2021 Florida Legislature

Senate President Wilton Simpson "sprinkled in" the $2 million that would have gone toward increasing access for low-income girls and women to long-acting reversible contraception.

It would allow parents to request that children in kindergarten through fifth grade be retained to help them catch up.

The law stems from people using authentic-looking websites to run scams that purportedly offer access to COVID-19 vaccines or personal protective equipment.

Florida lawmakers have tried for years to curb youth Baker Acts. This year, with the passage of parental notification measures, they may have finally moved the needle.

The bill would enumerate rights of parents related to health care and education. But critics contend it could turn physicians into criminals if they provide care to children without first getting parental consent.

The governor was also given a $196.3 million tax package that includes a formula change for distributing cigarette tax revenues to boost funding for Tampa's Moffitt Cancer Center.

Lawmakers directed $91.1 million to hometown health and human services projects, including clinics, meal-delivery programs and a hurricane center. Not all will make it past the finish line.

School districts across the state can still decide whether face masks will be required following Gov. Ron DeSantis' executive order. Some have already made that determination.

Among other things, the bill, which will take effect Oct. 1, will raise the state’s legal age to vape and smoke tobacco to 21, a threshold already established in federal law.

Senate sponsor Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, said in March that the additional money would help Moffitt Cancer Center build a new campus.