PRESS RELEASES

December 9, 2021

(850) 922-8981

Florida DBPR Secretary Julie I. Brown Commends Governor DeSantis’
Freedom First Budget Recommendations
Proposed Budget Reflects the Governor’s Continuing Investment in
Streamlining Government Processes and Enhancing Quality of Services for Floridians

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Julie I. Brown applauded Governor Ron DeSantis’ Fiscal Year 2022-23 Freedom First budget recommendations and emphasized that the proposed, major investments will modernize the technological capabilities of the Department, minimize burdens of government processes and deliver new, meaningful, long-term benefits for businesses and professionals regulated by the Department. The Governor’s FY 2022-23 recommended budget includes major upgrades of the Department’s online customer licensing interface and substantial advancements in the methods by which the Department serves more than 1.4 million callers annually through its Customer Contact Center.

“Since the beginning of my tenure as Secretary, my number one priority has been to enhance the Department’s technological capabilities and provide smoother interactions between the Department and our licensees,” said DBPR Secretary Brown. “With the Governor’s leadership and support for improving how we do business in Florida, this budget will make those advancements possible, while also maintaining our core focus on ensuring that businesses and professionals provide safe, quality services to Florida’s millions of residents and visitors.”

In particular, the Freedom First budget equips the Department with technological modernizations needed to continue implementing Governor DeSantis’ vision for improving Florida’s regulatory environment for businesses and professionals by:

• Investing in the development of a modern, intuitive online system for online transactions and tools that will create efficiencies for the Department and its stakeholders alike, including: provide an improved customer-centric experience; assist in decreasing the number of deficient applications submitted to the Department and reduce corresponding license processing times; and lessen call volumes, reduce wait times, and enhance self-service options for convenience of applicants and license holders;
• Providing users with enhanced online capabilities such as ease of access via mobile devices and applications, real-time agent assistance and 24/7 online chat capabilities; and
• Implementing return call options for the Department’s Customer Contact Center, which introduces substantial convenience to callers and significantly reduces wait times for reaching a live customer support agent.

In addition to funding these advancements, the Governor’s FY 2022-23 budget recommendations include continuing support for the Department’s regulatory compliance programs in areas vital to the public health, safety and welfare, including the Department’s programs that serve state objectives in evaluating sanitation and safety in public food service establishments, ensuring fair and compliant administration of condominium associations, and pursuing education, investigation, and enforcement of unlicensed activity that poses substantial risks of public harm.

For more details, visit freedomfirstbudget.com.

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The Department of Business and Professional Regulation licenses and regulates more than one million businesses and professionals in the State of Florida, including accountants, architects and interior designers, asbestos consultants, athlete agents, auctioneers, barbers, building code administrators and inspectors, community association managers, construction contractors, cosmetologists, electrical contractors, employee leasing companies, geologists, home inspectors, landscape architects, mold assessors and remediators, pilot commissioners, real estate appraisers and brokers, and veterinarians, as well as businesses dealing in alcoholic beverages, tobacco, food service, public lodging, pari-mutuel wagering, and condominiums, timeshares, and other cooperative residential arrangements. The Department’s mission is to license efficiently and regulate fairly. For more information, visit myfloridalicense.com.

Follow @FloridaDBPR on Twitter or Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation on Facebook for important information and updates on matters relating to Florida’s business and professional licensing.

October 27, 2021

(850) 922-8981

Florida Board of Accountancy Announces Clay Ford Scholarship Recipients for 2021
$144,000 awarded to deserving college students through annual scholarship

Gainesville, Fla. – The Florida Board of Accountancy (FBA), a professional regulation board of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), today announced the 2021 recipients of the Clay Ford Scholarship. The scholarships are awarded to minority students who are Florida residents in an approved accounting education program and are pursuing their fifth year, which is required to become a certified public accountant (CPA).

“I am so proud of these fifth-year accounting students on this well-deserved recognition of their hard work,” said DBPR Secretary Julie I. Brown. “CPAs play a vital role in our state and the Clay Ford Scholarship provides recipients a pathway to complete the education requirements to become a licensed CPA and the momentum to begin their accounting careers.”

The Clay Ford scholarships are administered through the CPA Education Minority Assistance Program, which was created in 1999 to encourage minorities to enter the CPA profession. The scholarships are awarded on a combination of criteria related to both financial need and scholastic ability and performance.

The CPA Education Minority Assistance Program is funded by a portion from each individual and CPA firm license fee. Through the award, scholarship applicants may be awarded up to $6,000 per semester for a maximum of two semesters. In 2021, a total of $144,000 was dispersed across 24 total eligible semester hours.

2021 Clay Ford Scholarship recipients include:

• Sharielle Centi (University of Florida)
• Latrice Fields (University of West Florida)
• Lisbet Fundora Pereira (Florida Atlantic University)
• Sofia Gomez (University of Florida)
• Nguyet Thi Minh Hoang (University of South Florida)
• Abigail Jagos (University of South Florida)
• Katherine Jones (University of West Florida)
• Charvae Gaines (Florida Atlantic University)
• Zhishan Liang (Florida Gulf Coast University)
• Isabella Moorman-Lage (University of Tampa)
• Amy Nguyen (University of Central Florida)
• Crystal Point Dujour (Florida Atlantic University)
• Bryanna Rodriguez (University of Florida)
• Jodi Salzman (Florida Atlantic University)
• Emily Sherwood (University of Florida)

Applications are accepted each year on a rolling basis and will be applied to the appropriate school year. The deadline for applications for the 2022-2023 school year is June 1, 2022. Applications are available online at myfloridalicense.com/CPAScholarship

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The Department of Business and Professional Regulation licenses and regulates more than one million businesses and professionals in the State of Florida, including accountants, architects and interior designers, asbestos consultants, athlete agents, auctioneers, barbers, building code administrators and inspectors, community association managers, construction contractors, cosmetologists, electrical contractors, employee leasing companies, geologists, home inspectors, landscape architects, mold assessors and remediators, pilot commissioners, real estate appraisers and brokers, and veterinarians, as well as businesses dealing in alcoholic beverages, tobacco, food service, public lodging, pari-mutuel wagering, and condominiums, timeshares, and other cooperative residential arrangements. The Department’s mission is to license efficiently and regulate fairly. For more information, please visit myfloridalicense.com.

Follow @FloridaDBPR on Twitter or Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation on Facebook for important information and updates on matters relating to Florida’s business and professional licensing.

June 29, 2021

(850) 922-8981

Florida DBPR Releases Results of Annual Quota
Alcoholic Beverage License Drawing
62 selected entrants from the 2020 entry period now have 45 days to apply for a license in the county where selected

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –Today, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s (DBPR) Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco conducted the public drawing for quota alcoholic beverage licenses available from the 2020 entry period. Results of the drawing are now published and accessible on the Division’s Quota Licenses and Drawings web page.

Quota alcoholic beverage licenses authorize the holder of the license to sell beer, wine and distilled spirits, either for package sales only or for consumption on the licensed premises, depending on the license series elected. The Florida Beverage Law limits the total number of quota alcoholic beverage licenses by county population estimates, authorizing the Division to issue no more than one license for every 7,500 residents within a county. Each year, the Division analyzes population data in Florida’s 67 counties, and based on the licenses available, opens the drawing process.

For the 2020 entry period, a total of 62 quota alcoholic beverage licenses were determined to be available for issuance across 30 counties, including: Brevard, Broward, Calhoun, Clay, Collier, Dade, DeSoto, Duval, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Manatee, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sarasota, Seminole, Sumter, Volusia and Walton. For the 2020 entry period, 23,655 entries were deemed qualified for entry in the drawing.

Entrants selected from today’s drawing will be awarded the priority right to apply and qualify to hold one of the available licenses in the county from which their entry was selected. The Florida Beverage Law requires that each selected entrant file an application to qualify to hold the license within 45 days from the date of the Division’s notice of selection.

The 2021 entry period for the annual drawing process will open on Monday, August 16, 2021. More information about the number and location of available licenses for the 2021 entry period will be published in advance of the entry period opening date. Interested parties are encouraged to monitor information on the Division’s web page related to Quota Licenses and Drawings for further announcements regarding the 2021 entry period.

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The Department of Business and Professional Regulation licenses and regulates more than one million businesses and professionals in the State of Florida, including accountants, architects and interior designers, asbestos consultants, athlete agents, auctioneers, barbers, building code administrators and inspectors, community association managers, construction contractors, cosmetologists, electrical contractors, employee leasing companies, geologists, home inspectors, landscape architects, mold assessors and remediators, pilot commissioners, real estate appraisers and brokers, and veterinarians, as well as businesses dealing in alcoholic beverages, tobacco, food service, public lodging, pari-mutuel wagering, and condominiums, timeshares, and other cooperative residential arrangements. The Department’s mission is to license efficiently and regulate fairly. For more information, please visit myfloridalicense.com.

Follow @FloridaDBPR on Twitter or Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation on Facebook for important information and updates on matters relating to Florida’s business and professional licensing