Sen. Alexis Calatayud

Public School Personnel Compensation; Providing that employees with direct student contact may receive cost-of-living salary adjustments; deleting a limitation on cost-of-living salary adjustments; revising the requirement for the use of advanced degrees when setting salary schedules for instructional personnel and school administrators, 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

Affordable Housing; Authorizing the board of county commissioners and the governing board of a municipality, respectively, to approve the development of housing that is affordable, including mixed-use residential, on any parcel owned by religious institutions; requiring counties and municipalities to authorize multifamily and mixed-use residential as allowable uses in portions of flexibly zoned areas under certain circumstances; prohibiting counties and municipalities from requiring that more than a specified percentage of a mixed-use residential project be used for certain purposes; providing that it is the policy of the state to support housing for certain employees and to allow developers in receipt of certain tax credits and funds to create a specified preference for housing certain employees, etc.

Siblings Placed in Out-of-home Care; Providing for the importance of visitation, and not just contact, between siblings who have been separated; requiring the court to hold a hearing, take evidence, and hear arguments if a motion for sibling visitation or contact is contested; providing that a court retains jurisdiction over a dependent child in a permanent guardianship for certain purposes relating to sibling visitation or contact, etc.

Video Cameras in Public School Classrooms; Deleting references to the Video Cameras in Public School Classrooms Pilot Program; requiring a district school board to vote to establish a policy to provide video cameras in self-contained classrooms upon the request of a parent; prohibiting a school or school district from concealing the identity of an employee in a video recording, etc.

Jai Alai Permitholders; Authorizing holders of valid pari-mutuel permits to lease certain facilities to any other holder of the same pari-mutuel permit or to any jai alai permitholder when located within a specified radius of each other; authorizing such lessees to apply for a certain license; prohibiting such lessees from operating a cardroom or slot machine at the leased facility, etc.

Public Records and Meetings/Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact; Providing an exemption from public records requirements for certain information held by the Department of Health or the Board of Occupational Therapy pursuant to the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact; authorizing disclosure of the information under certain circumstances; providing an exemption from public meetings requirements for certain meetings, or portions of meetings, of the Occupational Therapy Compact Commission; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing statements of public necessity, etc.

Nonapproved Disposable Nicotine Dispensing Devices; Citing this act as the “Florida Age Gate Act”; defining the term “nonapproved disposable device”; revising which permitholders that the premises covered by the permit are subject to inspection and search by the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco; revising the provision that, upon being granted a permit, such permitholder also consents to inspections by the Department of Law Enforcement for specified violations; prohibiting a dealer who sells nonapproved disposable devices from advertising, promoting, or displaying for sale such devices in certain locations; providing restrictions on locations for specified dealers of nicotine products, etc.

Research and Development Tax Credit; Increasing the total amount of tax credits that may be provided to business enterprises under the research and development tax credit; deleting an obsolete provision, etc.

Central Service Technician Services; Authorizing licensed hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to employ or otherwise retain the services of a central service technician only if he or she meets specified criteria; requiring central service technicians who do not meet specified criteria to obtain a certain certification within a specified timeframe as a condition of continued employment; requiring central service technicians to complete a specified number of continuing education hours annually as a condition of continued employment, etc.