2018 Priority Bill Report
Sorted by Bill Number
SB 8 / Controlled Substances / Benacquisto
Controlled Substances; Prohibiting managed care plans and their fiscal agents or intermediaries from imposing certain requirements or conditions on recipients as a prerequisite to receiving medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services to treat substance abuse disorders; authorizing certain boards to require practitioners to complete a specified board-approved continuing education course to obtain authorization to prescribe controlled substances as part of biennial license renewal; authorizing disciplinary action against practitioners for violating specified provisions relating to controlled substances; prohibiting the dispensing of certain controlled substances in an amount that exceeds a 3-day supply or a medically necessary 7-day supply if certain criteria are met, etc. APPROPRIATION: $53,555,360.00 Effective Date: Except as otherwise expressly provided in this act, this act shall take effect July 1, 2018
2/15/2018 / SENATE Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
Compare
SB 458 / Controlled Substance Prescribing (Bean)
HB 1159 / Controlled Substances (Santiago)
Similar
HB 21 / Controlled Substances (Boyd)
SB 138 / Perinatal Mental Health / Book
Perinatal Mental Health; Citing this act as the "Florida Families First Act"; requiring the Department of Health to create public service announcements to educate the public on perinatal mental health care; revising components that are included in the postpartum evaluation and followup care provided by birth centers to include a mental health screening and the provision of certain information on postpartum depression, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
2/22/2018 / SENATE On Committee agenda - Appropriations, 02/27/18, 11:00 am, 412 K - PCS
Compare
HB 937 / Perinatal Mental Health (Nunez)
SB 154 / Insurance Coverage for Mental and Nervous Disorders / Stewart
Insurance Coverage for Mental and Nervous Disorders; Requiring specified entities that transact group health insurance or provide prepaid health care to make available to policyholders under specified policies and contracts certain benefits for the care and treatment of mental and nervous disorders without an additional premium; requiring policies and contracts to provide for the transfer of unused inpatient hospital benefits to outpatient benefits or residential treatment benefits, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
8/28/2017 / SENATE Referred to Banking and Insurance; Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government; Appropriations
Identical
HB 499 / Insurance Coverage for Mental and Nervous Disorders (Mercado)
SB 162 / Payment of Health Care Claims / Steube
Payment of Health Care Claims; Prohibiting a health insurer or a health maintenance organization from retroactively denying a claim under specified circumstances, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
2/21/2018 / SENATE Temporarily Postponed on Third Reading
Similar
HB 217 / Payment of Health Care Claims (Hager)
HB 179 / Services for Veterans and Their Families / Burgess
Services for Veterans and Their Families: Requires DCF to establish Florida Veterans' Care Coordination Program to provide certain services to veterans & their families; requires DCF to contract with managing entities to enter into agreements with Florida 211 Network participants; requires statewide delivery of services; requires collection of program implementation data & submission of data to DCF; provides appropriation. APPROPRIATION: $2,000,155.00 Effective Date: July 1, 2018
11/16/2017 / HOUSE Now in Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee
Similar
SB 326 / Services for Veterans and their Families (Young)
HB 197 / Access to Patients in Mental Health Facilities / Peters
Access to Patients in Mental Health Facilities: Authorizes certain defense lawyers to counsel patients in mental health facilities. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
10/3/2017 / HOUSE Now in Criminal Justice Subcommittee
SB 202 / Mental Health and Substance Abuse / Steube
Mental Health and Substance Abuse; Revising the criteria for involuntary admission for behavioral health services due to substance abuse; revising duties of a law enforcement officer with respect to transporting a person for involuntary admission to a hospital or licensed detoxification or addictions receiving facility or detaining such person in a detention facility for a specified time under certain conditions; requiring a respondent to be released from involuntary substance abuse treatment if the court makes certain determinations regarding the respondent, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
8/28/2017 / SENATE Referred to Health Policy; Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice; Appropriations; Rules
HB 217 / Payment of Health Care Claims / Hager
Payment of Health Care Claims: Prohibit health insurers & health maintenance organizations from retroactively denying claim.Effective Date: July 1, 2018
2/14/2018 / HOUSE Now in Health & Human Services Committee
Similar
SB 162 / Payment of Health Care Claims (Steube)
HB 231 / Risk Protection Orders / Berman
Risk Protection Orders: Authorizes risk protection orders to prevent persons who are at high risk of harming themselves or others from accessing firearms. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
10/12/2017 / HOUSE Now in Criminal Justice Subcommittee
Similar
SB 530 / Risk Protection Orders (Gibson)
SB 270 / Involuntary Examination and Involuntary Admission of Minors / Steube
Involuntary Examination and Involuntary Admission of Minors; Authorizing a designated law enforcement agency to decline to transport a minor 14 years of age or younger to a receiving facility for mental health or substance abuse evaluation if the parent or guardian of the minor agrees to transport the minor to the receiving facility; requiring an assessment by a service provider of a minor 14 years of age or younger to be initiated within 8 hours after the patient’s arrival at the receiving facility, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
2/23/2018 / SENATE Now in Rules
SB 280 / Telehealth / Bean
Telehealth; Establishing the standard of care for telehealth providers; providing that telehealth providers, under certain circumstances, are not required to research a patient’s history or conduct physical examinations before providing services through telehealth; providing recordkeeping requirements for telehealth providers, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
2/22/2018 / SENATE Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
Similar
HB 793 / Telehealth (Massullo, Jr.)
SB 326 / Services for Veterans and their Families / Young
Services for Veterans and their Families; Requiring that the Department of Children and Families establish the Florida Veterans’ Care Coordination Program to provide veterans and their families with behavioral health care referral and care coordination services; requiring that the department contract with managing entities to enter into agreements with Florida 211 Network participants for such services, etc. APPROPRIATION: $2,000,155.00 Effective Date: 7/1/2018
12/5/2017 / SENATE Now in Appropriations
Similar
HB 179 / Services for Veterans and Their Families (Burgess)
SB 376 / Workers' Compensation Benefits for First Responders / Book
Workers’ Compensation Benefits for First Responders; Revising the evidentiary standard for demonstrating mental and nervous injuries of first responders; deleting certain limitations relating to workers’ compensation benefits for first responders; providing that law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics are entitled to benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Law for mental or nervous injuries, regardless of whether such injuries are accompanied by physical injuries requiring medical treatment, under specified circumstances, etc. Effective Date: 10/1/2018
2/22/2018 / SENATE On Committee agenda - Appropriations, 02/27/18, 11:00 am, 412 K
Compare
SB 126 / Workers' Compensation for First Responders (Torres, Jr.)
HB 227 / Workers' Compensation Benefits for First Responders (Willhite)
HB 629 / Workers' Compensation for First Responders (Asencio)
HB 407 / Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Pilot Project / Rommel
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Pilot Project: Requires AHCA, in consultation with DCF, to establish pilot project to license facilities in Medicaid Region 8 to treat infants who suffer from neonatal abstinence syndrome in certain circumstances; requires DOH to contract with state university to study certain components of pilot project & establish baseline data for studies on neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Effective Date: upon becoming a law
11/1/2017 / HOUSE Now in Health Innovation Subcommittee
Compare
SB 434 / Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Pilot Project (Passidomo)
SB 450 / Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders / Garcia
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders; Requiring a specific level of screening for peer specialists working in mental health programs and facilities; specifying that the use of peer specialists for recovery support is an essential element of a coordinated system of behavioral health care; requiring the Department of Children and Families to develop a training program for peer specialists and give preference to trainers who are certified peer specialists; requiring peer specialists to meet the requirements of a background screening as a condition of employment and continued employment, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
2/16/2018 / SENATE Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
Compare
HB 1069 / Substance Abuse Services (Hager)
Similar
HB 1327 / Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (Peters)
SB 458 / Controlled Substance Prescribing / Bean
Controlled Substance Prescribing; Limiting an initial prescription for a controlled substance that is an opioid to a 7-day supply; providing exceptions to supply limits for certain patients; requiring a health care practitioner who is authorized to prescribe controlled substances to complete a continuing education course as a condition of initial licensure and biennial licensure renewal, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
10/25/2017 / SENATE Referred to Health Policy; Appropriations; Rules
Compare
SB 8 / Controlled Substances (Benacquisto)
HB 21 / Controlled Substances (Boyd)
HB 1159 / Controlled Substances (Santiago)
HB 573 / Involuntary Examinations Under the Baker Act / Daniels
Involuntary Examinations Under the Baker Act: Authorizes physician assistants & ARNPs to execute certificate under certain conditions stating that they have examined a person & find person appears to meet criteria for involuntary examination. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
2/21/2018 / HOUSE Read Third Time; Passed (Vote: 112 Yeas / 2 Nays)
Identical
SB 112 / Involuntary Examinations Under the Baker Act (Campbell)
SB 622 / Health Care Facility Regulation / Grimsley
Health Care Facility Regulation; Providing that a designated facility owned or operated by a public health trust and located within the boundaries of a municipality is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the county creating the public health trust; eliminating state licensure requirements for clinical laboratories; requiring a birth center to be federally certified and meet specified requirements to perform certain laboratory tests, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
2/5/2018 / SENATE Now in Rules
Compare
HB 27 / Certificates of Need for Hospitals (Fitzenhagen)
HB 119 / Adult Cardiovascular Services (Pigman)
SB 144 / Adult Cardiovascular Services (Grimsley)
HB 213 / Licensure of Nurse Registries (Stone)
HB 283 / Cardiac Programs (Raschein)
SB 408 / Licensure of Cardiovascular Programs (Flores)
SB 1088 / Training Requirements for Assisted Living Facility Employees (Broxson)
SB 1492 / Certificates of Need for Hospitals (Brandes)
HB 7085 / Health Care Disaster Preparedness and Response (Health & Human Services Committee)
Similar
HB 597 / Health Care Facility Regulation (Yarborough)
HB 781 / Mental Illness Training for Law Enforcement Officers / DuBose
Mental Illness Training for Law Enforcement Officers: Requires FDLE to establish continued employment training component relating to mental illness; specifies instruction to be included. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
12/8/2017 / HOUSE Now in Criminal Justice Subcommittee
Similar
SB 1440 / Mental Illness Training for Law Enforcement Officers (Powell)
HB 793 / Telehealth / Massullo, Jr.
Telehealth: Encourages state group health insurance program to offer health insurance plans that include telehealth coverage; authorizes AHCA to pay for certain telehealth services as optional Medicaid services; defines terms; establishes standard of care for telehealth providers; authorizing use of telehealth to perform patient evaluations; provides that telehealth providers, under certain circumstances, are not required to research patient's history or conduct physical exam before providing services; provides situations when use of telehealth is not deemed to be practicing medicine without a license; authorizes certain providers to use telehealth to prescribe specified controlled substances; provides construction; requires DOH to develop & disseminate educational materials to specified licenses; provides recordkeeping requirements; provides patient consent requirements; encourages certain insurers to include services provided through telehealth under certain conditions. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
12/8/2017 / HOUSE Now in Health Quality Subcommittee
Similar
SB 280 / Telehealth (Bean)
HB 865 / Office of Drug Control / Abruzzo
Office of Drug Control: Creates Office of Drug Control within EOG; provides for appointment of director by Governor, subject to Senate confirmation; requires director to report annually to Governor & Legislature. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
12/13/2017 / HOUSE Now in Health Quality Subcommittee
Compare
HB 1025 / Substance Abuse Treatment (Duran)
SB 1468 / Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention (Rouson)
Similar
SB 1068 / Office of Drug Control (Rader)
SB 874 / State Funds / Passidomo
State Funds; Exempting the State Housing Trust Fund and the Local Government Housing Trust Fund from a provision authorizing the Legislature, in the General Appropriations Act, to transfer unappropriated cash balances from specified trust funds to the Budget Stabilization Fund and General Revenue Fund, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
1/17/2018 / SENATE Now in Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development
HB 937 / Perinatal Mental Health / Nunez
Perinatal Mental Health: Requires DOH to offer perinatal mental health care information through Family Health Line toll-free hotline accessible to general public; revises components included in postpartum evaluation & followup care provided by birth centers to include mental health screening & information on postpartum depression; provides appropriation. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
2/22/2018 / HOUSE Placed on Special Order Calendar, 02/28/18
Compare
SB 138 / Perinatal Mental Health (Book)
HB 947 / Behavioral Health of Minors / Payne
Behavioral Health of Minors: Revises deadlines for submission of documentation regarding involuntary examinations; establishes priority for mental health training by school resource officers & school safety officers; requires parental notification prior to removing student for involuntary examination; revises responsibilities of DOE & Statewide Office for Suicide Prevention; revises criteria for designation as Certified Suicide Prevention School; requires department, school district, & each school to post certain information regarding Certified Suicide Prevention Schools on its website. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
2/13/2018 / HOUSE Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
HB 955 / Insurance Coverage Parity for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders / Shaw
Insurance Coverage Parity for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Requires contracts between AHCA & certain managed care plans to require plans to submit specified annual report to agency for parity between mental health & substance use disorder benefits, & medical and surgical benefits; deletes certain provisions requiring insurers and specified health service entities transacting certain insurance or prepaid health care to offer specified optional coverage for mental & nervous disorders; requires such entities to comply with specified provisions prohibiting imposition of less favorable benefit limitations on mental health & substance use disorder benefits. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
12/20/2017 / HOUSE Now in Health Innovation Subcommittee
Similar
SB 1422 / Insurance Coverage Parity for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (Rouson)
SB 960 / Mental Health and Substance Abuse / Baxley
Mental Health and Substance Abuse; Deleting a provision requiring the Department of Children and Families to develop a certification process by rule for community substance abuse prevention coalitions; requiring the department to request a defendant’s medical information from a jail within a certain timeframe after receiving a commitment order and other required documentation, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
2/20/2018 / SENATE Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
Similar
HB 721 / Mental Health (Silvers)
HB 1025 / Substance Abuse Treatment / Duran
Substance Abuse Treatment: Authorizes AHCA to seek federal waivers to increase Medicaid funding to provide programs that offer treatment & recovery services to individuals with substance use disorder; creates Office of Drug Control Policy within EOG; provides for appointment of head of office; specifies duties of office. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
1/3/2018 / HOUSE Now in Health Innovation Subcommittee
Compare
HB 865 / Office of Drug Control (Abruzzo)
SB 1068 / Office of Drug Control (Rader)
Similar
SB 1468 / Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention (Rouson)
SB 1068 / Office of Drug Control / Rader
Office of Drug Control; Creating the Office of Drug Control within the Executive Office of the Governor; providing for the office to be headed by a director appointed by the Governor, subject to Senate confirmation, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
12/13/2017 / SENATE Referred to Health Policy; Appropriations; Rules
Compare
HB 1025 / Substance Abuse Treatment (Duran)
SB 1468 / Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention (Rouson)
Similar
HB 865 / Office of Drug Control (Abruzzo)
HB 1069 / Substance Abuse Services / Hager
Substance Abuse Services: Authorizes DOH, AHCA, & DCF to grant exemptions from disqualification for service provider personnel to work solely in certain treatment programs & facilities; revises provisions relating to background checks & exemptions from disqualification for certain service provider personnel & owners, directors, & CFOs of recovery residences; provides qualifications for certification as peer specialist; authorizes department to designate certain credentialing entities to certify peer specialists; prohibits recovery residences & specified affiliated individuals from benefitting from certain referrals. Effective Date: July 1, 2018
2/22/2018 / HOUSE Placed on Special Order Calendar, 02/28/18
Compare
SB 450 / Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (Garcia)
HB 1327 / Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (Peters)
Similar
SB 1418 / Substance Abuse Services (Rouson)
SB 1136 / Medicaid Expansion / Taddeo
Medicaid Expansion; Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to enhance access to affordable health care by expanding the availability of Medicaid coverage, etc.
12/18/2017 / SENATE Referred to Health Policy; Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services; Appropriations
Similar
HB 911 / Expansion of Medicaid Coverage (Berman)
SB 1236 / School Safety / Baxley
School Safety; Providing an exception to a prohibition on possessing firearms or other specified devices on school property or other specified areas for authorized concealed weapon or firearm licensees who are designated by school principals or district school superintendents; requiring district school boards to formulate and prescribe policies and procedures for active shooter and hostage situations; requiring a district school superintendent to provide specified agencies with certain strategy and activity recommendations to improve school safety and security, etc. Effective Date: 7/1/2018
2/20/2018 / SENATE Temporarily postponed by Judiciary
Identical
HB 621 / School Safety (Rommel)
HB 1327 / Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders / Peters
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Requires specific level of screening for peer specialists working in mental health programs & facilities; requires DCF to develop training program for peer specialists & give preference to trainers who are certified peer specialists; requires background screening as condition of employment. Effective Date: July 1, 2018.
1/12/2018 / HOUSE Now in Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee