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CS/HB 641 2026
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to gender identity employment 2
practices; providing a short title; creating s. 3
112.0456, F.S.; providing definitions; specifying an 4
employment policy of this state relating to a person's 5
sex; providing applicability; prohibiting employees 6
and contractors of certain employers from being 7
required to use certain pronouns or requiring such 8
employers to use a pronoun that does not correspond to 9
the employee's or contractor's sex; prohibiting 10
certain forms from offering specified options relating 11
to an applicant's sex; prohibiting adverse personnel 12
action on the basis of gender ideology; providing 13
administrative and civil remedies; providing 14
reasonable attorney fees and costs; authorizing the 15
Department of Management Services to adopt rules; 16
amending s. 760.10, F.S.; providing it is an unlawful 17
employment practice for certain employers to require 18
certain training, instruction, or activity as a 19
condition of employment; reenacting s. 760.11(1) and 20
(15), F.S., relating to administrative and civil 21
remedies, to incorporate the amendment made to s. 22
760.10, F.S., in references thereto; providing an 23
effective date. 24
25
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 26
27
Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Freedom of 28
Conscience in the Workplace Act." 29
Section 2. Section 112.0456, Florida Statutes, is created 30
to read: 31
112.0456 Personal pronouns.— 32
(1) As used in this section, the term: 33
(a) "Adverse personnel action" means the discharge, 34
suspension, transfer, demotion, or lack of promotion of an 35
employee or a contractor; the withholding of bonuses; the 36
withholding of promotional opportunities; the reduction in 37
salary or benefits; or any other adverse action taken against an 38
employee or a contractor within the terms and conditions of 39
employment by an employer. 40
(b) "Contractor" means an individual, partnership, 41
corporation, or business entity that enters or attempts to enter 42
into a contract for services with an employer. 43
(c) "Employee" means an individual employed by, or 44
attempting to be employed by, an employer. 45
(d) "Employer" means the state or any county, 46
municipality, or special district or any subdivision or agency 47
thereof. 48
(e) "Gender identity" means a fully internal and 49
subjective sense of self, disconnected from biological reality 50
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
and sex, and existing on an infinite continuum that does not 51
provide a meaningful basis for identification and cannot be 52
recognized as a replacement for sex. 53
(f) "Gender ideology" means the false belief that replaces 54
the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of 55
self-assessed gender identity, permitting the false claim that 56
males can identify as and become women and vice versa, and 57
requiring all institutions of society to regard this false claim 58
as true. The term includes the idea that there is a vast 59
spectrum of genders that are disconnected from a person's sex. 60
Gender ideology is internally inconsistent in that it diminishes 61
sex as an identifiable or useful category but nevertheless 62
maintains that it is possible for a person to be born in the 63
wrong sexed body. 64
(g) "Sex" means the classification of a person as either 65
female or male based on the organization of the body of such 66
person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the 67
person's sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and 68
internal and external genitalia present at birth. 69
(2) It is the policy of this state that a person's sex is 70
an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to 71
a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person's 72
sex. This section does not apply to individuals born with a 73
genetically or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex 74
development, including, but not limited to, 46,XX disorder of 75
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
sex development; 46,XY disorder of sex development; sex 76
chromosome disorder of sex development; XX or XY sex reversal; 77
and ovotesticular disorder. 78
(3) An employee or a contractor may not be required, as a 79
condition of employment or to avoid adverse personnel action, to 80
refer to another person using that person's preferred pronouns 81
if such pronouns do not correspond to that person's sex. 82
(4) An employee or a contractor may not require an 83
employer to use his or her preferred pronouns if such preferred 84
pronouns do not correspond to the employee's or contractor's 85
sex. 86
(5) A job application or other related employment form 87
that requires an applicant to mark his or her sex may inquire if 88
the applicant is male or female only and may not provide a 89
nonbinary or other option. 90
(6)(a) It is an unlawful employment practice for an 91
employer to take adverse personnel action against an employee or 92
a contractor because of the employee's or contractor's deeply 93
held religious, moral, conscience-based, or biology-based 94
beliefs regarding gender ideology, whether those views are 95
expressed by the employee or contractor at or away from the 96
worksite. 97
(b) An employee or a contractor aggrieved by a violation 98
of this subsection may avail himself or herself to the 99
administrative and civil remedies provided in s. 760.11. The 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
court shall award reasonable attorney fees and costs to the 101
prevailing party. 102
(7) The Department of Management Services may adopt rules 103
to administer this section. 104
Section 3. Subsections (10) and (11) of section 760.10, 105
Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (11) and (12), 106
respectively, and a new subsection (10) is added to that 107
section, to read: 108
760.10 Unlawful employment practices.— 109
(10) It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer 110
who receives funding from the state to require, as a condition 111
of employment, any training, instruction, or other activity on 112
sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. 113
Section 4. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 114
made by this act to section 760.10, Florida Statutes, in a 115
reference thereto, subsections (1) and (15) of section 760.11, 116
Florida Statutes, are reenacted to read: 117
760.11 Administrative and civil remedies; construction.— 118
(1) Any person aggrieved by a violation of ss. 760.01-119
760.10 may file a complaint with the commission within 365 days 120
of the alleged violation, naming the employer, employment 121
agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee, 122
or, in the case of an alleged violation of s. 760.10(5), the 123
person responsible for the violation and describing the 124
violation. Any person aggrieved by a violation of s. 509.092 may 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
file a complaint with the commission within 365 days of the 126
alleged violation naming the person responsible for the 127
violation and describing the violation. The commission, a 128
commissioner, or the Attorney General may in like manner file 129
such a complaint. On the same day the complaint is filed with 130
the commission, the commission shall clearly stamp on the face 131
of the complaint the date the complaint was filed with the 132
commission. In lieu of filing the complaint with the commission, 133
a complaint under this section may be filed with the federal 134
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or with any unit of 135
government of the state which is a fair-employment-practice 136
agency under 29 C.F.R. ss. 1601.70-1601.80. If the date the 137
complaint is filed is clearly stamped on the face of the 138
complaint, that date is the date of filing. The date the 139
complaint is filed with the commission for purposes of this 140
section is the earliest date of filing with the Equal Employment 141
Opportunity Commission, the fair-employment-practice agency, or 142
the commission. The complaint shall contain a short and plain 143
statement of the facts describing the violation and the relief 144
sought. The commission may require additional information to be 145
in the complaint. The commission, within 5 days of the complaint 146
being filed, shall by registered mail send a copy of the 147
complaint to the person who allegedly committed the violation. 148
The person who allegedly committed the violation may file an 149
answer to the complaint within 25 days of the date the complaint 150
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
was filed with the commission. Any answer filed shall be mailed 151
to the aggrieved person by the person filing the answer. Both 152
the complaint and the answer shall be verified. 153
(15) In any civil action or administrative proceeding 154
brought pursuant to this section, a finding that a person 155
employed by the state or any governmental entity or agency has 156
violated s. 760.10 shall as a matter of law constitute just or 157
substantial cause for such person's discharge. 158
Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026. 159