Florida

Recent / Pending Legislation

• HB 847 (passed 2025), Section 943.328, Expedited DNA Testing Grant Program – Backlog/Outsourcing Legislation – allowed crime scene / case evidence to be outsourced at private labs.
• HB 533 (2024, enacted) – requires all Florida inmates who do not already have DNA in the state’s database to provide a sample by September 30.

Enhanced Budget Items

$500,000 for FGG Grant Program

$200,000 one-time and $2.75M pilot for Rapid DNA.

Arrestees: Yes.

Qualifying Crimes: Any felony arrest, from adults and minors alike. Also covered: any arrestee in law-enforcement custody who is subject to an immigration detention order issued by a federal immigration agency. Booking Station Rapid Ready.

Time of Collection: The statute ties collection to booking. In the immigration scenario, the sample must be submitted when the law enforcement agency holding the person receives the federal detainer.

Expungement: Available on submission, for each charge that supported (or could have supported) collection, of a certified copy of the No Information or Nolle Prosequi filed by the state attorney, or a final court order or other official documentation showing that the charge was dismissed, ended in acquittal, or was never filed within the applicable time period.

Statute/Case Law

• F.S.A. § 943.325. DNA DATABASE
• U.S. v. Davis, 65 F. Supp. 3d 1352 (M.D. Fla. 2014) (Florida statute requiring any qualifying offender who is arrested in the state to submit a DNA sample at time of booking did not intrude on arrestee’s privacy rights in violation of Fourth Amendment. DNA identification of arrestees was a reasonable search that could be considered part of a routine booking procedure).
• Morales v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Corr., No. 8:21-CV-1846-MSS-TGW, 2024 WL 3540328, at *12 (M.D. Fla. July 25, 2024) (DNA collected pursuant to an unprosecuted arrest does not preclude law enforcement from storing DNA in CODIS for further comparison and finding that Florida’s DNA database statute authorizing collection of DNA from every arrestee charged with a felony does not violate the Fourth Amendment) (citing Maryland v. King, 133 S. Ct. 1958, 1980 (2013)).

Convicted Offenders: Yes.

Qualifying Crimes:

Felony offenses;

Attempted felony offenses (in Florida or elsewhere);

Enumerated Misdemeanors;

Any “Gang Related Offense” found to have been committed for the purpose of benefiting, promoting, or furthering the interests of a criminal gang; or

Any crime for which such person is in the custody of a law enforcement agency and is subject to an immigration detainer issued by a federal immigration agency

Time of Collection: Upon conviction if such conviction results in incarceration. If such conviction does not result in incarceration, at the time of sentencing or release pursuant to bond.

Incarcerated persons or those in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice must submit DNA samples not less than 45 days before their presumptive date of release.

If an out-of-state offender is transferred to Florida for a felony offense or attempted felony offense, upon transfer.

Expungement: Available on a certified copy of a final court order establishing that the conviction was overturned on direct appeal or set aside in a post-conviction proceeding.

Statutes/Case Law:

F.S.A. § 943.325. DNA DATABASE

Morrow v. State, App. 4 Dist., 914 So.2d 1085 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2005) (Requirement that persons convicted of certain crimes and still incarcerated or subject to court supervision to provide biological samples for DNA testing did not violate ex post facto clause).

M.S. v. State, App. 4 Dist., 987 So.2d 774 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2008) (Statutory provision requiring any person convicted of certain enumerated offenses to submit to DNA testing applies to juvenile offenders as well as adults).

Smith v. State, App. 3 Dist., 955 So.2d 21 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2006), rehearing and rehearing en banc denied, review denied 967 So.2d 198 (trial court could not compel individual, who had previously entered guilty plea to charges of aggravated battery, but whose probation had subsequently been terminated by court, to submit to an “oral swab” DNA test under statute requiring persons convicted of certain crimes, because individual was neither incarcerated nor under any form of court-ordered supervision).

Legislative History

• Ch. 89-355, Laws of Florida (1989). Created § 943.325. Required persons convicted of sexual battery (ch. 794) or lewdness/indecent exposure offenses (ch. 800) to submit blood specimens for DNA analysis. Directed FDLE to receive, store, and maintain those profiles in a statewide automated identification system — the precursor to Florida’s CODIS-integrated database.
• Ch. 93-204 (1993) — Amended the database statute (s. 9). This was a substantial early expansion.
• Ch. 94-90 (1994) — Further amended the statute (s. 3).
• Ch. 2000-233 / Senate Bill No. 838 (2000) — Burglary and Supervision Expansion. Added burglary (§ 810.02) to the list of offenses triggering mandatory DNA collection — a significant categorical expansion beyond sex offenses. Also clarified that persons on probation, community control, or any other court-ordered supervision for a qualifying offense must submit specimens even without a specific court order requiring it, and gave the state attorney a mechanism to seek an amended judgment if the sentencing court failed to include the DNA collection order. Effective July 1, 2000.
• Ch. 2000-328 (2000) — A statutory housekeeping bill. Its only change to § 943.325 was updating one cross-reference in subsection (10)(c): the citation to “s. 775.13(5)” was corrected to “s. 775.13(6)” because the same act repealed subsection (4) of § 775.13, shifting all subsequent subsections down. No substantive change to DNA collection requirements. Effective upon becoming law (June 19, 2000).
• Ch. 2009-190 (2009) — Arrestee Collection Mandate: This is the most significant expansion after the original. It added arrestees (not just convicts) for any felony or attempted felony to the definition of “qualifying offender,” requiring DNA at booking. Implementation was phased in by offense category from January 1, 2011 through January 1, 2019, subject to appropriations.
• Ch. 2019-45 (CS/SB 920, 2019) — Its only connection to § 943.325 was a reenactment of the “qualifying offender” definition in § 943.325(2)(g) to incorporate the § 847.011 amendment by reference — which had the practical effect of adding misdemeanor convictions under § 847.011 (obscene materials depicting minors) to the qualifying offender list.
• Ch. 2019-91 / CS/HB 1021 (2019) — Probable Cause Clarification. Amended § 943.325(1)(b) to add a legislative finding that a DNA database match “may be used to find probable cause for the issuance of a warrant for arrest or to obtain the DNA sample from an offender.” This codified in the statute itself that a CODIS hit is legally sufficient probable cause — a clarification that had been contested in litigation. Effective July 1, 2019.
• Ch. 2023-40 / CS/CS/SB 1718 (2023) — Immigration Detainer Holders (missing from your list) A broad 2023 immigration enforcement law. Section 18 amended § 943.325(2)(g)’s “qualifying offender” definition to add a new category: persons “in the custody of a law enforcement agency” who are “subject to an immigration detainer issued by a federal immigration agency.” This extended DNA collection to immigration detainee populations held in Florida jails, regardless of whether they had been convicted of or arrested for any Florida offense.
• Ch. 2024-31 (HB 533, 2024) — Signed by Governor DeSantis; required DNA collection from all current Florida inmates, closing the gap for those incarcerated before the mandate applied.

• Rapid DNA Booking Station Program
  • FDLE has implemented Rapid DNA technology at select booking facilities in Florida. Florida has been one of the more active states in deploying Rapid DNA instruments at sheriff’s offices and police departments. Profiles from NDIS-approved instruments are uploaded to CODIS. FDLE has published guidelines for participating agencies. Facilities:
    • Nassau
    • Clay
    • Baker
    • Flagler
    • Hernando
    • Pinellas
    • Martin
    • Charlotte
    • Broward (in progress)
    • Leon
  • Florida was the second state in the US (following Louisiana) to receive explicit FBI approval to upload Rapid DNA profiles directly from a jail booking environment..
  • Initial program details – Florida Sheriffs Association
  • HB 1105 (2023, enacted), Section 943.324, formally establishing the Rapid DNA Grant Program within Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) – to support local law enforcement implementation of Rapid DNA enabled booking stations.

• CS/SB 1402 – Public Records/Investigative Genetic Genealogy Materials – providing an exemption thereof.
• April 2026 – Statewide effort to solve thousands of cold cases by using advanced forensic DNA testing and genetic genealogy. April 2026 – AG Uthmeier launches statewide partnership to solve Florida cold cases.
• Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy Grant Program (SB 678; 2024, enacted). This program funds local agencies to track down hits outside of standard government databases. When profile fails to hit in CODIS, these funds allow investigators to run the sample through public-facing commercial DNA databases to build out family trees, tracking down partial generational hits to crack cold cases and identify unknown human remains. $500,000 for FGG Grant Program.
• Other relevant legislation
  • Protecting DNA Privacy Act (2021), (HB 833) – 760.40 Florida Law – restricts certain willful collection, retention, analysis, and disclosure of the DNA samples or DNA analysis of persons in Florida without their express consent. LE excluded.

• State Attorney’s Office, 4th Judicial Circuit (Jacksonville) ran an LODNA project on FY2018 ($880,933) and FY2021 ($1M) SAKI grants to collect owed samples from convicted offenders and arrestees. SAKI grantee table
• HB 533 (2024, enacted) – requires all Florida inmates who don’t already have DNA in the state’s database to provide a sample by September 30.

No program or law. Legislation is possible in 2027.