Ten state laws will come into effect with the new year on Jan. 1, spanning topics from children’s online safety and protections for first responders to dental insurance claims and building regulations.
Keep reading for a roundup of these new laws:
HB 3: Online Protections for Minors
Prohibits children under 14 from having social media accounts, and only allows 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts with parental consent.
It requires social media platforms to delete personal information and terminate already-active accounts of children under the age limit, or which are treated as likely belonging to an account holder under the age limit for purposes of targeting content or advertising.
The law also requires that if a substantial portion of a website or app’s content is “material harmful to minors,” its company must verify that the user is 18 or older, and prevent minors from accessing the material. The company must offer both anonymous age verification and standard age verification and allow the user to choose which method they want to use.
“Material harmful to minors” is defined as something which an “average person applying contemporary community standards would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; Depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct as specifically defined in s. 847.001(19); and when taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”
HB 1491: Pub. Rec./Investigations by the Department of Legal Affairs
In connection to HB 3, HB 1491 exempts from public record any information pursuant to either a notification of a violation HB 3, or an investigation of such a violation.
SB 184: Impeding, Threatening or Harassing First Responders
Establishes as misdemeanors interruption, disruption, hindrance, impedance or interference of a first responder, threatening a first responder with physical harm, and harassing a first responder by interfering with performance of their duties.
HB 135: Voter Registration Applications
Provides an exception to the requirement that voter registration applicants who fail to designate party affiliation must be registered without party affiliation, if they designate and consent in writing to a change in party affiliation.
The new law also requires that if the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles gathers information from a driver’s license or ID application, renewal or change of address, it cannot use that information to update party affiliation unless the individual designates a change in party affiliation and separately consents to a change in writing.
SB 556: Protection from Financial Exploitation
Authorizes financial institutions to delay disbursement or transaction from an account of a person 65 or older, if it reports suspected financial exploitation and fulfills several other requirements for investigation, record-keeping and notification
Amends the state building code to set time limits for local governments to approve or deny permit applications.
The law also requires local governments to create auditing standards before auditing a private provider, allows the completion of an internship program as a path to licensure as a residential building inspector, and states that sealed drawings are not required for replacements of windows, doors or garage doors in certain homes as long as they meet state standards.
HB 1093: Florida Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act
The law is to replace the Florida Uniform Principal and Income Act, providing rules for fiduciaries administering estates, trusts and other arrangements.
The new law will be a modernization of Florida law on administration of estates and trusts, according to the Florida Bar.
SB 362: Medical Treatment Under the Workers’ Compensation Law
Increases the maximum medical reimbursements for physicians and surgical procedures, and increases maximum fees for expert witnesses.
SB 892: Dental Insurance Claims
Prohibits contracts between health insurers and dentist from containing certain restrictions on payment methods, and prevents insurers from charging fees for ACH payments without the dentist’s consent.
The law also stops insurers from denying claims for procedures that were included in a prior authorization, and prohibits certain restrictions on payment methods in contracts between dentists and prepaid health service organizations.
SB 7054: Private Activity Bonds
Provides Legislative intent to maximize the annual issuance of private activity bonds to finance improvements, projects and programs serving public purposes, and revises regions, pools and timelines for bond allocations to consolidate pools that do not see much use.
The law also allows for unused allocations to be carried forward, rather than limiting it to specific types of projects or basing it on the amount of the confirmation.
HB 1365: Unauthorized Public Camping and Public Sleeping
Notably, as of Jan. 1, county residents, business owners or the attorney general will be able to bring civil action against a county or municipality that allows camping on public streets, sidewalks and parks.
HB 1365, which came into effect in October 2024, prohibits public camping and requires local governments to provide temporary shelters monitored by law enforcement agencies.
In response to the state law, the Gainesville City Commission passed an ordinance in November to ban camping and sleeping in public rights-of-way, with city staff saying the ordinance will only be used as a last resort for those who refuse to move.