Looking Ahead to Florida's 2026 Legislative Session

It is perhaps fortunate that, unlike the past couple of sessions, it appears that it will be a relatively quiet session as it relates to issues that affect individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). While we are tracking many bills of interest to the I/DD community which you can follow here, they are generally narrowly focused rather than systemic reforms. But a word of caution is in order: things can and do frequently turn on a dime during the 60-day session. It is important that advocates follow the process in real time to make sure they are not blind-sided. 

Even in a quiet year, there are important decisions that will be made during the session. Here are the main issues that we are tracking:  

Both the agency request and Governor’s recommended budget are essentially continuation budgets. Click here for a more detailed description. The biggest ticket item is a recommendation from the Governor to provide approximately $47 million to serve approximately 1,200 individuals in pre-enrollment (waiting list) categories 1 and 2 (crisis and foster care). The Governor also recommends providing full-year funding for the managed care pilot program in the Agency for Healthcare Administration which was partially funded in the current year. However, he does not recommend further expansion of the program. He recommends several agency requests for administrative infrastructure at APD and for repairs and maintenance at the two remaining institutions in Marianna and Gainesville. He also proposes continued development of a new forensic facility that would be built on the grounds of Mariana Sunland. The Governor also recommends increased budget authority to spend additional Federal funding expected to be available for Vocational Rehabilitation.   

Provider rates are a perennial issue and will once again be top priorities for provider associations such as the Arc of Florida, FARF and the waiver support coordinators. APD providers were among the beneficiaries of two different initiatives by former Senate presidents Wilton Simpson and Kathleen Passidomo to increase salaries paid to direct care staff and improve access to health care services. They resulted in significant rate increases to APD providers. However, provider rates were not adjusted last session despite inflationary pressure, and many providers continue to report difficulties maintaining sufficient staffing and covering increased costs of doing business such as insurance. Utilization data as well as anecdotal reports from families suggest that accessing authorized services is increasingly difficult due to lack of provider capacity.  

There will also be a concerted effort during the upcoming session to increase and standardize rates paid for transportation provided through the waiver. APD rates for transportation, unlike most other APD services, are individually negotiated with each provider. The result is a highly fragmented and arguably inequitable rate structure that bears little relationship to the actual cost of providing service. Rates established by the local Transportation Disadvantaged Coordinators are based on actual costs of providing service and are being offered as an appropriate benchmark for APD to use in establishing a uniform rate structure.  

Neither the agency request nor the Governor’s recommended budget contain funding for provider rate increases.     

iConnect is the IT system developed by APD over the course of the last 10 years for client and case management and other agency functions. Since its inception, the system has been plagued by substantial implementation delays, obsolete technology, and serious concerns with usability and reliability among system users. The many issues associated with iConnect came to a head last session with the Legislature mandating a plan to replace the system. 

iLab was the IT consultant hired by APD to develop a Legislatively mandated report to establish high-level business requirements for an iConnect replacement and identify capable vendors. The report identifies a “short list” of three vendors that it recommends be considered to provide a replacement system. These finalists are: Therap Services, a well-known niche company that specializes in supporting I/DD organizations; HHA Exchange, a company primarily known for its Electronic Visit Verification system that has recently acquired a couple of case management vendors; and Redmane, a vendor that is not well known in the I/DD world but has recently engaged with the Department of Children and Family Services for child welfare support and with APD for an incident management system.   

As mentioned above, $47 million (inclusive of Federal matching funds) are requested/recommended to address the waiting list. The Governor’s recommended budget, however, only recommends funding for pre-enrollment categories 1 and 2 which include individuals in crisis and children from the foster care system who are transitioning out. APD by its own initiative recently sent out roughly 5,000 offer letters to individuals on the waiting list. The response so far has been surprisingly anemic. The last we heard, there were 1,000 individuals enrolled, but the great majority of letters have gone unanswered. This is a clear indication that there are issues with waiting list management and/or communicating with individuals and families on the waiting list. 

The managed care pilot program recently expanded to all individuals in the state on the waiting list. In October 2026, eligibility will again expand to allow people who are currently enrolled in iBudget or the Long-term Managed Care program to voluntarily enroll. Since the latest expansion, enrollment has grown from just over 300 to almost 1,000 individuals. Funding provided by the Legislature is sufficient to support just over 2,000 enrollees. 

The evaluation of the pilot, which the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) now calls the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Comprehensive Managed Care (ICMC) program, is due in 2029. The program combines medical care and an expanded array of home and community-based services into a single capitated plan administered by Florida Community Care and overseen by AHCA. 

It is a Legislative initiative championed by the House Speaker and is being closely monitored by both the Legislature and stakeholders. Many self-advocates and family members are monitoring developments with the pilot program and are urging policy makers to maintain its current policy that allows the individual to choose between iBudget and managed care.      

Mark your calendars for February 10, which is DD Day at the Capitol for 2026. This event, sponsored by the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, will bring self-advocates, family members, professionals, and advocates together at the Capitol to advocate for issues important to the stakeholder community. The Council, in particular, is focused on providing a venue for self-advocates and family members to communicate the importance of the services they receive in allowing them to lead productive lives in their communities. For more information, visit this page on the Council’s website.

 

Among the bills of particular interest to this writer are HB 915 (Tant) / SB 1016 (Bradley). These bills which are essentially identical would codify the ‘Working People with Disabilities’ program which allows individuals with I/DD who hold competitive employment to earn higher wages and maintain higher personal assets than would otherwise be allowed for Medicaid beneficiaries. Former Rep. Kathleen Peters, now a Pinellas County Commissioner, championed this program and successfully pushed for language in the state budget that started the program. However, this language technically expired several years ago. Although the agency still offers the program, it is important that clear statutory authority and direction exist to ensure that it continues as an option. 

There are also many other bills that we are tracking that would affect people with I/DD. They span the gamut from autism safety initiatives to individual education plan enhancements to APD administrative measures. I will be monitoring these bills with particular attention to the ones that appear to stand a legitimate chance of passage on this site so be sure to check back often. 

There are also other excellent resources available to you if you wish to follow the process. The Family Café hosts a weekly ‘Let’s Talk’ series where Legislative experts share news and lead discussions on emerging issues each Friday during session. For more information visit the Café’s website. The Florida Developmental Disabilities Council will also be maintaining bill tracking information on this page on its website. And finally, you can go straight to the source – the websites of the House and Senate. Also, a good starting point is the Legislature's Online Sunshine website.