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SB 1298FLORIDA · STATEWIDESession 2026Laid on Table

Proposed Privacy Protection for Public Employee Union Decertification Petitions

Original title: Public Records/Public Employees Relations Commission

January 7, 2026

public recordslabor unionsgovernment transparencyprivacy

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Where This Stands

Currently Laid on Table. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Introduced.

Procedural history

12 actions
  1. Feb 25, 2026Senate
    On Committee agenda-- Fiscal Policy, 03/02/26, 12:00 pm, 412 Knott Building
  2. Feb 18, 2026Senate
    CS by Governmental Oversight and Accountability read 1st time
  3. Feb 17, 2026Senate
    Now in Fiscal Policy
  4. Feb 17, 2026Senate
    Remaining references corrected to Fiscal Policy
  5. Feb 17, 2026Senate
    Original reference(s) removed: Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government
  6. Feb 13, 2026Senate
    Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
Show 6 earlier actions
  1. Feb 11, 2026Senate
    CS by Governmental Oversight and Accountability; YEAS 6 NAYS 2
  2. Feb 6, 2026Senate
    On Committee agenda-- Governmental Oversight and Accountability, 02/11/26, 3:00 pm, 110 Senate Building
  3. Jan 28, 2026Senate
    On Committee agenda-- Governmental Oversight and Accountability, 02/02/26, 3:30 pm, 110 Senate Building --Temporarily Postponed
  4. Jan 13, 2026SenateIntroduced
    Introduced
  5. Jan 12, 2026SenateCommittee
    Referred to Governmental Oversight and Accountability; Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government; Fiscal Policy
  6. Jan 7, 2026SenateIntroduced
    Filed

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

The bill would have changed how public records laws apply to union decertification, specifically shielding the identities of employees seeking to leave a bargaining unit from public disclosure, which currently allows for potential identification of those employees by employers or union representatives.

Who is mentioned in the record

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

Public employees

Their privacy rights regarding union decertification petitions would have been altered by the proposed confidentiality exemption.

Certified bargaining agents

They would have had restricted access to the names of employees seeking to decertify the union.

What changed

Last recorded activity January 7, 2026.

What's next

Introduced.

Summary

This bill would have made the signatures of public employees who want to stop being represented by a union confidential and exempt from public records requests. It aimed to protect these employees from potential retaliation by ensuring their names remained private during the decertification process.

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

Would my name be public if I signed a petition to leave my union?
Under current law, these signatures are generally subject to public records requests. This bill sought to make them confidential to protect employee privacy.
Could anyone challenge the signatures on a petition?
Yes. Even under the proposed confidentiality, employees, employers, or unions could challenge signatures if they had reason to believe they were obtained through coercion, intimidation, or misrepresentation.

Why It Matters

The bill would have changed how public records laws apply to union decertification, specifically shielding the identities of employees seeking to leave a bargaining unit from public disclosure, which currently allows for potential identification of those employees by employers or union representatives.

News Coverage

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

Voting Record

Motion succeededsenate2/11/2026Official roll call ↗

Favorable with Committee Substitute

Total

9

Yes

6

No

2

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 shift90% confidence

Legislative attempt to align decertification privacy with certification privacy

The bill explicitly sought to mirror existing confidentiality protections for union certification petitions to decertification petitions to prevent 'chilling' employee rights.

Public Employees Relations Commission

Connected Entities

organizationFiscal Policy“Became the final reference”Map →
location412 Knott Building“Meeting location”Map →
locationKnott Building“Meeting location”Map →
organizationGovernmental Oversight and Accountability“Committee reviewing the bill”Map →
locationSenate Building“Meeting location”Map →
organizationAppropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government“Initially referred to”Map →
location110 Senate Building“Meeting location”Map →

Sources

Open source document

openstates.org

Analysis Score

0–100
  • Significance45
    How much this matters to a regular citizen
  • Controversy60
    Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
  • Entertainment10
    Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
  • Buzz20
    Current news / social attention level

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