Florida Senate - 2013                       CS for CS for SB 726
       
       
       
       By the Committees on Health Policy; and Community Affairs; and
       Senator Simmons
       
       
       
       588-02795-13                                           2013726c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the regulation of family or medical
    3         leave benefits for employees; providing definitions;
    4         prohibiting a political subdivision from requiring or
    5         otherwise regulating family or medical leave benefits
    6         for employees; preempting regulation of family or
    7         medical leave benefits to the state; creating the
    8         Employer-Sponsored Benefits Study Task Force;
    9         directing Workforce Florida, Inc., to provide
   10         administrative and staff support services for the task
   11         force; establishing the purpose and composition of the
   12         task force; providing for reimbursement for per diem
   13         and travel expenses; requiring the task force to
   14         submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature by
   15         a specified date; providing report requirements;
   16         providing for future repeal of the task force;
   17         providing that the act does not prohibit a political
   18         subdivision from establishing family or medical leave
   19         benefits for its employees; providing that the act
   20         does not prohibit a federally authorized or recognized
   21         tribal government from requiring family or medical
   22         leave benefits under certain conditions; providing an
   23         effective date.
   24  
   25  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   26  
   27         Section 1. Family or medical leave benefits for employees.—
   28         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   29         (a) “Employee” and the term “employer” have the same
   30  meanings as established in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act
   31  of 1938, 29 U.S.C. s. 203.
   32         (b) “Family or medical leave” means a period of absence
   33  from employment, paid or unpaid, used by an employee to deal
   34  with a health condition or seek medical attention, to assist
   35  another person dealing with a health condition or seeking
   36  medical attention, or to give birth to or adopt a child. The
   37  term does not include leave related to and arising directly from
   38  domestic violence.
   39         (c) “Political subdivision” means a county, municipality,
   40  department, commission, special district, board, or other public
   41  body, whether corporate or otherwise, created by or under state
   42  law.
   43         (2)A political subdivision may not require an employer to
   44  provide family or medical leave benefits to an employee and may
   45  not otherwise regulate such leave. For purposes of uniform
   46  application of this section throughout the state, with the
   47  exception of family or medical leave benefits regulated under
   48  federal law or regulations, the regulation of family and medical
   49  leave benefits is expressly preempted to the state.
   50         (3)(a) There is created the Employer-Sponsored Benefits
   51  Study Task Force. Workforce Florida, Inc., shall provide
   52  administrative and staff support services relating to the
   53  functions of the task force. The task force shall organize by
   54  September 1, 2013. The task force shall be composed of 11
   55  members. The Director of Workforce Florida, Inc., shall serve as
   56  a member and chair of the task force. The Speaker of the House
   57  of Representatives shall appoint one member who is an economist
   58  with a background in business economics. The President of the
   59  Senate shall appoint one member who is a physician licensed
   60  under chapter 458 or chapter 459 with at least 5 years of
   61  experience in the active practice of medicine. In addition, the
   62  President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
   63  Representatives shall each appoint four additional members to
   64  the task force. The four appointments from the President of the
   65  Senate and the four appointments from the Speaker of the House
   66  of Representatives must each include:
   67         1. A member of the Legislature.
   68         2. An owner of a business in this state which employs fewer
   69  than 50 people.
   70         3. An owner or representative of a business in this state
   71  which employs more than 50 people.
   72         4. A representative of an organization who represents the
   73  nonmanagement employees of a business.
   74         (b) Members of the task force shall serve without
   75  compensation, but are entitled to reimbursement for per diem and
   76  travel expenses in accordance with s. 112.061.
   77         (c) The purpose of the task force is to analyze employer
   78  sponsored family or medical leave benefits and the impact of
   79  state preemption of the regulation of such benefits. The task
   80  force shall develop a report that includes its findings and
   81  recommendations for legislative action regarding the regulation
   82  of family or medical leave benefits. The task force shall submit
   83  the report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the
   84  Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 15, 2014.
   85         (d) This subsection is repealed June 30, 2014.
   86         (4) This section does not limit the authority of a
   87  political subdivision to establish family or medical leave
   88  benefits for the employees of the political subdivision.
   89         (5)This section does not prohibit a federally authorized
   90  and recognized tribal government from requiring family or
   91  medical leave benefits for a person employed within a territory
   92  over which the tribe has jurisdiction.
   93         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.