Title: Public Food Service Establishment Inspections

Summary: Providing that the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspect public food service establishments as often as necessary to ensure compliance; requiring a public food service establishment to post its current letter grade card, maintain a copy of its latest inspection report, and make the report available to the public upon request; authorizing an inspector to immediately close a public food service establishment under certain circumstances, etc.

Full Text:
An act relating to public food service establishment inspections; amending s. 509.032, F.S.; providing that the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspect public food service establishments as often as necessary to ensure compliance; requiring a written report for public food service establishment inspections; specifying a grading scale used in the inspection report; authorizing a public food service establishment to request a reinspection under certain circumstances; authorizing the division to charge a reasonable fee for reinspections and to increase the frequency of inspections for certain public food service establishments; allowing an operator of an establishment to request a hearing regarding an inspection grade; requiring a public food service establishment to post its current letter grade card, maintain a copy of its latest inspection report, and make the report available to the public upon request; requiring the division to establish a toll-free telephone hotline for complaints; requiring the division to appoint a consumer advocate; authorizing an inspector to immediately close a public food service establishment under certain circumstances; making technical changes; amending s. 509.233, F.S.; conforming a cross-reference; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 509.032, Florida Statutes, are amended, present subsections (3) through (7) of that section are redesignated as subsections (4) through (8), respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to that section, to read: 509.032 Duties.  (1) GENERAL.  (a)  The division shall perform its duties under carry out all of the provisions of this chapter and all other applicable laws and rules relating to the inspection or regulation of public lodging establishments and public food service establishments for the purpose of safeguarding the public health, safety, and welfare. The division shall be responsible for ascertaining that an operator licensed under this chapter does not engage in any misleading advertising or unethical practices. For purposes of performing required inspections and the enforcement of this part,the division has the right of entry and access to public lodging establishments and public food service establishments at any reasonable time. (b ) The division may not establish by rule any regulation governing the design, construction, erection, alteration, modification, repair, or demolition of any public lodging establishment or public food service establishment. It is the intent of the Legislature to preempt that function to the Florida Building Commission and the State Fire Marshal through adoption and maintenance of the Florida Building Code and the Florida Fire Prevention Code. The division shall provide technical assistance to the commission in updating the construction standards of the Florida Building Code which govern public lodging establishments and public food service establishments. Further, the division shall enforce the provisions of the Florida Building Code which apply to public lodging establishments and public food service establishments in conducting any inspections authorized under this part. The division, or its age nt, shall notify the local fire safety authority or the State Fire Marshal of any readily observable violation of a rule adopted under chapter which relates to public lodging establishments or public food establishments.The identification of such vi olation does not require a fire safety inspection certification. (c)1. Relating to facility plan approvals, the division may establish, by rule, fees for conducting plan reviews and,in hardship cases,may grant variances from construction standards which are less restrictive than those specified in this se ction or the rules adopted here under. A variance may not be granted pursuant to this section until the division is satisfied that: a. The variance will not adversely affect the health of the public. b. No reasonable alternative to the required construction exists. c. The hardship was not caused intentionally by the action of the applicant. 2. The division s advisory council shall review applications for variances and recommend agency action. The division shall expedite emergency requests for variances to ensure that such requests are acted upon within days of receipt. 3. The division shall establish, by rule, a fee for the cost of the variance process. Such fee may not exceed $150 for routine variance requests and $300 for emergency variance requests. (2)  PUBLIC LODGING ESTABLISHMENT INSPECTION OF PREMISES.  (a) The division has jurisdiction and is responsible for all inspections of public lodging establishments conducted under required by this chapter. The division is responsible for quality assurance. The division shall inspect each licensed public lodging establishment at least biannually, except for transient and nontransient apartments, which shall be inspected at least annually. Each establishment licensed by the division shall be inspected at such other times as the division determines is necessary to ensure the public public s health, safety, and welfare. The division shall adopt by rule a risk based inspection frequency for each licensed public food service establishment. The rule must require at least one, but not more than four, routine inspections that must be performed annually, and may include guidelines that consider the inspection and compliance history of a public food service establishment, the type of food and food preparation, and the type of service. The division shall reassess the inspection frequency of all licensed public food service establishments at least annually. Public lodging units classified as vacation rentals or timeshare projects are exempt from not subject to this requirement but shall be made available to the division upon request. If, during the inspection of a public lodging establishment classified for renting to transient or nontransient tenants,an inspector identifies vulnerable adults who appear to be victims of neglect, as defined in s. 415.102, or, in the case of a building that is not equipped with automatic sprinkler systems, tenants or clients who may be unable to self-preserve in an emergency, the division shall convene meetings to develop a plan that improves the prospects for safety of affected residents and, if necessary, identifies alternative living arrangements,such as facilities licensed under part II of chapter or under chapter.The meetings shall include representatives of with the following agencies as appropriate to the individual situation: the Department of Health, the Department of Elderly Affairs, the area agency on aging, the local fire marshal, the landlord and affected tenants and clients, and other relevant organizations,to develop a plan that improves the prospects for safety of affected residents and, if necessary, identifies alternative living arrangements such as facilities licensed under part II of chapter or under chapter.(b) For purposes of performing required inspections and the enforcement of this chapter, the division has the right of entry and access to public lodging establishments and public food service establishments at any reasonable time. (c) Public food service establishment inspections shall be conducted to enforce provisions of this part and to educate, inform, and promote cooperation between the division and the establishment. (d) The division shall adopt and enforce sanitation rules consistent with law to ensure the protection of the public from food-borne illness in those establishments licensed under this chapter. These rules shall provide the standards and requirements for obtaining, storing, preparing, processing, serving, or displaying food in public food service establishments, approving public food service establishment facility plans, conducting necessary public food service establishment inspections for compliance with sanitation regulations, cooperating and coordinating with the Department of Health in epidemiological investigations, and initiating enforcement actions, and for other such responsibilities deemed necessary by the division. The division may not establish by rule any regulation governing the design, construction, erection, alteration, modification, repair, or demolition of any public lodging or public food service establishment. It is the intent of the Legislature to preempt that function to the Florida Building Commission and the State Fire Marshal through adoption and maintenance of the Florida Building Code and the Florida Fire Prevention Code. The division shall provide technical assistance to the commission in updating the construction standards of the Florida Building Code which govern public lodging and public food service establishments. Further, the division shall enforce the provisions of the Florida Building Code which apply to public lodging and public food service establishments in conducting any inspections authorized by this part. The division, or its agent, shall notify the local firesafety authority or the State Fire Marshal of any readily observable violation of a rule adopted under chapter which relates to public lodging establishments or public food establishments, and the identification of such violation does not require any firesafety inspection certification. (e)1. Relating to facility plan approvals, the division may establish, by rule, fees for conducting plan reviews and may grant variances from construction standards in hardship cases, which variances may be less restrictive than the provisions specified in this section or the rules adopted under this section. A variance may not be granted pursuant to this section until the division is satisfied that: a. The variance shall not adversely affect the health of the public. b. No reasonable alternative to the required construction exists. c. The hardship was not caused intentionally by the action of the applicant. 2. The division s advisory council shall review applications for variances and recommend agency action. The division shall make arrangements to expedite emergency requests for variances, to ensure that such requests are acted upon within days of receipt. 3. The division shall establish, by rule, a fee for the cost of the variance process. Such fee shall not exceed $150 for routine variance requests and $300 for emergency variance requests. (b) (f)  In conducting inspections of an establishment establishments licensed under this chapter, the division shall determine whether if each coin-operated amusement machine that is operated on the premises of a licensed establishment is properly registered with the Department of Revenue. Each month the division shall report to the Department of Revenue the sales tax registration number of the operator of any licensed establishment that has on its premises location a coin-operated amusement machine and that does not have an identifying certificate conspicuously displayed as required by s. 212.05(1)(h). (g) In inspecting public food service establishments, the department shall notify each inspected establishment of the availability of the food-recovery brochure developed under s. 595.420. (3) PUBLIC FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT INSPECTION.  (a)  The division has jurisdiction and is responsible for all inspections of public food service establishments conducted under this part.The division is responsible for quality assurance. The division shall inspect each public food service establishment as often as necessary to ensure compliance with applicable laws and rules and at such other time sas the division determines necessary to ensure the public health, safety, and welfare. The division shall conduct public food service establishment inspections to enforce this part,to educate and inform the establishments, and to promote cooperation between such establishments and the division. (b)   The division shall adopt and enforce sani tation rules to ensure the protection of the public from food-borne illness es in establishments regulated under this chapter. These rules shall provide the standards and requirements for obtaining, storing, pr eparing, processing, serving, and displaying food in public food service establishments, approving public food service establishment facility plans, conducting necessary public food service establishment inspections for compliance with sanitation requirements,cooperating and coordinating with the Department of Health in epi demiological investigations, initiating enforcement actions, and administering other such responsibilities as deemed necessary by the division. (c)  The division shall adopt by rule a risk-based inspection frequency for each licensed public food service establishment. The rule must require at least one, but not more than four, routine inspections that must be performed annually and may include guidelines that consider the inspection and compliance history of a public food service establishment, the type of food and food preparation, and the type of service. The division shall annually reassess the inspection frequency of all licensed public food service establishments. (d)  Upon completion of an inspection of a nestablishment under this section,the public food service establishment inspector shall produce a written report and assign a numerical score based on his or her findings.Critical and noncritical violations shall be assigned a point value, which shall be subtracted from a maximum score of points.The inspector shall assign one of the following letter grades to the public food service establishment:. An  A  grade, which indicates that the establishment is in good operating condition and received a numerical score of at least points. The inspector may have observed low-risk health and safety violations during the course of the inspection but did not observe more than one noncritical or critical violation.. A  B  grade,which indicates that the establishment is in adequate operating condition and received a numerical score of at least points but not more than points. The inspector must have observed one or more noncritical violations, but did not observe more than one critical violation.. A  C  grade,which indicates that the establishment need simprovement and received a numerical score of at least points but not more than points. The inspector must have observed more than one noncritical violation and more than one critical violation.. A  U  grade,which indicates that the establishment is in poor operating condition and received a numerical score of or fewer points. The inspector must have observed three or more noncritical violations and more than three critical violations. (e)1. The operator of a public food service establishment that fails to achieve a letter grade of  A  upon initial inspection under this subsection may request a reinspection from the division, for which the division may charge a reasonable fee. a.  Requests for reinspection must be made within days after the initial inspection. The resulting grade is final unless a hearing is requested. b. Within days after the reinspection,a noperator of a public food service establishment may submit a written request for a hearing to contest the assigned letter grade received during the reinspection and request an additional inspection. 2.   The division may increase the frequency of inspections for a public food service establishment that fails to achieve a letter grade of  B  or higher during an initial or subsequent inspection under this subsection. (f)1.  A public food service establishment shall at all times post its current letter grade card in a front window;in a display case on an outside wall within feet of the front door; on a drive-through menu board,if it operates a drive-through window; or on a menu board at a market or deli.Failure to post the letter grade card or an attempt to hide, camouflage, or remove the letter grade card may result in a fine and the suspension of the establishment s license. The division shall post the inspection report on the Department of Business and Professional Regulation website in a form searchable by establishment name, critical violations, noncritical violations, letter grade, and type of establishment.2.   An operator of a public food service establishment shall maintain a copy of the latest food service inspection report on the premises and shall make it available to the public upon request. If an operator has requested a reinspection, he or she may inform the public that the current inspection results are under review and that reinspection results may be obtained from the division. 3. The division shall establish a toll-free telephone hotline that allows an operator to file a complaint regarding an inspection, and the number of the hotline shall be included in a pamphlet provided by the division which explains the inspection process. 4. The division shall appoint a consumer advocate to represent the health and safety of the general public in issues regarding public food service establishments. (g) An inspector may, in his or her discretion, immediately close a public food service establishment that fails to achieve a letter grade of  C  or higher. (h ) In conducting inspections of an establishment licensed under this chapter, the division shall determine whether each coin-operated amusement machine that is operated on the premises is properly registered with the Department of Revenue. Each month the division shall report to the Department of Revenue the sales tax registration number of the operator of any licensed establishment that has on its premises a coin-operated amusement machine that does not have an identifying certificate conspicuously displayed as required by s. 212.05(1)(h). (i) Whe ninspecting public food service establishments, the division shall provide each inspec ted establishment with the food recovery program brochure developed under s. 595.420. Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 509.233, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 509.233 Public food service establishment requirements; local exemption for dogs in designated outdoor portions.  (1) LOCAL EXEMPTION AUTHORIZED. Notwithstanding s. 509.032(8) s. 509.032 (7),the governing body of a local government may establish, by ordinance, a local exemption procedure to certain provisions of the Food and Drug Administration Food Code, as currently adopted by the division, in order to allow patrons  dogs within certain designated outdoor portions of public food service establishments. Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.