Text of FL H 1495 (2025)

HB 1495 2025 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1495-00 Page 1 of 7 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 A bill to be entitled 1 An act relating to gender identity employment 2 practices; providing a short title; creating s. 3 110.1051, F.S.; providing definitions; specifying an 4 employment policy of this state relating to a person's 5 sex; providing applicability; prohibiting employees 6 and contractors of certain employers from being 7 required to use certain pronouns or requiring such 8 employer to use a pronoun that does not correspond to 9 the employee's or contractor's sex; prohibiting 10 certain forms from offering specified options relating 11 to an applicant's sex; prohibiting adverse personnel 12 action on the basis of deeply held religious, moral, 13 conscience-based, or biology-based beliefs; providing 14 administrative and civil remedies; providing 15 reasonable attorney fees and costs; authorizing the 16 Department of Management Services to adopt rules; 17 amending s. 760.10, F.S.; providing that it is an 18 unlawful employment practice for certain employers to 19 require certain training, instruction, or activity as 20 a condition of employment; defining the term 21 "employer"; reenacting s. 760.11(1) and (15), F.S., 22 relating to administrative and civil remedies, to 23 incorporate the amendment made to s. 760.10, F.S., in 24 references thereto; providing an effective date. 25 HB 1495 2025 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1495-00 Page 2 of 7 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 26 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 27 28 Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Freedom of 29 Conscience in the Workplace Act." 30 Section 2. Section 110.1051, Florida Statutes, is created 31 to read: 32 110.1051 Personal pronouns.— 33 (1) As used in this section, the term: 34 (a) "Adverse personnel action" means the discharge, 35 suspension, transfer, demotion, or lack of promotion of an 36 employee or a contractor or the withholding of bonuses, the 37 withholding of promotional opportunities, the reduction in 38 salary or benefits, or any other adverse action taken against an 39 employee or a contractor within the terms and conditions of 40 employment by an employer. 41 (b) "Contractor" means an individual, partnership, 42 corporation, or business entity that enters or attempts to enter 43 into a contract for services with an employer. 44 (c) "Employee" means an individual employed by, or 45 attempting to be employed by, an employer. 46 (d) "Employer" means the state or any county, 47 municipality, or special district or any subdivision or agency 48 thereof. 49 (e) "Gender identity" means a fully internal and 50 HB 1495 2025 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1495-00 Page 3 of 7 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 subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality 51 and sex, and existing on an infinite continuum that does not 52 provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be 53 recognized as a replacement for sex. 54 (f) "Gender ideology" means the false belief that replaces 55 the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of 56 self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that 57 males can identify as and become women and vice versa, and 58 requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim 59 as true. The term includes the idea that there is a vast 60 spectrum of genders that are disconnected from a person's sex. 61 Gender ideology is internally inconsistent in that it diminishes 62 sex as an identifiable or useful category but nevertheless 63 maintains that it is possible for a person to be born in the 64 wrong sexed body. 65 (g) "Sex" means the classification of a person as either 66 female or male based on the organization of the body of such 67 person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the 68 person's sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and 69 internal and external genitalia present at birth. 70 (2) It is the policy of this state that a person's sex is 71 an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to 72 a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person's 73 sex. This section does not apply to individuals born with a 74 genetically or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex 75 HB 1495 2025 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1495-00 Page 4 of 7 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 development, including, but not limited to, 46, XX disorder of 76 sex development; 46, XY disorder of sex development; sex 77 chromosome disorder of sex development; XX or XY sex reversal; 78 and ovotesticular disorder. 79 (3) An employee or a contractor may not be required, as a 80 condition of employment or to avoid adverse personnel action, to 81 refer to another person using that person's preferred pronouns 82 if such pronouns do not correspond to that person's sex. 83 (4) An employee or a contractor may not require an 84 employer to use his or her preferred pronouns if such preferred 85 pronouns do not correspond to the employee's or contractor's 86 sex. 87 (5) A job application or other related employment form 88 that requires an applicant to mark his or her sex may only 89 inquire if the applicant is male or female and may not provide a 90 nonbinary or other option. 91 (6)(a) It is an unlawful employment practice for an 92 employer to take adverse personnel action against an employee or 93 a contractor because of the employee's or contractor's deeply 94 held religious, moral, conscience-based, or biology-based 95 beliefs, including a belief in traditional or Biblical views of 96 sexuality and marriage, or the employee's or contractor's 97 disagreement with gender ideology, whether those views are 98 expressed by the employee or contractor at or away from the 99 worksite. 100 HB 1495 2025 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1495-00 Page 5 of 7 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 (b) An employee or a contractor aggrieved by a violation 101 of this subsection may avail himself or herself to the 102 administrative and civil remedies provided in s. 760.11. The 103 court shall award reasonable attorney fees and costs to the 104 prevailing party. 105 (7) The Department of Management Services may adopt rules 106 to administer this section. 107 Section 3. Subsections (10) and (11) of section 760.10, 108 Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (11) and (12), 109 respectively, and a new subsection (10) is added to that 110 section, to read: 111 760.10 Unlawful employment practices.— 112 (10) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer 113 who receives funding from the state to require, as a condition 114 of employment, any training, instruction, or other activity on 115 sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. For 116 purposes of this subsection, the term "employer" includes the 117 state or any county, municipality, or special district or any 118 subdivision or agency thereof. 119 Section 4. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 120 made by this act to section 760.10, Florida Statutes, in a 121 reference thereto, Subsections (1) and (15) of section 760.11, 122 Florida Statutes, are reenacted to read: 123 760.11 Administrative and civil remedies; construction.— 124 (1) Any person aggrieved by a violation of ss. 760.01- 125 HB 1495 2025 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1495-00 Page 6 of 7 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 760.10 may file a complaint with the commission within 365 days 126 of the alleged violation, naming the employer, employment 127 agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee, 128 or, in the case of an alleged violation of s. 760.10(5), the 129 person responsible for the violation and describing the 130 violation. Any person aggrieved by a violation of s. 509.092 may 131 file a complaint with the commission within 365 days of the 132 alleged violation naming the person responsible for the 133 violation and describing the violation. The commission, a 134 commissioner, or the Attorney General may in like manner file 135 such a complaint. On the same day the complaint is filed with 136 the commission, the commission shall clearly stamp on the face 137 of the complaint the date the complaint was filed with the 138 commission. In lieu of filing the complaint with the commission, 139 a complaint under this section may be filed with the federal 140 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or with any unit of 141 government of the state which is a fair-employment-practice 142 agency under 29 C.F.R. ss. 1601.70-1601.80. If the date the 143 complaint is filed is clearly stamped on the face of the 144 complaint, that date is the date of filing. The date the 145 complaint is filed with the commission for purposes of this 146 section is the earliest date of filing with the Equal Employment 147 Opportunity Commission, the fair-employment-practice agency, or 148 the commission. The complaint shall contain a short and plain 149 statement of the facts describing the violation and the relief 150 HB 1495 2025 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. hb1495-00 Page 7 of 7 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 sought. The commission may require additional information to be 151 in the complaint. The commission, within 5 days of the complaint 152 being filed, shall by registered mail send a copy of the 153 complaint to the person who allegedly committed the violation. 154 The person who allegedly committed the violation may file an 155 answer to the complaint within 25 days of the date the complaint 156 was filed with the commission. Any answer filed shall be mailed 157 to the aggrieved person by the person filing the answer. Both 158 the complaint and the answer shall be verified. 159 (15) In any civil action or administrative proceeding 160 brought pursuant to this section, a finding that a person 161 employed by the state or any governmental entity or agency has 162 violated s. 760.10 shall as a matter of law constitute just or 163 substantial cause for such person's discharge. 164 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 165