The Florida Senate

509.032  Duties.--

(1)  GENERAL.--The division shall carry out all of the provisions of this chapter and all other applicable laws and rules relating to the inspection or regulation of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments for the purpose of safeguarding the public health, safety, and welfare. The division shall be responsible for ascertaining that an operator licensed under this chapter does not engage in any misleading advertising or unethical practices.

(2)  INSPECTION OF PREMISES.--

(a)  The division has responsibility and jurisdiction for all inspections required by this chapter. The division has responsibility for quality assurance. Each licensed establishment shall be inspected at least biannually and at such other times as the division determines is necessary to ensure the public's health, safety, and welfare. The division shall establish a system to determine inspection frequency. Public lodging units classified as resort condominiums or resort dwellings are not subject to this requirement, but shall be made available to the division upon request. If, during the inspection of a public lodging establishment classified for renting to transient or nontransient tenants, an inspector identifies disabled adults or elderly persons who appear to be victims of neglect, as defined in s. 415.102, or, in the case of a building that is not equipped with automatic sprinkler systems, tenants or clients who may be unable to self-preserve in an emergency, the division shall convene meetings with the following agencies as appropriate to the individual situation: the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the Department of Elderly Affairs, the area agency on aging, the local fire marshal, the landlord and affected tenants and clients, and other relevant organizations, to develop a plan which improves the prospects for safety of affected residents and, if necessary, identifies alternative living arrangements such as facilities licensed under part II or part III of chapter 400.

(b)  For purposes of performing required inspections and the enforcement of this chapter, the division has the right of entry and access to public lodging establishments and public food service establishments at any reasonable time.

(c)  Public food service establishment inspections shall be conducted to enforce provisions of this part and to educate, inform, and promote cooperation between the division and the establishment.

(d)  The division shall adopt and enforce sanitation rules consistent with law to ensure the protection of the public from food-borne illness in those establishments licensed under this chapter. These rules shall provide the standards and requirements for obtaining, storing, preparing, processing, serving, or displaying food in public food service establishments, approving public food service establishment facility plans, conducting necessary public food service establishment inspections, cooperating and coordinating with the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in epidemiological investigations, and initiating enforcement actions, and for other such responsibilities deemed necessary by the division.

(e)1.  Relating to facility plan approvals, the division may establish, by rule, fees for conducting plan reviews and may grant variances from construction standards in hardship cases, which variances may be less restrictive than the provisions specified in this section or the rules adopted under this section. A variance may not be granted pursuant to this section until the division is satisfied that:

a.  The variance shall not adversely affect the health of the public.

b.  No reasonable alternative to the required construction exists.

c.  The hardship was not caused intentionally by the action of the applicant.

2.  The division's advisory council shall review applications for variances and recommend agency action. The division shall make arrangements to expedite emergency requests for variances, to ensure that such requests are acted upon within 30 days of receipt.

3.  The division shall establish, by rule, a fee for the cost of the variance process. Such fee shall not exceed $150 for routine variance requests and $300 for emergency variance requests.

(f)  In conducting inspections of establishments licensed under this chapter, the division shall determine if each coin-operated amusement machine that is operated on the premises of a licensed establishment is properly registered with the Department of Revenue. Each month the division shall report to the Department of Revenue the sales tax registration number of the operator of any licensed establishment that has on location a coin-operated amusement machine and that does not have an identifying certificate conspicuously displayed as required by s. 212.05(1)(j).

(g)  In inspecting public food service establishments, the department shall provide each inspected establishment with the food-recovery brochure developed under s. 570.0725.

(3)  SANITARY STANDARDS; EMERGENCIES; TEMPORARY FOOD SERVICE EVENTS.--The division shall:

(a)  Prescribe sanitary standards which shall be enforced in public food service establishments.

(b)  Inspect public lodging establishments and public food service establishments whenever necessary to respond to an emergency or epidemiological condition.

(c)  Administer a public notification process for temporary food service events and distribute educational materials that address safe food storage, preparation, and service procedures.

1.  Sponsors of temporary food service events shall notify the division not less than 3 days prior to the scheduled event of the type of food service proposed, the time and location of the event, a complete list of food service vendor owners and operators participating in each event, and the current license numbers of all public food service establishments participating in each event. Notification may be completed orally, by telephone, in person, or in writing. A public food service establishment or food service vendor may not use this notification process to circumvent the license requirements of this chapter.

2.  The division shall keep a record of all notifications received for proposed temporary food service events and shall provide appropriate educational materials to the event sponsors, including the food-recovery brochure developed under s. 570.0725.

3.a.  A public food service establishment or other food vendor must obtain a license from the division for each temporary food service event in which it participates.

b.  Public food service establishments holding current licenses from the division may operate under the regulations of such a license at temporary food service events of 3 days or less in duration.

(4)  STOP-SALE ORDERS.--The division may stop the sale, and supervise the proper destruction, of any food or food product when the director or the director's designee determines that such food or food product represents a threat to the public safety or welfare. If the operator of a public food service establishment licensed under this chapter has received official notification from a health authority that a food or food product from that establishment has potentially contributed to any instance or outbreak of food-borne illness, the food or food product must be maintained in safe storage in the establishment until the responsible health authority has examined, sampled, seized, or requested destruction of the food or food product.

(5)  REPORTS REQUIRED.--The division shall send the Governor a written report, which shall state, but not be limited to, the total number of inspections conducted by the division to ensure the enforcement of sanitary standards, the total number of inspections conducted in response to emergency or epidemiological conditions, the number of violations of each sanitary standard, and any recommendations for improved inspection procedures. The division shall also keep accurate account of all expenses arising out of the performance of its duties and all fees collected under this chapter. The report shall be submitted by September 30 following the end of the fiscal year.

(6)  RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.--The division shall adopt such rules as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter.

(7)  PREEMPTION AUTHORITY.--The regulation and inspection of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments and the regulation of food safety protection standards for required training and testing of food service establishment personnel are preempted to the state.

History.--ss. 1, 2, 9, ch. 6952, 1915; RGS 212, 213, 2130; s. 2, ch. 9264, 1923; CGL 245, 246, 3359; ss. 3, 4, ch. 16042, 1933; CGL 1936 Supp. 245, 246; s. 9, ch. 26945, 1951; s. 1, ch. 28129, 1953; ss. 1, 8, ch. 29821, 1955; s. 1, ch. 57-389; s. 1, ch. 63-420; ss. 12, 16, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 2, ch. 73-325; s. 135, ch. 73-333; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 1, ch. 77-457; ss. 2, 39, 42, ch. 79-240; ss. 1, 3, 4, ch. 81-161; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 3, 51, 52, ch. 90-339; s. 2, ch. 91-40; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 22, ch. 92-180; s. 2, ch. 93-53; s. 35, ch. 93-216; s. 19, ch. 94-314; s. 4, ch. 95-416; s. 137, ch. 95-418; s. 3, ch. 96-384; s. 1165, ch. 97-103; s. 1, ch. 98-275; s. 4, ch. 98-283.

¹Note.--The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services was redesignated as the Department of Children and Family Services by s. 5, ch. 96-403, and the Department of Health was created by s. 8, ch. 96-403.

Note.--Former ss. 509.03, 509.04, 511.11.