Legislation Session 2025

Legislation Session 2025

Hi everyone,

So this year with the legislation session, I figured I would start reporting news and updates to it sooner than May, since by that point a lot of the discussion and voting has completed and thus we have a good idea of what is going into law. This lets people better advocate and reach out to their own senators and house representatives in the event they wish. The session started filings back in November but the legislative session began Jan 4th.

I’ll be updating this post as things change or new bills get introduced. I have a feeling it will be about a month before we start seeing the full filings. This thread will include things very relevant to our professions as well as some offshoot public health stuff.

LAST UPDATE: 02/01.

SB220/222- Social Work Interstate Compact

This establishes the Social Work Compact in our state. This also has a companion bill, likely with drafted language consistent across states, that includes how information is shared during Compact meetings. Basically, similar to the Counseling Compact except this looks like it involves full licenses, rather than privileges to practice, across state lines.

SB122- Mental Health Professions

This is the FMHCA bill that re-designated the name "Registered Intern" to "Associate" and removes the provision of requiring a licensed mental health professional on premises when a Registered Intern/Associate is providing therapy services in PP.

SB264- Step-therapy Protocols

An update to a legislative piece managing what kinds of services become available for Medicaid recipients after what previous steps/treatments have been tried. This defines what "serious mental illness" is and, as far as I am aware, is the first time in this state that has legally defined that. It reads as the following:

"(27) “Serious mental illness” means any of the following

24 psychiatric disorders as defined by the American Psychiatric

25 Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

26 Disorders, Fifth Edition:

27 (a) Bipolar disorders, including hypomanic, manic,

28 depressive, and mixed-feature episodes.

29 (b) Depression in childhood or adolescence.

30 (c) Major depressive disorders, including single and

31 recurrent depressive episodes.

32 (d) Obsessive-compulsive disorders.

33 (e) Paranoid personality disorder or other psychotic

34 disorders.

35 (f) Schizoaffective disorders, including bipolar or

36 depressive symptoms.

37 (g) Schizophrenia."

HB23- Prescriptive Authority Certification for Psychologists

This establishes the capability for psychologists to pursue additional training to be able to prescribe certain psychiatric medications. This particular wording appears to assume a more broad prescriptive authority compared to other states. For those unaware, a few other states grant prescriptive authority to psychologists who undergo a multi-year post-doc residency and specialized training on psychopharmacology, paired with psychiatrists, to learn how to prescribe basic psychiatric medications. It has been widely debated within the medical community whether or not this is the way to go in managing shortage of psychiatrists.

HB327- Interstate Compact for School Psychologists

This bill introduces the Interstate Compact for School Psychologists, which appears to mirror PSYPACT in structure and setup. It would allow school psychologists to practice over state lines.

SB76- State Paid Parental Leave

This grants state employees the ability for 12 weeks of paid parental leave, both for birth and adoption of newborns. For now relegated to state employees.

HB65- Sale, Transfer, and Storage of Firearms

This revises already present text requiring background checks and dealing with licensed gun sellers to also include people who are transferring ownership of a firearm to also include the same safeguards.

SB144- Marriage Between Persons of the Same Sex

This bill repeals the ban on same sex marriage currently present in Florida statutes.

SB208- Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote

This bill joins other states in abolishing the electoral college as a means of electing a president and vice president and moves to a popular vote ruling.

SB216- Campaign Finance

This bill bans state agencies from using state granted money to “advocate for or against” any matter that is currently being debated in a legislative session for changes, repeals, or enactments.

SB196- Foods Containing Vaccines or Vaccine Materials

This bill requires that companies who produce food products with “vaccine or vaccine materials” present to clearly label them and re-defines these products from “food” to “drugs” for the purposes of legislation.

SB244- Postsecondary Education

This bill prohibits undocumented people from applying to college or university in the state of FL to state schools. This further solidifies the position the state has with regard to undocumented peoples, continuing to limit their opportunities for advancement.

SB240- Victims of Domestic Violence and Dating Violence

Establishes a new sub-organization within the Department of Law Enforcement called HAVEN- Helping Abuse Victims Escape Now. It includes wrap-around support from domestic violence orgs and law enforcement and defines dating violence.

HB6007- Pregnancy Support and Wellness Services

This bill repeals section 381.96 of FL statutes, which is related to establishing and delivering pregnancy and supportive services to expectant mothers.

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These are some interesting ones, for now. I will update as more get added. I expect for our own statutes that we will get the renaming Registered Interns to Associates being re-introduced, along with removing the private practice on-site requirement for licensed providers when a registered intern is practicing, along with perhaps a privacy bill in sharing raw test data in court proceedings. We will see.

If you find any interesting ones being added to the legislative session that I have not included here, feel free to comment them!