(1) GENERAL.—The division shall carry out all of the provisions of this chapter and all other applicable laws and rules relating to the inspection or regulation of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments for the purpose of safeguarding the public health, safety, and welfare. The division shall be responsible for ascertaining that an operator licensed under this chapter does not engage in any misleading advertising or unethical practices.
(2) INSPECTION OF PREMISES.—
(a) The division has jurisdiction and is responsible for all inspections required by this chapter. The division is responsible for quality assurance. The division shall inspect each licensed public lodging establishment at least biannually, except for transient and nontransient apartments, which shall be inspected at least annually. Each establishment licensed by the division shall be inspected at such other times as the division determines is necessary to ensure the public’s health, safety, and welfare. The division shall adopt by rule a risk-based inspection frequency for each licensed public food service establishment. The rule must require at least one, but not more than four, routine inspections that must be performed annually, and may include guidelines that consider the inspection and compliance history of a public food service establishment, the type of food and food preparation, and the type of service. The division shall reassess the inspection frequency of all licensed public food service establishments at least annually. Public lodging units classified as vacation rentals or timeshare projects are not subject to this requirement but shall be made available to the division upon request. If, during the inspection of a public lodging establishment classified for renting to transient or nontransient tenants, an inspector identifies vulnerable adults who appear to be victims of neglect, as defined in s. 415.102, or, in the case of a building that is not equipped with automatic sprinkler systems, tenants or clients who may be unable to self-preserve in an emergency, the division shall convene meetings with the following agencies as appropriate to the individual situation: the Department of Health, the Department of Elderly Affairs, the area agency on aging, the local fire marshal, the landlord and affected tenants and clients, and other relevant organizations, to develop a plan that improves the prospects for safety of affected residents and, if necessary, identifies alternative living arrangements such as facilities licensed under part II of chapter 400 or under chapter 429.
(b) For purposes of performing required inspections and the enforcement of this chapter, the division has the right of entry and access to public lodging establishments and public food service establishments at any reasonable time.
(c) Public food service establishment inspections shall be conducted to enforce provisions of this part and to educate, inform, and promote cooperation between the division and the establishment.
(d) The division shall adopt and enforce sanitation rules consistent with law to ensure the protection of the public from food-borne illness in those establishments licensed under this chapter. These rules shall provide the standards and requirements for obtaining, storing, preparing, processing, serving, or displaying food in public food service establishments, approving public food service establishment facility plans, conducting necessary public food service establishment inspections for compliance with sanitation regulations, cooperating and coordinating with the Department of Health in epidemiological investigations, and initiating enforcement actions, and for other such responsibilities deemed necessary by the division. The division may not establish by rule any regulation governing the design, construction, erection, alteration, modification, repair, or demolition of any public lodging or public food service establishment. It is the intent of the Legislature to preempt that function to the Florida Building Commission and the State Fire Marshal through adoption and maintenance of the Florida Building Code and the Florida Fire Prevention Code. The division shall provide technical assistance to the commission in updating the construction standards of the Florida Building Code which govern public lodging and public food service establishments. Further, the division shall enforce the provisions of the Florida Building Code which apply to public lodging and public food service establishments in conducting any inspections authorized by this part. The division, or its agent, shall notify the local firesafety authority or the State Fire Marshal of any readily observable violation of a rule adopted under chapter 633 which relates to public lodging establishments or public food establishments, and the identification of such violation does not require any firesafety inspection certification.
(e)1. Relating to facility plan approvals, the division may establish, by rule, fees for conducting plan reviews and may grant variances from construction standards in hardship cases, which variances may be less restrictive than the provisions specified in this section or the rules adopted under this section. A variance may not be granted pursuant to this section until the division is satisfied that:
a. The variance shall not adversely affect the health of the public.
b. No reasonable alternative to the required construction exists.
c. The hardship was not caused intentionally by the action of the applicant.
2. The division’s advisory council shall review applications for variances and recommend agency action. The division shall make arrangements to expedite emergency requests for variances, to ensure that such requests are acted upon within 30 days of receipt.
3. The division shall establish, by rule, a fee for the cost of the variance process. Such fee shall not exceed $150 for routine variance requests and $300 for emergency variance requests.
(f) In conducting inspections of establishments licensed under this chapter, the division shall determine if each coin-operated amusement machine that is operated on the premises of a licensed establishment is properly registered with the Department of Revenue. Each month the division shall report to the Department of Revenue the sales tax registration number of the operator of any licensed establishment that has on location a coin-operated amusement machine and that does not have an identifying certificate conspicuously displayed as required by s. 212.05(1)(h).
(g) In inspecting public food service establishments, the department shall notify each inspected establishment of the availability of the food-recovery brochure developed under s. 595.420.
(3) SANITARY STANDARDS; EMERGENCIES; TEMPORARY FOOD SERVICE EVENTS.—The division shall:
(a) Prescribe sanitary standards which shall be enforced in public food service establishments.
(b) Inspect public lodging establishments and public food service establishments whenever necessary to respond to an emergency or epidemiological condition.
(c) Administer a public notification process for temporary food service events and distribute educational materials that address safe food storage, preparation, and service procedures.
1. Sponsors of temporary food service events shall notify the division not less than 3 days before the scheduled event of the type of food service proposed, the time and location of the event, a complete list of food service vendors participating in the event, the number of individual food service facilities each vendor will operate at the event, and the identification number of each food service vendor’s current license as a public food service establishment or temporary food service event licensee. Notification may be completed orally, by telephone, in person, or in writing. A public food service establishment or food service vendor may not use this notification process to circumvent the license requirements of this chapter.
2. The division shall keep a record of all notifications received for proposed temporary food service events and shall provide appropriate educational materials to the event sponsors and notify the event sponsors of the availability of the food-recovery brochure developed under s. 595.420.
3.a. Unless excluded under s. 509.013(5)(b), a public food service establishment or other food service vendor must obtain one of the following classes of license from the division: an individual license, for a fee of no more than $105, for each temporary food service event in which it participates; or an annual license, for a fee of no more than $1,000, that entitles the licensee to participate in an unlimited number of food service events during the license period. The division shall establish license fees, by rule, and may limit the number of food service facilities a licensee may operate at a particular temporary food service event under a single license.
b. Public food service establishments holding current licenses from the division may operate under the regulations of such a license at temporary food service events.
(4) STOP-SALE ORDERS.—The division may stop the sale, and supervise the proper destruction, of any food or food product when the director or the director’s designee determines that such food or food product represents a threat to the public safety or welfare. If the operator of a public food service establishment licensed under this chapter has received official notification from a health authority that a food or food product from that establishment has potentially contributed to any instance or outbreak of food-borne illness, the food or food product must be maintained in safe storage in the establishment until the responsible health authority has examined, sampled, seized, or requested destruction of the food or food product.
(5) REPORTS REQUIRED.—The division shall submit annually to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the chairs of the legislative appropriations committees a report, which shall state, but need not be limited to, the total number of active public lodging and public food service licenses in the state, the total number of inspections of these establishments conducted by the division to ensure the enforcement of sanitary standards, the total number of inspections conducted in response to emergency or epidemiological conditions, the number of violations of each sanitary standard, the total number of inspections conducted to meet the statutorily required number of inspections, and any recommendations for improved inspection procedures. The division shall also keep accurate account of all expenses arising out of the performance of its duties and all fees collected under this chapter. The report shall be submitted by September 30 following the end of the fiscal year.
(6) RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.—The division shall adopt such rules as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
(7) PREEMPTION AUTHORITY.—
(a) The regulation of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments, including, but not limited to, sanitation standards, inspections, training and testing of personnel, and matters related to the nutritional content and marketing of foods offered in such establishments, is preempted to the state. This paragraph does not preempt the authority of a local government or local enforcement district to conduct inspections of public lodging and public food service establishments for compliance with the Florida Building Code and the Florida Fire Prevention Code, pursuant to ss. 553.80 and 633.206.
(b) A local law, ordinance, or regulation may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental of vacation rentals. This paragraph does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation adopted on or before June 1, 2011.
(c) Paragraph (b) does not apply to any local law, ordinance, or regulation exclusively relating to property valuation as a criterion for vacation rental if the local law, ordinance, or regulation is required to be approved by the state land planning agency pursuant to an area of critical state concern designation.
History.—ss. 1, 2, 9, ch. 6952, 1915; RGS 212, 213, 2130; s. 2, ch. 9264, 1923; CGL 245, 246, 3359; ss. 3, 4, ch. 16042, 1933; CGL 1936 Supp. 245, 246; s. 9, ch. 26945, 1951; s. 1, ch. 28129, 1953; ss. 1, 8, ch. 29821, 1955; s. 1, ch. 57-389; s. 1, ch. 63-420; ss. 12, 16, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 2, ch. 73-325; s. 135, ch. 73-333; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 1, ch. 77-457; ss. 2, 39, 42, ch. 79-240; ss. 1, 3, 4, ch. 81-161; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 3, 51, 52, ch. 90-339; s. 2, ch. 91-40; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 22, ch. 92-180; s. 2, ch. 93-53; s. 35, ch. 93-216; s. 19, ch. 94-314; s. 4, ch. 95-416; s. 137, ch. 95-418; s. 3, ch. 96-384; s. 1165, ch. 97-103; s. 1, ch. 98-275; s. 4, ch. 98-283; s. 246, ch. 99-8; s. 47, ch. 2000-141; s. 47, ch. 2000-154; s. 109, ch. 2000-349; s. 34, ch. 2001-186; s. 3, ch. 2001-372; s. 11, ch. 2002-48; s. 1, ch. 2002-299; s. 96, ch. 2006-197; s. 2, ch. 2008-55; s. 3, ch. 2008-134; s. 2, ch. 2011-119; s. 76, ch. 2012-96; s. 1, ch. 2013-147; s. 146, ch. 2013-183; s. 1, ch. 2014-71; s. 2, ch. 2014-133; s. 48, ch. 2014-150; s. 66, ch. 2015-2; s. 1, ch. 2015-143; s. 2, ch. 2016-86.
Note.—Former ss. 509.03, 509.04, 511.11.