2021 Florida Legislative Outcomes

Wednesday, July 07, 2021

Legislative and policy education is one of the authorized protection and advocacy tools utilized by Disability Rights Florida. Each year during the state’s legislative session, our organization closely monitors, reviews, analyzes, and seeks to provide input to policymakers and the public across a wide range of bills that impact the interests, rights, and opportunities of Floridians with all disabilities. The following bills successfully passed during the recently concluded Regular Session of the 2021 Florida Legislature, and have been signed into law by the Governor:

SB 72 – Civil Liability for Damages Relating to COVID-19

Creates civil liability protections for individuals, businesses, governmental entities, and other organizations against COVID-19 related claims; provides lesser liability protections to health care providers, who are defined in the bill, and provides procedures for civil actions against them.

SB 90 – Elections

Revises Florida’s Election Code through changes to vote-by-mail balloting, ballot collection procedures and prohibitions, drop box administration and operation, county canvassing, and other related provisions.

HB 149 – Students with Disabilities in Public Schools

Provides standards, definitions, and prohibitions to govern the use of restraint on students with disabilities in public schools, while also prohibiting the use of seclusion. Creates the Video Cameras in Public School Classrooms Pilot Program in the Broward County Public School District.

HB 173 – Individual Education Plan Requirements for Students with Disabilities

Modifies communication and timeline provisions intended to facilitate quality planning for a successful transition of a student with a disability to postsecondary education and career opportunities.

SB 184 – Purple Alert

Establishes criteria and processes for issuing Purple Alerts to assist in finding missing adults with disabilities.

HB 231 – Services for Veterans and Their Families

Creates the Florida Veterans’ Care Coordination Program to provide veterans and their families dedicated behavioral health care referral services; permits veterans to call a separate veteran-dedicated support line to receive assistance and support from a trained, fellow veteran.

SB 272 – Rare Disease Advisory Council

Establishes the Rare Disease Advisory Council adjunct to the Department of Health to provide recommendations to improve the health outcomes of Floridians who have a rare disease, defined as a disease that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States.

HB 441 – Elder-focused Dispute Resolution Process

Creates an alternative dispute resolution process for persons 60 years of age and older who are involved in certain legal proceedings; specifically, allows a court to appoint an eldercaring coordinator to assist in disputes that can impact an elder’s safety and autonomy and requires courts to define the scope of an eldercaring coordinator’s authority in its order of appointment; provides that cases involving exploitation of an elder or domestic violence are ineligible for referral without the consent of the parties involved.

HB 485 – Personal Care Attendants

Establishes in law a personal care attendant (PCA) program for nursing homes by authorizing the employment of PCAs who are participating in a state-issued training program in accordance with federal requirements for nurse aide training; provides that PCAs may only work for a single nursing home for a period of four consecutive months before becoming a certified nursing assistant (CNA).

SB 590 – School Safety

Modifies numerous provisions related to school safety by: requiring schools to make a reasonable attempt to notify parents of a minor student before the student is removed for an involuntary mental health examination; mandating the collection of data by school districts and the state relating to the number and frequency of involuntary examinations of minors initiated by schools; requiring school districts to adopt a policy mandating that the school superintendent annually report to DCF the number of involuntary examinations initiated at schools; requiring all school safety officers to undergo crisis intervention training; requiring school districts to adopt procedures mandating attempts at de-escalation be made prior to initiating an involuntary mental health examination; requiring schools to contact a health care practitioner capable of initiating an involuntary mental health examination in person or via telehealth prior to initiation; and allowing district school board policies to provide accommodations for drills conducted by exceptional education centers.

HB 701 – Behavioral Health Care Services Coverage and Access

Requires the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to submit a report to the Legislature and Governor regarding complaints received from insureds and subscribers about the adequacy of coverage and access to mental health services through their individual or group health insurance policies or health maintenance organizations; further provides insurers and health maintenance organizations to provide insureds and subscribers a direct notice regarding the federal and state coverage requirements for mental health services, as well as contact information for the Division of Consumer Services within DFS.

SB 714 – Resource Information for Individuals with Disabilities

Directs the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to provide individuals applying for Medicaid Home and Community-Based (HCBS) Waiver services, regardless of eligibility for such services, with information regarding available programs and services.

HB 723 – Juvenile Justice Education Programs

Modifies how juvenile justice education programs are operated and funded, providing additional requirements for contracts between district school boards and juvenile justice education programs.

HB 1041 – Protection of Elderly Persons and Disabled Adults

Provides person convicted of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an elderly individual or disabled adult is not qualified to act as a personal representative or inheriting from the victim’s estate, trust, or other beneficiary assets; adds offenses to authority of Office of Statewide Prosecution.

SB 1786 – Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Plan

Provides the following changes to the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Plan (plan), and the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association (NICA) that administers the plan: increases the maximum award to parents or legal guardians from $100,000 to $250,000; increases the death benefit from $10,000 to $50,000; provides up to $10,000 in annual psychotherapeutic services for immediate family members who reside with a plan participant; specifies benefits for transportation; authorizes housing assistance of up to $100,000 for the life of a plan participant, including home construction and modifications; provides that parents or legal guardians of plan participants may file a petition to dispute the amount of actual expenses reimburses or a denial of reimbursement; directs NICA to furnish by mail or electronically a list of expenses compensable under the plan to each parent or legal guardian of a plan participant; directs NICA to administer the plan in a manner that promotes and protects the health and best interests of children with birth-related neurological injuries; creates code of ethics for specified staff and the board of directors of NICA; requires the state Auditor General to conduct an operational audit of NICA once every three years; and specifies additional reporting requirements.

HB 7023 – Veteran Treatment Court Programs

Authorizes courts to develop and operate a veterans treatment court with an emphasis on employing a non-adversarial approach to resolving an underlying cause of behavior (defined as a service-related mental illness, traumatic brain injury, substance use disorder, psychological problem, or military sexual trauma); provides that the state attorney, in consultation with the court, will decide whether to admit a defendant into the program.

HB 7045 – School Choice

Repeals the Gardiner Scholarship Program beginning in 2021-2022 and the McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities in 2022-2023, and merges provisions into the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) Program; expands program eligibility to include students who are dependents of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces and adopted children; establishes the FES disability scholarship as an education savings account allowing parents to choose from both public and private options while establishing a maximum program capacity of 20,000 students; specifies that a sibling of an FES scholarship recipient is eligible for a scholarship.