Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez

Assisted Care Communities; Authorizing the Agency for Health Care Administration to reimburse adult day care services on a fee-for-service basis under the Medicaid program; specifying requirements for certain standards for assisted living facilities the agency is required to adopt by rule; requiring operators of adult day care centers to annually complete specified continuing education; providing that compliance with the continuing education requirements is a condition precedent for licensure, etc.

Condominium Fraud Investigation Pilot Program; Creating the Condominium Fraud Investigation Pilot Program within the Department of Legal Affairs in the Office of the Attorney General; providing a purpose for the program; authorizing a person to submit a complaint to the Office of the Condominium Ombudsman; providing for future repeal of the program unless reviewed and saved from repeal by the Legislature; requiring the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes to forward complaints received alleging fraud or corruption to the Office of the Condominium Ombudsman, etc.

Contacting Consumer Debtors; Prohibiting creditors from contacting debtors regarding specified types of debt under certain circumstances, to conform to federal regulations; requiring the Office of Financial Regulation of the Financial Services Commission to inform and furnish relevant information to the appropriate regulatory body of the state, the Federal Government, or The Florida Bar if a person has been named in a certain consumer complaint alleging specified violations of law, etc.

Taxpayer Delinquencies; Requiring the Department of Revenue, if requested by a taxpayer, to convene an informal conference to discuss a compromise of the taxpayer’s liability for any tax, interest, or penalty; requiring the department to take no action during the course of the informal conferencing; authorizing the department to settle or compromise certain penalties under specified circumstances; requiring, rather than authorizing, the department’s executive director or his or her designee to give a specified notice of a delinquency to attempt to informally resolve the delinquency, etc.

Everglades Protection Area; Requiring that comprehensive plans and plan amendments that apply to certain lands within or near the Everglades Protection Area follow the state coordinated review process; requiring the Department of Environmental Protection, in consultation with specified entities, to make certain determinations for such plans and amendments, to provide written determinations to the local government and specified entities within a specified timeframe, and to coordinate with the local government and specified entities on certain planning strategies and mitigation measures; authorizing site-specific text changes for small-scale future land use map amendments; requiring local governments whose boundaries include any portion of the Everglades Protection Area to transmit copies of adopted small-scale development amendments to the state land planning agency within a specified timeframe, etc.

Fees for the Enforcement of the Florida Building Code; Citing this act as the “Low Property Tax Incentive Program”; revising the definition of the term “operating budget”; authorizing local governments to carry forward a certain percentage of unexpended funds under certain circumstances; providing that such funds may be used for purposes other than the construction of buildings or structures, etc.

Wastewater Grants; Authorizing the Department of Environmental Protection to provide grants for certain projects to restore specified impaired water bodies and water segments, etc.

Native Language Assessments in Public Schools; Requiring that a high school equivalency examination administered in any language other than English be given the same weight as a high school equivalency examination administered in English; revising requirements of the statewide, standardized assessment program to include native language versions of related assessments; requiring the Department of Education to create a timetable and action plan for the development and adoption of native language versions of the assessments; requiring the state to accept results on the high school equivalency examination from any language version of the examination, etc.

Homestead Tax Exemption for Totally and Permanently Disabled Persons; Providing eligibility for the exemption to totally and permanently disabled persons with intellectual disabilities; removing a condition that totally and permanently disabled persons must use a wheelchair for mobility or be legally blind to qualify for the exemption; providing that an applicant for the exemption may apply before receiving necessary documentation from the Social Security Administration, etc.

Required Instruction in the History of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; Requiring that the history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders be taught in the public schools; requiring that instructional materials used in teaching this subject area include specified information, etc.