Senate legislation would modernize long-range planning, enhance cybersecurity, and protect Floridians’ data.
The Senate Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Clearwater Republican Senator Ed Hooper, published Senate Proposed Bill (SPB) 7026, Information Technology, and SPB 7024, State Budgeting and Planning. Both bills are part of the Florida Senate’s government efficiency and accountability package for the 2025 Legislative Session, which modernizes and enhances Florida’s robust government accountability framework. President Pro Tempore Jason Brodeur, a Sanford Republican, is the lead on SPB 7024. Stuart Republican Senator Gayle Harrell is the lead on SPB 7026.
“Our state has been well served by the performance metrics, planning requirements, and accountability standards Governor Bush and legislative leaders put in place nearly 30 years ago,” said Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican. “Florida has grown and changed a lot since that time, and today technology continues to revolutionize nearly every facet of our economy and our lives, at a pace never seen or felt before. It’s not enough to know government is completing a task or providing a service, we need to know if that service is being provided well, which means we need to have new, innovative ways to measure performance. Additionally, when it comes to cybersecurity, Floridians’ personal data, and the IT infrastructure of our state – our citizens expect us to get that right.”
“The Government Efficiency Task Force, on which several Senators served, recommended modernizing the Long-Range Program Plan to improve flexibility, simplify processes, and shift a focus to measured outcomes as opposed to outputs,” said President Pro Tempore Brodeur. “This bill takes the Long-Range Program Plans and simplifies them to key data points, removes provisions which haven’t proven to be good measures, and updates the processes to produce and present the plans to the Legislature. By modernizing this system of accountability, our agencies will be better able to respond to changing situations quickly and efficiently, spending less time on paperwork and more time on their core missions.”
“Over my years in the House and Senate, Florida has tried many different ways to manage Information Technology. We have implemented several different structures, but we continue to face challenges. This legislation creates the Agency for State Systems and Enterprise Technology as a cabinet agency, bringing consolidated consulting teams divided by program areas to provide specific assistance to agencies and feedback to help develop guidelines and standards that will help make sure our data is protected,” said Senator Harrell.
The bill SPB 7026, Information Technology establishes a central IT governance body through the creation of the Agency for State Systems and Enterprise Technology (ASSET) under the direction of the Cabinet, ensuring uniformity and efficiency across the enterprise.
Republicans say the bill improves IT transparency and accountability with the addition of annual IT expenditure reporting, robust enterprise architecture standards, and agency assessments. Specifically, agencies conduct cybersecurity risk assessments on a biennial basis, including vulnerability and penetration testing and a written acknowledgment that agency leadership is aware of the risks included in the report. The bill also establishes required reporting when an IT project is one month late or $1 million over budget.
Long-Range Program Plans submitted by state agencies have been in place since 2000 and provide a five-year plan for strategic goals and objectives, including explanations for budget requests. The Government Efficiency Task Force, on which President Albritton, President Pro Tempore Brodeur, Chair Hooper, and Democratic St. Petersburg Senator Darryl Rouson and Republican Lakeland Senator Colleen Burton served, recommended modernizing Long-Range Program Plans to improve efficiency and accountability.
The Senate’s government efficiency and accountability package for the 2025 Legislative Session also includes Senate Bill (SB) 108, Administrative Procedures, by Vero Beach Republican Senator Erin Grall. The bill improves government oversight and accountability, creating a clear, consistent, annual process for review and repeal of administrative rules. SB 108 also increases transparency for state licensing by creating requirements for tracking agency compliance with statutory timeframes to ensure Floridians applying for a license are approved in a timely manner.
To improve and ensure transparency, the bill establishes a 90-day timeframe for an agency to publish a notice of a proposed rule from the effective date of legislation. All rules being adopted and reviewed must be published electronically with any changes coded in a strike-through and underlined format so Floridians can easily identify changes being proposed.
SB 108 also requires each agency issuing licenses to track compliance with the licensing
timeframes established in law. Reports must include the number of license applications
submitted to the agency in the following circumstances:
- Required requests for additional information;
- The applicant was non-responsive to requests for additional information;
- Not completed by the applicant;
- The agency requested an extension;
- The applicant requested an extension;
- Not approved or denied within the statutory timeframe;
- Final agency action was appealed and the number of hearings requested;
- The average and median number of days for approval or denial of a completed
application.
