Florida Senate - 2013                              CS for SB 726
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senator Simmons
       
       
       
       
       578-02398-13                                           2013726c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the regulation of family or medical
    3         leave benefits for employees; providing definitions;
    4         prohibiting a political subdivision from requiring or
    5         otherwise regulating family or medical leave benefits
    6         for employees; preempting regulation of family or
    7         medical leave benefits to the state; creating the
    8         Employer-Sponsored Benefits Study Task Force;
    9         establishing the purpose and composition of the task
   10         force; requiring the task force to submit a report to
   11         the Governor and the Legislature by a specified date;
   12         providing report requirements; providing for future
   13         repeal of the task force; providing that the act does
   14         not prohibit a political subdivision from establishing
   15         family or medical leave benefits for its employees;
   16         providing that the act does not prohibit a federally
   17         authorized or recognized tribal government from
   18         requiring family or medical leave benefits under
   19         certain conditions; providing an effective date.
   20  
   21  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   22  
   23         Section 1. Family or medical leave benefits for employees.—
   24         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   25         (a) “Employee” and the term “employer” have the same
   26  meanings as established in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act
   27  of 1938, 29 U.S.C. s. 203.
   28         (b) “Family or medical leave” means a period of absence
   29  from employment, paid or unpaid, used by an employee to deal
   30  with a health condition or seek medical attention, to assist
   31  another person dealing with a health condition or seeking
   32  medical attention, or to give birth to or adopt a child. The
   33  term does not include leave related to and arising directly from
   34  domestic violence.
   35         (c) “Political subdivision” means a county, municipality,
   36  department, commission, special district, board, or other public
   37  body, whether corporate or otherwise, created by or under state
   38  law.
   39         (2) A political subdivision may not require an employer to
   40  provide family or medical leave benefits to an employee and may
   41  not otherwise regulate such leave. For purposes of uniform
   42  application of this section throughout the state, with the
   43  exception of family or medical leave benefits regulated under
   44  federal law or regulations, the regulation of family and medical
   45  leave benefits is expressly preempted to the state.
   46         (3)(a) There is created the Employer-Sponsored Benefits
   47  Study Task Force. The task force shall organize by September 1,
   48  2013. The task force is composed of nine members. The Director
   49  of Workforce Florida, Inc., shall serve as a member and chair of
   50  the task force. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of
   51  the House of Representatives shall each appoint four members to
   52  the task force. The four appointments from the President of the
   53  Senate and the four appointments from the Speaker of the House
   54  of Representatives must include:
   55         1. A member of the Legislature.
   56         2. An owner of a business in this state which employs fewer
   57  than 50 people.
   58         3. An owner or representative of a business in this state
   59  which employs more than 50 people.
   60         4. A representative of an organization who represents the
   61  nonmanagement employees of a business.
   62         (b) The purpose of the task force is to analyze employer
   63  sponsored family or medical leave benefits and the impact of
   64  state preemption of the regulation of such benefits. The task
   65  force shall develop a report that includes its findings and
   66  recommendations for legislative action regarding the regulation
   67  of family or medical leave benefits. The task force shall submit
   68  the report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the
   69  Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 15, 2014.
   70         (c) This subsection is repealed June 30, 2014.
   71         (4) This section does not limit the authority of a
   72  political subdivision to establish family or medical leave
   73  benefits for the employees of the political subdivision.
   74         (5) This section does not prohibit a federally authorized
   75  and recognized tribal government from requiring family or
   76  medical leave benefits for a person employed within a territory
   77  over which the tribe has jurisdiction.
   78         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.