{"id":19065,"date":"2025-10-24T15:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T15:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/19065\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T15:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T15:53:09","slug":"ana-maria-rodriguez-johnna-lopez-renew-bipartisan-push-to-close-floridas-swimming-pool-safety-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/19065\/","title":{"rendered":"Ana Maria Rodriguez, Johnna L\u00f3pez renew bipartisan push to close Florida\u2019s swimming pool safety gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drowning has long been<\/a> the No. 1 cause of death<\/a> for Florida children ages 1 to 4. Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez and Rep. Johanna L\u00f3pez want to change that.<\/p>\n

This week, they filed companion bills (SB 244<\/a>, HB 117<\/a>) to require added safety measures for swimming pools on residential property.<\/p>\n

If passed, the legislation would make it so home pools must have at least one safety feature in place \u2014 a barrier, cover, alarm or other safeguard when the property is transferred or sold on or after Oct. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Home inspectors would also have to report violations of that requirement.<\/p>\n

Florida has consistently led the nation in unintentional drowning deaths among children 1 to 4. It\u2019s fourth nationwide among all ages, according to the Florida Department of Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Eighty-one percent of those deaths occur in residential settings, particularly in older homes where current laws do not apply, a press note from Rodriguez and L\u00f3pez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe age of a swimming pool should not be a factor in determining whether anyone, of any age, might die or be permanently disabled from something that could have been prevented,\u201d Rodriguez, a Doral Republican, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been 25 years since the passage of the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act<\/a>.\u00a0Current law only requires safety measures for residential pools built after Oct. 1, 2000.\u00a0This legislation will amend the law to include all residential swimming pools, regardless of when they were built, potentially saving many more lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez, an Orlando Democrat, said too many families in Florida have lost loved ones due to \u201can entirely preventable tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation is about protecting every Floridian who enters a pool, whether they\u2019re a child or an adult who never learned to swim,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cNo family should have to endure such a heartbreaking loss when we have the means to prevent it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lopez carried substantively identical legislation<\/a> last Session with Senate support from Orlando Democrat Carlos Guillermo Smith and Hollywood independent Jason Pizzo. It died in both chambers without a hearing.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez and L\u00f3pez also sponsored<\/a> the legislation in 2024, when it met an identical fate.<\/p>\n

During the 2025 Session, Rodriguez and Highland Beach Republican Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman also sponsored legislation<\/a> to broaden anti-drowning protections in open waters and at camps, schools and child care centers. A key aspect of the bill would have required the installation of lifesaving rings at every beach, which could be thrown by anyone to rescue swimmers in distress.<\/p>\n

Florida Statutes<\/a>\u00a0include training standards for swimming instructors and lifeguards at public pools. State law includes\u00a0mandates for life jackets on boats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no requirement for lifeguards to be present at beaches and pools, nor are there any requirements for lifesaving rings, also called life buoys, at places where there is a drowning hazard.<\/p>\n

That proposal also died unheard.<\/p>\n

SB 244 and HB 117, which Fort Lauderdale Democratic Rep. Daryl Campbell is cosponsoring, await committee assignments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drowning has long been the No. 1 cause of death for Florida children ages 1 to 4. Sen.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15646,2805,15647,28,30,29,15648,6479,15649,15650,1553,15651],"class_list":["post-19065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-ana-maria-rodriguez","tag-drowning","tag-drowning-prevention","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-hb-117","tag-johanna-lopez","tag-pools","tag-sb-244","tag-swimming","tag-swimming-pools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}