Bill
HB 391
Florida HB 391 allows batterers’ intervention programs to offer voluntary faith-based activities alongside the required CBT/psychoeducational curriculum, with rules set by DCF.
Note: the materials you provided include multiple different bills all labeled “HB 391” from different states and on different topics. The clearest, consistent set of documents in your packet describes Florida CS/HB 391 (titled “Faith‑based Content in Batterer’s Intervention”). Below I summarize that bill. If you intended the other HB 391 (the appropriations/DPS curriculum update referenced in your header, or a state-specific HB 391 such as in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, or Illinois), tell me which one and I will prepare a separate summary.
Purpose and intent
- Authorize certified Batterers’ Intervention Programs (BIPs) to offer supplemental faith‑based activities as a voluntary elective to participants, while preserving required evidence‑based treatment fundamentals. The bill aims to allow optional faith‑based supports without changing the core, court‑ordered rehabilitative curriculum.
Key provisions and changes
- Permits BIPs to offer supplemental faith‑based activities only as voluntary elective offerings to participants who are referred to a BIP by court order or who participate by consent.
- Preserves existing law requiring BIP curricula to be based on a psychoeducational or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention model that addresses tactics of power and control.
- Maintains (and in some committee analyses reiterates) the current prohibition against embedding “faith‑based ideology associated with a particular religion or denomination” as part of the required BIP curriculum; faith content must be supplemental and voluntary.
- Grants the Department of Children and Families (DCF), Office of Domestic Violence (ODV) existing rulemaking authority (pursuant to s. 741.327(2), F.S.) to adopt, amend, or repeal rules necessary to implement the change.
Who would be affected
- Participants in court‑ordered or voluntarily attended Batterers’ Intervention Programs in Florida — they could be offered voluntary faith‑based activities in addition to the required curriculum.
- BIP providers and program coordinators — may add voluntary faith‑based supplemental offerings, but must keep core curricula CBT/psychoeducational and compliant with DCF certification standards.
- DCF/ODV — continues to certify and monitor BIP curricula and would exercise rulemaking/oversight to implement the bill.
Fiscal and timeline aspects
- Fiscal note: no expected direct effect on state or local funding.
- Effective date: July 1, 2025 (per committee analyses).
- Rulemaking: DCF may amend rules as needed under existing statutory authority.
Procedural status (from provided documents)
- Committee analyses show favorable committee action and unanimous committee votes in Human Services, Judiciary, Health & Human Services (various committee reports dated March–April 2025). The packet does not show final enactment; you noted “Died In Committee” in the header — please confirm desired jurisdiction and bill version so I can reconcile status precisely.
Would you like a similar concise summary for the other HB 391 referenced in your header (the appropriation for DPS to update basic jail officer course curriculum) or for any of the state‑specific HB 391s included in your document set?
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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