Florida SB 42: Relief of Vonshelle Brothers by the Department of Health

Bill Text

42 
Specific Medical Diagnoses in Child Protective Investigations 
2026-03-03T04:54:56Z 
Providing an exception to the requirement that the Department of Children and Families immediately forward certain allegations to a law enforcement agency; requiring a child protective investigator to inform the subject of an investigation of a certain duty; requiring Child Protection Teams to consult with a licensed physician or advanced practice registered nurse with specified pediatric experience when evaluating certain reports; authorizing a parent or legal custodian of a child who is the subject of certain orders to request specified medical examinations of the child within a specified timeframe, etc. 
Committee Substitute 2 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
c2 

 Florida Senate - 2026 CS for CS for SB 42 

 By the Committee on Fiscal Policy; the Appropriations Committee 
 on Health and Human Services; and Senators Sharief, Rouson, 
 Grall, Bernard, and Garcia 

 594-03331-26 202642c2 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to specific medical diagnoses in child 
 3 protective investigations; amending s. 39.301, F.S.; 
 4 providing an exception to the requirement that the 
 5 Department of Children and Families immediately 
 6 forward certain allegations to a law enforcement 
 7 agency; requiring that such allegations be immediately 
 8 forwarded to a law enforcement agency upon completion 
 9 of the department’s investigation under certain 
 10 circumstances; requiring a child protective 
 11 investigator to inform the subject of an investigation 
 12 of a certain duty; requiring the department to request 
 13 relevant medical records from a licensed health care 
 14 professional for certain children who are the subject 
 15 of a central abuse hotline report; conforming a cross 
 16 reference; amending s. 39.303, F.S.; requiring Child 
 17 Protection Teams to consult with a licensed physician 
 18 or advanced practice registered nurse with specified 
 19 experience when evaluating certain reports; amending 
 20 s. 39.304, F.S.; authorizing a parent or legal 
 21 custodian of a child who is the subject of certain 
 22 orders to request specified medical examinations of 
 23 the child within a specified timeframe; requiring that 
 24 such medical examinations be paid for by the parent or 
 25 legal custodian making the request or as otherwise 
 26 covered by insurance; requiring the physician or 
 27 advanced practice registered nurse who performed 
 28 certain medical examinations to submit a written 
 29 report to the department and certain persons within a 
 30 specified timeframe; requiring the department to 
 31 immediately convene a case staffing with specified 
 32 persons under certain circumstances; amending s. 
 33 456.057, F.S.; requiring that certain patient records 
 34 be furnished to the Department of Children and 
 35 Families within a specified timeframe; providing an 
 36 effective date. 
 37 
 38 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 39 
 40 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2), paragraph (a) 
 41 of subsection (5), paragraph (a) of subsection (9), and 
 42 paragraph (c) of subsection (14) of section 39.301, Florida 
 43 Statutes, are amended to read: 
 44 39.301 Initiation of protective investigations.— 
 45 (2)(a) The department shall immediately forward allegations 
 46 of criminal conduct to the municipal or county law enforcement 
 47 agency of the municipality or county in which the alleged 
 48 conduct has occurred. However, the department may delay 
 49 forwarding allegations of criminal conduct to the appropriate 
 50 law enforcement agency if the parent or legal custodian: 
 51 1. Has alleged that the child has a preexisting medical 
 52 diagnosis specified in s. 39.303(4); or 
 53 2. Is requesting that the child have a medical examination 
 54 under s. 39.304(1)(c). 
 55 
 56 Allegations of criminal conduct which are not immediately 
 57 forwarded to the law enforcement agency pursuant to subparagraph 
 58 1. or subparagraph 2. must be immediately forwarded to the law 
 59 enforcement agency upon completion of the investigation under 
 60 this part if criminal conduct is still alleged. 
 61 (5)(a) Upon commencing an investigation under this part, 
 62 the child protective investigator shall inform any subject of 
 63 the investigation of the following: 
 64 1. The names of the investigators and identifying 
 65 credentials from the department. 
 66 2. The purpose of the investigation. 
 67 3. The right to obtain his or her own attorney and ways 
 68 that the information provided by the subject may be used. 
 69 4. The possible outcomes and services of the department’s 
 70 response. 
 71 5. The right of the parent or legal custodian to be engaged 
 72 to the fullest extent possible in determining the nature of the 
 73 allegation and the nature of any identified problem and the 
 74 remedy. 
 75 6. The duty of the parent or legal custodi