All Roll Calls
Yes: 130 • No: 75
FloridaSB 12962026SenateWALLET
Public Employees Relations Commission
Sponsored By: Jonathan Martin (Republican)
Signed by Governor
AppropriationGovernmental Oversight and AccountabilityFiscal PolicyHouse Calendar
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
17 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 5 costs, 6 mixed.
Public workers control union membership
Beginning July 1, 2026, the law protects public workers from employer discrimination for joining, supporting, or refusing a union. Membership forms must list dues and name the five highest-paid reported officers or employees, with their payment amounts. Outside public safety units, workers can cancel membership at any time by writing to the union. The union must end membership and dues collection within 30 days. It cannot demand a reason or limit cancellations to certain dates.
Limits on paid public union work
Public employers generally cannot provide pay or paid leave for union activities; public safety units are excluded. Employers and bargaining agents can agree to unpaid time off or on-duty representation. Workers can freely use personal leave that accrues equally for similarly situated unit employees, regardless of union participation. A labor agreement can also provide pay and benefits when the union fully reimburses the employer.
Higher voting hurdles for public unions
For non-public-safety petitions filed on or after July 1, 2026, certification or recertification requires at least 50% turnout. At least 50% of voters must choose the organization. With multiple organizations, a runoff is required when turnout reaches 50% but no choice receives 50% of votes. For decertification, at least 50% turnout and 50% voter support remove the agent; with that turnout but less support, it stays. Public safety certification instead requires a majority of votes cast, with a runoff if multiple organizations run and no choice wins a majority.
Public unions face recurring approval rules
Unions must register before seeking certification, recertification, or unit clarification; unregistered groups cannot join related hearings or elections. Registration lasts one year, and registration or renewal fees cannot exceed $15. Agents must seek recertification within 30 days after the commission confirms their required unit information is complete, replacing the former below-60% membership trigger. Public safety units are exempt from specified renewal reporting, investigation, challenge, and recertification requirements. The law also requires certification loss for covered noncompliance, barring that organization from seeking certification for the same unit for at least 12 months.
Mail voting access for public workers
Certification and recertification elections can use mail, on-site voting, or both. If any party requests mail voting, the commission must use it. Notice must come at least four weeks before the election, which cannot occur sooner than four weeks after ballots are postmarked. Mail ballots for certification, recertification, and decertification include prepaid return postage, subject to approved funding.
Public workers gain bargaining participation rights
Labor agreements require employer ratification and approval by a majority of voting unit employees, including nonmembers. The commission sets voting procedures. Employers commit unfair labor practices by refusing bargaining, good-faith talks, final-agreement signing, or good-faith grievance discussions; these duties are not limited to certified agents. Beginning July 1, 2026, full-time employees or officers of employers or unions can represent any unit employee in covered proceedings. This does not let nonlawyers represent anyone in court.
Students gain access to labor talks
A community college or university student government can select a representative to attend employer-bargaining agent negotiating sessions. The student must be enrolled at that school for at least 8 credit hours during the term. Access is no longer limited to talks involving an exclusive bargaining agent.
Workers gain union election safeguards
Signed statements supporting representation petitions are confidential and exempt from public-records disclosure. Employees, employers, and unions can check and challenge support statements, including for decertification, with sufficient reason to suspect invalidity or misconduct. Grounds include collusion, coercion, intimidation, or misrepresentation. From filing through final resolution, employers must give registered unions and petitioning employees equal access to facilities and internal communications. This access covers efforts to support, oppose, or intervene in representation petitions.
Transit employers can protect federal funding
A transit employer can petition for a waiver after federal officials find its employee protections fail federal transit-funding requirements. The commission can waive Florida public labor rules only as needed to meet those requirements and preserve funding eligibility. The law does not provide a new funding amount.
Budget disputes face tight bargaining deadlines
When financial urgency requires agreement changes, talks must start promptly and last no more than 14 calendar days before written impasse. A separate rule covers local-government appropriations legally restricted to salaries and related costs when agreement changes are needed. Parties must meet within 15 calendar days after funding takes effect, with a 30-day negotiation period. An unresolved impasse must be declared within 2 business days afterward; unfair labor charges are barred during those talks and resulting impasse proceedings. Public safety units are excluded from this special salary-funding process.
Public labor disputes face tighter procedures
Employers, employees, and unions can file unfair labor charges only when their substantial interests are affected. Filings must include sworn statements and documents supporting an initial case of a violation. Grievances involving alleged abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults must await a court determination. Special magistrates recommending bargaining decisions must weigh employee income comparisons, public welfare, work conditions, qualifications, and available funds. The law no longer describes that factor list as nonexclusive.
Higher penalties for unlawful public strikes
Strike-injunction contempt fines rise from $5,000 to $30,000 maximum for unions, and from $50–$100 to $300–$600 daily for officers, agents, or representatives. Commission strike fines rise from $20,000 to $40,000 per calendar day, or the approximate daily public cost even above $40,000. Collected commission fines go immediately to employers to replace lost services, and the commission can end required dues deductions. Courts can collect strike-damage judgments from employer-deducted dues or initiation fees, removing the prior protection. Before collection, related commission proceedings pending during the strike or begun within 30 days afterward must be resolved.
Longer waits for drug-policy appeal hearings
Covered Drug-Free Workplace Act appeals must receive a hearing within 60 days after filing, up from 30 days. This covers executive-branch employee discipline and applicants appealing a refusal to hire. The commission or an arbitrator can grant more time at the employee’s or applicant’s request.
Public workers face new dues rules
Public employers generally cannot deduct union dues from pay, except through an authorized exception or commission waiver. Any permitted deduction must go to an organization certified as a bargaining agent. The law removes the requirement that it exclusively represent a unit containing that employee. For public safety units, employers must deduct authorized dues while the agent remains certified, unless authorization or the deduction requirement ends. Workers can revoke authorization with 30 days’ written notice to the employer and agent, or pay dues directly.
New filing rules for union elections
Certification, recertification, and decertification petitions need signed, dated interest statements from at least 30% of the unit. A registered rival organization needs 10% to seek a ballot spot; all these statements must be no more than 12 months old. An incumbent agent joins automatically without that showing when the proposed unit includes workers it already represents. Certification and decertification petitions are barred for 12 months after the commission verifies a covered election. With a valid labor agreement, filings are limited to 90–150 days before expiration, or after expiration before a replacement starts.
New limits on changing bargaining units
Employers or bargaining agents can ask the commission to clarify units after significant legal changes or specified job-classification changes. These include new or substantially changed jobs, retitled jobs, and mistaken inclusion or exclusion. The commission must dismiss a petition that increases the unit by more than 25%. Employers must give substantially affected unrepresented workers a copy within 10 days after filing.
Union financial disclosures change for workers
Renewal filings require an independent accountant’s financial statement, signed by principal officers, covering dues distributions and employer reimbursements. Reports must disclose officer or employee payments totaling over $10,000 across related organizations, and officer or member loans over $250. Agents must report each unit’s certification number, employee count, full-dues-paying members, and unrevoked membership authorizations, with an accountant’s accuracy report. Renewal applications must reach employers and unit employees within 30 days after filing. The separate annual accountant-prepared report to members is no longer required, but members retain access to income and expense accounts.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Jonathan Martin
Republican • Senate
Cosponsors
Fiscal Policy
Affiliation unavailable
Governmental Oversight and Accountability
Affiliation unavailable
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 3/11/2026
House Floor Vote
Yes: 73 • No: 37
Senate vote • 3/6/2026
Senate Floor Vote
Yes: 20 • No: 14
Senate vote • 3/5/2026
Senate Floor Vote
Yes: 21 • No: 13
Senate vote • 3/2/2026
Fiscal Policy Vote
Yes: 10 • No: 8
Senate vote • 2/11/2026
Governmental Oversight and Accountability Vote
Yes: 6 • No: 3
Actions Timeline
Chapter No. 2026-58
5/5/2026Approved by Governor
5/1/2026Signed by Officers and presented to Governor
4/30/2026Ordered enrolled
3/17/2026SenateCS passed; YEAS 73, NAYS 37
3/11/2026HouseRead 3rd time
3/11/2026HouseAdded to Third Reading Calendar
3/11/2026HouseRead 2nd time
3/11/2026House1st Reading (Engrossed 1)
3/10/2026HouseBill added to Special Order Calendar (3/11/2026)
3/10/2026HouseBill referred to House Calendar
3/10/2026HouseIn Messages
3/6/2026HouseCS passed as amended; YEAS 20 NAYS 14 -SJ 683
3/6/2026SenateRead 3rd time -SJ 683
3/6/2026SenatePlaced on 3rd reading -SJ 619
3/5/2026SenateAmendment(s) adopted (151210, 553092, 851520) -SJ 616
3/5/2026SenateRead 2nd time -SJ 616
3/5/2026SenatePlaced on Special Order Calendar, 03/05/26
3/4/2026SenatePlaced on Calendar, on 2nd reading
3/4/2026SenateCS/CS by Fiscal Policy read 1st time
3/3/2026SenatePending reference review -under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
3/3/2026SenateCS/CS by- Fiscal Policy; YEAS 10 NAYS 8
3/2/2026SenateOn Committee agenda-- Fiscal Policy, 03/02/26, 12:00 pm, 412 Knott Building
2/25/2026SenateCS by Governmental Oversight and Accountability read 1st time
2/18/2026SenateNow in Fiscal Policy
2/17/2026Senate
Bill Text
er
7/1/2026
e1
3/5/2026
c2
3/3/2026
c1
2/13/2026
Filed
1/7/2026