Editor’s note: This column addresses a child safety bill and includes explicit statutory and legal language. 

With the state budget being finalized as I write this, we will be taking a small detour this week to discuss one of my policy priorities from the 2026 legislative session. 

The Lewd or Lascivious Acts bill, also known as the indecent exposure or public indecency bill, was proposed following an incident that occurred here in Apopka in August of last year. According to a letter sent Sept. 26, 2025, to Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, 61-year-old Kevin Chapman exposed himself while watching children play at the splash pad at Kit Land Nelson Park. 

At a Sept. 26, 2025, news conference, Worrell explained why her office could not charge Chapman with exhibition, a felony. According to Worrell, a father who witnessed the acts stated that his child had not seen them and was unaware they occurred — a fact Worrell cited as the reason the felony charge did not apply under the existing statute. Because no other adult had seen the defendant’s private parts, her office also could not bring misdemeanor exposure charges, according to Worrell. 

Uthmeier held a news conference not long after Chapman’s arrest to question Worrell’s decision to dismiss the case. 

To help protect our kids, I, along with State Rep. Taylor Yarkosky (R-District 25), a great champion protecting kids from predators and grooming, supported and helped pass the Lewd or Lascivious Acts bill. The bill creates a third-degree felony for indecent exposure of sexual organs while observing a child under 16 if the person: 

• intentionally exposes his/her sexual organs in a lewd/lascivious manner 

• intentionally performs any sexual act that does not involve actual physical or sexual contact with the child, such as sadomasochistic abuse, sexual bestiality, masturbation or the simulation of any act involving sexual activity 

The term “observing” as written in the bill refers to the intentional viewing of another person under circumstances in which the offender is reasonably capable of being seen by the person being viewed. The bill specifies that it is not a defense that the person being observed was not aware of any specific conduct on the part of the offender or did not see the offender’s sexual organs, granting the State Attorney the legal authority in statute to charge for acts such as in Chapman’s case. Lastly, the bill repeals the second-degree misdemeanor offense of committing any unnatural and lascivious act with another person.  

I am pleased to share that this common sense and crucial bill was passed with bipartisan unanimous support in both the House and Senate and is currently awaiting the Governor’s signature into law. It would take effective Oct. 1, 2026.