Florida SB 554: Hot Car Death Prevention

Bill Text

554 
Nonprofit Corporations 
2026-02-18T12:46:07Z 
Renaming the “Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act” as the “Florida Nonprofit Corporation Act”; revising the circumstances in which a domestic or foreign corporation may correct a document filed with the department; requiring all courts, public offices, and official bodies to receive all certificates issued by the department as prima facie evidence of certain facts; authorizing a corporation to register under a name that is not otherwise distinguishable on the records of the department under certain circumstances; prohibiting a corporation from paying any dividend and making distributions of any part of its net income or net earnings to its members, directors, or officers, etc. 
Committee Substitute 1 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
c1 

 Florida Senate - 2026 CS for SB 554 

 By the Committee on Fiscal Policy; and Senator Bernard 

 594-02987-26 2026554c1 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to nonprofit corporations; amending s. 
 3 617.01011, F.S.; renaming the “Florida Not For Profit 
 4 Corporation Act” as the “Florida Nonprofit Corporation 
 5 Act”; amending s. 617.01201, F.S.; providing 
 6 applicability; prohibiting a provision of a plan or 
 7 filed document to be made dependent upon facts outside 
 8 the plan or filed document; requiring a corporation to 
 9 file articles of amendment with the Department of 
 10 State under certain circumstances; providing that 
 11 articles of amendment are deemed to be authorized by 
 12 the authorization of the original filed document to 
 13 which they relate; providing that such articles of 
 14 amendment may be filed by the corporation without 
 15 further action by the board of directors or the 
 16 members; defining the terms “filed document” and 
 17 “plan”; making technical changes; amending s. 
 18 617.0123, F.S.; providing that a document accepted for 
 19 filing may specify an effective time and a delayed 
 20 effective date; providing that a previous effective 
 21 date may be specified in the initial articles of 
 22 incorporation if such date is within a specified 
 23 timeframe; specifying when a document accepted for 
 24 filing is effective; providing that the date and time 
 25 at which a document is filed is the time and date at 
 26 the place of filing in this state; amending s. 
 27 617.0124, F.S.; revising the circumstances in which a 
 28 domestic or foreign corporation may correct a document 
 29 filed with the department; prohibiting articles of 
 30 correction from containing a delayed effective date 
 31 for the correction; authorizing a corporation to 
 32 withdraw a filing delivered to the department before 
 33 it takes effect by delivering a withdrawal statement 
 34 to the department for filing; specifying what 
 35 information must be included in a withdrawal 
 36 statement; providing that the action or transaction 
 37 evidenced by the original filing does not take effect 
 38 upon the filing of a withdrawal statement by the 
 39 department; amending s. 617.0126, F.S.; revising what 
 40 a domestic or foreign corporation may do if the 
 41 department refuses to file a document delivered to its 
 42 office for filing; amending s. 617.0127, F.S.; 
 43 requiring all courts, public offices, and official 
 44 bodies to receive all certificates issued by the 
 45 department as prima facie evidence of certain facts; 
 46 amending s. 617.0128, F.S.; requiring the department 
 47 to issue, upon request, a certificate of status for a 
 48 domestic corporation or a certificate of authorization 
 49 for a foreign corporation; amending s. 617.01301, 
 50 F.S.; revising who must answer interrogatories 
 51 directed at a corporation; making technical changes; 
 52 amending s. 617.01401, F.S.; defining, revising, and 
 53 deleting terms; amending s. 617.0141, F.S.; requiring 
 54 written and oral notice to be communicated in a 
 55 specified manner; making technical changes; creating 
 56 s. 617.0143, F.S.; defining terms; providing that a 
 57 director is not automatically prevented from being a 
 58 qualified director under certain circumstances; 
 59 amending s. 617.0202, F.S.; revising the contents of 
 60 articles of incorporation; amending s. 617.0204, F.S.; 
 61 deleting an exception for liability for 
 62 preincorporation transactions; amending s. 617.0206, 
 63 F.S.; providing an exception when the initial bylaws 
 64 of a corporation must be adopted by its board of 
 65 directors; amending s. 617.0302, F.S.; revising the 
 66 corporate powers of nonprofit corporations; amending 
 67 s. 617.0304, F.S.; making technical changes; amending 
 68 s. 617.0401, F.S.; authorizing a corporation to 
 69 register under a name that is not otherwise 
 70 distinguishable on the records of the department under 
 71 certain circumstances; providing that the corporate 
 72 name as filed with the department is for public notice 
 73 only and does not alone create any presump