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The Florida Government Transparency & Performance Act (FL-GT&P)

Florida state companion to GT&P. Extends Florida's Sunshine Law (Ch. 119 and Ch. 286) and the Auditor General's OPPAGA framework with a DOGE-Florida outcome-dashboard, a SES-equivalent accountability track under Ch. 110 Part III, and a state-level whistleblower reward mechanism.

THE FLORIDA GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY & PERFORMANCE ACT (FL-GT&P)

A Florida Bill to Extend the Sunshine State’s Sunshine Onto Outcomes

Vehicle: State passage. Florida Legislature, regular session. Primary referral to the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee and the House State Affairs Committee; Title III (Selected Exempt Service) also referred to Senate Ethics and Elections / House Ethics, Elections & Open Government.

Relationship to federal GT&P: Where federal GT&P codifies a federal outcome-dashboard, a Schedule F accountability track for the federal Senior Executive Service, and an enhanced federal qui tam mechanism under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3730, this Act creates the Florida companion within Florida’s existing Sunshine-Law, Selected Exempt Service, and Florida Whistleblower’s Act frameworks.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act may be cited as the “Florida Government Transparency & Performance Act (FL-GT&P).”

SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT

The Legislature finds that Florida operates one of the most robust public-records and open-meetings regimes in the nation under Fla. Stat. Ch. 119 and Ch. 286, the Long-Range Program Plan framework under Fla. Stat. Sec. 216.013, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (“OPPAGA”) under Fla. Stat. Sec. 11.51, the Auditor General under Fla. Stat. Ch. 11, Part I, the Commission on Ethics under Fla. Stat. Ch. 112, Part III, and the Florida Whistleblower’s Act under Fla. Stat. Sec. 112.3187-Sec. 112.31895 and Sec. 68.081-Sec. 68.092. The Legislature further finds that these existing frameworks can be extended to publish agency-level outcome data, to align the Selected Exempt Service under Fla. Stat. Ch. 110, Part III with performance-based retention, and to expand whistleblower rewards for reports that result in recovered state funds. This Act extends, and does not duplicate, those frameworks.

TITLE I — DEFINITIONS & COORDINATION WITH FLORIDA LAW

Vehicle (Florida): Definitional. Interpretive only.

Sec. 101. Definitions

For purposes of this Act:

  1. (a) “State agency” has the meaning assigned in Fla. Stat. Sec. 216.011.
  2. (b) “LRPP” means the Long-Range Program Plan required under Fla. Stat. Sec. 216.013.
  3. (c) “SES” means the Selected Exempt Service established under Fla. Stat. Ch. 110, Part III.
  4. (d) “OPPAGA” means the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability established under Fla. Stat. Sec. 11.51.

Sec. 102. Coordination with Existing Florida Law

  1. (a) This Act shall be construed consistently with:
  • Fla. Stat. Ch. 119 (Public Records).
  • Fla. Stat. Ch. 286 (Public Business; Miscellaneous Provisions; Sunshine Law).
  • Fla. Stat. Ch. 11, Part I (Auditor General).
  • Fla. Stat. Sec. 11.51 (OPPAGA).
  • Fla. Stat. Ch. 110, Part III (Selected Exempt Service).
  • Fla. Stat. Sec. 112.3187-Sec. 112.31895 and Sec. 68.081-Sec. 68.092 (Florida Whistleblower’s Act and Florida False Claims Act).
  • Fla. Stat. Sec. 216.013 (LRPP).

TITLE II — STATE-AGENCY OUTCOME PUBLICATION

Vehicle (Florida): Regular order. Extends existing LRPP reporting obligations; no new agency, limited fiscal impact.

Sec. 201. Florida Agency Outcome Dashboard

  1. (a) The Department of Management Services, in coordination with the Executive Office of the Governor and OPPAGA, shall maintain a Florida Agency Outcome Dashboard (“FL-AOD”).
  2. (b) Each State agency shall publish, for each major program listed in that agency’s LRPP, machine-readable performance data describing cost per unit of service, output volume, and outcome measurement consistent with the agency’s LRPP measures.
  3. (c) FL-AOD data shall be published in machine-readable form, shall be updated at least quarterly, and shall be available through the same data-portal infrastructure operated under Fla. Stat. Ch. 282.

Sec. 202. Integration with the Long-Range Program Plan

  1. (a) Beginning with the LRPP cycle following the effective date of this Act, each State agency shall include in its LRPP submission under Fla. Stat. Sec. 216.013 the data required to populate FL-AOD.
  2. (b) Nothing in this Title shall be construed to limit the Governor’s Office of Policy and Budget, the Chief Financial Officer, or the Legislature’s Appropriations Committees from requiring additional performance information.

TITLE III — SELECTED EXEMPT SERVICE ACCOUNTABILITY

Vehicle (Florida): Regular order. Codifies existing at-will posture of the Selected Exempt Service and adds an explicit performance-based retention standard.

Sec. 301. Performance-Based Retention in the Selected Exempt Service

  1. (a) Fla. Stat. Sec. 110.602 (Selected Exempt Service) is hereby amended to require that each SES position’s appointing authority establish, and publish, annual performance expectations tied to that agency’s LRPP measures.
  2. (b) Failure of an SES employee to satisfy published performance expectations for two consecutive annual review cycles shall constitute grounds for non-retention under Fla. Stat. Sec. 110.604.

Sec. 302. At-Will Employment Codification

  1. (a) Fla. Stat. Sec. 110.604 (appointments to, and dismissals from, the Selected Exempt Service) is hereby amended to confirm the at-will character of SES appointments consistent with existing Florida law.
  2. (b) This Section codifies, and does not alter, existing Florida law regarding SES at-will employment.

TITLE IV — REGULATORY PARTICIPATION

Vehicle (Florida): Regular order. Creates a new publication obligation within the existing Florida Administrative Procedure Act (Fla. Stat. Ch. 120).

Sec. 401. Florida Regulatory Participation Dashboard

  1. (a) The Department of State, in coordination with the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee, shall publish a Florida Regulatory Participation Dashboard displaying, for each pending rulemaking under Fla. Stat. Ch. 120, the docket status, the text of comments received, and a summary disposition.
  2. (b) The Dashboard shall be informational, and shall not alter any agency’s rulemaking authority or any party’s rights under Fla. Stat. Ch. 120.

TITLE V — WHISTLEBLOWER REWARDS

Vehicle (Florida): Regular order. Amends the existing Florida False Claims Act to align reward ranges with federal qui tam levels.

Sec. 501. Florida Whistleblower’s Act Enhancement

  1. (a) Fla. Stat. Sec. 68.085 (recovery awards under the Florida False Claims Act) is hereby amended to provide that a qui tam relator in an action under Fla. Stat. Sec. 68.081-Sec. 68.092 may receive a share of proceeds aligned with the federal range established under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3730(d).
  2. (b) Amounts payable to relators shall be drawn from amounts recovered to the State and shall not exceed amounts available after restitution to the injured State program.

TITLE VI — IMPLEMENTATION & GENERAL PROVISIONS

Vehicle (Florida): Structural.

Sec. 601. Severability

If any provision of this Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect the remainder of this Act.

Sec. 602. Effective Date

This Act shall take effect July 1 of the year following enactment, except that the amendments to Fla. Stat. Sec. 110.602 and Sec. 110.604 under Title III shall apply to performance cycles beginning on or after that date.

Canonical federal version: GT&P. Other Florida bills: FL-ACSA, FL-MEWRA, FL-AI-Workforce.