TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Several new laws will be enacted in Florida on New Year’s Day, including a law aimed at protecting minors online.
Here’s what you can expect:
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HB 3 - Online Protections for Minors
Part of this new law includes a requirement for adult websites to verify users’ ages. It also blocks children under the age of 14 from opening social media accounts.
SB 184 - Impeding, Threatening, or Harassing First Responders
This new state law makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to come within 25 feet of first responders with the intent to harass or threaten them while they perform their legal duties.
HB 135 - Voter Registration Applications
Voters will need to provide written consent before having their political affiliation changed at the DMV and be issued a receipt documenting the change.
The law updates Florida’s Building Code, adjusts timeframes for processing building permit applications, and changes rules around sealed drawings regarding window and door replacements.
SB 362 - Medical Treatment Under the Workers’ Compensation Law
This law increases limits on witness fees charged by certain witnesses, and increases maximum reimbursement allowances for physicians and surgical procedures.
SB 556 - Protection of Specified Adults - 2024
The law is aimed at preventing the financial exploitation of adults aged 65 and older, or vulnerable adults aged 18 and older. It authorizes financial institutions, under certain circumstances, to delay a disbursement or transaction from an account of a “specified adult.”
SB 892 - Dental Insurance Claims
The new law states that “a contract between a health insurer and a dentist ... for the provision of services to an insured may not specify credit card payment as the only acceptable method for payments from the health insurer to the dentist.”
HB 1093 - Florida Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act
The Florida Bar said the Act is the modernization of laws “related to the administration of estates and trusts.” The Bar said the Act “provides important rules to guide fiduciaries in administering estates, trusts, and other fiduciary arrangements, such as legal life estates.”
HB 1491 - Pub. Rec./Investigations by the Department of Legal Affairs
This law is related to the passage of House Bill 3: Online Protection for Minors. It “exempts, from the public records requirements ... all information held by the department, either pursuant to a notification of violation of two new statutes created by HB 3 or pursuant to an investigation of a violation of these new statutes, until such time as the investigation is completed or ceases to be active.”
SB 7054 - Private Activity Bonds
The law modernizes, updates, and streamlines out-of-date provisions throughout the part and codifies certain Division of Bond Finance (division) rules related to the administration of private activity bonds. In part, it:
- Provides legislative intent to maximize the annual use of private activity bonds to finance improvements, projects, and programs serving public purposes and benefitting the social and economic well-being of Floridians.
- Revises the regions, pools, and timelines related to bond allocations to consolidate infrequently used pools and expedite usage of bonds.
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