2026 Pre-Session Florida Ethics & Open Government Legislative Report

CS/SB 92—Employee Protections

The bill seeks to create whistle-blower-like protections for governmental employees by prohibiting government agencies and independent contractors from taking adverse retaliatory personnel actions against employees who file ethics complaints with the Florida Commission on Ethics or participate in the investigation of a complaint or referral.

• Related Bill: HB 139 — Adverse Personnel Actions and Ethics Complaints

SB 144—Public Records/Judicial Qualifications Commission

The bill seeks to provide an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current and former employees of the Judicial Qualifications Commission (the agency that regulates judges in Florida) and the personal identifying and location information of the spouses and children of such employees.

 

SB 248 – Public Records/Municipal Clerks and their Staff

The bill seeks to create a public records exemption for the personal identifying and location information of current and former municipal clerks, their staff, and the spouse and children of such personnel.  

• Related Bill: HB 247 – Pub. Rec./Municipal Clerks

SB 258 – Public Records/Medical Examiners

The bill seeks to create an exemption, retroactive in application, from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current and former medical examiners and their spouses and children.

• Related Bill: HB 21-Pub. Rec./Medical Examiners

SB 268 – Public Records/Emergency Physicians

The bill seeks to provide an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current or former emergency physicians and their spouses and children.

• Related Bill: HB 251 – Pub. Rec./Emergency Physicians

SB 292 – Public Records/Appellate Court Clerks

The bill seeks to define the term “appellate court clerk” and create an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current appellate court clerks and their spouse and children.

• Related Bill: HB 179 – Pub. Rec./Current Appellate Court Clerks

SB 332—Public Meetings

The bill seeks to create an exemption to Florida’s open public meetings law to permit “any board or commission of any state agency or authority or any agency or authority of any county, municipal corporation, or political subdivision, and the chief administrative or executive officer of the governmental entity” to meet in private “with the entity’s attorney” within a certain time frame. And provides that specified entities may meet in private with their attorneys to discuss certain claims concerning private property rights but requires that such meetings must be transcribed and that such transcripts will become public records at specified times.

• Related Bill: HB 655-Pub. Meetings/Attorney Meetings to Discuss Private Property Rights Claims

SB 350 – Public Records/Crime Victims

The bill seeks to expand a public records exemption for crime victims to include the name and personal identification number of a victim and any other information or record that could be used to locate, intimidate, harass, or abuse the victim or the victim’s family.

 

SB 370 – Public Records/Commissioners of the Florida Commission on Human Relations

The bill seeks to create an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current or former personnel and commissioners of the Florida Commission on Human Relations and their spouse and children.

 

SB 376 – Public Records/Sexual Assault Counselors

The bill seeks to create an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of sexual assault counselors.

 

CS/SB 410 – Public Records/Private Investigators

The bill seeks to create an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current and former private investigators licensed by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and their spouse and children.

• Related Bill: HB 661-Pub. Rec./Private Investigators

SB 466 – Public Records/Legal Assistants/Office of the Public Defender/Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil

The bill seeks to create an exemption from public records requirements for the home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and photographs of current legal assistants employed by the office of the public defender and the office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel and the personal identifying and location information of their spouses and children.

• Related Bill: HB 181-Pub. Rec./Legal Assistants

SB 504—Code Inspector Body Cameras

Requiring a governmental entity that permits its code inspectors to wear body cameras to establish certain policies and procedures; requiring such governmental entity to ensure that certain training occurs, to retain certain data in accordance with public records laws, and to perform a periodic review of actual body camera practices; providing that certain provisions relating to the interception of wire, electronic, and oral communications do not apply to body camera recordings made by code inspectors.

• Related Bills:
  • SB 506-Public Records/Body Camera Recordings Recorded by a Code Inspector
  • HB 509-Code Inspector Body Cameras
  • HB 511 -Pub. Rec./Code Inspector Body Cameras
  • HB 539 -Code Inspector Body Cameras

SB 506 – Public Records/Body Camera Recordings Recorded by a Code Inspector

Providing an exemption from public records requirements for body camera recordings recorded by a code inspector when it is taken within the interior of a private residence, within the interior of a health care or social services facility or when it is taken in a place that a reasonable person would expect to be private.

• Related Bills:
  • SB 504-Code Inspector Body Cameras
  • HB 511-Pub. Rec./Code Inspector Body Cameras
  • HB 541-Pub. Rec./Code Inspector Body Camera Recordings
  • HB 509 -Code Inspector Body Cameras

SB 572 – Ethics for Public Employees

The bill seeks to revise the Florida Code of Ethics’ definition of the term “relative” to include foster parents and foster children—a change which has been sought by the Florida Commission on Ethics in its Legislative Proposals for 2025 and 2026.

• Related Bill: HB 603 – Ethics for Public Employees

SB 802 – Public Officers and Employees

The bill seeks to require that, beginning on October 1, 2026, secretaries and executive directors of departments, chief administrative officers of certain units of state government, members of commissions and licensing boards, chairs of governing boards or certain chief executives of certain statewide entities, or any persons appointed to hold state office in the executive branch of state government be United States citizens and residents of this state and further providing that such an office is automatically deemed vacant if the person holding that office does not meet these requirements.

 

Portions of the bill germane to ethics seeks to amend the Florida Code of Ethics to create s. 112.31251, F.S., defining the term “office” for the purposes of the dual office-holding prohibition of the Florida Constitution. And amends s. 112.3261, F.S., of the Florida Code of Ethics to prohibit lobbyists and businesses that employ them from giving, and certain water management officials from accepting, prohibited expenditures given for the purpose of lobbying.

• Related Bills:
  • HB 593-Governmental Agencies and Personnel
  • HB 701 -Water Management Districts

SB 830 – Public Records/County Administrators and City Managers

The bill seeks to create an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current county administrators, deputy county administrators, assistant county administrators, city managers, deputy city managers, and assistant city managers, including the names and personal identifying and location information of their spouse and children.

• Related Bill: HB 263—Public Records

SB 884 – Public Records/Owners and Operators of Family Foster Homes

The bill seeks to provide an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current and former owners and operators of family foster homes and the names and personal identifying and location information of their spouses and children.

• Related Bill: HB 287-Pub. Rec./Owners and Operators of Family Foster Homes

SB 964 – Financial Disclosures

The bill seeks to amend the gifts and honoraria provisions of the Florida Code of Ethics, s. 112.3148 and 112.3149, F.S., to remove the requirement to file annual gift and honorarium disclosure statements alongside financial disclosure filings by requiring that both current and former reporting individuals or procurement employees submit gifts and honoraria reports to the Florida Commission on Ethics and aligns all reporting deadlines and locations under the Commission on Ethics for greater consistency.

• Related Bill: HB 6011—Reporting the Receipt of Gifts or Honoraria

SB 1084-Public Records

The bill seeks to define the term “state attorney’s office or Office of Statewide Prosecution nonlegal support staff” and create an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current state attorney’s office and Office of Statewide Prosecution nonlegal support staff and the spouses and children of such staff.

SB 1298 – Public Records/Public Employees Relations Commission

The bill seeks to create an exemption from public records requirements for the chair, commissioners, and hearing officers of the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC). The bill also seeks to revise an existing exemption from public records requirements for draft orders and related written communications or the issuance of any order by PERC or its designees and seeks to create a new public records exemption for a showing of interest signed by the employees or group of employees who no longer desire to be represented by a certified bargaining agent.

• Related Bill: SB 1296-Public Employees Relations Commission

SB 1120 – Water Management Districts

Portions of the bill germane to ethics seeks to amend a Florida Code of Ethics provision relating to water management districts, s. 112.3261, F.S., to require the Florida Commission on Ethics to investigate a lobbyist or a business that employs lobbyists (ie “principal”), that has made a prohibited expenditure and to provide the Governor with a report of its findings and recommendations regarding such an investigation.

The bill also requires the South Florida Water Management District, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Protection, to provide a detailed report that includes the total estimated remaining cost of implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the status of applicable performance indicators for all project components; authorizing water management districts to levy certain ad valorem taxes on specified property for certain purposes; and requires that the preliminary budget for each water management district include a section that contains the district’s capital improvement plan for the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year.

SB 1178 – Foreign Influence

The bill primarily seeks to require agents of foreign countries of concern and foreign-supported political organizations to register with the Division of Elections and require periodic updates by such agents and organizations.

Portions of the bill germane to ethics seek to amend Florida Code of Ethics, s. 112.313, F.S., to add the definitions of “Designated foreign terrorist organization” and “Foreign country of concern” and to amend the anti-bribery restrictions of s. 112.313(2), F.S., to prohibit public officials from soliciting or accepting a “gift from a designated foreign terrorist organization” or anyone acting on their behalf including “travel costs or any reimbursements for costs of attending a conference or other event, from a foreign country of concern” or anyone acting on their behalf.

The ethics portions of the bill also seek to amend the annual ethics training requirements contained in s. 112.3142, F.S., of the Florida Code of Ethics to require that certain public officials receive training on “known efforts by foreign countries of concern to target and influence subnational governments” including “the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front strategy,” “how to identify, recognize, and report suspected foreign influence campaigns,” and “prohibitions on receiving gifts from foreign countries of concern or designated foreign terrorist organizations.”

• Related Bill: HB 905-Foreign Influence

SB 1544 – Complaints Against Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers

The bill which relates to the manner in which complaints filed against law enforcement and correctional officers on the local level (including ethics complaints filed with city or county boards) may be investigated—seeks to amend portions of the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights, s. 112.532, F.S., to require that the names of all complainants and must be provided with a copy of the complaint, signed by the complainant unless the “complaint is accompanied by corroborating evidence,” in which case the “complainant names and a signature are not required.”

The bill further provides that any complaint investigation “which does not result in any disciplinary action to the officer may not affect the ability of such officer to receive a promotion, raise, or other commendation.” The bill further seeks to require that any complaint filed against law enforcement officers must “be in writing and be signed under oath” and “accompanied with corroborating evidence.”

The bill solely seeks to impact complaints filed on the political subdivision level and does not attempt to amend or abrogate the State Commission on Ethics’ jurisdictional authority to conduct independent investigations of ethics complaints filed against law enforcement and correctional officers.

• Related Bill: HB 1283 Complaints Against Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers

SB 1546 – Public Records/Commission on Ethics

The bill seeks to create an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current and former employees and commissioners of the Florida Commission on Ethics and their spouses and dependents.

SB 1620 – Public Education

Portions of this bill germane to ethics seek to amend Florida’s anti-nepotism law contained within s. 112.3135, F.S., of the Florida Code of Ethics to define the term “agency” to include district school boards for purposes of provisions restricting the employment of relatives of public officials.

• Related Bill: HB 1073-School Districts

SB 1622 – Penalties for Late-filed Disclosures or Statements of Financial Interests

The bill seeks to amend the financial disclosure provisions of the Florida Code of Ethics, s. 112.3144 and 112.3145, F.S., to create a one-time waiver of the assessment of automatic fines associated with late filing a financial disclosure report “the first time” it is late filed.

• Related Bill: HB 1369-Penalties for Late-filed Disclosures or Statements of Financial Interests

SB 1650 – Public Records/Commission on Ethics

The bill seeks to adopt Florida Code of Ethics, s. 112.3243(5), F.S., creating an exemption from public records requirements for information received by the Commission on Ethics or derived from its investigations, involving allegations of retaliatory or otherwise adverse actions taken against government employees in response to filing an ethics complaint.

• Related Bill: S/SB 92-Employee Protections

SB 7004 – OGSR/Conviction Integrity Unit Reinvestigation Information

The bill seeks to amend a provision which provides an exemption from public records requirements for certain conviction integrity unit reinvestigation information.

• Related Bill: HB 7003 – OGSR/Conviction Integrity Unit Reinvestigation Information