On March 5th, the Florida Legislature opened its 121st Regular Session. With several hundred bills now filed, which ones will make it through? Which ones will fall short on time? Which ones just won't be heard?
Without a doubt, there are so many unanswered questions as how this session will shape out and only time will tell. Here's how a couple bills fared this week that FLTA is tracking.
House Bill 409: Electronic Notarization
Also known as, Remote Online Notarization (RON), this bill authorizes online notarizations; specifies requirements & standards for performance of such online notarizations; requires Department of State to adopt rules by specified date.
The bill was scheduled to appear before its first committee (Civil Justice) in the House this week, but due to a full agenda the committee simply ran out of time and temporarily postponed (commonly referred to as TP’d) until their next meeting. It is now anticipated to appear next week. Following this meeting, the bill will go before 2 more committees (Transportation & Tourism and Judiciary) before going to the House floor.
The Senate version (SB 548) of this bill has not been added to their first committee agenda at this time. This bill, too, will be heard in 3 committees before going to the Senate floor.
Senate Bill 248: Public Records / Civilian Personnel Employed by a Law Enforcement Agency
This bill focuses on expanding exemptions from public records requirements for agency personnel information by defining the term “home addresses” for purposes of public records exemptions for personal identifying and location information of certain agency personnel and their family members; exempting personal identifying and location information of active or former civilian personnel employed by a law enforcement agency, and of spouses and children of such personnel, from public records requirements; providing for legislative review and repeal of the exemptions; providing statements of public necessity, etc.
This bill was heard for its 2nd committee hearing this week in the Senate and with concerns raised by the Title Industry in the challenges this can cause in identifying the chain of title, the bill has now been amended to allow the protected party to authorize a 3rd party (title agent) to obtain the original instrument without redaction on their behalf. The bill is now identical to the House version and will move to its final Senate committee, Rules. The House version has passed its committee meetings and awaits a hearing on the House Floor.
FLTA Legislative Tracking
