Florida Senate - 2021 SB 1280
By Senator Ausley
3-01382A-21 20211280__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Public Health Task Force;
3 creating the task force within the Legislature for a
4 specified purpose; requiring the Office of Program
5 Policy Analysis and Governmental Accountability to
6 provide research services to the task force; providing
7 for membership, meetings, and duties of the task
8 force; requiring the task force to submit a report to
9 the Governor and the Legislature by a specified date;
10 providing for expiration of the task force; providing
11 an effective date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15 Section 1. Public Health Task Force.—The Public Health Task
16 Force is established within the Legislature to comprehensively
17 assess the Department of Health’s resources and capacity to
18 sustainably deliver public health services in this state, and to
19 make recommendations for improvements to the department’s
20 framework for statewide implementation of such services. The
21 Office of Program Policy Analysis and Governmental
22 Accountability shall provide its research services to the task
23 force.
24 (1) MEMBERSHIP.—
25 (a) The task force shall consist of the following members:
26 1. The State Surgeon General or his or her designee.
27 2. One county health department director from each of the
28 following, appointed by the State Surgeon General:
29 a. A county where more than half of the local population is
30 represented by ethnic and racial minority groups.
31 b. A rural county.
32 c. An urban county.
33 3. One representative from each of the following
34 organizations, appointed by their respective organizations:
35 a. Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
36 b. Florida Public Health Association.
37 c. Florida Medical Association Health, Education, and
38 Public Policy Committee.
39 d. Florida Association of County Health Officers.
40 e. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Institute
41 of Public Health.
42 f. University of South Florida College of Public Health.
43 g. Public Health Accreditation Board.
44 h. Florida Environmental Health Association.
45 i. Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida.
46 (b) A vacancy on the task force shall be filled in the same
47 manner as the original appointment.
48 (c) The task force shall elect a chair from among its
49 members.
50 (d) Members shall serve without compensation but are
51 entitled to reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses
52 pursuant to s. 112.061, Florida Statutes.
53 (2) MEETINGS.—
54 (a) The task force shall convene its first meeting by
55 October 1, 2021, and shall meet as often as necessary to fulfill
56 its responsibilities under this section.
57 (b) Meetings may be conducted in person or by
58 teleconference or other electronic means.
59 (3) DUTIES.—The task force shall do all of the following:
60 (a) Analyze the department’s ability to prepare for,
61 respond to, and mitigate the effects of natural and manmade
62 disasters of public health significance, including, but not
63 limited to, hurricanes, floods, communicable disease, epidemics,
64 pandemics, and bioterrorism.
65 (b) Analyze the department’s ability to provide public
66 health services statewide within the existing framework provided
67 in chapter 154, Florida Statutes, and identify any gaps in
68 service, paying particular attention to all of the following:
69 1. The impacts of environmental factors on human health.
70 2. Community health assessments and development of
71 evidence-based community and state health improvement plans.
72 3. Population and community health.
73 4. Chronic disease mitigation and prevention.
74 5. Communicable disease control.
75 6. Maternal and child health.
76 7. Information infrastructure to support the department’s
77 capacity to conduct analyses, data integration, and integration
78 of analyses as required for the department to become an
79 information agency in the digital age.
80 8. Preparedness planning, response, and mitigation.
81 (c) Assess historical trends and analyze the department’s
82 funding and staffing, with the goal of establishing sustainable
83 funding for the department’s activities.
84 (d) Assess historical trends and analyze the department’s
85 allocation and distribution of funds to county health
86 departments, with the goal of overcoming declines in state and
87 federal funding coupled with the state’s population growth and
88 increasing vulnerable populations.
89 (e) Analyze the department’s staffing, including the levels
90 and types of public health professionals required to maintain a
91 robust public health department workforce at the state and local
92 levels. Such public health professions include, but are not
93 limited to, physicians, public health nurses, epidemiologists,
94 health educators, social workers, and sanitarians.
95
96 When conducting its assessments and analyses under this
97 subsection, the task force must reference the Public Health
98 Accreditation Board Standards and Measures, Version 1.5, for
99 national public health department accreditation; the 10
100 Essential Public Health Services, as revised in June 2020,
101 published by the Public Health National Center for Innovations
102 and the de Beaumont Foundation; and other relevant guidelines
103 issued by the United States Centers for Disease Control and
104 Prevention.
105 (4) REPORT.—The task force shall submit a report of its
106 findings and recommendations to the Governor, the President of
107 the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by
108 September 30, 2022.
109 (5) EXPIRATION.—This section expires October 1, 2022.
110 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.