Here are 10 newly proposed Florida bills you should know about

Brandon Girod, Pensacola News Journal
·6 min read

The Florida 2024 legislative session is underway and there are more than 1,000 bills to sift through that could impact everything from recreational marijuana and the protection of historical monuments and memorials to AI and even replacing the state bird.

We published an initial look at more than a dozen interesting bills that had already been filed on Jan. 1, but many of the most interesting bills were filed on Jan. 5, the deadline for members to file bills in their final draft form.

Here’s a second look at proposed Florida bills residents should know about.

HB 1/SB 1788: Social Media Use for Minors

Summary: These bills, filed in the House by Rep. Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, and Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, and in the Senate on Monday by Sen. Erin Grall, would take it a step further by simply removing minors younger than 16 years of age from all social media. The bills would:

  • Require social media platforms to prohibit minors from creating new accounts.

  • Mandate that all social media platforms establish an age verification system.

  • Require all social media platforms to terminate any existing accounts that are "reasonably known by the social media platform to be held by a minor younger than 16 years of age."

Read the full HB 1 bill text here.

HB 49: Employment and curfew of minors

Summary: HB 49 is a bill that would eliminate restrictions on the number of hours 16- and 17-year-olds could work and revises certain age-related employment restrictions. The bill would completely remove all restrictions on the amount of hours minors 16 and older could work, and lower the age threshold limiting how many consecutive days a minor may work to impact only those 15 years old or younger.

Read the full HB 49 bill text here.

HB 395: Protection of historical monuments and memorials

Summary: HB 395 is a bill filed in November that would prohibit the removal of "historical monuments and memorials" and encourages anyone attempting to remove them to be punished.

  • The bill is retroactive back to Jan. 1, 2017.

  • Someone removing a historical monument or memorial without permission would be liable for three times the cost of returning, repairing or replacing it.

  • Any government official or elected officer who voted to remove it could be personally fined $5,000 or the cost of removal, repair and replacement, whichever is greater, "without any reimbursement from any other entity."

  • The governor could remove any elected official who voted to remove it from office.

  • If a monument or memorial has been removed, damaged or destroyed by the local government, it's on the hook to restore or replace it. If they don't have the money, the state will cover it and withhold "all arts, cultural, and historic preservation funding" until the local government repays the costs.

  • Anyone who claims to be "regularly using the monument or memorial for remembrance" would have standing to sue in state court over any unauthorized removal of a monument from public land.

Read the full HB 395 bill text here.

HCR 693: Congressional term limits

Summary: HCR 693 is a proposal that seeks to set a limit on the number of terms a person can serve as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and limit the number of terms a person may be elected as a member of the U.S. Senate.

Read the full HCR 693 bill text here.

HB 1223: Minimum age for firearm purchase or transfer

Summary: HB 1223 lowers the minimum age for firearm purchase or transfer, going from 21 years old to 18 years old.

Read the full HB 1223 bill text here:

HB 1379: Human trafficking

Summary: HB 1379 is a simple bill that prevents people younger than 21 years old from working in adult entertainment establishments. It also requires those businesses to check the identity of entertainers.

Read the full HB 1379 bill text here.

HB 1639: Gender and biological sex

Summary: HB 1639 is a bill that would require driver’s licenses to display a person’s sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity. It also requires health insurance plans in Florida that cover trans-related health care to also cover detransition care for additional premium.

Read the full HB 1639 bill text here.

SB 1752: Elections

Summary: SB 1752 is a bill that would bar Florida from approving certain voting systems, require automatic manual counts in randomly selected precincts each election and would severely limit who can request vote-by-mail ballots in the state.

To be eligible to vote by mail, voters would need to fall into one of the following:

  • Absent from the county of his or her residence

  • Unable to appear personally at the early voting site or polling place due to illness, physical disability or duties related to the primary care of someone ill, physically disabled or because they are or will be a hospital patient

  • A resident or patient of a U.S. Department of Affairs medical facility

  • Absent from his or her legal residence because he or she is confined to jail, provided that they are still qualified to vote in the precinct of their residence.

Read the full SB 1752 bill text here.

SB 1780: Defamation, False Light, and Unauthorized Publication of Name or Likenesses

This bill, filed by Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Lake Mary, would declare practically all accusations of homophobia, transphobia, or discrimination against LGBTQ+ people to be "defamation per se" and leave the accuser liable for damages of at least $35,000. The bill contains numerous ways to protect people from being accused, regardless of their public statements, and help them seek damages.

Under this bill, If you call out someone for anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and get sued for defamation:

  • You can't prove the truth of your allegation by pointing out things the person has publicly said about LGBTQ people, or their own "scientific beliefs," or their "constitutionally protected religious expression or beliefs."

  • You can't cite anonymous sources, which this bill automatically presumes to be false.

  • You can't argue that the person you've accused is a public figure due to a "video, image or statement uploaded on the internet that has reached a large audience," such as a video or picture showing them discriminating against LGBTQ people that went viral, which would make it easier for the accused to file lawsuits against you.

  • You can't make an allegation that, according to the bill, is so "inherently implausible that only a reckless person would have put it into circulation."

  • You can't use traditional journalistic privilege to avoid damages.

SB 1780 would apply to all print and televised media and "utterance on the Internet," which would even include social media posts.

Last year Brodeur filed a "blogger bill" that would have required bloggers who wrote about Florida elected officials to register with the state and file monthly reports showing any “compensation” they received for making such posts. The bill, which was heavily criticized for its violation of the First Amendment, died in committee.

SB 7050: Marijuana

Summary: Florida SB 7050 seeks to limit the potency of personal use marijuana to 30% THC in smokable pot and 60% on other products, including pre-filled vape cartridges for inhalation. It would also limit edibles to 15 milligrams of TCH for each single serving portion, with a 200 milligrams total cap.

Personal use is defined in the bill as the possession, purchase or use of marijuana or a marijuana delivery service by an adult 21 years of age or older for nonmedical consumption.

Read the full SB 7050 bill text here.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: New Florida bills proposed in 2024 legislative sessions