---
type: "Bill"
title: "Emergency Reporting"
description: "Emergency Reporting; Requiring the Division of Emergency Management to create a list of reportable incidents; requiring such list to include certain events; requiring a political subdivision to report incidents contained on the list to the State Watch Office; authorizing the Division of Emergency Management to establish guidelines a political subdivision must follow to report an incident, etc."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 538"
citation: "Florida SB 538 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["military affairs and related matters"]
status: "enacted"
chapter_law: "2020-53"
primary_sponsors: ["Diaz"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 38
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-10-16"
last_action: "2020-06-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/06b9a2fe-5eef-43f7-ae63-af1bbd71d6d5"
source_url: "http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/538/ByCategory"
source_hash: "a08f8c2cfa2e407f4330290abbcd5497f7af1ee1daa4745bd40b9cd17228a6b6"
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 SB 538 (2020) — Emergency Reporting

Emergency Reporting; Requiring the Division of Emergency Management to create a list of reportable incidents; requiring such list to include certain events; requiring a political subdivision to report incidents contained on the list to the State Watch Office; authorizing the Division of Emergency Management to establish guidelines a political subdivision must follow to report an incident, etc.

**Enacted** — Laws of Florida, Chapter 2020-53.

## Version chain

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

1. **S 538 Filed** (filed) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/538/BillText/Filed/HTML)
2. **S 538 c1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/538/BillText/c1/HTML)
3. **S 538 c2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/538/BillText/c2/HTML)
4. **S 538 e1** (engrossed) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/538/BillText/e1/HTML)
5. **S 538 e2** (engrossed) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/538/BillText/e2/HTML)
6. **S 538 er** (enrolled) — [source](http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/538/BillText/er/HTML)

## Votes

- Passage, Third Reading — **115–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Returning Messages — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Third Reading — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Diaz — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-10-16** Filed `filing`
- **2019-11-01** Referred to Infrastructure and Security; Community Affairs; Rules `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Introduced `introduction`
- **2020-01-16** On Committee agenda-- Infrastructure and Security, 01/21/20, 4:30 pm, 110 Senate Building
- **2020-01-21** CS by Infrastructure and Security; YEAS 7 NAYS 0
- **2020-01-22** Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2020-01-23** Now in Community Affairs
- **2020-01-27** CS by Infrastructure and Security read 1st time
- **2020-02-05** On Committee agenda-- Community Affairs, 02/10/20, 4:00 pm, 301 Senate Building
- **2020-02-10** CS/CS by Community Affairs; YEAS 5 NAYS 0
- **2020-02-11** Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2020-02-12** Now in Rules
- **2020-02-12** CS/CS by Community Affairs read 1st time
- **2020-02-14** On Committee agenda-- Rules, 02/19/20, 10:00 am, 110 Senate Building
- **2020-02-19** Favorable by- Rules; YEAS 16 NAYS 0 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-19** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2020-03-03** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 03/05/20
- **2020-03-05** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-05** Placed on 3rd reading
- **2020-03-06** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-06** Amendment(s) adopted (682306)
- **2020-03-06** CS passed as amended; YEAS 39 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2020-03-06** In Messages
- **2020-03-09** Referred to Calendar `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-09** Received
- **2020-03-10** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 03/10/20
- **2020-03-10** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-10** Amendment(s) adopted (093237) -HJ 1042, 1043
- **2020-03-10** Placed on 3rd reading
- **2020-03-11** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-11** CS passed as amended; YEAS 115 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2020-03-11** In returning messages
- **2020-03-12** Concurred in 1 amendment(s) (093237)
- **2020-03-12** CS passed as amended; YEAS 38 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2020-03-12** Ordered engrossed, then enrolled
- **2020-06-11** Signed by Officers and presented to Governor
- **2020-06-20** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-06-22** Chapter No. 2020-53

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/06b9a2fe-5eef-43f7-ae63-af1bbd71d6d5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).