| 15 | | - | An act relating to fraudulent use of gift cards; 2 |
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| 16 | | - | creating s. 817.091, F.S.; providing definitions; 3 |
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| 17 | | - | providing criminal penalties for persons who, with the 4 |
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| 18 | | - | intent to defraud, commit specified acts relating to 5 |
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| 19 | | - | gift cards; providing criminal penalties for persons 6 |
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| 20 | | - | who, with the intent to defraud, use gift cards or 7 |
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| 21 | | - | gift card redemption information for certain purposes; 8 |
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| 22 | | - | providing enhanced criminal penalties for a second or 9 |
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| 23 | | - | subsequent violation; providing enhanced criminal 10 |
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| 24 | | - | penalties if the value of a violation exceeds a 11 |
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| 25 | | - | specified amount; providing that the value of 12 |
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| 26 | | - | specified items may be aggregated to determine the 13 |
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| 27 | | - | degree of the offense; providing an effective date. 14 |
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| 28 | | - | 15 |
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| 29 | | - | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 16 |
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| 30 | | - | 17 |
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| 31 | | - | Section 1. Section 817.091, Florida Statutes, is created 18 |
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| 32 | | - | to read: 19 |
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| 33 | | - | 817.091 Fraudulent use of gift cards. — 20 |
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| 34 | | - | (1) As used in this section, the term: 21 |
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| 35 | | - | (a) "Cardholder" means a person to whom a ph ysical or 22 |
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| 36 | | - | virtual gift card is sold, gifted, or issued following the 23 |
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| 37 | | - | authorized sale of the gift card. 24 |
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| 38 | | - | (b) "Card issuer" means a person who issues a gift card or 25 |
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| 15 | + | An act relating to offenses involving gift cards; 2 |
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| 16 | + | creating ss. 812.0152, 817.5696, and 831.095, F.S.; 3 |
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| 17 | + | providing definitions; prohibiting gift card theft, 4 |
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| 18 | + | gift card fraud, and gift card forgery, respectively; 5 |
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| 19 | + | providing criminal penalties; providing an effective 6 |
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| 20 | + | date. 7 |
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| 21 | + | 8 |
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| 22 | + | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 9 |
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| 23 | + | 10 |
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| 24 | + | Section 1. Section 812.0152, Florida Statutes, is created 11 |
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| 25 | + | to read: 12 |
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| 26 | + | 812.0152 Gift card theft.— 13 |
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| 27 | + | (1) As used in this section, the term: 14 |
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| 28 | + | (a) "Card issuer" means the issuer of a gift card or an 15 |
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| 29 | + | agent of such issuer with respect to such card. 16 |
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| 30 | + | (b) "Cardholder" means a person to whom a physical or 17 |
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| 31 | + | virtual gift card is issued or a pers on who has agreed with the 18 |
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| 32 | + | card issuer to pay obligations arising from the issuance of a 19 |
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| 33 | + | gift card to another person. 20 |
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| 34 | + | (c) "Closed-loop gift card" means a card, code, or device 21 |
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| 35 | + | that is issued to a consumer on a prepaid basis primarily for 22 |
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| 36 | + | personal, family, or household purposes in a specified amount, 23 |
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| 37 | + | regardless of whether that amount may be increased or reloaded 24 |
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| 38 | + | in exchange for payment, and that is redeemable upon 25 |
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| 51 | | - | the agent of that person with respect to that card. 26 |
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| 52 | | - | (c) "Gift card" means a physical or vi rtual card, code, or 27 |
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| 53 | | - | device that may be issued to a consumer on a prepaid basis 28 |
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| 54 | | - | primarily for personal, family, or household purposes in a 29 |
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| 55 | | - | specified amount, regardless of whether that amount may be 30 |
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| 56 | | - | increased or reloaded in exchange for payment, and that is 31 |
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| 57 | | - | redeemable upon presentation by a consumer at a single merchant, 32 |
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| 58 | | - | a group of affiliated merchants, or a group of unaffiliated 33 |
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| 59 | | - | merchants. 34 |
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| 60 | | - | (d) "Gift card redemption information" means information 35 |
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| 61 | | - | unique to each gift card which allows the cardholder to acce ss, 36 |
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| 62 | | - | transfer, or spend the funds on that gift card. 37 |
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| 63 | | - | (e) "Gift card seller" means a merchant that is engaged in 38 |
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| 64 | | - | the business of selling gift cards to consumers. 39 |
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| 65 | | - | (f) "Value" means the greatest amount of economic loss the 40 |
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| 66 | | - | card issuer, gift card seller, or cardholder might reasonably 41 |
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| 67 | | - | suffer, including the full or maximum monetary face or load 42 |
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| 68 | | - | value of the gift card, regardless of whether the gift card has 43 |
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| 69 | | - | been activated. 44 |
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| 70 | | - | (2) It is unlawful for a person, with the intent to 45 |
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| 71 | | - | defraud: 46 |
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| 72 | | - | (a) To acquire or reta in possession of a gift card or of 47 |
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| 73 | | - | gift card redemption information without the consent of the 48 |
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| 74 | | - | cardholder, card issuer, or gift card seller. 49 |
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| 75 | | - | (b) To alter or tamper with a gift card or its packaging. 50 |
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| 51 | + | presentation by a consumer at a single merchant or group of 26 |
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| 52 | + | affiliated merchants. 27 |
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| 53 | + | (d) "Gift card" means a physical or digital closed -loop 28 |
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| 54 | + | gift card or open-loop gift card that is either activated or 29 |
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| 55 | + | inactivated. 30 |
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| 56 | + | (e) "Gift card redemption information" means information 31 |
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| 57 | + | unique to each gift card which allows the cardholder to access, 32 |
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| 58 | + | transfer, or spend the funds on such gift card. 33 |
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| 59 | + | (f) "Gift card seller" means a merchant engaged in the 34 |
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| 60 | + | business of selling open -loop gift cards or closed -loop gift 35 |
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| 61 | + | cards to consumers. 36 |
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| 62 | + | (g) "Open-loop gift card" means a card, code, or device 37 |
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| 63 | + | that is issued to a cons umer on a prepaid basis primarily for 38 |
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| 64 | + | personal, family, or household purposes in a specified amount, 39 |
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| 65 | + | regardless of whether that amount may be increased or reloaded 40 |
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| 66 | + | in exchange for payment, and that is redeemable upon 41 |
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| 67 | + | presentation by a consumer at multiple unaffiliated merchants 42 |
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| 68 | + | for goods or services within the card network. 43 |
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| 69 | + | (h) "Value" means the full monetary face value of a gift 44 |
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| 70 | + | card or, for a variable -load gift card, the potential value of 45 |
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| 71 | + | the variable-load gift card. 46 |
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| 72 | + | (2) A person who, with intent to defraud, acquires or 47 |
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| 73 | + | retains possession of a gift card or gift card redemption 48 |
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| 74 | + | information without the consent of the cardholder, card issuer, 49 |
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| 75 | + | or gift card seller commits gift card theft, punishable as 50 |
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| 88 | | - | (c) To devise a scheme to obtain a gift card or gift card 51 |
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| 89 | | - | redemption information from a cardholder, card issuer, or gift 52 |
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| 90 | | - | card seller by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, 53 |
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| 91 | | - | representations, or promises. 54 |
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| 92 | | - | (d) To use, for the purpose of obtaining money, goods, 55 |
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| 93 | | - | services, or anything else of value, a gift ca rd or gift card 56 |
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| 94 | | - | redemption information that has been obtained in violation of 57 |
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| 95 | | - | this subsection. 58 |
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| 96 | | - | (3)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a person who 59 |
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| 97 | | - | violates subsection (2) commits a misdemeanor of the first 60 |
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| 98 | | - | degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.08 2 or s. 775.083. 61 |
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| 99 | | - | (b) A person commits a felony of the third degree, 62 |
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| 100 | | - | punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, 63 |
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| 101 | | - | if: 64 |
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| 102 | | - | 1. The person violates subsection (2) and has previously 65 |
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| 103 | | - | been convicted of a violation of subsection (2). 66 |
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| 104 | | - | 2. The value of any gift card; gift card redemption 67 |
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| 105 | | - | information; or money, goods, services, or other thing of value 68 |
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| 106 | | - | obtained as a result of violating subsection (2) exceeds $750. 69 |
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| 107 | | - | (c) For the purposes of this subsection, the value of any 70 |
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| 108 | | - | gift card; gift card red emption information; or money, goods, 71 |
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| 109 | | - | services, or other thing of value obtained as a result of 72 |
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| 110 | | - | violating subsection (2) may be aggregated to determine the 73 |
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| 111 | | - | degree of the offense. 74 |
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| 112 | | - | Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2025. 75 |
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| 88 | + | provided in s. 812.014. 51 |
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| 89 | + | (3) A person who, with intent to defraud, uses, for the 52 |
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| 90 | + | purpose of obtaining money, goods, services, or anything else of 53 |
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| 91 | + | value, a gift card or gift card redemption information that has 54 |
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| 92 | + | been obtained in violation of subsection (2) or s. 831.095 55 |
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| 93 | + | commits gift card theft, punishable as provided in s. 812.014. 56 |
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| 94 | + | Section 2. Section 817.5696, Florida Statutes, is created 57 |
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| 95 | + | to read: 58 |
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| 96 | + | 817.5696 Gift card fraud. — 59 |
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| 97 | + | (1) As used in this section, the terms "gift card," "gift 60 |
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| 98 | + | card redemption information," "cardholder," "card issuer," and 61 |
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| 99 | + | "gift card seller" have the same meanings as in s. 812.0152(1). 62 |
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| 100 | + | (2) A person who, with intent to defraud, knowingly 63 |
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| 101 | + | devises a scheme to obtain a gift card or gift card redemption 64 |
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| 102 | + | information from a cardholder, card issuer, or gift card seller 65 |
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| 103 | + | by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or 66 |
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| 104 | + | promises commits gift card fraud, a felony of the third degree, 67 |
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| 105 | + | punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 68 |
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| 106 | + | Section 3. Section 831.095, Florida Statutes, is created 69 |
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| 107 | + | to read: 70 |
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| 108 | + | 831.095 Gift card forgery.— 71 |
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| 109 | + | (1) As used in this section, the term "gift card" has the 72 |
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| 110 | + | same meaning as in s. 812.0152(1). 73 |
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| 111 | + | (2) A person who, with intent to injure or defraud, alters 74 |
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| 112 | + | or tampers with a gift card commits gift card forgery, a felony 75 |
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| 113 | + | |
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| 114 | + | HB 1007 2025 |
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| 115 | + | |
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| 116 | + | |
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| 117 | + | |
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| 118 | + | CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. |
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| 119 | + | hb1007-00 |
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| 120 | + | Page 4 of 4 |
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| 121 | + | F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S |
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| 122 | + | |
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| 123 | + | |
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| 124 | + | |
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| 125 | + | of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 76 |
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| 126 | + | 775.083, or s. 775.084. 77 |
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| 127 | + | Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2025. 78 |
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