SESSION WATCH
Became law SENATE · SESSION 2026 · CHAPTER 2026-38

No. SB 428

Drowning Prevention
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SPONSOR
Yarborough
FILED BY
Clay Yarborough — District 4, Republican [search donations]
EFFECTIVE
7/1/2026

Filed under Healthcare.

PROVIDED SUMMARY

Drowning Prevention; Revising the purpose of the Swimming Lesson Voucher Program; revising the age requirements for children receiving a voucher through the program; requiring the Department of Health to develop educational materials on drowning prevention safety measures and safe bathing practices for specified purposes; requiring hospitals, birth centers, and home birth providers to provide the educational materials to new parents and caregivers as part of their postpartum education and care, etc.

Full bill text →

Plain English Summary

AI-GENERATED
Requires birth providers to give new parents drowning-prevention safety materials.

The Department of Health must create educational materials on drowning prevention and safe bathing, covering water-safety data, supervision, swim lessons, and safe bathing practices for infants and toddlers.

Hospitals, birth centers, home birth providers, and childbirth educators must all give these materials to parents or caregivers as part of postpartum or childbirth education, reaching nearly every new parent in the state.

Hospitals must now list drowning-prevention materials alongside safe-sleep information and the vision-disorders pamphlet as required parts of postpartum education given to every parent. Birth centers add the same materials to their required postpartum checklist.

The swimming-lesson voucher program's age range also shifts, from children up to age 4 to children between 1 and 7. Infants under 1 lose voucher eligibility, while 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds gain it.

KEY PROVISIONS
§ 1 DOH must create drowning-prevention and safe-bathing materials majors. 383.3363(1)

AIThe Department of Health has to develop educational materials covering the drowning risk infants and toddlers face in bathtubs and pools, water-safety measures like constant supervision and swim lessons, and evidence-based safe bathing practices.

“The Department of Health shall develop educational materials on drowning prevention safety measures and safe bathing practices” bill text, line 49 →
§ 2 Hospitals and birth providers must hand parents these materials majors. 383.3363(2)

AIHospitals, birth centers, and home birth providers offering maternity, prenatal, or newborn services must give the drowning-prevention and safe-bathing materials to every newborn's parents or caregivers as part of postpartum education and care.

“Hospitals, birth centers, and home birth providers providing maternity, prenatal, and newborn services shall provide the educational materials” bill text, line 67 →
§ 3 Hospitals' postpartum education becomes an enumerated checklist majors. 395.1053

AIA hospital's postpartum education duty is rewritten from one loosely worded sentence into three specific items that must each be affirmatively provided to every parent: safe-sleep/SIDS information, the eye-and-vision-disorders pamphlet, and now the drowning-prevention materials.

“The educational materials on drowning prevention safety measures and safe bathing practices developed by the department under s. 383.3363” bill text, line 81 →
§ 4 Childbirth educators must also distribute the materials moderates. 383.3363(3)

AIAnyone teaching a childbirth education class, not just hospitals and licensed birth facilities, must give these same materials to the parents or caregivers taking that class.

“Childbirth educators shall provide the educational materials developed under subsection (1) to the parents or caregivers receiving childbirth education” bill text, line 72 →
§ 5 Birth centers must add the materials to required postpartum care moderates. 383.318(4)(j)

AIBirth centers' existing checklist of required postpartum evaluation and care items gains a new entry: giving parents the drowning-prevention and safe-bathing materials the Department of Health develops.

“Provision of the educational materials on drowning prevention safety measures and safe bathing practices developed by the Department of Health under s. 383.3363” bill text, line 81 →
§ 6 Swimming-lesson voucher eligibility shifts from age 4-and-under to 1-through-7 moderates. 514.073

AIThe free swimming-lesson voucher program used to cover any child 4 years old or younger, including infants. It now covers only children between 1 and 7, so infants under 1 lose eligibility while 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds gain it.

“one or more children 4 years of age or younger”
TIMELINE
4/22/2026
Chapter No. 2026-38
4/21/2026
Approved by Governor
4/21/2026
Signed by Officers and presented to Governor
3/17/2026
Ordered enrolled
3/9/2026
Passed; YEAS 108, NAYS 0
3/9/2026
Read 3rd time
3/9/2026
Added to Third Reading Calendar
3/9/2026
Read 2nd time
3/5/2026
1st Reading (Engrossed 1)
3/5/2026
Bill added to Special Order Calendar (3/9/2026)
3/5/2026
Bill referred to House Calendar
2/25/2026
In Messages
2/25/2026
Immediately certified -SJ 437
2/25/2026
Passed as amended; YEAS 36 NAYS 0 -SJ 435
2/25/2026
Read 3rd time -SJ 435
2/25/2026
Amendment(s) adopted (667490, 768758) -SJ 434
2/25/2026
Read 2nd time -SJ 434
2/23/2026
Placed on Special Order Calendar, 02/25/26
2/12/2026
Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
2/12/2026
Favorable by- Fiscal Policy; YEAS 19 NAYS 0
2/9/2026
On Committee agenda-- Fiscal Policy, 02/12/26, 9:00 am, 110 Senate Building
2/4/2026
Now in Fiscal Policy
2/4/2026
Favorable by Appropriations Committee on Health and Human...
1/30/2026
On Committee agenda-- Appropriations Committee on Health and Human...
1/21/2026
Now in Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services
1/20/2026
Favorable by Health Policy; YEAS 11 NAYS 0
1/15/2026
On Committee agenda-- Health Policy, 01/20/26, 3:30 pm, 412 Knott Building
1/13/2026
Introduced
12/1/2025
Referred to Health Policy; Appropriations Committee on Health and...
11/7/2025
Filed
24 EARLIER →
STATUTES IT CHANGES
s. 514.073
+13 / −9
s. 383.3363
+213 / −0
s. 383.318
+25 / −1
s. 395.1053
+41 / −17
STAFF ANALYSES
2 MORE →