Florida SB 322: Public Records and Meetings

Bill Text

322 
Construction 
2025-11-03T07:43:43Z 
Revising the obligation of landlords to maintain certain premises to include making reasonable provisions for functioning facilities for cooling; revising the definitions of the terms “class A air-conditioning contractor” and “mechanical contractor”; authorizing the Construction Industry Licensing Board to award a specified number of hours of general continuing education credit per renewal cycle for certain professional association engagement; prohibiting a certificateholder or registrant from receiving credit for certain activities, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 322 

 By Senator McClain 

 9-00189A-26 2026322__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to construction; amending s. 83.43, 
 3 F.S.; defining terms; amending s. 83.51, F.S.; 
 4 revising the obligation of landlords to maintain 
 5 certain premises to include making reasonable 
 6 provisions for functioning facilities for cooling; 
 7 providing requirements for such facilities; providing 
 8 that a landlord is not in violation of certain 
 9 provisions under certain circumstances; providing an 
 10 exception to the requirement to provide facilities for 
 11 cooling; requiring a landlord to provide alternative 
 12 code-compliant cooling solutions under certain 
 13 circumstances; providing construction; requiring a 
 14 landlord to comply with certain provisions by a 
 15 specified date; amending s. 489.105, F.S.; revising 
 16 the definitions of the terms “class A air-conditioning 
 17 contractor” and “mechanical contractor”; amending s. 
 18 489.115, F.S.; revising requirements for certain 
 19 certificateholders or registrants desiring to renew 
 20 such certificate or registration; authorizing the 
 21 Construction Industry Licensing Board to award a 
 22 specified number of hours of general continuing 
 23 education credit per renewal cycle for certain 
 24 professional association engagement; specifying that 
 25 certain credit is general credit only and may not be 
 26 used to satisfy certain requirements; requiring the 
 27 board to adopt rules; prohibiting a certificateholder 
 28 or registrant from receiving credit for certain 
 29 activities; requiring approved associations to 
 30 maintain certain records for a certain timeframe and 
 31 submit attendance records to the board in a certain 
 32 format; amending ss. 83.491 and 553.895, F.S.; 
 33 conforming cross-references; reenacting ss. 403.868, 
 34 489.107(4)(b), 489.113(2), 489.117(1)(a), (2)(a) and 
 35 (b), and (4)(a), (d), and (e), 489.118(1), 489.126(1), 
 36 489.131(10) and (11), 489.1402(1)(d), 489.141(2)(f), 
 37 and 553.998, F.S., relating to requirements by a 
 38 utility, the Construction Industry Licensing Board, 
 39 qualifications and restrictions for practice, 
 40 registration and specialty contractors, certification 
 41 of registered contractors and grandfathering 
 42 provisions, moneys received by contractors, 
 43 applicability of contracting provisions, the 
 44 Homeowners’ Construction Recovery Fund, conditions for 
 45 recovery and eligibility, and compliance, 
 46 respectively, to incorporate the amendment made to s. 
 47 489.105, F.S., in references thereto; reenacting ss. 
 48 489.517(4)(a) and 553.79(18), F.S., relating to the 
 49 renewal of certificate or registration and continuing 
 50 education, and permits, respectively, to incorporate 
 51 the amendment made to s. 489.115, F.S., in references 
 52 thereto; providing effective dates. 
 53 
 54 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 55 
 56 Section 1. Present subsections (4) through (8), (9), (10), 
 57 and (11) through (18) of section 83.43, Florida Statutes, are 
 58 redesignated as subsections (5) through (9), (11), (12), and 
 59 (14) through (21), respectively, and new subsections (4), (10) 
 60 and (13) are added to that section, to read: 
 61 83.43 Definitions.—As used in this part, the following 
 62 words and terms shall have the following meanings unless some 
 63 other meaning is plainly indicated: 
 64 (4) “Cooling equipment” means a permanently installed or 
 65 securely affixed appliance designed to cool indoor air, 
 66 including a central air-conditioning system, a packaged terminal 
 67 air-conditioning unit, a mini-split heat pump, or a window air 
 68 conditioning unit, where permitted by applicable code. 
 69 (10) “Habitable space” has the same meaning as in the 
 70 Florida Building Code. 
 71 (13) “Outdoor heat index” means the apparent temperature 
 72 derived from ambient air temperature and relative humidity as 
 73 reported by the National Weather Service for the nearest 
 74 reporting station. 
 75 Section 2. Present subsections (3) and (4) of section 
 76 83.51, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (4) and 
 77 (5), respectively, a new subsection (3) is added to that 
 78 section, and paragraph (a) of subsection