Bill Text: FL S0274 | 2024 | Regular Session | Comm Sub


Bill Title: Child Water Safety Requirements

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2024-03-08 - Died in Messages [S0274 Detail]

Download: Florida-2024-S0274-Comm_Sub.html
       Florida Senate - 2024                              CS for SB 274
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
       Senator Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       586-02947-24                                           2024274c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to child water safety requirements;
    3         providing a short title; creating s. 514.073, F.S.;
    4         defining terms; providing that certain organizations
    5         that care for or supervise children must require
    6         parents or legal guardians to attest to certain
    7         information in writing before taking such children to
    8         public bathing places and public swimming pools;
    9         providing requirements for such organizations when
   10         they conduct certain activities in public bathing
   11         places or public swimming pools; providing an
   12         exception; providing for disciplinary action for
   13         certain violations; providing applicability;
   14         authorizing the Department of Health to adopt rules;
   15         amending s. 515.31, F.S.; requiring the department to
   16         include specified information as part of its
   17         publication, or video or other form of appropriate
   18         communication, which provides the public information
   19         on drowning prevention and the responsibilities of
   20         pool ownership; requiring the department to make such
   21         information available to health care facilities;
   22         providing an effective date.
   23          
   24  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   25  
   26         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Kareem Angel Green
   27  Act.”
   28         Section 2. Section 514.073, Florida Statutes, is created to
   29  read:
   30         514.073Child water safety requirements for certain
   31  entities.—
   32         (1)As used in this section, the term:
   33         (a)“Child” means a person younger than 12 years of age.
   34         (b)“Organization” means a summer day camp, a summer 24
   35  hour camp, a school, a preschool, a kindergarten, a nursery
   36  school, or a child care facility as defined in s. 402.302.
   37         (c)“Public swimming pool” has the same meaning as in s.
   38  514.011(2) but does not include a wading pool.
   39         (d)“Wading pool” means a pool, including a pool that
   40  contains a public interactive water feature or fountain, with a
   41  maximum water depth of no more than 18 inches.
   42         (2)An organization that takes a child in its care or under
   43  its supervision to a public bathing place or public swimming
   44  pool or otherwise allows a child access to a public bathing
   45  place or public swimming pool must require the child’s parent or
   46  legal guardian to attest in writing whether the child is able to
   47  swim or is at risk of injury or death when swimming or otherwise
   48  accessing a pool or body of water.
   49         (3)Except as provided in subsection (4), if an
   50  organization conducts an activity that provides a child in its
   51  care or under its supervision access to a public bathing place
   52  or public swimming pool, during the time each child who is
   53  unable to swim or is at risk of injury or death when swimming or
   54  accessing a body of water is present within a fenced-in area
   55  around a public bathing place or public swimming pool, or within
   56  100 feet of a public bathing place or public swimming pool
   57  without a fenced-in area, the organization must:
   58         (a)For a public bathing place, provide to the child a Type
   59  II United States Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device.
   60         (b)For a public swimming pool, provide to the child a Type
   61  II or Type III United States Coast Guard-approved personal
   62  flotation device.
   63         (c)Ensure that the personal flotation device that it
   64  provides to the child is properly fitted to and fastened on the
   65  child.
   66         (4)An organization need not provide a child with a
   67  personal flotation device as required under subsection (3) if
   68  the child is actively participating in swimming instruction or a
   69  swimming competition and the organization ensures that each such
   70  child is supervised during the instruction or competition.
   71         (5)An organization licensed or otherwise regulated by the
   72  state which violates this section or rules adopted pursuant to
   73  this section is subject to disciplinary action, including, but
   74  not limited to, the imposition of an administrative penalty by
   75  any state regulatory agency with the power to take disciplinary
   76  action against that organization in the same manner as if the
   77  organization violated that agency’s licensing or other
   78  regulatory laws or rules.
   79         (6)This section does not apply to:
   80         (a)Residential boarding schools that allow an employee, a
   81  family member of an employee, or a guest of an employee to use a
   82  body of water at the school for recreational purposes.
   83         (b)Child-placing agencies, family foster homes, or
   84  residential child-caring agencies as those terms are defined in
   85  s. 409.175(2).
   86         (c)A child care facility licensed under s. 402.305.
   87         (7)The department may adopt rules necessary to implement
   88  this section.
   89         Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 515.31, Florida
   90  Statutes, is amended to read:
   91         515.31 Drowning prevention education program; public
   92  information publication.—
   93         (2) The department shall also produce, for distribution to
   94  the public at no charge, a publication that provides information
   95  on drowning prevention and the responsibilities of pool
   96  ownership. The department, in lieu of developing its own
   97  publication, may adopt a nationally recognized drowning
   98  prevention and responsibilities of pool ownership publication,
   99  as provided in rule of the department. The department must
  100  include in this publication, or video or other form of
  101  appropriate communication, information relevant to newborn and
  102  infant drowning prevention and must make this information
  103  available to health care facilities, including, but not limited
  104  to, hospitals, birth centers, and perinatal facilities.
  105         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.

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