Florida Senate - 2026 SB 794
By Senator Jones
34-01010-26 2026794__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Agency for Persons with
3 Disabilities; amending s. 393.0655, F.S.; requiring
4 level 2 employment screening for all employees of
5 residential facilities and adult day training
6 programs; providing background screening requirements
7 for such employees; amending s. 393.0663, F.S.;
8 deleting a provision requiring an organization to
9 implement a certain mentoring program to be qualified
10 for purposes of providing support coordination
11 services to iBudget clients; amending s. 393.0673,
12 F.S.; revising administrative fine requirements;
13 providing an effective date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 393.0655, Florida
18 Statutes, is amended to read:
19 393.0655 Screening of direct service providers.—
20 (1) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—The agency shall require level 2
21 employment screening pursuant to chapter 435 for direct service
22 providers who are unrelated to their clients, including support
23 coordinators, and all employees managers and supervisors of
24 residential facilities or adult day training programs licensed
25 under this chapter and any other persons, including volunteers,
26 who provide care or services, who have access to a client’s
27 living areas, or who have access to a client’s funds or personal
28 property. Background screening for all employees must include
29 employment history checks as provided in s. 435.03(1) and local
30 criminal records checks through local law enforcement agencies.
31 (a) A volunteer who assists on an intermittent basis for
32 less than 10 hours per month does not have to be screened if a
33 person who meets the screening requirement of this section is
34 always present and has the volunteer within his or her line of
35 sight.
36 (b) Licensed physicians, nurses, or other professionals
37 licensed and regulated by the Department of Health are not
38 subject to background screening pursuant to this section if they
39 are providing a service that is within their scope of licensed
40 practice.
41 (c) A person selected by the family or the individual with
42 developmental disabilities and paid by the family or the
43 individual to provide supports or services is not required to
44 have a background screening under this section.
45 (d) Persons 12 years of age or older, including family
46 members, residing with a direct services provider who provides
47 services to clients in his or her own place of residence are
48 subject to background screening; however, such persons who are
49 12 to 18 years of age shall be screened for delinquency records
50 only.
51 Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section
52 393.0663, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
53 393.0663 Support coordination; legislative intent;
54 qualified organizations; agency duties; due process;
55 rulemaking.—
56 (2) QUALIFIED ORGANIZATIONS.—
57 (b) The agency shall use qualified organizations for the
58 purpose of providing all support coordination services to
59 iBudget clients in this state. In order to be qualified, an
60 organization must:
61 1. Employ four or more support coordinators;
62 2. Maintain a professional code of ethics and a
63 disciplinary process that apply to all support coordinators
64 within the organization;
65 3. Comply with the agency’s cost containment initiatives;
66 4. Require support coordinators to ensure that client
67 budgets are linked to levels of need;
68 5. Require support coordinators to perform all duties and
69 meet all standards related to support coordination as provided
70 in the Developmental Disabilities Individual Budgeting Waiver
71 Services Coverage and Limitations Handbook;
72 6. Prohibit dual employment of a support coordinator if the
73 dual employment adversely impacts the support coordinator’s
74 availability to clients;
75 7. Educate clients and families regarding identifying and
76 preventing abuse, neglect, and exploitation;
77 8. Instruct clients and families on mandatory reporting
78 requirements for abuse, neglect, and exploitation;
79 9. Submit within established timeframes all required
80 documentation for requests for significant additional needs;
81 10. Require support coordinators to successfully complete
82 training and professional development approved by the agency;
83 and
84 11. Require support coordinators to pass a competency-based
85 assessment established by the agency; and
86 12. Implement a mentoring program approved by the agency
87 for support coordinators who have worked as a support
88 coordinator for less than 12 months.
89 Section 3. Subsection (5) of section 393.0673, Florida
90 Statutes, is amended to read:
91 393.0673 Denial, suspension, or revocation of license;
92 moratorium on admissions; administrative fines; procedures.—
93 (5) The agency, as a part of any final order issued by it
94 under this chapter, may impose such fine as it deems proper,
95 except that such fine may not exceed $1,000 for each violation.
96 Each day a violation of this chapter occurs constitutes a
97 separate violation and is subject to a separate fine, but in no
98 event may the aggregate amount of any fine exceed $10,000. Fines
99 paid by any facility licensee under this subsection shall be
100 deposited in the Health Care Trust Fund and expended as provided
101 in s. 400.063.
102 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.