LibGuides: Discover Florida Resources: Florida Government

Executive Office of the Governor

46th Governor of Florida

Executive Office of the Governor This link will take you directly to the Governor's executive page and information.
A guide to Florida Governors and the Florida Cabinet (Historically) Introduction: This finding aid provides a timeline of the Florida governors from the territorial governors to the present. The guide includes links to relevant gubernatorial and executive collections in the State Archives of Florida, the State Library of Florida, and other repositories.

State Agencies in the Florida Government

MyFlorida - The Official Page for Sunshine State Government This is the Florida Government's main landing page for information about various areas of the state.
Full list of State Agency pages This link will take you to a list of every state agency in the Florida State Government.
Florida 411 Online Telephone Directory The State Directory Assistance Center is open Monday-Friday 8 AM-5 PM EST.
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- by agency
- by city or county
- by school, community college or university
- by subject
- by employee
- by phone number
"Should you need additional assistance finding state information, please call the State Information Center at 1-866-693-6748 or locally at 850-488-1234."

Useful Florida Links:

Certificates and Registries at FloridaHealth.gov Welcome to the official government website for the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics. If a website relating to vital record certificates does not contain .gov, it is NOT an official government website. Many companies not affiliated with the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics have official-looking sites and offer their services to order vital record certificates. VitalChek.com is the ONLY contracted vendor authorized by the State of Florida to provide these services. Please be careful sharing your personal information with any other company.
CONNECT Florida Online Reemployment Assistance System Apply for reemployment assistance benefits, formerly known as unemployment compensation, and file a claim online.
Employ Florida Marketplace Search for jobs and create a resume with the Employ Florida database.
Florida Administrative Code & Register The Department of State’s Administrative Code, Register, and Laws Section is the filing point for rules promulgated by state regulatory agencies. Agency rulemaking is governed by Chapter 120, Florida Statutes, and the Administrative Procedures Act. Rules are published in the Florida Administrative Code. The program is also responsible for publishing the Florida Administrative Register.
MyACCESS Introducing the new MyACCESS, the modernized version of the old ACCESS system. MyACCESS aims to enhance the needs of Floridians accessing SNAP (food assistance), TANF (cash assistance), and Medicaid (healthcare coverage assistance). This change reflects our commitment to providing a user-friendly platform that focuses on the government assistance that individuals in need rely on to support their families and ultimately achieve self-sufficiency.

The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Constitution, adopted in 1968, defines the legislature's role and how it should be constituted. The legislature is composed of 160 state legislators (120 in the House and 40 in the Senate). The legislature's primary purpose is to enact new laws and amend or repeal existing ones. It meets in the Florida State Capitol building in Tallahassee.

For more information on Florida Statutes, Florida Laws, and the Florida State Constitution, see:

Florida Statues and Laws of Florida Welcome to the Florida Statues and Laws Subject Guide. This guide will provide you with research access to links to the current Florida Legislature, Florida statutes, Florida Laws, and the Florida Constitution. You will also find links to historical Florida Documents to provide a historical perspective on the evolution of Florida Law.

Florida Senate Florida House of Representatives

Online Sunshine - The Florida State Legislature Official homepage for the Florida Legislature
The Florida Senate The Senate comprises 40 members, each elected from single-member districts across the state. The Florida Legislature meets in session every year for sixty consecutive days. A regular session of the legislature shall convene on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March of each odd-numbered year and on the second Tuesday after the first Monday in January of each even-numbered year. There are other ways in which the Legislature may be convened as outlined in Article III, Section 2, of the Florida Constitution, including special sessions, which may be called either by the Governor or by a joint proclamation issued by the Senate President and House Speaker.
Florida Senate Daily Journals (Online) Daily journals are provisional and appear on the Daily Journals tab until they are published in a Bound Journal. Visit the Bound Journals tab to view all Bound Journals.
Florida Senate Bound Journals (Online) The Senate Journal is considered the official record of the Florida Senate as overseen by the Secretary of the Senate. Daily journals are provisional. (The Bound Journals covers from 1839 through the previous year.)
Senate Broadcast Schedule Today's Video Broadcast Schedule along with a link to the Senate Video Archives.
Florida Senators by County You can also be sorted by district number, legislator's last name, & party.
The Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower House of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, and the Florida Senate is the upper House. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted in 1968, defines the role of the Legislature and how it is to be constituted.[2] The House is composed of 120 members, each elected from a single-member district with a population of approximately 157,000 residents. Legislative districts are drawn on the basis of population figures provided by the federal decennial census. Representatives' terms begin immediately upon their election.
Florida House of Representatives Bound Journals (Online) This page will take you to the current year, but at the top of the page, you can access older. journals by the drop-down section for date. HOWEVER, unlike the FL Senate Journals which goes back to 1839. The House Journals only go back to 1998.
House Broadcast Schedule The House Schedule is updated regularly with event information and broadcast changes. Please check back frequently and refresh this page for the most current information available regarding House events.
Florida Representatives You can be sorted by district number, representative's last name, & party.

Additional Important Links:

Bill Citator Current session reports are updated several times daily. All reports are in PDF format. House and Senate bills are numbered in serial order, with House bills odd-numbered and Senate bills even-numbered.
Florida Statutes Provides links to the current state statutes and archived back to 1997 online.
Florida Constitution This link provides access to an online copy of the Florida State Constitution.
Laws of Florida (Florida Department of State website) A verbatim publication of the general and special laws enacted by the Florida Legislature in a given year and published each year following the legislature's regular session. It presents the laws in the order in which they are numbered by the Secretary of State, as well as resolutions and memorials passed by the legislature. Source: Florida Senate Glossary
Lobbyist Information There is ONE portal for BOTH lobbyist registrations and compensation reports.

Supreme Court of Florida The highest appellate court in Florida, the Florida Supreme Court’s 170+ years span a time when the state was the least populated (1845) to the present when it ranks third nationwide. Decisions stemming from Florida’s highest court have helped shape, indeed, the state itself and the nation as well. (You can also access other courts through this page.)
Florida Courts The Florida court system currently comprises the Supreme Court, five district courts of appeal, 20 circuit courts, and 67 county courts. Beginning January 1, 2023, a Sixth District Court of Appeals will be added to the system. Each layer of the Florida judicial system has a distinct role in providing justice across the state.
Florida Court Locations A map of court locations, and you can browse by city or county.
District Courts of Appeal There are currently five District Courts of Appeal in Florida, located in Tallahassee, Lakeland, Miami, West Palm Beach, and Daytona Beach. The new Sixth District Court of Appeal will be located in Polk County and begin on January 1, 2023. As a general rule, decisions of the district courts of appeal represent the final appellate review of litigated cases.

Trial Courts:

Trial Courts - Circuit There are 20 judicial circuits in the Florida court system. Circuit courts have general trial jurisdiction over matters not assigned by statute to the county courts and hear appeals from county court cases. Some circuits are made up of multiple counties.
Trial Courts – County The Florida Constitution establishes that there is ONE county court in each of Florida’s 67 counties. The county courts are sometimes called “the people’s courts,” much of the court’s work involves many citizen disputes, such as traffic offenses, less serious criminal matters (misdemeanors), and relatively small monetary disputes.

Florida Federal Courts

11th Circuit Court of Appeals Established by Congress in 1981, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit has jurisdiction over federal cases originating in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. The circuit includes nine district courts, with each state divided into Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts.
Florida Northern District Court (Tallahassee, Gainesville, Panama City, Pensacola) The Northern District of Florida comprises twenty-three counties, ranging from Escambia County in the west to Alachua County in the east. The District serves approximately 1.75 million people in North Florida.
Florida Middle District (Orlando, Ft. Myers, Jacksonville, Ocala, Tampa) The Middle District of Florida is one of the country's 94 United States District Courts. These courts are integral to the country's justice system, resolving civil and criminal matters. The Middle District of Florida stretches over 350 miles from the Georgia border on the northeast to south of Naples on Florida's southwest coast. Made up of 14 district judges, 14 senior judges, and 17 magistrate judges, the district has five divisions in Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Ocala, Orlando, and Tampa. The Clerk's Office is headquartered in the Orlando Division. The district includes 35 of Florida's 67 counties. In 2017, the United States Census Bureau(link is external) estimated that 57.7 percent of the state's population resides in the district. In 2020, 10,324 cases were filed in the district.
Florida Southern District (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Pierce, Key West, West Palm Beach) The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of Florida.
United States Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Florida (Tallahassee, Pensacola) "Our Mission: To administer justice fairly while providing excellent assistance to those we serve."
United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Florida (Orlando, Ft. Myers, Jacksonville, Ocala, Tampa) "Our Court serves the public by processing and deciding bankruptcy cases with fairness, impartiality, and excellence while treating everyone with dignity, integrity, and respect. "
United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Florida (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach) To promote public trust and confidence in the administration of bankruptcy cases through easy access to understandable, accurate information about the court, its procedures, and records; by the efficient, respectful, and dignified conduct of business at all levels of the court – clerk’s office, chambers, and courtroom; through adjudication of bankruptcy cases by a fair and impartial tribunal that is designed to provide relief to the honest debtor; equitable distribution of available assets to creditors; and preservation of jobs and value through successful business reorganizations.