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Republican State Sen. Keith Truenow of Tavares filed 31 bills in the 2025 Florida legislative session with three — SB 472, 736 and 600 — advancing after being considered in their initial respective committees. The three bills are notable because the initial committees that considered them passed them unanimously and with strong bipartisan support.
Senate Bills 600 and 602 are meant to boost Florida’s manufacturing section. On March 3, the Committee on Commerce and Tourism unanimously approved both bills 7-0 with no debate. Both also unanimously passed the Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development. They are now being considered in the Committee on Appropriations.
The legislation would revise the duties of the Department of Commerce and establish the Florida Manufacturers’ Workforce Development Grant Program that would fund proposed projects to support small manufacturers with new technologies, cybersecurity infrastructure and workforce training.
Truenow told the committee that the proposed measure would codify the statewide Office of Manufacturing and also establish the Florida Manufacturing Promotional Campaign to increase consumer awareness of manufacturing activities, products and goods in the state. He added there would be biannual reporting to ensure accountability. Truenow later clarified through an amendment that the bill wouldn’t create the chief manufacturing officer position since it already exists.
At the meeting, FloridaMakes CEO Kevin Carr spoke in favor of the bill that he said will benefit 27,000 companies across the state, 80 percent of which have fewer than 20 employees. Carr’s organization is an industry-led, public-private partnership aimed at boosting manufacturing across the state.
“This is an important first step for an industry that is quite frankly, growing at unprecedented levels and outpacing many other states,” he said.
Senate Bill 472 aims to help inmates get credit for education programs offered in correctional facilities that will help get them licensed after they’re released. The bill would require the Correctional Education Program (CEP) to work with relevant professional licensing boards to design and implement a plan that would allow inmates who take such classes meet the necessary curriculum requirements and receive the appropriate credit.
The bill passed the Committee on Criminal Justice March 4 by 9-0 without debate. During the meeting, Truenow told the committee: “This bill will allow these individuals to get the skills that will help them become safe and productive members of the public.”
The CEP provides 92 career and technical education courses in 37 vocational trades in line with occupations in demand across the state, according to a legislative bill analysis. While they vary by facility, some career and technical education courses include barbering, cosmetology, electrical contracting, landscaping, plumbing and HVAC contracting.
SB 472 is now being considered in the Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice. The companion House Bill 195 is awaiting a vote on the House floor.
According to Florida Politics, Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, an Ocoee Democrat and member of the House Judiciary Committee that voted unanimously for the bill, said that inmates “want a fresh start.”
“There are a lot of barriers once they get out of incarceration, and oftentimes it’s difficult for them to find employment and housing,” she said. “This (bill) sends a very clear message to those returning citizens that they are not forgotten, that we want them to be productive citizens.”
Senate Bill 736 would revise Florida law regarding brownfields rehabilitation such as enhancing tax credits and expanding eligibility into the program, among other changes aimed at streamlining the redevelopment process.
Brownfields are “abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination,” according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The aim of the state’s Brownfield Redevelopment Act of 1997 is to lessen contamination, encourage cleanup and potentially redevelop sites for affordable housing, among other things.
The Committee on Environment and Natural Resources replaced Truenow's original draft bill with a similar committee substitute and then unanimously advanced that version on March 11.
Committee member and bill co-sponsor, State Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Republican from Lake Mary, said the brownfields program has been “successful,” but needs “some updating” such as removing a 25-year-old requirement that “local governments must note the use of institutional controls.” Institutional controls are essentially non-engineering legal and administrative tools — for example, environmental covenants, local ordinances, permits, government agency rules, permitting, etc. — created to restrict human activities as a way to prevent or reduce exposure to contamination.
The bill stipulates that if an individual rehabilitates a brownfield site, which is part of a larger contaminated site, and the cleanup criteria has been met, then the DEP or other governing authority cannot deny a “No Further Action” status “or refuse to issue a site rehabilitation completion order for the brownfield site, regardless of whether it has engineering and institutional controls.” In other words, the DEP has to determine that the site doesn’t pose a health risk to humans or the environment.
Brodeur also explained the amendment, approved by the committee, that dealt with a problem involving multiple owners of a brownfield site.
“Let’s say, you got a 100-acre parcel you’re trying to clean up and you have three owners,” explained Brodeur. ”You had to get all three owners on board to get involved and enrolled in the program. This allows it to be a smaller piece, so that one of the three can do it, and we encourage more people to get involved in the program so they can clean up contaminated areas.”
“Is that three people with common ownership owning the parcel and only one of the three? Or is it three pieces … making up a larger parcel?” asked fellow Republican and committee vice chair, Blaise Ingoglia.
Brodeur explained it’s “one person within common ownership.” He said the proposed legislation would streamline an individual’s path to get a “No Further Action” status by showing that they cleaned up a site, which is part of a larger contaminated site. In that case, then the DEP or another governing entity can’t deny the individual the “No Further Action” status or refuse to issue a site rehabilitation completion order, according to the bill. It said delaying any such action would disincentivize rehabilitation that would not be in the public interest.
The bill is now being considered by the Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government.
According to a Senate bill analysis, since the brownfields program started nearly 30 years ago, 235 contaminated sites have been cleaned up, about 90,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created with nearly $3.2 billion in capital investment projected in designated brownfield areas.
