Florida Senate - 2026                                    SB 1594
       
       
        
       By Senator Gaetz
       
       
       
       
       
       1-01396-26                                            20261594__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to veteran benefit payments to minor
    3         clients; amending s. 402.33, F.S.; authorizing the
    4         Department of Children and Families, the Department of
    5         Health, or the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to
    6         access certain benefit payments for specified
    7         purposes; prohibiting the Department of Children and
    8         Families, the Department of Health, or the Agency for
    9         Persons with Disabilities from supplanting certain
   10         financial assistance; providing an effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Present subsections (3) through (9) of section
   15  402.33, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (4)
   16  through (10), respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to
   17  that section, to read:
   18         402.33 Department authority to charge fees for services
   19  provided.—
   20         (3) The department may access benefit payments provided by
   21  the United States Department of Veterans Affairs which are in a
   22  combined account for postsecondary education services and
   23  support and aftercare services under s. 409.1451 when a minor
   24  client attains 18 years of age or, if enrolled in school, 23
   25  years of age; however, the department may not supplant financial
   26  assistance provided in 409.1451(2)(b).
   27         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.