The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Fiscal Policy
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1718
INTRODUCER: Fiscal Policy Committee, Rules Committee and Senator Ingoglia
SUBJECT: Immigration
DATE: April 25, 2023 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Cibula/Stokes
Twogood RC Fav/CS
/Vickers
2. Cibula/Stokes
Yeatman FP Fav/CS
/Vickers
Please see Section IX. for Additional Information:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE - Substantial Changes
I. Summary:
CS/CS/SB 1718 amends various Florida statutes to address provisions related to individuals in
this state who may be unauthorized aliens. Specifically the bill:
 Enhances the crime of human smuggling when smuggling a minor, more than five people, or
when the defendant has a prior conviction for human smuggling;
 Adds the crime of human smuggling to the list of crimes that allow for prosecution under the
Florida RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act;
 Allows a law enforcement agency to send relevant information obtained pursuant to
enforcement of s. 448.095, F.S., to a federal immigration agency;
 Amends the state’s domestic security statutes to provide the necessary authority for the
department to coordinate with and provide assistance to the Federal Government in the
enforcement of federal immigration laws, and responses to immigration enforcement
incidents within or affecting Florida;
 Beginning July 1, 2023, requires private employers with 25 or more employees to use the E-
Verify system for new employees;
 Alters the defenses for employers using the I-9 Form or E-Verify system; and, beginning July
1, 2024, amends the penalties for an employer’s noncompliance to register and use the E-
Verify system, including requiring reporting and allowing for the suspension and revocation
of employer licenses in certain circumstances;
 Creates penalties for employers who knowingly employ unauthorized aliens, effective July 1,
2024;
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 Creates a third degree felony for an unauthorized alien to knowingly use a false identification
document, or who fraudulently uses an identification document of another person, to obtain
employment;
 Prohibits a county or municipality from providing funds to any person, entity, or organization
for the purpose of issuing an identification card or other document to an individual who does
not provide proof of lawful presence in the United States;
 Prohibits a person from operating a motor vehicle if his or her driver’s license is issued by
another state which exclusively provides such a license to undocumented immigrants who are
unable to prove lawful presence in the United States when the licenses are issued;
 Provides that certain existing exemptions from obtaining a Florida driver license for
nonresidents do not apply for undocumented immigrants;
 Repeals the statute that allows an applicant to the Florida Bar who is an unauthorized
immigrant to be admitted to the Bar by the Florida Supreme Court if certain conditions are
met effective November 1, 2028;
 Requires a person who is in the custody of a law enforcement agency and is subject to an
immigration detainer to submit a DNA sample when he or she is booked into a jail,
correctional, or juvenile facility;
 Requires any hospital that accepts Medicaid to include a question on its admission or
registration forms inquiring about whether the patient is a United States citizen, is lawfully
present in the United States, or is not lawfully present in the United States; and
 Requires each hospital to provide a quarterly report to the Agency of Health Care
Administration, detailing the number of emergency department visits or hospital admissions
by patients who responded to the above question in each category.
The bill appropriates a nonrecurring sum of $12 million from the General Revenue Fund to the
Division of Emergency Management for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The bill is expected to have a
significant, negative fiscal impact to the Department of Economic Opportunity. The bill is not
expected to have a significant fiscal impact on other state agencies or local governments.
The bill is effective July 1, 2023, except as otherwise expressly provided in the act.
II. Present Situation:
General Overview
The Federal Government is responsible for both establishing and enforcing immigration laws.
Congress has enacted legislation, which the federal courts have interpreted, and the body of
immigration law has developed. The responsibility for enforcing immigration laws rests with the
Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
and its Enforcement and Removal Operations. It is the mission of Enforcement and Removal
Operations to identify, apprehend, and remove aliens who are a risk to national security or public
safety, enter the country illegally, or seek to undermine the integrity of the country’s immigration
laws or border control efforts.1
1
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Mission, available at
https://www.ice.gov/ero (last visited April 25, 2023).
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1718 Page 3
In federal fiscal year 2020, the U.S. Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations had 646,822
enforcement actions for the year; in 2021, that total increased to over 1.9 million actions, an
increase of over 200 percent. The total enforcement actions in federal fiscal year 2022 was about
2.8 million, another 41 percent increase, and to date for 2023, the total is already over 1 million.
These statistics include individuals “encountered at ports of entry who are seeking lawful
admission into the United States but are determined to be inadmissible, individuals presenting
themselves to seek humanitarian protection under our laws, and individuals who withdraw an
application for admission and return to their countries of origin within a short timeframe.” The
total also includes encounters that led to apprehensions or expulsions; apprehensions refer to
individuals who were physically controlled or temporarily detained due to being unlawfully
present in the United States.2
In addition to the dramatic increase in border encounters, the recidivism rate has also increased.
“Recidivism refers to percentage of individuals apprehended more than one time by the Border
Patrol within a fiscal year.” In federal fiscal year 2019, the rate was only 7 percent. However,
that climbed to an increase of 26 percent in federal fiscal year 2020 and 27 percent in federal
fiscal year 2021.3
Encounters with criminal noncitizens were:
FFY 2023
FFY 2020 FFY 2021 FFY 2022
to date
9,447 17,330 29,021 9,445
“Criminal noncitizens refers to noncitizens who have been convicted of crime, whether in the
United States or abroad, so long as the conviction is for conduct which is deemed criminal by the
United States.”4
The Governor has issued two Executive Orders attempting to address the enforcement of
immigration laws and the immigration crisis the state has on its borders.5
On September 28, 2021, the Governor issued Executive Order No. 21-223, Biden Border Crisis.
Finding that the detrimental effects of an unsecured southwest border of the United States would
reverberate beyond border states, including increased crime, such as drug trafficking and human
trafficking and smuggling, diminished economic opportunities for American workers, and
stresses on education and healthcare systems. The order prohibited state agencies from assisting
with the transport of aliens apprehended at the southwest border into Florida; and required state
agencies to use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program to confirm
2
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2023, available at
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics (last visited April 25, 2023). The federal fiscal year is
October to September.
3
Id.
4
Id.
5
See State of Florida, Office of the Governor, Executive Order No. 21-223, September 28, 2021, available at
https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/EO_21-223.pdf (last visited April 25, 2023) and State of Florida, Office
of the Governor, Executive Order No. 23-03, January 6, 2023, available at https://www.flgov.com/wp-
content/uploads/2023/01/EO-23-03.pdf (last visited April 25, 2023).
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1718 Page 4
the eligibility of persons before providing any funds, resources, or other benefits. The order
specifically:
 Directs the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Florida Highway
Patrol to determine on an ongoing basis the number and identities of all illegal aliens6
whom the DHS, as well as any other federal departments or agencies, federal contractors,
or affiliated non-governmental organizations, transport to Florida and to detain any
aircraft, bus, or other vehicle used to transport illegal aliens to the state in the commission
of a state offense, including state laws against human trafficking.
 Requests state attorneys and statewide prosecutor to report monthly to the Governor’s
Office and the FDLE on information related to illegal aliens and crimes, which the
department was to make available on its website.
 Directs the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), in coordination with the
Department of Children and Families, the Department of Health, and county health
departments, to use all lawful means to determine the amount of state and local funds
spent on health care, including emergency care, for illegal aliens each fiscal year. The
AHCA was also directed to require managed care plans and hospitals to report any
Medicaid or other governmental expenditures incurred for illegal aliens for each fiscal
year beginning in 2021. Such information was to be made available to the Governor’s
Office and posted on the websites for the AHCA and the Department of Health.
 Directs the Department of Children and Families to determine the amount and purpose of
state funds expended by the department on illegal aliens for each fiscal year. Such
information was to be made available to the Governor’s Office and posted on the website
for the department. The department was also directed to review resettlement of
unaccompanied alien children7 in Florida and make determinations on resettlement under
state laws; to the extent that such resettlement did not constitute “evidence of need” under
Florida law, the department was directed to not grant or renew licenses to family foster
homes, residential child-caring agencies, or child-placing agencies that applied to house
unaccompanied minors and to prohibit these entities from accepting additional children if
they already housed unaccompanied alien children. These entities were also required, as a
part of licensure, to conduct in-person welfare checks on these children and report to the
department, if the department determined that such checks were permitted by state law.
 Directs the FDLE, in consultation with the Attorney General, to conduct regular audits of
businesses in Florida to ensure that businesses were complying with state law to verify
the employment eligibility of new employees. The department was ordered to prioritize
audits of publicly traded corporations or companies with more than 200 employees that
operate in sectors of the economy known for employing illegal aliens. If any violation
was found, the department was to notify the Department of Economic Opportunity
(DEO) to take appropriate action under state law.
 Requires any executive agency to report any evidence found of a crime perpetuated by an
illegal alien to the FDLE; and to take all appropriate action under state law, including the
imposition of fines or revocation of licenses, of any violation of law by a private
6
Defined in the order to have the same meaning as under 8 U.S.C. s. 1101(a)(3); except that the order specified that lawful
immigration status does not include parole under 8 U.S.C. s. 1182(d)(5).
7
Defined in the order to have the same meaning as under 6 U.S.C. s. 279(g)(2).
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1718 Page 5
contractor or non-governmental organization involved in the resettlement of illegal
aliens.8
On January 6, 2023, the Governor issued Executive Order No. 23-03, Emergency Management –
Illegal Migration. Based on findings of unprecedented interdictions, attempts of entry, and
border patrol encounters, the Governor designated the migration of unauthorized aliens to
Florida as likely to constitute a major disaster and designated the director of the Division of
Emergency Management as the state coordinating officer for the disaster with direction to
execute response, recovery, and mitigation plans necessary to cope with the emergency. The
order also activates the Florida National Guard, as needed, to assist with the efforts. The order
waives contracting policies and requirements, allows for expenditure of state funds through the
Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, and authorizes medical professionals, social
workers, and counselors with good and valid licenses issued by other states to provide
humanitarian aid services.9
Unauthorized Alien Transport Program
The Unauthorized Alien Transport Program was created within the Division of Emergency
Management (DEM), within the Executive Office of the Governor, to facilitate the transport of
inspected unauthorized aliens within the United States, consistent with federal law.10 The
program is scheduled to sunset on June 30, 2025.
Federal Immigration Law
The federal government has broad power over immigration and alien status.11 This broad power
is enforced through an extensive set of rules governing alien admission, removal, and conditions
for continued presence within the United States, including the Immigration and Nationality
Act.12 While the federal government’s authority over immigration is well established, the United
States Supreme Court has recognized that not “every state enactment which in any way deals
with aliens is a regulation of immigration and thus per se preempted” by the federal
government.13
Human Smuggling
It is estimated that there are 3 million illegal entries into the United States each year, over and
above the amount of encounters that the U.S. Border Patrol has with border-crossers. Full-time
professional criminals are facilitating the smuggling of immigrants across the border which
generates over $6.75 billion a year from human smuggling.14 Federal law governs whether a
8
State of Florida, Office of the Governor, Executive Order No. 21-223, September 28, 2021, available at
https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/EO_21-223.pdf (last visited April 25, 2023)
9
State of Florida, Office of the Governor, Executive Order No. 23-03, January 6, 2023, available at
https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/EO-23-03.pdf (last visited April 25, 2023).
10
Chapter 2023-3, L.O.F.
11
Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387 (2012).
12
8 U.S.C. s. 1108, et seq.
13
De Canas v. Bica, 424 U.S. 351, 355 (1976).
14
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Transnational Organized Crime: Let’s put them out of business, available at
https://www.unodc.org/toc/en/crimes/migrant-smuggling.html (last visited April 25, 2023).
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1718 Page 6
person is legally authorized to enter or remain in this country and provides criminal penalties for
illegally transpor