A bill to enhance penalties for repeat domestic violence offenders unanimously passed the Florida Legislature and will head to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s desk for final approval.

The House of Representatives last week unanimously passed HB 277, introduced by Rep. Debra Tendrich, D-Lake Worth Beach, who is herself a survivor of domestic violence. Sen. Alexis Calatayud, a Republican whose district includes parts of Miami-Dade County, sponsored the Senate companion.

The bill would enhance penalties for repeat domestic violence offenders by making any violation of a protective injunction an automatic third-degree felony and create GPS electronic monitoring pilot programs, one in Pinellas County for misdemeanor domestic violence cases and one overseen by the Department of Corrections in the Tampa and St. Petersburg judicial area for felony cases.

It would also improve enforcement, accountability and communication pertaining to military protective orders, which are only enforceable on a military base, Tendrich previously told the Sun Sentinel. The bill would allow petitioners seeking an injunction in civilian life to use any military protective orders as evidence and would require civilian law enforcement to communicate any suspected violation to the military agency that issued the order.

Threats of harm against pets and service and emotional support animals would also be added to the current language in protective injunctions. Relocation assistance for domestic violence survivors to escape their abusers would increase from $1,500 to $2,500, with a lifetime maximum increased to $5,000 from $3,000.

South Florida Sens. Rosalind Osgood and Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, spoke in support of the bill on the Senate floor late Monday afternoon.

“This bill gives a legal way out, a legal way to address it,” Osgood, D-Fort Lauderdale, said during debate. “It allows a victim to feel more protected, that there is something they can do other than just bear the shame and the terror that’s oftentimes inflicted upon people that find themselves in this situation.”

In the chamber on Monday for the bill’s vote was the mother of Rachael Kerr, a Bradford County woman who was killed Jan. 29 by her estranged husband, who had repeatedly stalked and threatened Kerr, Calatayud said.

Kerr had a restraining order against her estranged husband, Loyd Kerr, at the time of her death, First Coast News reported. He had been arrested multiple times in the months before the shooting, including after violating the restraining order, the news station reported.

“This legislation has elements that directly combat the gaps in the reality of our justice system and law enforcement processes that would have saved Rachael,” Calatayud said.

In the House last week, Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, spoke in support of the GPS monitoring aspect of the bill on behalf of the family of Andrew Ferrin, who was one of three people killed in a domestic violence shooting in Tamarac last year.

On Feb. 16, 2025, Nathan Gingles first shot and killed his father-in-law David Ponzer, then followed his estranged wife Mary Gingles with a gun as she ran from him down the street in their Tamarac neighborhood, according to a probable cause affidavit. Mary Gingles escaped into her neighbor Ferrin’s home, where Gingles then shot and killed both Mary Gingles and Ferrin, the affidavit said. Nathan Gingles has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mary Gingles had an active restraining order in place at the time and had repeatedly called Broward Sheriff’s deputies to report abusive behavior by Gingles in the months before the shootings. The restraining order required Gingles to surrender his guns, but he never did, and the Sheriff’s Office did not follow up to ensure whether he had, the South Florida Sun Sentinel previously reported.

Bartleman said during debate last week that had Gingles been required to be GPS monitored, “it would have made a difference.”

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