Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez

Insurer Disclosures on Prescription Drug Coverage; Requiring individual and group health insurers to provide notice of prescription drug formulary changes within a certain timeframe to current and prospective insureds and the insureds’ treating physicians; requiring insurers to maintain a record of formulary changes; defining the term “cost-sharing requirement”; providing an exception to requirements relating to changes in a health maintenance organization’s group contract, etc.

Security of State Information Technology Systems; Requiring state agencies to deploy certain cloud-native cybersecurity platforms; requiring the state chief information officer to brief legislative committees on specified information by a specified date, etc.

Health Care Services Jurisdiction and Reimbursement; Providing that health insurance, health maintenance organization coverage, health plan coverage, and travel insurance providers are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state under certain circumstances; defining the terms “emergency services” and “health care provider”; prohibiting health care providers from collecting or attempting to collect from patients any sums owed by insurers and health maintenance organizations, respectively, for emergency services rendered, etc.

Maddy summarySB 1184 clarifies and updates Florida's rules for transferring homestead assessment limitations when homeowners move to a new primary residence. It directly affects Florida homeowners who relocate between homestead properties, ensuring their new property's tax assessment reflects the value limit from their previous home. The bill specifies two key mechanisms: if the new home's market value is higher, the assessment is reduced by up to $500,000; if lower, the reduction is proportional but still capped at $500,000. This aligns existing assessment rules with the Florida Constitution and takes effect July 1, 2026. The bill does not create new benefits but clarifies how current homestead assessment transfers work.

Maddy summarySB 1318 modifies Florida's Tax Credit Scholarship Program by removing requirements that leftover scholarship funds must revert to the state under specific circumstances. Previously, funds would return to the state if a student's account was inactive for two years, they were unenrolled for 30 days (for full-time scholarships), or if fraud occurred. This bill eliminates those reversion rules, allowing unused scholarship funds to remain in a student's account indefinitely. The change directly affects scholarship recipients and participating private schools, with the law taking effect July 1, 2026. The policy shift focuses on retaining funds for student use rather than returning them to state coffers.

Office of the Corrections Ombudsman; Creating the Office of the Corrections Ombudsman within the legislative branch; requiring the Legislature to establish a Corrections Oversight Committee on or before a certain date; requiring the Department of Corrections to provide the Ombudsman and committee members with access to certain department facilities and records; requiring confidentiality of in-person communications between incarcerated persons or facility staff members and the Ombudsman or a committee member, etc. APPROPRIATION: $250,000

Grandparent Visitation; Revising the criteria required for a grandparent of a minor child to petition the court for grandparent visitation; revising the purpose for which the court shall hold a certain preliminary hearing; revising the circumstances in which the court may appoint a guardian ad litem and must refer the matter to family mediation; revising the circumstances in which the court may award reasonable visitation to a grandparent, etc.

Public School Personnel Compensation; Providing that cost-of-living adjustments are for employees with direct student contact; deleting a limitation on such adjustments; deleting certain limitations for salary adjustments under the performance salary schedule, etc.

Public Records/Office of the Corrections Ombudsman and the Corrections Oversight Committee; Providing a public records exemption for correspondence and communications with the Office of the Corrections Ombudsman and the Corrections Oversight Committee; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.

Transfer of Homestead Property by Inheritance; Proposing amendments to the State Constitution to authorize the Legislature, by general law, to provide that the transfer of homestead property by inheritance is not considered to be a change in ownership for purposes of homestead property assessment and to provide an effective date, etc.