that a respondent be present at a hearing on a petition for involuntary treatment services, etc.

Child Welfare; Specifying the rights of children and young adults in out-of-home care; requiring the Florida Children’s Ombudsman to serve as an autonomous entity within the department for certain purposes; requiring that a case plan be developed in a face-to-face conference with a caregiver of a child under certain circumstances; requiring a caseworker to provide specified information relating to subsidies that early learning coalitions provide to caregivers of certain children, etc.

Limitation on Terms of Office for Members of a District School Board; Proposing amendments to the State Constitution to limit the terms of office for a member of a district school board, etc.