Miami Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia with members of Beyond the Bars in Tallahassee on March 6, 2026. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix)
A year after the Legislature threatened to repeal the state law governing day labor in Florida, the Senate voted unanimously on Friday to add protections that could help them find permanent work.
However, the likelihood of it becoming law this year is in doubt, as the companion bill in the House has not moved all session.
The measure (SB 1112) would change the 1995 Labor Pool Act to prohibit staffing agencies from charging employers a placement fee if they wish to directly hire a worker permanently. Those fees can range sometimes between $1,000 and $2,000. These agencies typically place workers in temporary jobs.
It would require labor pools in the state to register annually with the Department of Commerce and allow courts to award fees and costs to the prevailing party in legal proceedings brought under the Labor Pool Act.
“The bill supports reentry from the justice system and public safety by removing barriers to permanent hiring and improving accountability in labor pools,” Sen. Iliana Garcia, R-Miami, said on the Senate floor. “This bill helps people access legitimate work, stabilize their lives, and successfully reintegrate into their communities.”
Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-Indian Rocks Beach, said he had hired temp workers at his former business and that one of his “greatest privileges and honors” was being able to hire one of those workers full time to allow health care and retirement benefits.
“And some of them had a past that they were looking for that second chance, and I was so proud when I was able to do that, and so really if you think about it it’s a disservice right now because they’re being held hostage,” he said. “They want to go and live normal lives. They want to get meaningful employment.”
Pushing for the legislation is the Miami activist group Beyond the Bars, which helps people with criminal records find employment in industries like construction and other blue-collar work.
The group lobbied legislators last year to reject a proposal that began moving through the Florida House to dismantle the Labor Pool Act. That bill’s sponsor, Rep. Shane Abbott, R-DeFuniak Springs, told legislators it was no longer needed because the state had its own version of OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety Health Administration.
Rich Templin of the Florida AFL-CIO told a committee that in fact “there is no state OSHA.”
That bill passed through all of its House committees in 2025, but its Senate companion died in committee.
‘Encouraged’
Jean Tuffet, policy lead for Beyond the Bars, said his group mobilized to help kill that bill.
“Now we’re trying to strengthen and improve it [The Labor pool Act] to make a stronger,” he said.
Although it’s unlikely the bill will cross the finish line this year, Tuffet noted that the atmosphere around reforming the Labor Pool Act has changed in the Capitol. Sen. Keith Truenow, R-Tavares, supported Garcia’s bill this year after he sponsored legislation to repeal it a year ago, Tuffet said.
“We’re encouraged by the progress that we made in the Senate this year and the amount of public support that we got this year, and so we’re going to ride that momentum into the next legislative cycle,” he said.
Garcia told reporters Friday that if the bill doesn’t get picked up by the House, she intends to refile it in next year’s legislative session.