---
type: "Bill"
title: "Exploitation of Vulnerable Persons"
description: "Exploitation of Vulnerable Persons; Specifying conditions under which a person commits exploitation of a person 65 years of age or older; providing criminal penalties for violations of the act; specifying that not knowing the age of a victim is not a defense to such crime; authorizing persons who are in imminent danger of exploitation to petition for an injunction for protection; providing time limitations for commencing prosecution for violations of the act, etc."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 232"
citation: "Florida SB 232 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["crimes"]
status: "enacted"
chapter_law: "2023-133"
primary_sponsors: ["Criminal Justice", "Garcia"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-02-01"
last_action: "2023-05-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a7dd141d-2eae-4eda-8289-3b91998c91fa"
source_url: "https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/232/ByCategory"
source_hash: "d77efcf79921b50e73604ddb49d75df84d9cf02216c2384d1fd4e1c487b6e216"
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 232 (2023) — Exploitation of Vulnerable Persons

Exploitation of Vulnerable Persons; Specifying conditions under which a person commits exploitation of a person 65 years of age or older; providing criminal penalties for violations of the act; specifying that not knowing the age of a victim is not a defense to such crime; authorizing persons who are in imminent danger of exploitation to petition for an injunction for protection; providing time limitations for commencing prosecution for violations of the act, etc.

**Enacted** — Laws of Florida, Chapter 2023-133.

## Version chain

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

1. **S 232 Filed** (filed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/232/BillText/Filed/HTML)
2. **S 232 c1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/232/BillText/c1/HTML)
3. **S 232 e1** (engrossed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/232/BillText/e1/HTML)
4. **S 232 er** (enrolled) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/232/BillText/er/HTML)

## Votes

- Passage, Third Reading — **115–0** (pass) · lower
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable — **19–0** (pass) · upper
- Third Reading — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Criminal Justice — primary (person)
- Garcia — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-01** Filed `filing`
- **2023-02-09** Referred to Criminal Justice; Judiciary; Fiscal Policy `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-07** Introduced `introduction`
- **2023-03-08** On Committee agenda-- Criminal Justice, 03/13/23, 3:30 pm, 37 Senate Building
- **2023-03-13** CS by Criminal Justice; YEAS 7 NAYS 0
- **2023-03-14** Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2023-03-15** Original reference(s) removed: Judiciary
- **2023-03-15** Remaining references corrected to Fiscal Policy
- **2023-03-15** Now in Fiscal Policy
- **2023-03-15** CS by Criminal Justice read 1st time
- **2023-03-20** On Committee agenda-- Fiscal Policy, 03/23/23, 8:30 am, 412 Knott Building
- **2023-03-23** Favorable by- Fiscal Policy; YEAS 19 NAYS 0 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-23** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2023-04-05** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 04/11/23
- **2023-04-11** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-04-11** Amendment(s) adopted (415238)
- **2023-04-11** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-11** CS passed as amended; YEAS 38 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-04-12** In Messages
- **2023-05-01** Bill referred to House Calendar
- **2023-05-01** Bill added to Special Order Calendar (5/2/2023)
- **2023-05-01** 1st Reading (Engrossed 1) `reading-1`
- **2023-05-02** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-05-02** Placed on 3rd reading `reading-3`
- **2023-05-02** Added to Third Reading Calendar
- **2023-05-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-05-03** CS passed; YEAS 115, NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-05-03** Ordered enrolled `enrolled`
- **2023-05-16** Signed by Officers and presented to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-25** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-26** Chapter No. 2023-133

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a7dd141d-2eae-4eda-8289-3b91998c91fa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).