Florida
Florida has no forensic science commission or analyst license; the Florida Department of Law Enforcement runs the state crime labs and the DNA database. Since 2023 the State has added people held on immigration detainers to the DNA database, created grant programs for rapid DNA, genetic genealogy, and private lab testing, made genetic genealogy records confidential, and given police more time on device search warrants.
At a glance
- Oversight body
- None independent. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) runs the state-operated crime labs, sets education and experience standards for their staff, and administers the statewide DNA database (Fla. Stat. 943.34, 943.325(4)). Locally funded labs belong to the statewide lab system without FDLE operational control.
- Lab accreditation
- No general statutory mandate. Statutes assume it in three places. Only accredited local government crime labs get CODIS access to the state DNA database (943.325(4)). Court-ordered defense testing at a state lab must not violate the lab’s national certification or accreditation standards (943.33(2)). Grant-funded testing at a private DNA lab requires at least 5 years of accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 plus the FBI Quality Assurance Standards (943.328(1)). Non-DNA disciplines are not addressed.
- Analyst licensing
- None. FDLE sets education and experience standards only for its own lab staff (943.34(5)).
- Admissibility standard
- Daubert. The Legislature amended s. 90.702 in ch. 2013-107. After DeLisle v. Crane Co., 258 So. 3d 1219 (Fla. 2018), held the amendment procedural, the Florida Supreme Court adopted it as a procedural rule in In re Amendments to the Florida Evidence Code, 278 So. 3d 551 (Fla. May 23, 2019), effective immediately. Section 90.702 has no amendment after 2013 and does not track the 2023 change to Federal Rule 702.
- Post-conviction forensic relief
- No changed-science statute. A person found guilty of a felony and sentenced, or who pleaded guilty or no contest to a felony before July 1, 2006, may petition for postsentencing DNA testing if identity was genuinely disputed (s. 925.11); s. 925.12 covers later pleas, and FDLE or its designee does the testing (943.3251). Procedure is Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.853, “Motion for Postconviction DNA Testing.” Newly discovered evidence claims go under Rule 3.850, “Motion to Vacate; Set Aside; or Correct Sentence,” and Rule 3.851, “Collateral Relief After Death Sentence Has Been Imposed and Affirmed on Direct Appeal.”
- DNA database scope
- Adults and juveniles committed to a jail or to the custody or supervision of the Department of Corrections or Juvenile Justice who are convicted of any felony or listed misdemeanors, arrested for any felony (all felonies since January 1, 2019, subject to appropriations), or, since July 1, 2023, held in law enforcement custody on a federal immigration detainer. A profile is removed only on a certified order of reversal, dismissal, acquittal, or no-file (s. 943.325).
Changes, 2023 to 2026
Device search warrants: 365-day return, no analysis deadline
Section 933.05 was restructured. A warrant for a computer or electronic device, including data on it, must be returned within 365 days. It is timely executed if the device is seized within 10 days, and the agency need not finish analyzing or reviewing the data within the return period. Warrants for DNA specimens must be returned within 30 days, and warrants to out-of-state providers for electronic communications data within 20 days.
For practitioners: Under the 2026 rules, analysis of device data may continue after the warrant is returned.
Child exploitation grants may pay for digital forensics
The Online Sting Operations Grant Program is renamed the Internet Crimes Against Children Grant Program (s. 943.0411), and its uses now include “investigative or digital forensics training, hardware, or software.” The act also creates the ICAC Task Force Funding Program (s. 943.0421), which sends 80 percent to task forces and 20 percent to FDLE.
For practitioners: Funding only; no new standards for digital forensic work.
45 days to return warrants for devices already held
A warrant to search a computer or electronic device already in police possession had to be returned within 45 days, not the general 10 days (s. 933.05). The 2026 act replaced this rule.
For practitioners: Check which return period applied on the date the warrant issued.
Grants for DNA testing at accredited private labs
New s. 943.328 creates the Expedited DNA Testing Grant Program. Law enforcement agencies may use grants to pay private DNA labs when the needed technology is not available at state or local labs, or when expedited testing advances an investigation. The private lab must have been accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and the FBI Quality Assurance Standards for at least 5 years. Grantees must report results, including the lab report and turnaround time.
For practitioners: Ask whether a private lab result was grant-funded and confirm its accreditation history.
Unreported sexual assault kits kept 50 years
Section 943.326(3) now requires kits from victims who do not report to be kept at least 50 years. The collecting medical facility or certified rape crisis center must transfer them to FDLE within 30 days. Kits that are reported, or for which testing is requested, still need the prosecuting agency’s approval before destruction (943.326(3)(a)). FDLE approval applies only to a kit first held under the 50-year rule whose victim later reports or asks for testing after the s. 775.15 limitations period has run (943.326(3)(b)2.).
For practitioners: Before 2024, kits could be destroyed once the prosecutor approved; check which rule applied to an older kit.
Grants for forensic investigative genetic genealogy
New s. 943.327 defines forensic investigative genetic genealogy and creates an FDLE grant program for law enforcement agencies and medical examiners to use it on violent crimes and unidentified remains. Grants may fund analysis of DNA samples “collected under applicable legal authority.” Methods must follow FDLE rule and be compatible with multiple genealogy databases open to law enforcement use. Grantees must report results within 1 year. Section 2 of the act appropriated $500,000 in nonrecurring general revenue for fiscal 2024–25.
For practitioners: The statute sets no warrant or consent standard specific to genetic genealogy.
One-time DNA collection from state prison inmates
Every Department of Corrections inmate who had not given a DNA sample under s. 943.325 had to give one by September 30, 2024. The act is not codified.
For practitioners: Expect database hits from inmates who were never sampled before 2024.
DNA taken from people held on immigration detainers
People in law enforcement custody who are subject to a federal immigration detainer are now qualifying offenders (s. 943.325(2)(g)2.d.). The sample is taken when the detainer is received, and the custodial agency must take it immediately and send it to FDLE in a timely manner.
For practitioners: A database profile may come from detainer status, not an arrest or conviction.
Rapid DNA grant program
New s. 943.324 directs FDLE to award any funds appropriated for the program each year to county jails or sheriffs’ offices to buy DNA testing machines and supplies for database samples under s. 943.325.
For practitioners: The statute sets no operating or accreditation standards for these machines.
Genetic genealogy records closed to the public
New s. 119.071(2)(r) defines investigative genetic genealogy and makes its information and materials confidential and exempt from public records law. That includes SNP and whole-genome profiles and the identities of relatives found. It does not cover the donor of the perpetrator sample or witnesses. Agencies may share the records with other agencies and must disclose them under a court order for prosecution. The exemption reaches records held before July 1, 2023.
For practitioners: The public records law closes genealogy records, and the statute requires disclosure under a court order for a prosecution. Defense counsel should seek that order or use criminal discovery.
Pending bills
No bills are pending. The 2026 regular session has ended, and the 2027 session has not convened.
- HB 875 and SB 1202 (2026), on eyewitness identification, died March 13, 2026.
- The genetic genealogy records exemption in s. 119.071(2)(r) is repealed October 2, 2028 unless the Legislature reenacts it. Ch. 2023-235
Checked and unchanged
- Section 90.702 has no amendment after ch. 2013-107. Sections 925.11, 925.12, and 943.3251 read the same in the 2022 and 2026 Statutes.
- Sections 943.32 to 943.34 (lab system and FDLE powers) were not amended from 2023 to 2026; s. 943.33 was last amended in 2013.
- No statute regulates police facial recognition. FDLE must keep a statewide biometric identification system that stores and matches facial images for criminal justice agencies (s. 943.05(2)(b)).
- FDLE rules carrying out the rapid DNA, genetic genealogy, and expedited DNA grant programs, and appropriations for the rapid DNA and expedited DNA programs, could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.
Last updated October 19, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Florida forensic science oversight: Forensic Science Tracker,” uscli.org/forensic-science-tracker/florida (last updated October 19, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.