Another Pass-Fail Session of the Florida Legislature: Here’s What Happened To Ten Key Issues

Florida lawmakers put forward just under 2,000 bills and resolutions as they entered the 2026 legislative session.

They returned home on Friday having agreed to about 235 measures that await action from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Here is what became of 10 key issues:

— ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: DeSantis’ priorities included creating an “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights” and imposing regulations on massive energy and water consuming data centers. Rules involving utility consumer protections around data centers passed, with some business-friendly carve outs that will keep the early planning stages under wraps from the public. The House, preferring federal rules on potential broad AI impacts, declined to take up a Senate approved “AI Bill of Rights.”

— BUDGET: For a second year, unresolved disputes between the House and Senate over spending resulted in the fiscal plan not being completed within the scheduled 60-day session. The chambers could not even reach the point where they could sit down to work out differences in desired spending levels for areas including health care, education, transportation and the environment. House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton vowed to return in mid-April.

— EDUCATION: Florida has dramatically expanded school-voucher programs in recent years. But there are growing pains in the programs that included questions about whether money properly follows students as they shift between public schools and private schools and homeschooling. The Senate passed a plan early in the session to address those issues, but the House never took up the bill.

— GROWTH MANAGEMENT: After facing lawsuits and objections from local officials, legislation was put forward to scale back a 2025 law crafted after the 2024 hurricanes that in part temporarily blocks cities and counties from approving “more restrictive or burdensome” changes to growth plans. The Senate approved the rollback but it didn’t advance in the House.

— GUNS: House Republicans were once again unable to get their Senate counterparts to repeal a law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns. However, the armed school “guardian” program, another part of the law created in 2018 after the mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was expanded to include allowing some staff at state colleges and universities to be trained and armed on campus.

— HEALTH CARE: A key health care measure pushed by the DeSantis’ office and the Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo to ban vaccine requirements was never filed. A softer bill to expand exemptions to vaccine requirements for public K-12 students failed to pass both chambers. When asked if the proposal (SB 1756) could make a comeback during budget talks, Senate President Albritton told reporters: “That is a decision the Legislature will make, and we’ll see.”

— MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: After DeSantis vetoed such a bill last year, the House again teed up a proposal to repeal a long-controversial 1990 law that prevents some people from seeking what are known as “non-economic” damages in medical-malpractice cases involving deaths of their parents or adult children. The House passed the measure again early in session, but it never received a hearing in the Senate this year.

— PROPERTY TAXES: DeSantis has traveled the state for more than a year calling for a proposed constitutional amendment to slash property taxes. While the House approved a ballot proposal to eliminate all non-school taxes for homestead properties, the Senate favored less severe cuts to local government revenue and left the issue to be addressed later this spring or summer.

— REDISTRICTING: Republican leaders in various states, including Florida, have looked at redrawing congressional districts as the GOP tries to maintain control of the U.S. House after the 2026 mid-term elections. Instead of waiting for action from the Legislature, DeSantis took the issue off the regular session table in January by calling for a special session the week of April 20. Secretary of State Cord Byrd moved congressional qualifying to the week of June 8.

— RURAL RENAISSANCE: For the second year Senate President Albritton sought a significant take-home bill. Even after reducing the overall price tag with health care components expected to be covered by millions in federal rural health care dollars, the House didn’t approve the measure, which would have infused rural areas with funding for education, transportation and economic development. Part of the plan, though, was included in the Senate’s tax cut bill, which means it could be part of budget talks with the House when lawmakers convene again to pass a spending plan.

–Jim Turner and Ana Goñi-Lessan, News Service of Florida