---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relief/Dontrell Stephens/Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office"
description: "Relief/Dontrell Stephens/Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office; Providing for an appropriation to compensate him for personal injuries and damages sustained as the result of the negligence of a deputy of the office; providing for payment of compensation, fees, and costs; providing a limitation on the payment of attorney fees, lobbying fees, and costs; providing for the waiver and extinguishment of certain liens, etc."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 6501"
citation: "Florida HB 6501 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["(claims bills)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Fernandez-Barquin", "Joseph"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 32
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-09-06"
last_action: "2020-06-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/226e7f47-d531-46f0-8817-a98145d75010"
source_url: "http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/6501/ByCategory"
source_hash: "9b8a2a76a30eed55e85872971cfd568897d6978cd4c0932c941f6b5645b25a06"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-fl"]
---

# Florida HB 6501 (2020) — Relief/Dontrell Stephens/Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office

Relief/Dontrell Stephens/Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office; Providing for an appropriation to compensate him for personal injuries and damages sustained as the result of the negligence of a deputy of the office; providing for payment of compensation, fees, and costs; providing a limitation on the payment of attorney fees, lobbying fees, and costs; providing for the waiver and extinguishment of certain liens, etc.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **H 6501 Filed** (filed) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/6501/BillText/Filed/PDF)
2. **H 6501 c1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/6501/BillText/c1/PDF)
3. **H 6501 c2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/6501/BillText/c2/PDF)
4. **H 6501 e1** (engrossed) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/6501/BillText/e1/PDF)
5. **H 6501 er** (enrolled) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/6501/BillText/er/PDF)

## Votes

- Favorable With Committee Substitute (Judiciary Committee) — **18–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage, Third Reading — **116–0** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **37–2** (pass) · upper
- Favorable With Committee Substitute (Civil Justice Subcommittee) — **11–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Fernandez-Barquin — primary (person)
- Joseph — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-09-06** Filed `filing`
- **2019-09-23** Referred to Civil Justice Subcommittee; Judiciary Committee `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Introduced `introduction`
- **2020-01-31** On Committee agenda-- Civil Justice Subcommittee, 02/04/20, 3:30 pm, Sumner Hall
- **2020-02-04** CS by Civil Justice Subcommittee; YEAS 11 NAYS 2
- **2020-02-06** Pending review of CS under Rule 7.18(c)
- **2020-02-06** CS by Civil Justice Subcommittee read 1st time
- **2020-02-07** Now in Judiciary Committee
- **2020-02-24** On Committee agenda-- Judiciary Committee, 02/26/20, 8:00 am, Sumner Hall
- **2020-02-26** CS/CS by- Judiciary Committee; YEAS 18 NAYS 0
- **2020-02-27** Pending review of CS -under Rule 7.18(c)
- **2020-02-27** CS/CS by Judiciary Committee read 1st time
- **2020-02-28** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-03-03** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 03/06/20
- **2020-03-06** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-06** Amendment(s) adopted (038235)
- **2020-03-06** Placed on 3rd reading
- **2020-03-09** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-09** CS passed as amended; YEAS 116 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2020-03-09** In Messages
- **2020-03-09** Referred to Judiciary; Rules `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-09** Received
- **2020-03-10** Withdrawn from Judiciary; Rules `withdrawal`
- **2020-03-10** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2020-03-10** Substituted for CS/SB 4
- **2020-03-10** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-10** Placed on 3rd reading
- **2020-03-11** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-11** CS passed; YEAS 37 NAYS 2 `passage`
- **2020-03-11** Ordered enrolled
- **2020-05-26** Signed by Officers and presented to Governor
- **2020-06-09** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/226e7f47-d531-46f0-8817-a98145d75010`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).