More than 200 laws take effect in July 2023. Covering topics ranging from immigration to gender identity, more than 200 bills officially became laws in Florida on Saturday, July 1. The 2023 session of the Florida Legislature produced 235 bills with a July 1 start date that were sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his approval
During this legislative session and special sessions held throughout the year, the Florida Legislature passed, and Governor signed a number of bills on education, transgender health care, insurance, immigration and more.
Here is a review of the headline-making legislation that took effect on Saturday.
Senate Bill (SB) 1718 cracks down on businesses that hire undocumented immigrants and provides $12 million for the migrant relocation program. Hospitals that accept Medicaid must also ask patients about their immigration status on intake forms, which critics say could deter migrants from seeking care. The companion bill: House Bill (HB) 1617. Taking aim at federal border policies, lawmakers passed the bill that included stepping up requirements on businesses to check the immigration status of workers, cracking down on people who bring undocumented immigrants into Florida and collecting data about whether hospital patients are in the country legally.
The Immigration law also makes the following changes:
- Transporting a minor or more than five undocumented people into the state carries a second-degree felony penalty.
- Companies with 25 or more employees will have to use the federal E-Verify system when hiring workers. Penalties for employers who do not verify their employees’ status could face suspension of their licenses to operate.
- Local governments will be banned from contributing money to organizations creating ID cards for undocumented immigrants, and driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens will be barred from use in Florida. Illegal migrants also could face felony charges by displaying a false ID to obtain employment.
- Hospitals receiving state and federal Medicaid reimbursements will be required to track how much money is spent on undocumented immigrants in emergency rooms and must ask if a patient is in the country legally.
- A 2014 law that allowed undocumented immigrants to be admitted to practice law in Florida will be repealed.
- The Division of Emergency Management’s Unauthorized Alien Transport Program gets $12 million to continue the migrant-relocation program of transporting asylum-seekers to different places around the country.
SB 7052 (related HB 7065) puts more restrictions on property insurance companies to hold them more accountable for mishandling claims. Insurance providers will face more oversight and regulations as well as larger fines for any wrongdoing.
Under HB 543,Floridians who can legally own a gun will no longer need training or a permit to be able to carry concealed firearms-related to HB 7025, SB 150. Lawmakers and DeSantis approved a measure (HB 543) that will allow Floridians to carry guns without concealed-weapons licenses. Called “constitutional carry” by supporters, it will do away with a decades-old licensing process. The House also unsuccessfully sought to undo a 2018 law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns.
A person still must be a resident 21 or older to buy a weapon, unless they are a law enforcement or corrections officer or are in military service, and there still are restrictions on gun ownership for people convicted of a felony, dishonorably discharged, adjudicated mentally defective or involuntarily committed to treatment, convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor or other conditions recognized by the state.
However, the Public Safety law (HB 543) removes the requirement for a concealed weapons license and its mandatory background check and firearms training course before you could carry hidden weapons or firearms on your person or in a vehicle in Florida.
The bill also adds private schools to the list of educational facilities that can ask the local sheriff for help establishing a guardian program and requires various agencies and offices to develop threat management policies.
The legislation, HB 1069 with related SB 1320, expands the law to ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades.
HB 1069 prohibits school staffers from asking students about their preferred pronouns or discussing their own if it “does not correspond to such person’s sex.”
The law says that “a person’s sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.”
The legislation, HB 1521, makes it a crime for a person to use a bathroom intended for the sex opposite of what they’re assigned at birth. Trans people are now barred from entering certain bathrooms that do not match their gender.
Facility Requirements Based on Sex applies to bathrooms at facilities such as public schools, colleges, universities, state and local government buildings, prisons, and jails.
Under the law, people who enter bathrooms designated for the “opposite sex” could face trespassing charges. The bill includes exceptions for situations involving bathroom use by children under age 12, seniors and people with developmental disabilities.
The Florida law also defines a female as a “person belonging, at birth, to the biological sex which has the specific reproductive role of producing eggs.” It defines a male as “a person belonging, at birth, to the biological sex which has the specific reproductive role of producing sperm.”
Further, the bill (SB 254) would bar doctors from providing treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transgender minors.
Additional laws include:
As of Saturday, July 1, middle schools may not begin the “instructional day” earlier than 8 a.m., and high schools will be barred from starting the school day before 8:30 a.m. according to the newly passed Middle School and High School Start Times bill.
School districts have until the 2026-2027 school year to make the change.
Also, regarding School Vouchers, which was a priority of House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, lawmakers, and the Governor approved a bill (HB 1) making every student eligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers, which could be used for private-school tuition and other expenses. The bill includes ending income requirements in current voucher programs.
According to the Protections of Medical Conscience bill, “any healthcare provider or facility licensed under a dozen different statutes, including doctors, nurses, pharmacies, hospitals, mental health providers, medical transport services, clinical lab personnel, nursing homes, and more” may refuse services if they have a “conscience-based objection” based on “a sincerely held religious, moral, or ethical belief.” The bill also added the following protections:
- Healthcare payors such as employers, health insurers, and health plans may refuse payment.
- Healthcare providers and payors are protected from liability for providing ‘conscience-based’ health care.
- Medical boards and the Department of Health are prohibited from taking disciplinary action or denying licenses to such healthcare providers if they have publicly spoken or written about a healthcare service or policy. This includes, but is not limited to, social media, according to the bill.
Commencing July1, if a person is under 18 they have to be at least 15 with a learner’s permit to drive a golf cart, or 16 with a driver’s license. If they are 18 and older, they must have valid government-issued identification.
Operation of a Golf Cart changes Florida law from the previous age limit, i.e., 14 and defines a golf cart as “a motor vehicle that is designed and manufactured for operation on a golf course for sporting or recreational purposes and that is not capable of exceeding speeds of 20 miles per hour.”
Universities around the state were already banning TikTok on school equipment due to personal security risks. Consequently, technology in K-12 Public Schools makes it official, and Prohibited Applications on Government-issued Devices adds the app to the list of applications created and maintained by a “foreign country of concern” that are banned from city, county, and state-issued phones and devices.
If a Florida resident has been battling with their local homeowners’ association (HOA) over the flag outside of their house, they may see an end in sight.
Beginning July 1, homeowners may fly portable, removable, official flags no larger than 4 1/2 feet by 6 feet, “regardless of any HOA covenants, restrictions, bylaws, rules, or requirements to the contrary,” according to Property Owners’ Right to Install, Display, and Store Items. They may fly up to two of the following: the United States flag, the official flag of the State of Florida; a flag representing the United States Army, Navy, 51 Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, or Coast Guard, a POW-MIA flag, and a flag honoring first responders including law enforcement, firefighters, certain medical personnel, correctional officers, 911 operators, etc.
One is also permitted to put up a freestanding flagpole no more than 20 feet high anywhere on their property if it does not obstruct sightlines at intersections and is not on an easement. An individual homeowner can put up to two flags on it, providing one of them (the top one) is the U.S. flag.
The bill also blocks HOAs from restricting homeowners or their tenants from putting anything in their yards which are not visible from the front or from an adjacent parcel, “including, but not limited to, artificial turf, boats, flags, and recreational vehicles.”
Florida lawmakers also passed a number of other high-profile bills that lined up with priorities of the Florida Governor. The following are a few others:
After passing a 15-week abortion limit in 2022, lawmakers and Gov. DeSantis went further this year and approved a plan (SB 300) to prevent abortions after six (6) weeks of pregnancy. The six-week limit would take effect if the Florida Supreme Court rules that a privacy clause in the state Constitution does not protect abortion rights.
In a priority issue of State Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, lawmakers passed a plan (SB 102) aimed at making housing more affordable for workers. The bill, signed by the Governor, includes providing incentives for investments in affordable housing and encouraging mixed-use developments in commercial areas.
The House and Senate passed a record $117 billion budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, which started July 1. Lawmakers also passed a wide-ranging tax package (HB 7063) that includes a series of sales-tax “holidays” and trimming a commercial-lease tax.
Lawmakers also passed a law (SB 450) that ended a requirement for unanimous jury recommendations before judges can impose death sentences. The bill lowered the threshold to recommendations of eight out of 12 jurors. Lawmakers also approved a bill (HB 1297) aimed at allowing death sentences for people who rape children under age 12.
In the latest round of partisan battles about elections laws, Republican state legislators passed a bill (SB 7050) that would place additional restrictions on voter-registration groups, ease campaign-finance reporting requirements and changed a “resign to run” law to help clear the way for the Governor to run for president in 2024.
Furthermore, in a major win for Florida businesses, lawmakers and DeSantis approved a bill (HB 837) aimed at helping shield businesses and insurance companies from costly lawsuits. The bill, which drew opposition from plaintiffs’ attorneys, includes changes such as shortening the time to file negligence lawsuits (i.e., statute of limitations) and largely eliminating “one-way” attorney fees.
The foregoing is merely a general and brief overview of some of the many laws enacted to be effective July 1, 2023, in the state of Florida.
If you have any additional questions regarding the foregoing or have any legal issue or concern, please contact the law firm of CASERTA & SPIRITI in Miami Lakes, Florida.