§ 784.081, Fla. Stat. · Chapter 784. ASSAULT; BATTERY; CULPABLE NEGLIGENCE
Assault or battery on specified officials or employees; reclassification of offenses.
Text — 2026 Florida Statutes
(1) For purposes of this section, the term “sports official” means any person who serves as a referee, an umpire, or a linesman, and any person who serves in a similar capacity as a sports official who may be known by another title, which sports official is duly registered by or is a member of a local, state, regional, or national organization that is engaged in part in providing education and training to sports officials.
(2) Whenever a person is charged with committing an assault or aggravated assault or a battery or aggravated battery upon any elected official or employee of: a school district; a private school; the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind; a university lab school; a state university or any other entity of the state system of public education, as defined in s. 1000.04; a sports official; an employee or protective investigator of the Department of Children and Families; an employee of a lead community-based provider and its direct service contract providers; or an employee of the Department of Health or its direct service contract providers, when the person committing the offense knows or has reason to know the identity or position or employment of the victim, the offense for which the person is charged shall be reclassified as follows:
(a) In the case of aggravated battery, from a felony of the second degree to a felony of the first degree.
(b) In the case of aggravated assault, from a felony of the third degree to a felony of the second degree.
(c) In the case of battery, from a misdemeanor of the first degree to a felony of the third degree.
(d) In the case of assault, from a misdemeanor of the second degree to a misdemeanor of the first degree.
(3) An assault, aggravated assault, battery, or aggravated battery upon a sports official shall be reclassified pursuant to subsection (2) only if such offense is committed upon the sports official when he or she is actively participating as a sports official in an athletic contest or immediately following such athletic contest.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
s. 3, ch. 96-293; s. 293, ch. 99-8; s. 11, ch. 2001-68; s. 1037, ch. 2002-387; s. 19, ch. 2004-41; s. 1, ch. 2004-276; s. 48, ch. 2004-350; s. 299, ch. 2014-19.
Source of truth
- Edition
- 2026 Florida Statutes
- Official file
- https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0784/0784.html
- Text hash
- sha256 e2fea7daa66094dece95608c5e1af0228f6595fd02e170ac5121ca497917048f
- Composed by
- compose_v2.py 2026-10-04: the Legislature's structured HTML read in document order; verify_v2.py's independent reading agrees character for character
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This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 4 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites § 784.081, Fla. Stat.. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
The Florida Statutes
- § 794.056, Fla. Stat.Rape Crisis Program Trust Fund.Printed as s. 784.081
- § 938.08, Fla. Stat.Additional cost to fund programs in domestic violence.Printed as s. 784.081
- § 938.085, Fla. Stat.Additional cost to fund rape crisis centers.Printed as s. 784.081
- § 1006.13, Fla. Stat.Policy of zero tolerance for crime and victimization.Printed as s. 784.081(1)
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