THE BILL ITSELF

SB 264

Official State Bird

VERSION S 264 Filed · BACK TO THE SUMMARY · OFFICIAL RECORD

underlined language is being added; struck language is being deleted. Line numbers are the Legislature's own — the same ones amendments cite.

Florida Senate - 2026 SB 264 By Senator Polsky 30-00125-26 2026264__

1 A bill to be entitled

2 An act relating to the official state bird; requiring

3 the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to

4 develop and conduct a certain survey; requiring the

5 commission to provide the survey and certain website

6 information to specified persons during a specified

7 timeframe; requiring that the survey include specified

8 bird species; requiring the commission to submit the

9 results of the survey to the Legislature by a

10 specified date; providing an effective date.

12 WHEREAS, in 1927, the Florida Legislature designated the

13 northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) as the official state

14 bird, and

15 WHEREAS, dating back to the 1998 Regular Session, the

16 Legislature has, on a number of occasions, reviewed and

17 considered legislation to replace the northern mockingbird as

18 the official state bird, and

19 WHEREAS, Florida is one of five states that has designated

20 the northern mockingbird as the official state bird, and

21 WHEREAS, in 2008, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation

22 Commission held a vote among 78,000 Florida schoolchildren which

23 coincided with the general election, and the schoolchildren

24 voted to recommend the American osprey (Pandion haliaetus

25 carolinensis) as Florida’s new official state bird, and

26 WHEREAS, the time has come to allow the next generation of

27 Floridians to make their voices heard and to have the

28 participants in the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s

29 Florida Youth Conservation Centers Network summer camps hold a

30 vote on the official state bird, with the possibility of a new

31 bird species being presented to the Legislature for

32 consideration as the official state bird, NOW, THEREFORE,

34 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

36 Section 1. (1) The Fish and Wildlife Conservation

37 Commission shall develop and conduct a survey of this state’s

38 youth to determine whether the state should select another bird

39 species as the official state bird.

40 (2) The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shall

41 provide the survey to the participants in the Florida Youth

42 Conservation Centers Network summer camps during the summers of

43 2026 and 2027. The survey must include the northern mockingbird,

44 American osprey, Florida scrub jay, American flamingo, and

45 American white ibis as selections. In addition to the survey,

46 the commission shall provide the participants with the

47 information available on the commission’s publicly available

48 website related to such birds.

49 (3) No later than December 31, 2027, the commission shall

50 submit the results of the survey to the President of the Senate

51 and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

52 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.