Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators Residency Restrictions
Summary
Florida Senate Bill 212 revises residency restrictions for persons convicted of certain sexual offenses and modifies prohibitions on offenders residing within specified distances of places where children congregate. The bill also requires certain offenders to provide notice to schools or child care facilities and authorizes warrantless arrest when law enforcement has probable cause to believe specified offenses have occurred.
What changed
Florida S0212 makes substantive changes to sex offender residency restrictions by revising prohibited distances from locations where children gather and adding new notice requirements for offenders. The bill authorizes warrantless arrest based on probable cause for specified offenses related to sexual offenses. Passed by votes of 31-6 in the Senate and 103-9 in the House, the bill was signed by officers and presented to the Governor on March 30, 2026.
Law enforcement agencies in Florida should prepare to implement new arrest authority provisions under the warrantless arrest standard. Registered sex offenders subject to these restrictions must understand revised residency distance requirements and new school/childcare facility notification obligations. Legal counsel should review the specific effective date and any transition provisions to advise affected clients.
What to do next
- Review revised residency distance restrictions applicable to sex offender clients
- Prepare to implement warrantless arrest authority for specified offenses under probable cause standard
- Advise affected clients on new school and child care facility notice requirements
Source document (simplified)
FL S0212 | 2026 | Regular Session
Florida Senate Bill 212
FL State Legislature page for S0212
- Summary
- Sponsors
- Texts
- Votes
- Research
- Comments
- Track
Status
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: Enrolled on March 17 2026 - 75% progression
Action: 2026-03-30 - Signed by Officers and presented to Governor
Text: Latest bill text (Enrolled) [HTML]
Summary
Revising residency restrictions for persons convicted of certain sexual offenses occurring on or after a specified date; revising the prohibition of specified offenders from coming within a specified distance of a place where children congregate; requiring a person who has been convicted of specified offenses to provide notice to a school or child care facility under certain circumstances; authorizing the warrantless arrest of a person if a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe the person committed specified offenses, etc.
Tracking Information Register now for our free OneVote public service or GAITS Pro trial account and you can begin tracking this and other legislation, all driven by the real-time data of the LegiScan API. Providing tools allowing you to research pending legislation, stay informed with email alerts, content feeds, and share dynamic reports. Use our new PolitiCorps to join with friends and collegaues to monitor & discuss bills through the process.
Monitor Legislation or view this same bill number from multiple sessions or take advantage of our national legislative search.
Title
Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators
Sponsors
| Senate Rules Committee | Senate Judiciary Committee | Senate Criminal Justice Committee | Sen. Stan McClain [R] |
Roll Calls
2026-03-11 - House - House: Third Reading RCS#796 (Y: 103 N: 9 NV: 5 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2026-02-26 - Senate - Senate: Third Reading RCS#25 (Y: 31 N: 6 NV: 0 Abs: 2) [PASS]
2026-02-17 - Senate - Senate Rules (Y: 19 N: 5 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2026-02-10 - Senate - Senate Judiciary (Y: 10 N: 1 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2026-01-20 - Senate - Senate Criminal Justice (Y: 7 N: 1 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
History
| Date | Chamber | Action |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-03-30 | | Signed by Officers and presented to Governor |
| 2026-03-17 | Senate | Ordered enrolled |
| 2026-03-11 | House | CS passed; YEAS 103, NAYS 9 |
| 2026-03-11 | House | Read 3rd time |
| 2026-03-11 | House | Added to Third Reading Calendar |
| 2026-03-11 | House | Read 2nd time |
| 2026-03-10 | House | 1st Reading (Engrossed 1) |
| 2026-03-10 | House | Bill added to Special Order Calendar (3/11/2026) |
| 2026-03-10 | House | Bill referred to House Calendar |
| 2026-02-26 | House | In Messages |
| 2026-02-26 | Senate | Immediately certified |
| 2026-02-26 | Senate | CS passed as amended; YEAS 31 NAYS 6 |
| 2026-02-26 | Senate | Read 3rd time |
| 2026-02-26 | Senate | Amendment(s) adopted (786080) |
| 2026-02-26 | Senate | Read 2nd time |
| 2026-02-23 | Senate | Placed on Special Order Calendar, 02/26/26 |
| 2026-02-19 | Senate | CS/CS/CS by Rules read 1st time |
| 2026-02-19 | Senate | Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading |
| 2026-02-19 | Senate | Pending reference review -under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute) |
| 2026-02-18 | Senate | CS/CS by Judiciary read 1st time |
| 2026-02-17 | Senate | CS/CS/CS by- Rules; YEAS 19 NAYS 5 |
| 2026-02-12 | Senate | On Committee agenda-- Rules, 02/17/26, 12:00 pm, 412 Knott Building |
| 2026-02-12 | Senate | Now in Rules |
| 2026-02-12 | Senate | Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute) |
| 2026-02-10 | Senate | CS/CS by Judiciary; YEAS 10 NAYS 1 |
| 2026-02-05 | Senate | On Committee agenda-- Judiciary, 02/10/26, 12:00 pm, 110 Senate Building |
| 2026-01-22 | Senate | CS by Criminal Justice read 1st time |
| 2026-01-22 | Senate | Now in Judiciary |
| 2026-01-21 | Senate | Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute) |
| 2026-01-20 | Senate | CS by Criminal Justice; YEAS 7 NAYS 1 |
| 2026-01-15 | Senate | On Committee agenda-- Criminal Justice, 01/20/26, 3:30 pm, 37 Senate Building |
| 2026-01-13 | Senate | Introduced |
| 2025-11-03 | Senate | Referred to Criminal Justice; Judiciary; Rules |
| 2025-10-16 | Senate | Filed |
Same As/Similar To
H45 (Similar To) 2026-03-11 - Laid on Table, refer to CS/CS/CS/SB 212
Code Citations
| Chapter | Article | Section | Citation Type | Statute Text |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 775 | 215 | | Amended Code | See Bill Text |
| 856 | 022 | | Amended Code | See Bill Text |
| 901 | 15 | | Amended Code | See Bill Text |
| 943 | 04351 | | Amended Code | See Bill Text |
| 947 | 1405 | | Amended Code | See Bill Text |
| 948 | 30 | | Amended Code | See Bill Text |
Florida State Sources
| Type | Source |
| --- | --- |
| Summary | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212 |
| Text | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/BillText/Filed/HTML |
| Text | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/BillText/c1/HTML |
| Text | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/BillText/c2/HTML |
| Text | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/BillText/c3/HTML |
| Text | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/BillText/e1/HTML |
| Text | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/BillText/er/HTML |
| Amendment | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Amendment/261670/HTML |
| Amendment | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Amendment/786080/HTML |
| Supplement | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Analyses/2026s00212.pre.cj.PDF |
| Supplement | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Analyses/2026s00212.cj.PDF |
| Supplement | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Analyses/2026s00212.pre.ju.PDF |
| Supplement | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Analyses/2026s00212.ju.PDF |
| Supplement | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Analyses/2026s00212.pre.rc.PDF |
| Supplement | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Analyses/2026s00212.rc.PDF |
| Roll Call | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Vote/2026-01-20%200330PM~S00212%20Vote%20Record.PDF |
| Roll Call | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Vote/2026-02-10%201200PM~S00212%20Vote%20Record.PDF |
| Roll Call | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Vote/2026-02-17%201200PM~S00212%20Vote%20Record.PDF |
| Roll Call | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Vote/SenateVote_s00212c3025.PDF |
| Roll Call | https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/212/Vote/HouseVote_s00212e1796.PDF |
LegiScan Search
State: Select area of search. Bill Number: Find an exact bill number. Full Text Search: Search bill text and data. [help ] Reset
LegiScan Info
- 2026 Schedules
- Price List
- Weekly Datasets
- Search Help
- Voter Registration
LegiScan Trends
IL HB4713 SCH CD-ED LICENSE-COMPUTER SCI US HB1004 Love Lives On Act of 2025 IL HB4243 RETAIL PHARMACY ON SITE REQS HI SCR120 Urging The State To Consider The Importance Of Rangelands And Pastoralists... WI AB748 Exemptions from food product licensing requirements for sale of pickled... LA HB43 Provides relative to retirement eligibility in the Louisiana State Employees'... RI H8349 HOUSE RESOLUTION CREATING A SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION TO STUDY AND... NH HB1295 Relative to eligibility requirements for charitable and nonprofit housing... MN HF4766 Spring Park; water tower rehabilitation funding provided, bonds issued,... UT HB0243 Gambling Revisions
Related changes
Source
Classification
Who this affects
Taxonomy
Browse Categories
Get Government & Legislation alerts
Weekly digest. AI-summarized, no noise.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
Get alerts for this source
We'll email you when LegiScan Florida publishes new changes.