---
type: "Bill"
title: "Higher Education Finances"
description: "Higher Education Finances; Requiring the Board of Governors to develop regulations for university boards of trustees relating to contracting for the construction of new facilities or for work on existing facilities; authorizing a state university or Florida College System institution to waive the out-of-state fee for a student who is an intercollegiate athlete receiving a scholarship; revising the list of authorized expenditures that may be included in a carry forward spending plan for state universities; revising a limitation on compensation for state university employees; providing that certain educational facility contracting and construction techniques applicable to school districts also apply to Florida College System institutions, etc."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 7026"
citation: "Florida SB 7026 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
chapter_law: "2023-95"
primary_sponsors: ["Appropriations"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 33
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-03-16"
last_action: "2023-05-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7f9079f0-268b-4335-98fa-ba010169e7e8"
source_url: "https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/7026/ByCategory"
source_hash: "1986f765dbc5397da5be6a262beb1a19ee102381722796cba07c212c162d2fa9"
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 7026 (2023) — Higher Education Finances

Higher Education Finances; Requiring the Board of Governors to develop regulations for university boards of trustees relating to contracting for the construction of new facilities or for work on existing facilities; authorizing a state university or Florida College System institution to waive the out-of-state fee for a student who is an intercollegiate athlete receiving a scholarship; revising the list of authorized expenditures that may be included in a carry forward spending plan for state universities; revising a limitation on compensation for state university employees; providing that certain educational facility contracting and construction techniques applicable to school districts also apply to Florida College System institutions, etc.

**Enacted** — Laws of Florida, Chapter 2023-95.

## Version chain

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

1. **S 7026 Filed** (filed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/7026/BillText/Filed/HTML)
2. **S 7026 c1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/7026/BillText/c1/HTML)
3. **S 7026 pb** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/7026/BillText/pb/HTML)
4. **S 7026 e1** (engrossed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/7026/BillText/e1/HTML)
5. **S 7026 e2** (engrossed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/7026/BillText/e2/HTML)
6. **S 7026 er** (enrolled) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/7026/BillText/er/HTML)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Returning Messages — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **18–0** (pass) · upper
- Submitted and Reported Favorably as Committee Bill — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage, Third Reading — **109–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Appropriations — primary (person)
- Appropriations Committee on Education — primary (organization)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-16** Submitted for consideration by Appropriations Committee on Education
- **2023-03-16** On Committee agenda-- Appropriations Committee on Education, 03/21/23, 11:00 am, 412 Knott Building
- **2023-03-21** Submitted as Committee Bill and Reported Favorably by Appropriations Committee on Education; YEAS 12 NAYS 0
- **2023-03-22** Filed `filing`
- **2023-03-22** Referred to Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-22** Introduced `introduction`
- **2023-03-23** On Committee agenda-- Appropriations, 03/28/23, 9:00 am, 412 Knott Building
- **2023-03-28** CS by- Appropriations; YEAS 18 NAYS 0
- **2023-03-30** Pending reference review -under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2023-03-30** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2023-03-30** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 04/04/23
- **2023-03-30** CS by Appropriations read 1st time
- **2023-04-04** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-04-04** Amendment(s) adopted (121446, 372702)
- **2023-04-04** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-04** CS passed as amended; YEAS 39 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-04-04** Immediately certified
- **2023-04-05** In Messages
- **2023-04-25** Bill referred to House Calendar
- **2023-04-25** Bill added to Special Order Calendar (4/28/2023)
- **2023-04-25** 1st Reading (Engrossed 1) `reading-1`
- **2023-04-28** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2023-04-28** Amendment 856631 adopted
- **2023-04-28** Added to Third Reading Calendar
- **2023-04-28** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2023-04-28** CS passed as amended; YEAS 109, NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-04-28** In returning messages
- **2023-04-28** Concurred in 1 amendment(s) (856631)
- **2023-04-28** CS passed as amended; YEAS 37 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2023-04-28** Ordered engrossed, then 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. 2023-95

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7f9079f0-268b-4335-98fa-ba010169e7e8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).