Florida’s new 2026 laws take effect, bringing changes for pet owners, state workers, patients, psychologists, and condo residents

A small but noticeable set of Florida laws took effect January 1, 2026, covering animal-cruelty enforcement, pet insurance, state employee health benefits, medical billing refunds, and insurer “clawback” timelines for certain mental health providers. A separate condo-records transparency requirement also arrives with a January 1 deadline that affects many condominium associations across the state.

Florida’s legislative calendar means most bills become law on July 1, so New Year’s Day typically brings a shorter list. Even so, several of the new requirements are designed to change day-to-day behavior: what pet insurers must disclose, how quickly patients must be refunded when they overpay, and what records condo boards must post online for owners to review.

HB 255 (“Dexter’s Law”): Florida launches a searchable animal-cruelty offender database

What changed: Beginning January 1, 2026, Florida law requires the Department of Law Enforcement to post, in a searchable format, the names of people convicted of animal cruelty offenses covered by the statute, including those who entered guilty or no-contest pleas regardless of adjudication.

What it means for the public: The database is intended to make it easier for shelters, rescues, and the public to identify individuals with qualifying animal-cruelty histories before an adoption or purchase. Supporters framed the change as a transparency tool aimed at preventing repeat abuse, while critics of similar registries in other contexts have raised questions about how long names remain listed and how errors are corrected. Florida’s statute ties the database to criminal case outcomes rather than arrests.

What it means legally: The database requirement is only one part of HB 255, which also adjusted sentencing calculations for aggravated animal cruelty. The online posting obligation, however, is the piece that became active on January 1, 2026.

HB 655: Florida creates a statewide framework for pet insurance and “wellness programs.”

What changed: Starting January 1, Florida regulates pet insurance more like a mainstream insurance product, requiring clearer disclosures about how claims are evaluated and paid, how preexisting conditions are treated, whether examinations are required, and which waiting periods apply. The law also includes a “free-look” cancellation window that allows policyholders to review and return a policy within a specified timeframe.

What it means for pet owners: The practical shift is less about creating pet insurance and more about forcing plain-language transparency around the parts that frustrate consumers—what counts as “preexisting,” when coverage starts, and how the insurer decides reimbursement. That matters because pet insurance often reimburses after the fact, which can leave owners surprised by limits, exclusions, or benefit schedules if they did not understand the policy mechanics.

What it means for insurers and agents: The law adds compliance pressure around sales practices and labeling. One example in the bill language is a prohibition on misrepresenting wellness plans as insurance coverage, aimed at preventing consumers from confusing routine-care discount products with policies that cover emergencies or major illness.

SB 158: State employee plans must cover diagnostic and supplemental breast exams without cost-sharing

What changed: Beginning January 1, 2026, Florida’s state group insurance program may not impose cost-sharing requirements, such as copays or deductibles, on covered diagnostic and supplemental breast examinations for enrollees.

What it means for patients: The law targets follow-up and higher-detail screening, where out-of-pocket costs can discourage or delay care. In practical terms, it reduces the “surprise bill” feeling some patients experience when an initial screening leads to additional imaging. The impact is limited to the state group insurance program, meaning it primarily affects state employees and others covered through that system rather than every Floridian with private insurance.

What it means for agencies and plan administrators: Because this is tied to the state program, implementation will appear in plan documents, billing rules, and vendor guidance. The statute is designed to remove cost-sharing liability when coverage exists, not to rewrite medical-necessity standards or provider-network rules.

SB 1808: Health care providers must refund patient overpayments within 30 days

What changed: Starting January 1, 2026, health care facility licensees and health care practitioners must refund a patient’s overpayment within 30 days. Facilities that do not comply can face administrative fines, and practitioners may face professional discipline; the statute authorizes penalties that can reach $500 in the enforcement framework described by the Legislature.

What it means for patients: The law is aimed at a familiar problem: patients pay too much, often because of changing insurance adjustments, billing errors, or duplicate payments, and then wait months to get money back. SB 1808 creates a clear clock once an overpayment is determined, reducing the incentive for a provider’s billing system to treat credits as low priority.

An important limitation: The Florida Senate’s bill summary notes the 30-day refund requirement does not apply to overpayments made by health insurers or HMOs to providers; those situations remain governed by existing law. In other words, this statute is mainly about money owed back to patients, not insurer-provider disputes.

What it means for providers: Expect this to land in compliance checklists—refund logs, documented “determination” dates, and internal procedures that define when the 30-day period begins. For large systems, the operational challenge is often coordination between patient billing, insurer remittances, and outsourced revenue-cycle vendors.

SB 944: Insurers have less time to seek psychologist overpayment recoveries for 2026 services

What changed: Florida shortened the “look-back” period for health insurers and HMOs to submit overpayment claims to licensed psychologists from 30 months to 12 months, aligning psychologists with several other provider categories already operating under a 12-month window. The law is effective July 1, 2025, but applies to claims for services provided on or after January 1, 2026.

What it means for patients: This is not a direct consumer benefit like a copay change, but it can affect network participation and billing stability. Psychologists have long argued that extended clawback periods create financial uncertainty and administrative burden, particularly when old claims are reopened well after care occurred. Shortening the window may reduce that uncertainty for providers, which some in the industry say can support participation in insurer networks.

What it means for insurers and providers: Insurers that pursue recoveries will need faster auditing and reconciliation processes. Psychologists and group practices may see fewer long-tail repayment demands tied to older claims—at least for services delivered on or after January 1, 2026, the key date in the applicability language.

Condo records online: A January 1 deadline expands website posting duties to associations with 25+ units

What changed: Effective January 1, 2026, Florida law requires condominium associations managing a condominium with 25 or more units (with certain exceptions, including timeshare units) to post specified official records digitally on an association website or make them available through a mobile application. This expanded the scope beyond the larger-association threshold that applied earlier in the decade.

What it means for condo owners: This is a transparency measure. In theory, it makes it easier for owners to see meeting records, budgets, reserve information, and other core documents without the friction of formal records requests. It also matters for buyers, who often rely on document review periods to understand building finances and governance before closing.

What it means for boards and management companies: The work is practical and ongoing: building the website or portal, posting the required categories of records on schedule, maintaining secure access where required, and keeping a clear audit trail of updates. A separate provision in Florida’s condo reforms also requires the responsible division to publish inflation-adjusted reserve thresholds by February 1, 2026, signaling that reserves and building-safety finances remain a major enforcement and policy focus after Surfside.

Coming later in 2026: HB 999 establishes a framework for gold and silver as legal tender starting July 1

What changed: A separate Florida law sets up a framework for recognizing certain gold and silver coins as legal tender for payments of debts incurred on or after July 1, 2026, while emphasizing that participation is voluntary and that no one can be compelled to use or accept precious metals. The legislation also lays out regulatory requirements for custodians who hold or facilitate transactions involving qualifying coins, including oversight by the Office of Financial Regulation and licensing requirements.

What it means in practice: This is not a “your grocery store must take gold” mandate. It is a structure that allows willing parties, including certain government entities under specific conditions, to accept qualifying precious metals, while building a compliance system around custody, records, and security. Whether ordinary consumers ever use it at scale will likely depend on how implementing rules are written and whether businesses view acceptance as worth the operational complexity.