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SB 890FLORIDA · STATEWIDESession 2026Died in Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice
High Impact

Proposed Changes to Felony Battery Laws (SB 890)

Original title: Felony Battery

March 13, 2026

criminal lawdomestic violencesentencing

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Where This Stands

Introduced
Committee
Floor Vote
Passed
Signed

Currently Died in Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.

Version history

Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.

View official text →

The Frame

What this does

This bill changes the legal criteria for prosecuting strangulation-related battery, which may alter the severity of charges and potential prison sentences for individuals accused of these crimes.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Criminal defendants

Individuals charged with battery by strangulation face changes to the legal elements required for conviction and their placement on the sentencing severity chart.

Victims of domestic violence

The legal standards for prosecuting acts of strangulation against these individuals are being redefined.

What changed

Current stage: Died in Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice.

What's next

Floor Vote.

Summary

Senate Bill 890 proposes changes to the legal definitions of and domestic battery by strangulation. It removes the requirement that the act must cause or risk 'great bodily harm' to qualify as these offenses and updates how these crimes are ranked for sentencing purposes.

Key Facts

You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is changing about the definition of battery by strangulation?
The bill removes the specific requirement that the act must cause or create a risk of 'great bodily harm' to the victim to meet the legal definition of the offense.
Does this bill affect domestic battery cases?
Yes, the bill applies the same changes to the definition of domestic as it does to general battery by strangulation.

Why It Matters

This bill changes the legal criteria for prosecuting strangulation-related battery, which may alter the severity of charges and potential prison sentences for individuals accused of these crimes.

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Voting Record

Motion succeededhouse1/20/2026Official roll call ↗

Favorable with Committee Substitute

Total

8

Yes

8

No

0

Present

0

Not Voting

0

Abstain

0

Full roll-call analysis →

Sponsors

Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift100% confidence

Removal of 'Great Bodily Harm' threshold

The bill seeks to lower the evidentiary threshold for strangulation charges by removing the requirement to prove 'great bodily harm'.

SB 890

Connected Entities

otherFlorida StatutesMap →
otherCriminal Punishment CodeMap →

Sources

Open source document

openstates.org

Analysis Score

0–100
  • Significance80
    How much this matters to a regular citizen
  • Controversy75
    Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
  • Entertainment10
    Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
  • Buzz20
    Current news / social attention level

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