SCOTT SIGNS 38 MORE BILLS INTO LAW

Five bills create exemptions for various groups from state’s public records law.

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott signed 38 bills into law on Wednesday, including one that expands a prohibition on state and local governments awarding contracts to companies that boycott Israel.

The measure (HB 545), which Scott signed at Orlando Torah Academy, broadens a law that has barred government agencies from entering into contracts worth $1 million or more with companies that boycott Israel. The new law, which goes into effect July 1, expands the prohibition to apply to any contracts.

The state’s “Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel List” was created in 2016 by the State Board of Administration, which at the time comprised Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and then-Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater. About 10 companies are on the list. None is U.S.-based.

During the signing of HB 545 in Orlando, Scott also touted $2 million earmarked in the state bud-

get for security and counterterrorism upgrades — such as video cameras, fences, bulletproof glass and alarm systems — for more than 30 Jewish schools.

Scott, who is expected to be the Republican candidate challenging Democratic U.S. Bill Nelson in the fall, first pushed for the money for Jewish schools in October at Katz Hillel Day School west of Boca Raton, where he announced he was seeking $1 million for Jewish school security in the 2018 budget.

At that time, ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon said directing government funding to one religious group “raises constitutional concerns about the separation of church and state.”

Scott also signed five bills Wednesday that would create exemptions for various groups from the state’s public records law: HB 1055 exempts identification and location information of employees of substance-abuse providers from public records requirements; HB 551 exempts construction documents of health care facilities such as hospitals and surgical centers; HB 755 exempts information relating to the First Responder Network Authority; and HB 1127 creates a public records and public meetings exemption data relating to information technology security programs held by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. HB 7053 creates a public records exemption for census address data, but it is as required by federal law.

Three other bills he signed will continue public records exemptions that were about to expire: HB 7011 continues an exemption for personal identifying information collected for school food and nutrition programs; HB 7013 continues one for information held by the Department of Legal Affairs during an active investigation of a violation of the False Claims Act; and HB 7041 continues public records and meetings exemptions for complaints, referrals and meetings of the Florida Commission on Ethics and local Commissions on Ethics.

Among the other bills signed by Scott on Wednesday:

■ HB 135 requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to include language on the motor vehicle registration application that allows a deaf or hard of hearing applicant to indicate voluntarily that he or she is deaf or hard of hearing.

■ HB 155 designates Florida cracker cattle as the official state heritage cattle breed.

■ HB 193 reduces mortgage business regulations on securities dealers and investment advisers.

■ HB 281 ensures that parents who are incarcerated are included in case planning for their children who are in the child welfare system.

■ HB 333 exempts from the law enforcement basic-recruit training program people who served at least five years with U.S. military special-operations forces.

■ HB 491 increases the criminal fine for theft of a commercially farmed animal or a bee colony from $5,000 to $10,000.

■ HB 539 provides additional ways for alarm monitoring companies to confirm residential or commercial burglary alarm signals, such as text messaging.

■ HB 591 expands “Project Leo,” a project for missing persons with special needs, to all centers for autism and related disabilities at state universities across Florida.

■ HB 661 authorizes a person to correct a business record filed with the Florida Department of State if the record contains false, misleading or fraudulent information.

■ HB 935 makes it illegal for an individual to misrepresent a residential mortgage loan as a business purpose loan.

■ HB 953 prohibits the charging of a fee for placing or removing a security freeze on a consumer report.

■ HB 1011 requires homeowner insurance policies to disclose in bold, 18-point font that the policy does not cover flood damage.