Jason Delgado
The certification of security officers in Florida could soon become an online process under a bill OK’d Monday by a House committee.
State law currently requires aspiring security officers — armed and unarmed — to undergo an in-person training course before certification.
The proposal (HB 1233), however, would shift unarmed training online. Armed courses, meanwhile, may feature at most 21 hours of online instruction. The rest of the training, including the firearm portion, would remain in-person.
Brevard County Republican Rep. Randy Fine is the bill sponsor. The Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee advanced the bill unanimously.
Fine’s proposal comes after Florida permitted aspiring officers to acquire their certification online amid the early stages of the pandemic. The measure would revive the online option and “modernize” the process, Fine said.
California and Georgia are among several states that permit online training for unarmed security officers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“It worked quite well,” Fine told committee members. “This would simply allow us to continue with what we saw work during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) oversees state licensing and compliance standards. It offers more than 22 types of licenses including security permits, concealed weapons licenses and private investigator certifications.
Under the measure, FDACS must ensure security schools maintain a physical location and verify an applicant completed the training. Security schools also must hold a minimum $1 million insurance policy.
“As of Dec. 31, 2021, the Division had issued a total of 169,758 private investigative, private security, and recovery services licenses and 2,459,530 concealed weapon permits, to qualified applicants,” a staff analysis noted.
The bill will appear next before the House Commerce Committee. Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley of Orange Park is the companion bill sponsor (SB 1474). That measure has two committee stops remaining.
If signed into law, the bill would take effect July 1.
