The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation or commonly known as DBPR is the governing agency over licenses in the state of Florida.
During the 2009 Legislative Session- the Florida State Legislature passed a new law- House Bill 425 as part of Chapter 455.227 (I0(t) that is for real estate licensees, appraisers, CAM and state contractors.
NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENT FOR CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS:
Beginning October 1, 2009, Chapter 455.227(1)(t)requires all licensees to report to the department within 30 days of being convicted or found guilty of, or having plead nolo contendere or guilty to a crime in any jurisdiction. This law also requires that any conviction prior to October 1, 2009.
A licensee who fails to report that information, may be subject to disciplinary action, including fines, suspension or license revocation. To report this information, complete the criminal self-reporting document and mail to the department as provided on the form.
There are two parts to this change that licensees need to be aware of: 1) In most cases the law previously required the reporting of felony convictions only, not misdemeanors. The law now requires the reporting of misdemeanors. 2) The law change now requires retroactive reporting for any crime that was not previously reported to the state, whether it occurred prior to getting a license, or after the license was obtained.
That means that if you have ever been convicted of a DUI; you now have to report that even if it happened before you got your license and even if it is a misdemeanor. That means that if you ever got convicted of a misdemeanor of possession of pot- guess what- now they want to know about that.
I am hoping that does not mean they will start revoking licenses over stuff that happened years ago to agents who have been serving their clients diligently and ethically.
They are really looking for those that are convicted of Fraud, Identity Theft, Extortion and those types of crimes.
Here is the form for reporting anything!
Please call DBPR directly if you have any questions at 850-487-1395.
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Hello Katerina, this is another example of why it's important to always stay out of trouble! Since background screening was only required when we initially obtained our Licenses, I think the new Law will affect many who have had things happen after they obtained their Licenses. On a similar, but different note, with the majority of Employers requiring thorough Background screening (even for Jobs that aren't considered to be great Jobs), I often think that there are hard working people out there who want Jobs, but can't get hired because of prior convictions, even things that aren't of a very serious nature, which seems almost counter-productive. Even poor Credit stops some Employers from hiring people and I wonder what will happen in the future with that requirement since more people will have poor Credit because of current economic conditions.
I'm just happy that I've never been arrested and plan to keep it that way. One bad incident can happen and, in the blink of an eye, your entire life and livelihood can be seriously damaged.