As a convenience to the law enforcement community, we have posted summaries of bills that have been passed by the legislature. There are bills in this Summary for which final action has not yet been taken. Please check back and review future online versions, as they will be updated periodically.

Due to the size of the document, the 2003 Legislative Summary is available via download in the following formats:

Microsoft Word for Windows 2000

Adobe PDF Format

This year's Legislative Summary now contains hyperlinks to the actual House and Senate Bills. You may access the bill text by double-clicking on the underlined "http" address.



Your browser must have the Adobe Reader Plugin to access this site. If you do not have a copy installed, you may download the free version at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

This Legal Bulletin contains brief summaries of most laws passed by the 2003 Florida Legislature during the Regular Session and Special Session “A” that are of interest to the Florida law enforcement community. As this document contains only summaries, if you have particular areas of interest, you should read the entire content of each law that is available through the hyperlink addresses as is further explained below. In addition to the summaries of the laws, you will find an index at the end of this document to help you locate laws by subject, tables to help you cross-reference bill numbers to their chapter law numbers, and indications of the laws’ effective dates. Due to differences in printers and screen settings, the index is only accurate when the Summary is printed in hard copy.

This year’s Summary is the product of the combined efforts of many within the FDLE Office of General Counsel. Special thanks to FDLE attorneys Craig Rockenstein, Fern Rosenwasser, and Jim Martin for the hours spent reviewing bills and preparing most of the text of the Summary.

The Summary includes Internet "hot links" to the text of the bills. If you access our Summary via the Internet, you can link to the bills directly. If you have a printed copy of the Summary, you can use each "link" to access bills of interest. You will need the Adobe Acrobat reader to read the bills. Since we are providing links to the text of the bills, our summaries are less detailed than in the past and we have not discussed every element of every law. Do not rely solely on our summary for a complete understanding of a bill of interest! Law enforcement officers should check with their chain of command and agency legal advisors to determine the effect specific legislation will have upon agency operations and policies. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to contact Michael Ramage, General Counsel, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, P.O. Box 1489, Tallahassee, FL 32302-1489.

Legislative information, including copies of the laws as passed may be accessed on the Florida Legislature's web site. Once at the site, select the bill versions ending in "er" and the greatest numeral which is the "enrolled" version as sent to the Governor. The Legislature's Internet address is: http://www.leg.state.fl.us

You may also obtain printed copies of laws as passed from:

Department of State
Bureau of Administrative Code
107 West Gaines Street
Collins Building
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250
(850) 245-6270
SunCom 205-6270

House Documents Office
Room 325, The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300
(850) 488-7097
SunCom 278-7097

Senate Documents Office
Room 303, The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100
(850) 487-5285
SunCom 277-5285

For More Information, contact:

Michael Ramage
FDLE General Counsel
P.O. Box 1489
Tallahassee, FL 32302-1489
(850) 410-7676