JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A new Florida law that took effect July 1 changes when the clock starts for prosecutors to charge someone accused of failing to report suspected child abuse, a third-degree felony.
State Rep. Wyman Duggan (R-Jacksonville), who sponsored the bill, said the change was prompted by cases tied to Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.
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“Silence is no longer a legal strategy,” Duggan told News4JAX.
What the new law changes
Under Florida law, failure to report suspected child abuse is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Duggan said the issue was how the three-year statute of limitations was triggered.
Duggan said previously it started when the incident occurred.
“Now it will not start until law enforcement learns of the failure to report,” he said.
The release notes the law does not revive cases in which the statute of limitations had already expired on or before July 1, 2026.
Duggan said the idea came from the State Attorney’s Office after it encountered what he described as a recurring pattern during the Douglas Anderson investigation.
He said prosecutors found evidence not only of alleged sex crimes, but also evidence of alleged failures by mandatory reporters — and in some instances, he said, the statute of limitations had already expired by the time the allegations were investigated.
“It’s outrage,” he said. “Parents drop their child off and they expect the school to take the place of a parent and that child should be able to count on the school administrators and the school leadership to look out for their interests.”
Douglas Anderson backstory
Former Douglas Anderson choral director Jeffrey Clayton is serving a 10-year prison sentence for sex crimes involving a 16-year-old student.
In recent years, the investigation has led to additional allegations involving staff at the school. Duval County Public Schools has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in civil settlements to former students tied to those cases.
Attorney: The change reflects how these cases emerge
Civil rights attorney Christina Lawrence-Moser, who has represented students in cases involving Douglas Anderson, said the law recognizes how child abuse cases and reporting failures often surface.
“Children often do not disclose abuse right away, and sometimes the failure by an adult or an institution to report suspected abuse is not discovered until many years later,” Lawrence-Moser said in a statement provided to News4JAX. “That is why the change in the law matters: it recognizes that the clock should not run out before law enforcement even knows that a mandatory-reporting violation may have happened.”
She added that adults in school settings should not “investigate it themselves, manage it quietly, or wait to see what happens,” but should report suspected abuse.
Why the law is drawing attention right now
The law is taking effect as Duval County schools face renewed scrutiny in a separate case.
Baldwin Middle-Senior High principal Michael Townsend was arrested June 29 and accused of failure to report child abuse.
A more detailed affidavit obtained by News4JAX alleges investigators believe Townsend had prior knowledge tied to allegations involving teacher James Mulvey, who was arrested in May on a felony charge of “Offenses Against Students by Authority Figures,” involving a student.
Duggan said he believes the new law will strengthen accountability when mandatory reporters fail to act.
“I’m grateful that now there is a law in the books where somebody failed to report when they should have,” he said. “Now they’re going to be fully subject to accountability being held accountable by a justice system.”
“Silence is no longer a legal strategy,” he said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law on May 22. The law went into effect July 1.