Under Florida law, it is a crime to expose sexual organs in public or be naked in a vulgar or indecent matter. While this offense is typically a first-degree misdemeanor, recently-enacted law, HB 675 makes a second or subsequent violation a third-degree felony. The bill also makes it easier for officers to arrest people under this statute, eliminating the need to obtain a warrant. Florida Statutes section 901.15 is now amended to read:

A law enforcement officer may arrest a person without a warrant when:

(9) There is probable cause to believe that the person has committed:

 (e) An exposure of sexual organs in violation of s. 800.03.

The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee noted that “[b]y increasing the likelihood of arrest and increasing the penalty for subsequent indecent exposures, the bill may prevent additional offenses and prevent an offender from fleeing, going into hiding, or becoming hostile when law enforcement returns to execute an arrest warrant.”

According to Carlton Fields’ 2020 Florida Legislative Post-Session Report, an officer cannot generally make an arrest for a misdemeanor offense unless (1) the officer has a warrant or (2) a warrant exception applies, or (3) the officer was present at the time of the offense. This means that prior to HB 675, officers had to obtain a warrant to arrest people for exposing sexual organs, or physically see the defendant expose themselves.  HB 675 now provides an exception to the warrant requirement, allowing officers to make an arrest without a warrant AND without witnessing the offending conduct.

Appellate review acts as an important safety measure to ensure that lower courts and prosecutors act properly and that criminal defendants receive a fair trial. It is an unfortunate reality that people are sometimes wrongfully convicted or face disproportionately harsh sentences, and they might face wrongful incarceration prior to having their case meaningfully reviewed. In some situations, the court may allow the defendant to post bail and remain free while they take up their case on appeal. However, Florida Statute section 903.133 requires that defendants convicted of certain serious offenses remain incarcerated pending appeal without the opportunity for bail.

House Bill 333 recently went into effect on October 1, 2020, adding new offenses to the list of convictions that preclude bail pending appeal. Anyone who is convicted of a crime requiring sexual offender registration or sexual predator registration will now have to remain incarcerated if their victim was a minor at the time of the offense. According to the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, these new offenses would include:

• Sexual misconduct with a person having a developmental disability;
• Sexual misconduct with a mental health patient by an employee;
• Specified violations of kidnapping or falsely imprisoning a minor;
• Luring or enticing a child, by a person with a prior sexual conviction;
• Human trafficking for commercial sexual activity;
• Sexual battery;
• Unlawful sexual activity with a minor;
• Lewd or lascivious battery, molestation, conduct, or exhibition;
• Video voyeurism involving a minor victim;
• Lewd or lascivious offense on an elderly or disabled person;
• Sexual performance by a child;
• Providing obscene materials to a minor;
• Computer pornography involving a minor;
• Soliciting a minor over the Internet;
• Traveling to meet a minor;
• Lewd or lascivious exhibition over the Internet;
• Transmitting child pornography by electronic device or equipment;
• Transmitting material harmful to a minor by electronic device;
• Selling or buying a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct;
• Racketeering involving a sexual offense;
• Sexual misconduct with a forensic client; and
• Sexual misconduct by an employee with a juvenile offender.

While there has been little commentary on this bill since it was passed, it has the obvious effect of keeping people incarcerated while waiting for a decision on appeal, which could take months or even years to complete. The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee noted, however, that this bill is not expected to increase prison populations or have a fiscal impact on the state government, local governments, or the private sector. 

July 3, 2020

Portions of Florida House Bill 607 went into effect July 1, 2020.  This law expands the scope of practice for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) in a number of areas.  Highlights are below.  Note that the phrase “who is registered to engage in autonomous practice” appears in quite a few provisions to distinguish them from circumstances in which such registration is not required.

The new law:

• provides for the registration of APRNs to engage in autonomous practice
• authorizes APRNs to provide primary health care services and authorizes them to perform specified acts without physician supervision or a supervisory protocol
• revises the definition of the term “practitioner” to include an APRN registered to engage in autonomous practice
• revises the definition of “health care provider” to include ARPNs for the purpose of the Patient’s Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
• authorizes an APRN who is registered to engage in autonomous practice to file a certificate of death or fetal death under certain circumstances
• authorizes an APRN who is registered to engage in autonomous practice to initiate an involuntary examination for mental illness under certain circumstances
• requires AHCA to pay for services provided to Medicaid recipients by an APRN who is registered to engage in autonomous practice
• authorizes an APRN who is registered to engage in autonomous practice to make referrals under certain circumstances
• requires personal injury protection insurance policies to cover a certain percentage of medical services and care provided by an APRN who is registered to engage in autonomous practice
• authorizes an APRN to provide the medical report of a ward in an annual guardianship plan
• authorizes an APRN to provide training in the administration of medication to designated school personnel
• authorizes an APRN who is registered to engage in autonomous practice to medically evaluate a student athlete
• authorizes an APRN who is registered to engage in autonomous practice to receive payments under the Health Care Education Reimbursement and Loan Repayment Program

The attorneys at Turner O’Connor Kozlowski, P.L. are equipped to help you manage all legal aspects of your APRN practice. Call us at (352) 372-4263 for more info.

In an apparent attempt to ease the burden of having outstanding student loan debt, the Legislature implemented HB 115, also referred to as the Keep Our Graduates Working Act, which is meant “to ensure that Floridians who graduate from an accredited college or university can maintain their occupational licenses.” Essentially, the bill prohibits state agencies from denying licensure, suspending a license, refusing to renew a license, or disciplining a licensee based solely on the licensee’s failure to repay their student loans on time.   

While the new bill applies to any “state authority” (defined as “any department, board, or agency with the authority to grant a license to any person in this state), it has a clear effect on the Florida Department of Health (DOH) and its current policies. The bill specifically amended Florida Statutes section 456.072(1)(k) to remove defaulting on student loans as grounds for discipline against health professionals. Further, it removed the requirement that DOH suspend a practitioner’s license for failing to remedy a defaulted student loan within 45 days of receiving notice from the DOH.  

The most obvious upside to this bill is that it does exactly what its name entails: it keeps graduates working.  The bill protects licensed professionals from losing work and losing money, which may put workers in a better position to repay the student loans at issue, and to provide for themselves and their families. Further, the bill signals to Florida citizens that their state representatives recognize that there is a student loan crisis, that the crisis must be addressed, and that outstanding loans should not financially cripple citizens even further. 

One possible limitation of the bill is that it only protects individuals who have graduated from an accredited college or university, potentially leaving out students who have attended non-accredited programs or trade schools. It’s not clear whether this limitation excludes a large swath of licensed professionals.  

September 3, 2019

The final version of CMS-1710, “Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year 2020 and Updates to the IRF Quality Reporting Program,” was published in August and will go into effect October 1, 2019.  The final rule updates the payment rates for IRFs for the year 2020 based on a 2016 base year instead of the previous 2012 base year.  The proposed rule considered using a weighted motor score to assign patients to IRF PPS’s case-mix groups; however, the final rule adopted an unweighted motor score based on public comments and removes one of the items considered in the motor score.

Like the proposed rule, the final rule updates the IRF wage index and amends the regulations at 42 CFR 412.622 to clarify that the determination as to whether a physician qualifies as a rehabilitation physician . . . is made by the IRF.

The CMS website includes helpful info to accompany the rule, including wage index tables and the actual data for each of the 1,122 inpatient rehab facilities used to estimate the policy updates. 

The attorneys at Turner O’Connor Kozlowski, P.L. are equipped to help you manage all legal aspects of your healthcare practice. Call us at (352) 372-4263 for more info.