The Legislature on Friday formally sent about 60 bills to Gov. Ron DeSantis, including a measure that would back away from a requirement about starting high-school classes later in the morning.
The measure (SB 296) would largely undo a 2023 law that said high schools could not start earlier than 8:30 a.m. to help teens get more sleep. The law was slated to take effect in 2026, but many school districts said they were struggling to comply with the deadline because of issues such as a need to buy more buses and hire hard-to-find bus drivers.
Under the law, middle schools could not start earlier than 8 a.m., but the issue primarily centered on high-school students. This year's bill, which passed the Legislature unanimously, would allow districts to avoid the requirements if they submit reports to the Florida Department of Education that include information about issues such as school start times and strategies considered to have later start times for middle and
high schools.
Among the other bills going to DeSantis on Friday was a measure (HB 593) that would impose rules related to dogs considered dangerous.
Under the bill, owners would be required to have liability insurance and put microchips in the animals. The bill also would set a definition of dangerous dogs, based on issues such as whether they have attacked people, and would make it a third-degree felony to remove the microchips.
The bill stems from the 2022 death of Pamela Rock, a 61-year-old mail carrier who was mauled by five dogs that got out of a fenced-in yard after her truck broke down on a dirt road in Putnam County. Lawmakers unanimously passed the bill last month.
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