Florida SB 532: Wetland Mitigation

Bill Text

532 
Clerks of the Court 
2026-02-20T11:16:15Z 
Authorizing the cumulative excess of funds to be used in the development of the total combined budgets of the clerks of the court; requiring that a court use certain sale procedures in a foreclosure action; providing that only a clerk of court may conduct a foreclosure sale, etc. 
Committee Substitute 2 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
c2 

 Florida Senate - 2026 CS for CS for SB 532 

 By the Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice; 
 the Committee on Judiciary; and Senators Simon, Wright, Osgood, 
 Rodriguez, Calatayud, Jones, Smith, Bracy Davis, Boyd, Massullo, 
 Rouson, DiCeglie, Garcia, and Leek 

 604-02977-26 2026532c2 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to clerks of the court; amending s. 
 3 28.37, F.S.; authorizing the cumulative excess of 
 4 funds to be used in the development of the total 
 5 combined budgets of the clerks of the court; amending 
 6 ss. 28.35 and 28.36, F.S.; conforming provisions to 
 7 changes made by the act; amending s. 45.031, F.S.; 
 8 requiring that a court use certain sale procedures in 
 9 a foreclosure action; providing that only a clerk of 
 10 court may conduct a foreclosure sale; providing an 
 11 effective date. 
 12 
 13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 14 
 15 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section 
 16 28.37, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 
 17 28.37 Fines, fees, service charges, and costs remitted to 
 18 the state.— 
 19 (4) 
 20 (b) No later than February 1, 2022, and each February 1 
 21 thereafter, the Department of Revenue shall transfer 50 percent 
 22 of The cumulative excess of the original revenue projection from 
 23 the Clerks of the Court Trust Fund to the General Revenue Fund. 
 24 The remaining 50 percent in the Clerks of the Court Trust Fund 
 25 may be used in the development of the total combined budgets of 
 26 the clerks of the court as provided in s. 28.35(2)(f)6. However, 
 27 a minimum of 10 percent of the clerk-retained portion of the 
 28 cumulative excess amount must be held in reserve until such 
 29 funds reach an amount equal to at least 16 percent of the total 
 30 budget authority from the current county fiscal year, as 
 31 provided in s. 28.36(3)(a). 
 32 Section 2. Paragraph (f) of subsection (2) of section 
 33 28.35, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 
 34 28.35 Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation.— 
 35 (2) The duties of the corporation shall include the 
 36 following: 
 37 (f) Approving the proposed budgets submitted by clerks of 
 38 the court pursuant to s. 28.36. The corporation must ensure that 
 39 the total combined budgets of the clerks of the court do not 
 40 exceed the total estimated revenues from fees, service charges, 
 41 court costs, and fines for court-related functions available for 
 42 court-related expenditures as determined by the most recent 
 43 Revenue Estimating Conference, plus the total of unspent 
 44 budgeted funds for court-related functions carried forward by 
 45 the clerks of the court from the previous county fiscal year, 
 46 plus the cumulative excess as provided in balance of funds 
 47 remaining in the Clerks of the Court Trust Fund after the 
 48 transfer of funds to the General Revenue Fund required pursuant 
 49 to s. 28.37(4)(b), and plus any appropriations for court-related 
 50 functions. The corporation may amend any individual clerk of the 
 51 court budget to ensure compliance with this paragraph and must 
 52 consider performance measures, workload performance standards, 
 53 workload measures, and expense data before modifying the budget. 
 54 As part of this process, the corporation shall: 
 55 1. Calculate the minimum amount of revenue necessary for 
 56 each clerk of the court to efficiently perform the list of 
 57 court-related functions specified in paragraph (3)(a). The 
 58 corporation shall apply the workload measures appropriate for 
 59 determining the individual level of review required to fund the 
 60 clerk’s budget. 
 61 2. Prepare a cost comparison of similarly situated clerks 
 62 of the court, based on county population and numbers of filings, 
 63 using the standard list of court-related functions specified in 
 64 paragraph (3)(a). 
 65 3. Conduct an annual base budget review and an annual 
 66 budget exercise examining the total budget of each clerk of the 
 67 court. The review shall examine revenues from all sources, 
 68 expenses of court-related functions, and expenses of noncourt 
 69 related functions as necessary to determine that court-related 
 70 revenues are not being used for noncourt-related purposes. The 
 71 review and exercise shall identify potential targeted budget 
 72 reductions in the percentage amount provided in Schedule VIII-B 
 73 of the state’s previous year’s legislative budget instructions, 
 74 as referenced in s. 216.023(3), or an equivalent schedule or 
 75 instruction as m