Here's a look at the most interesting bills proposed for Florida's 2024 legislative session
The Florida 2023 legislative session was one for the books, with what seemed like a nonstop drip of controversial bill after controversial bill making national headlines.
With nearly 1,100 bills already filed, here's a look at some of the more interesting bills that have already been filed for Florida's 2024 session.
Pride flag ban proposed: Florida bill HB 901 could ban Pride flags from being flown on government property
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.
HB 259 | SB 270: Discharging a firearm in residential areas
Summary: HB 259/SB 270 are identical bills that would prohibit gun owners from shooting their firearms if the discharge does not remain within the boundaries of the property in which it takes place.
More specifically, HB 259/SB 270 would make it a first-degree misdemeanor if a person discharges their firearm outdoors, including target shooting, in an area that the person knows or reasonably should know is:
Primarily residential, in nature
Has a residential density of 1.25 or more acres per dwelling unit, and the firearm discharge by the person does not remain within the boundaries of the property where the discharge takes place.
Exceptions include when a person is lawfully defending life, property or performing official duties requiring the discharge of a firearm.
SJR 1042 | HB 805: Traffic infraction detectors
Summary: SJR 1042 and HB 805 are similar bills preventing state and local governments from using red-light cameras.
Both proposals propose creating Section 33 of Article X in the State Constitution that would prohibit “traffic infraction detectors” from being used by the state or a political subdivision of the state. The bill wouldn’t apply to school speed zones.
HB 809 | SB 1070: Personal lines residential property insurance
Summary: HB 809/SB 1070 are identical bills that would allow homeowners to buy policies covering only unpaid mortgage loan amounts. While the proposal could reduce home insurance premiums, it would also increase homeowners’ financial risk.
The bill would require insurers to obtain a statement signed by all insureds that warns them of those risks. The warning states: “You are electing to purchase coverage at a limit equal to only the unpaid principal balance of the mortgage loans on your home. Accordingly, in the event of the total loss of your home or a loss for which the cost to repair your home exceeds the unpaid balance on your mortgage loan, you will incur significant financial losses, including the potential loss of some of your home’s equity."
Read the full HB 809 bill text here.
SB 850 | HB 919: Use of artificial intelligence in political advertising
Summary: SB 850 and HB 919 are similar bills that would require certain political ads to post disclaimers if they include images, video or other digital content generated by artificial intelligence. The Florida Election Commission would have the authority to consider alleged violations, which could carry civil penalties.
Read the full HB 850 bill text here.
HB 757: Defamation, false light and unauthorized publication of name or likeness
Summary: Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, filed HB 757, which could lead to liability for people who use artificial intelligence to show people under a “false light.” The bill would make people liable if they use AI to “create or edit any form of media so that it attributes something false to or leads a reasonable viewer to believe something false about another person.”
The bill would also make changes to state defamation laws, which could help public figures in defamation lawsuits related to information form anonymous sources, according to the News Service of Florida.
“If a public figure plaintiff can establish that a published statement is false and that the publisher relied on an anonymous source for the statement, there is a rebuttable presumption that the publisher acted with actual malice in publishing the statement,” the bill says.
Read the full HB 757 bill text here.
SB 972: Artificial intelligence
Summary: SB 972 is a new bill that would create a statewide council to oversee the use of AI by state agencies. The council would be called the Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council, which would be housed within the state Department of Management Services.
Read the full SB 972 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.
HJR 19 | HB 57: County commissioner term limits
Summary: HJR 19 and HB 57 are similar bills to HCR 693 that seek to limit the number of terms county commissioners can serve. The bills would prohibit incumbent members who have held the office for the preceding eight years from appearing on a ballot for reelection to that office.
Read the full HJR 19 bill text here.
SB 1036: Reclassification of criminal penalties
Summary: SB 1036 looks to impose harsher criminal penalties for immigrants who are arrested for felonies after illegally re-entering the U.S. after they were deported for earlier crimes. A third-degree felony would be reclassified as a more severe second-degree felony, for example. The bill would also lead to stricter penalties for people who commit crimes that benefit “transnational crime” organizations, which the proposal defines as involved in such things as trafficking drugs and people.
Read the full SB 1036 bill text here.
HB 901 | SB 1120: Display of flags by governmental entities
Summary: HB 901 is a bill that would bar government buildings, including public schools and universities, from erecting or displaying certain flags and requiring those entities to remain neutral in certain circumstances.
Those circumstances include representing a political viewpoint on anything politically partisan, racial, relating to sexual orientation and gender or political ideological views.
Read the full HB 901 bill text here.
SB 464 | HB 653: Motor vehicle insurance
Summary: SB 464 and HB 653 are identical bills that look to repeal provisions that comprise Florida’s longstanding no-fault auto insurance system, and the state’s requirement that motorists carry $10,000 in personal-injury protection, but with some “safeguards.”
Read the full SB 464 bill text here.
HB 129 | SB 442 | HB 77 | SB 310: Damages recoverable in wrongful death actions
Summary: HB 129 and its related bills seek to end what some call Florida’s “free kill” law, a law that has slipped under the radar for years despite a long history of bipartisan efforts to eliminate it.
Florida’s “free kill” law is a provision in Section 768.21 in Florida Statutes that prohibits adult children and other surviving family from filing medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors or hospitals when the victim is 25 years old or older.
Only surviving spouses and minor children can file medical malpractice claims under the current law. Florida is the only state whose wrongful death laws differentiate medical malpractice from other types of wrongful death.
HB 129 would remove the provision that prohibits adult children and parents of adult children from recovering certain damages in medical negligence suits.
Read the full SB 129 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 for 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 753 | SB 918: American flamingo
Summary: HB 753 and SB 918 are identical bills that seek to designate the American flamingo as the official state bird, replacing the mockingbird.
Read the full HB 753 bill text here.
HB 317 | SB 258: Interstate safety
Summary: HB 317 and SB 258 are identical bills that would bar Florida drivers from cruising in the left lane on highways with at least two lanes in the same direction and maximum speed limits of 65 mph or higher.
Read the full HB 317 bill text here.
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HB 107 | SB 28: Electric and hybrid vehicle license fees
Summary: HB 107 and SB 28 are similar bills that would require electric-vehicle owners to pay $200 registration fees that will be used to offset anticipated losses in gas-tax dollars. The bill would also require plug-in hybrid vehicle owners and electric motorcycles pay annual fees of $50 and $25, respectively.
Read the full HB 107 bill text here.
HB 599: Gender identity employment practices
Summary: HB 599 is a bill that would expand Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law to the workplace. It prohibits government employees or contractors from being required to use their colleagues’ preferred pronouns.
The bill goes further by prohibiting employees from being penalized on the “basis of deeply held religious or biology-based beliefs” and makes it unlawful to require employees to undergo training regarding sexual and gender identity and expression.
Read the full HB 599 bill text here.
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HB 601: Complaints against law enforcement and correctional officers
Summary: HB 601 seeks to give the state control of investigating complaints against law enforcement and correctional officers, which would remove that responsibility from local officials. The bill would ban local governments from passing ordinances or rules related to investigating complaints about misconduct and bar the creation of ordinances or rules about civilian oversight of law-enforcement agencies in investigating misconduct complaints.
Read the full HB 601 bill text here.
HB 495: Prohibition of smoking and vaping in state parks
Summary: HB 495 is a bill that would ban smoking and vaping in state parks. Violators would face $100 fines for their first offenses.
Read the full HB 495 bill text here.
SB 484 | HB 1049: Flood disclosure in the sale of real property
Summary: SB 484 and HB 1049 are similar bills that would introduce a measure placing a series of requirements on people to disclose flood risks before selling a property. Property owners would have to disclose to potential buyers if the home had sustained flood damage, to what extent and the number of times.
Read the full SB 484 bill text here.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: New Florida bills proposed for 2024 legislative session
