Department of Financial Services
S1452 is a broad Department of Financial Services bill that makes technical, administrative, and policy changes across a wide range of Florida statutes. A major portion of the bill updates the state’s unclaimed property law, including new definitions, revised dormancy periods, expanded due-diligence and notice requirements, new rules for reporting and remitting property, and new restrictions and disclosure requirements for claimant representatives and property purchase agreements. It also revises the My Safe Florida Home Program by tightening and clarifying eligibility, application, inspection, grant, and abandonment procedures, while updating several financial management system provisions and other DFS-related statutes.
The bill also makes targeted changes in insurance, workers’ compensation, funeral and cemetery licensing, bail bond regulation, payday/deferred presentment practices, and public adjuster duties. It revises licensing qualifications and disqualification rules for several regulated professions, including funeral/cemetery services and insurance agents, and adds new consumer-protection and reporting requirements in areas such as claims status responses and collection practices. In addition, it includes conforming changes, repeals certain obsolete provisions, ratifies specified administrative rules, and directs law revision updates.
The bill substantially amends chapters 17, 110, 112, 215, 216, 440, 497, 553, 560, 626, 633, 648, 717, 772, and related provisions of the Florida Statutes. Its largest legal effect is to overhaul Florida’s unclaimed property framework, shifting many timelines, notice duties, reporting rules, claim procedures, and enforcement tools, while also creating new restrictions on third-party purchase and recovery agreements. It further modifies the My Safe Florida Home Program and updates state financial management system terminology and governance, affecting how the Department of Financial Services and the Chief Financial Officer administer reporting, accounting, and related oversight functions. The bill also changes licensing and disciplinary standards for several regulated industries and occupations, including insurance, funeral/cemetery services, bail bonds, and public adjusting.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the legislative process. It passed every recorded committee and floor vote unanimously, including 10-0 in Senate Banking and Insurance, 8-0 in Senate Appropriations on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government, 22-0 in Senate Rules, 38-0 on Senate third reading, 106-0 on House third reading, and 39-0 on final Senate third reading. The vote pattern suggests strong bipartisan agreement on the bill’s overall package of administrative updates, consumer-protection changes, and program revisions.
No formal opposition is reflected in the available committee or floor vote history, but the bill contains several provisions that could be sensitive in policy terms. The most notable are the expanded and more detailed unclaimed property rules, especially the limits and disclosure requirements placed on claimant representatives and property purchase agreements, which may affect private recovery businesses and owners seeking assistance. Other potentially debated provisions include the tighter licensing disqualification rules for funeral and cemetery applicants, changes to insurance licensing and discipline, and the revised eligibility and timing rules for My Safe Florida Home grants and inspections. The unanimous votes indicate that any such concerns were either resolved in committee or not significant enough to generate recorded opposition.