Florida HB 1229: Mental Health and Substance Abuse

Bill Text

CS/HB 1229 2026

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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to residential homes for medically or 2
technologically dependent children; creating part XII 3
of ch. 400, F.S., entitled "Medically Complex 4
Children's Homes"; creating s. 400.9991, F.S.; 5
providing legislative intent; creating s. 400.9992, 6
F.S.; defining the terms "agency" and "medically 7
complex children's home"; creating s. 400.9993, F.S.; 8
providing licensure requirements; creating s. 9
400.9994, F.S.; providing application requirements; 10
requiring the Agency for Health Care Administration to 11
require certain background screening for certain 12
persons; requiring access to a medically complex 13
children's home at reasonable times for certain 14
persons; requiring the agency to issue a provisional 15
license to a newly licensed provider for a specified 16
timeframe under certain circumstances; requiring 17
issuance of a standard license to a provisionally 18
licensed provider under certain circumstances; 19
authorizing the agency to issue a conditional license 20
for a specified timeframe to a licensed provider for 21
specified reasons; requiring the agency to conduct 22
inspections; creating s. 400.9995, F.S.; providing 23
rulemaking authority and requirements; creating s. 24
400.9996, F.S.; providing eligibility requirements for 25

CS/HB 1229 2026

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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

admission to a medically complex children's home; 26
creating s. 400.9997, F.S.; providing uniform 27
firesafety standards, emergency preparedness 28
requirements, and construction standards; creating s. 29
400.9998, F.S.; providing for the denial, suspension, 30
and revocation of a license; providing for 31
administrative fines; amending ss. 400.051, 408.802, 32
408.820, and 408.823, F.S.; conforming provisions to 33
changes made by the act; requiring the agency to 34
implement certain changes by a specified date; 35
providing an effective date. 36
37
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 38
39
Section 1. Part XII of chapter 400, Florida Statutes, 40
consisting of ss. 400.9991 through 400.9998, is created and 41
entitled "Medically Complex Children's Homes." 42
Section 2. Section 400.9991, Florida Statutes, is created 43
to read: 44
400.9991 Legislative intent.—It is the intent of the 45
Legislature to develop, establish, and enforce licensure and 46
basic standards for medically complex children's homes in order 47
to ensure that the homes are family-centered and that the 48
medical, developmental, physiological, nutritional, and 49
psychosocial needs of medically complex children are met. 50

CS/HB 1229 2026

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Medically complex children's homes shall serve as a safe home-51
like setting with clinical oversight for children with complex 52
medical needs as an alternative to institutional care. This 53
setting is intended to meet the needs of children and families 54
in this state, offering smaller homes geographically close to 55
parents and guardians to maintain family connections for the 56
fragile children served. Medically complex children's homes are 57
not intended to serve children whose parents and guardians live 58
outside of this state, as out-of-state residency does not 59
support family involvement with the child. 60
Section 3. Section 400.9992, Florida Statutes, is created 61
to read: 62
400.9992 Definitions.—As used in this part, the term: 63
(1) "Agency" means the Agency for Health Care 64
Administration. 65
(2) "Medically complex children's home" means any 66
residential home that undertakes through its ownership or 67
management to provide residential services for up to six 68
medically dependent or technologically dependent children who 69
are not related to the owner or operator by blood, marriage, or 70
adoption. A medically complex children's home serves children 71
who are medically or technologically dependent as defined in s. 72
400.902(6). 73
Section 4. Section 400.9993, Florida Statutes, is created 74
to read: 75

CS/HB 1229 2026

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400.9993 Licensure required; exemptions.— 76
(1) The requirements of part II of chapter 408 apply to 77
the provision of services that require licensure pursuant to 78
this part and part II of chapter 408 and to entities licensed by 79
or applying for such licensure from the agency pursuant to this 80
part. A license issued by the agency is required for the 81
operation of a medically complex children's home