Florida Senate - 2026 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1506
Ì674920#Î674920
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: OO .
02/18/2026 .
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The Committee on Rules (Grall) recommended the following:
1 Senate Substitute for Amendment (567718) (with title
2 amendment)
3
4 Before line 15
5 insert:
6 Section 1. Section 768.18, Florida Statutes, is reordered
7 and amended to read:
8 768.18 Definitions.—As used in ss. 768.16-768.26:
9 (5)(1) “Survivors” means the decedent’s spouse, children,
10 parents, and, when partly or wholly dependent on the decedent
11 for support or services, any blood relatives and adoptive
12 brothers and sisters. It includes the child born out of wedlock
13 of a mother, but not the child born out of wedlock of the father
14 unless the father has recognized a responsibility for the
15 child’s support. It also includes the parents of an unborn
16 child.
17 (1)(2) “Minor children” means children under 25 years of
18 age, notwithstanding the age of majority.
19 (4)(3) “Support” includes contributions in kind as well as
20 money.
21 (3)(4) “Services” means tasks, usually of a household
22 nature, regularly performed by the decedent that will be a
23 necessary expense to the survivors of the decedent. These
24 services may vary according to the identity of the decedent and
25 survivor and shall be determined under the particular facts of
26 each case.
27 (2)(5) “Net accumulations” means the part of the decedent’s
28 expected net business or salary income, including pension
29 benefits, that the decedent probably would have retained as
30 savings and left as part of her or his estate if the decedent
31 had lived her or his normal life expectancy. “Net business or
32 salary income” is the part of the decedent’s probable gross
33 income after taxes, excluding income from investments continuing
34 beyond death, that remains after deducting the decedent’s
35 personal expenses and support of survivors, excluding
36 contributions in kind.
37 (6) “Unborn child” has the same meaning as in s.
38 775.021(5)(e).
39 Section 2. Section 768.19, Florida Statutes, is amended to
40 read:
41 768.19 Right of action.—
42 (1) When the death of a person is caused by the wrongful
43 act, negligence, default, or breach of contract or warranty of
44 any person, including those occurring on navigable waters, and
45 the event would have entitled the person injured to maintain an
46 action and recover damages if death had not ensued, the person
47 or watercraft that would have been liable in damages if death
48 had not ensued shall be liable for damages as specified in this
49 act notwithstanding the death of the person injured, although
50 death was caused under circumstances constituting a felony.
51 (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, a
52 wrongful death action for the death of an unborn child may not
53 be brought against the mother of the unborn child, or against a
54 health care provider as defined in s. 766.202, for lawful
55 medical care provided in compliance with the applicable standard
56 of care, including, but not limited to, care related to assisted
57 reproductive technologies as defined in s. 742.13, provided with
58 the consent of the mother.
59 Section 3. Subsection (4) and paragraph (a) of subsection
60 (6) of section 768.21, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
61 768.21 Damages.—All potential beneficiaries of a recovery
62 for wrongful death, including the decedent’s estate, shall be
63 identified in the complaint, and their relationships to the
64 decedent shall be alleged. Damages may be awarded as follows:
65 (4) Each parent of a deceased minor child or an unborn
66 child may also recover for mental pain and suffering from the
67 date of injury. Each parent of an adult child may also recover
68 for mental pain and suffering if there are no other survivors.
69 (6) The decedent’s personal representative may recover for
70 the decedent’s estate the following:
71 (a) Loss of earnings of the deceased from the date of
72 injury to the date of death, less lost support of survivors
73 excluding contributions in kind, with interest. Loss of the
74 prospective net accumulations of an estate, which might
75 reasonably have been expected but for the wrongful death,
76 reduced to present money value, may also be recovered:
77 1. If the decedent’s survivors include a surviving spouse
78 or lineal descendants; or
79 2. If the decedent is not a minor child or an unborn child
80 as those terms are defined in s. 768.18 s. 768.18(2), there are
81 no lost support and services recoverable under subsection (1),
82 and there is a surviving parent.
83
84 Evidence of remarriage of the decedent’s spouse is admissible.
85
86 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
87 And the title is amended as follows:
88 Delete line 2
89 and insert:
90 An act relating to civil litigation; reordering and
91 amending s. 768.18, F.S.; reordering, revising, and
92 defining terms; amending s. 768.19, F.S.; prohibiting
93 a right of action against the mother for the wrongful
94 death of an unborn child or against a health care
95 provider for lawful medical care provided in certain
96 circumstances; amending s. 768.21, F.S.; authorizing
97 parents of an unborn child to recover certain damages;
98 prohibiting the recovery of certain damages if the
99 decedent is an unborn child; conforming a cross
100 reference; amending s.