---
type: "Bill"
title: "High School Equivalency Diplomas"
description: "High School Equivalency Diplomas; Prohibits district school board from requiring certain students to take course before taking high school equivalency examination unless student failed to earn passing score on specified practice test."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 265"
citation: "Florida HB 265 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
chapter_law: "2023-98"
primary_sponsors: ["López, J.", "Plasencia"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 34
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-01-18"
last_action: "2023-05-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/afafd0e9-71ca-47b2-a316-ac28e3cc3e94"
source_url: "https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/265/ByCategory"
source_hash: "af832649776726c75050a6219a66cf0256a4997e4ab1b0811fef0511d74ebd82"
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 265 (2023) — High School Equivalency Diplomas

High School Equivalency Diplomas; Prohibits district school board from requiring certain students to take course before taking high school equivalency examination unless student failed to earn passing score on specified practice test.

**Enacted** — Laws of Florida, Chapter 2023-98.

## Version chain

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

1. **H 265 Filed** (filed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/265/BillText/Filed/PDF)
2. **H 265 er** (enrolled) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/265/BillText/er/PDF)

## Votes

- Favorable (Education & Employment Committee) — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage, Third Reading — **113–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable (Education Quality Subcommittee) — **18–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- López, J. — primary (person)
- Plasencia — primary (person)
- Amesty — cosponsor (person)
- Berfield — cosponsor (person)
- Canady — cosponsor (person)
- Chaney — cosponsor (person)
- Garcia — cosponsor (person)
- Harris — cosponsor (person)
- Hart — cosponsor (person)
- Hunschofsky — cosponsor (person)
- Nixon — cosponsor (person)
- Trabulsy — cosponsor (person)
- Valdés — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-18** Filed `filing`
- **2023-02-01** Referred to Education Quality Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-01** Referred to Education & Employment Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-01** Now in Education Quality Subcommittee
- **2023-03-07** 1st Reading (Original Filed Version) `filing, reading-1`
- **2023-03-13** Added to Education Quality Subcommittee agenda
- **2023-03-15** Favorable by Education Quality Subcommittee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-15** Reported out of Education Quality Subcommittee
- **2023-03-15** Now in Education & Employment Committee
- **2023-03-21** Added to Education & Employment Committee agenda
- **2023-03-23** Favorable by Education & Employment Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-23** Reported out of Education & Employment Committee
- **2023-03-23** Bill released to House Calendar
- **2023-03-23** Added to Second Reading Calendar
- **2023-03-23** Bill added to Special Order Calendar (3/30/2023)
- **2023-03-30** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-03-30** Placed on 3rd reading `reading-3`
- **2023-03-30** Added to Third Reading Calendar
- **2023-03-31** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-03-31** Passed; YEAS 113, NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-03-31** In Messages
- **2023-03-31** Referred to Rules `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-03** Received `enrolled`
- **2023-04-18** Withdrawn from Rules `withdrawal`
- **2023-04-18** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2023-04-18** Substituted for SB 1004
- **2023-04-18** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-04-18** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-18** Passed; YEAS 36 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-04-19** In Messages
- **2023-04-19** Ordered enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-05-16** Signed by Officers and presented to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-17** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-18** Chapter No. 2023-98

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/afafd0e9-71ca-47b2-a316-ac28e3cc3e94`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).