It's two weeks before opening day. A Level 2 result lands, and your coach is ineligible. It may not say why. Meanwhile you have a coach you've already scheduled and a parent roster expecting practice on Monday.
The result doesn't answer the only question that matters: is this coach done forever, or back on the field later?
Since July 1, 2026, Florida law requires sanctioning authorities to run Level 2 screening on their youth coaches and bars them from authorizing anyone who is disqualified. What disqualifies you from a Level 2 background check in Florida is a specific list of offenses, but an ineligible result is really a four-way branch:
Here's each one, with the statute, so you can triage your next result in minutes. (Still fuzzy on what a Level 2 check actually is? We cover that separately in what a Level 2 background check is.)
Florida's youth coach screening rule is s.943.0438, as amended by Chapter 2026-114 (HB 1069), effective July 1, 2026. It applies to independent sanctioning authorities: private, nongovernmental entities that organize, operate, or coordinate a youth athletic team in Florida that includes minors and isn't affiliated with a private school. Government-run programs fall outside that definition and should check which screening rules apply to them.
If you're a sanctioning authority, the law puts these duties on you:
Two details changed on July 1, 2026. Sanctioning authorities are now treated as qualified entities for the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse. FDLE says that when an entity screens through the Clearinghouse, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) reviews the results against s.435.04 and determines whether each person is eligible or ineligible. And an authority may exempt people under 18 and certain referees from having to pass Level 2 screening, if they pass a Level 1 screening that includes a sex offender registry search and work under the direct supervision of a fully screened coach.
There's an upside to compliance. In a civil action over a coach's intentional sexual misconduct, an authority that met the screening and disqualification requirements gets a rebuttable presumption that it wasn't negligent in authorizing the coach.
Florida's disqualifying offense list lives in s.435.04, the Level 2 screening standard. It lists 64 offense provisions, plus domestic violence in a separate subsection, and they group into a handful of categories. Having a record is not the same as having a disqualifying record.
| Statutory citation (s.435.04) | What it actually covers |
|---|---|
| s.794.011, s.794.05, Chapter 800, s.827.071 | Sexual battery; unlawful sexual activity with certain minors; lewdness, indecent exposure, and offenses against students by authority figures; sexual performance by a child |
| s.782.04, s.782.07, s.784.045 | Murder, manslaughter, and aggravated battery. Aggravated assault, felony assault or battery under Chapter 784, and assault or battery of a minor are also listed |
| s.827.03, s.827.04 | Child abuse, aggravated child abuse, and neglect of a child (s.827.03); contributing to the delinquency or dependency of a child (s.827.04) |
| s.825.102, s.825.103 | Abuse, aggravated abuse, or neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult; exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult, if a felony |
| Chapter 893 | Drug offenses, but only if the offense was a felony or another person involved was a minor |
| s.741.28 (via s.435.04(3)) | Any offense that constitutes domestic violence |
| s.787.01, s.810.02, Chapter 812 | Kidnapping; burglary; theft, robbery, and related crimes if a felony |
The standard is broad on purpose. A coach is disqualified if they've been found guilty of a listed offense (regardless of adjudication), pleaded guilty or nolo contendere, or been arrested for it and are awaiting final disposition. A juvenile adjudication of delinquency counts too, unless the record has been sealed or expunged. But the flip side matters just as much: an arrest that was dropped, or a misdemeanor drug offense that involved no minor, isn't on this list. FDLE's VECHS program explains how organizations like yours qualify to run these checks.
Only one of the four branches is a dead end.
Some offenses carry no exemption. No application, no waiting period, no wiggle room. Under s.435.07(4)(b), a person can't be granted an exemption if they're a designated sexual predator under s.775.21, a career offender under s.775.261, or a sexual offender under s.943.0435 (unless the requirement to register as a sexual offender has been removed under s.943.04354). A pardon, executive clemency, or restoration of civil rights alone doesn't lift a disqualifying felony either.
If a result falls here, the coach can't work with your program. Under s.943.0438, the only route around a disqualification is a completed exemption, and this branch has none. Not this season, not after a conversation, not with a signed waiver. Don't authorize the coach, and send the written notice (see the notice section below).
This is the branch that trips up the most administrators, because nobody writes about it. Under s.435.07, a disqualified person can apply for an exemption from disqualification. Once the process is successfully completed, s.943.0438 allows your authority to let the person coach despite the record.
The statute sets conditions before an exemption can be granted:
On who decides, s.435.07(1)(a) says "the head of the appropriate agency or qualified entity" may grant an exemption. Because sanctioning authorities are now qualified entities, confirm with AHCA how exemption requests are handled for your account before you promise a coach anything.
The burden of proof falls on the applicant. They'll need to show clear and convincing evidence of rehabilitation: the circumstances of the incident, how long ago it happened, the harm it caused, and what they've done since. The reviewer can also weigh any later arrest or conviction, even for a crime that isn't disqualifying. This is a real review, not a rubber stamp.
Be honest with the coach about the timeline. The statute sets no deadline for a decision, so don't promise one. Here's the sentence to use: "You may be eligible for an exemption under Florida law, but I can't put you on the field until the process is complete."
This is the judgment-call branch, and a written policy is what saves you. A record can exist that isn't on the s.435.04 list. The coach is legally clear, but clear isn't the same as required.
You may not even see the record. For entities screening through the Clearinghouse, the state releases criminal history records to the entity only if the person challenges the record, or if the entity is a sanctioning authority that complies with the federal Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017.
If your league wants a standard stricter than s.435.04, that's your own policy choice, and it should be written down before any result comes in. A stricter rule created after you see one person's record looks like a decision about that person. A rule written in advance and applied to everyone looks like a policy.
A good written standard sorts offense types by lookback window and by outcome, so a judgment call becomes a rule. You can drop a clause like this into your policy and fill in your own windows: "Applicants with a felony conviction for a violent offense within the past [X] years, or any conviction for a sexual offense regardless of date, are ineligible for positions with direct contact with minors." Write it once, apply it to everyone. If you want the review queue, guided adverse-action steps, and decision log in one place, see how Ankored handles flagged results.
Sometimes the flag isn't a criminal record at all. It's a rejected fingerprint. A rejection generally means the prints couldn't be read, not that a record was found, and the fix is to capture them again at a LiveScan provider.
Prints captured for the Clearinghouse are retained for five years, per FDLE. That's why a coach who is already in the system doesn't usually need to be fingerprinted again by another participating organization.
The real risk here is silent stalling. A rejected print can sit in limbo while everyone assumes the coach is "in process." Decide two things in advance: who pays for the reprint (put it in your onboarding terms) and who owns the follow-up. Without an owner, the coach quietly disappears from your pipeline.
Keeping a coach off the field and notifying them are different obligations, and they come from different laws.
The Florida notice. Under s.943.0438, a disqualified coach gets written notice of the results and of the disqualification within 7 business days following the screening. You keep that notice, and the results, for at least 5 years. This applies whichever way you screen.
The federal FCRA notices. If your decision rests on a report from a consumer reporting agency, such as a background check from a CRA partner, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) adds its own steps. The FCRA covers reports used for "employment purposes." FTC staff have taken the position that this reaches a nonprofit staffed in whole or in part by volunteers. That's agency staff interpretation, not text in the statute, so volunteer-run leagues should treat it as the working rule. The steps:
The statute doesn't settle one question: whether pulling a coach off the field while you review counts as the adverse action. The FCRA defines adverse action to include "any other decision for employment purposes that adversely affects any current or prospective employee" (15 U.S.C. s.1681a(k)), which is broad. For a coach you haven't authorized yet, s.943.0438 already answers the field question: you can't authorize them until screening clears. For a coach who is already active, decide your rule before the first flagged result arrives, and write down when the pre-adverse notice goes out relative to any pause.
Whether an AHCA eligibility determination from the Clearinghouse triggers the FCRA steps is a separate question this post doesn't answer. The Florida notice applies either way.
This post is general information, not legal advice. Consult your own legal counsel about your organization's obligations.
Think back to that inbox two weeks before opening day. A flagged result feels like a crisis because you're figuring out the branch and the response at the same time, under pressure, with a parent roster waiting. The fix: decide the branches before the season so the only work left is sorting each result into the right one.
Know what s.943.0438 requires. Set your written standard in advance. Assign an owner to stalled prints. Track the 7-business-day Florida notice, and keep the FCRA steps separate. Do that, and "ineligible" stops being a fire drill and becomes a two-minute sort.
Yes, if you're an independent sanctioning authority. Since July 1, 2026, s.943.0438 requires a Level 2 screening under s.435.04 for each current and prospective coach, assistant coach, manager, or referee (paid or volunteer) who has direct contact with minors on a youth team based in Florida. The law defines a sanctioning authority as a private, nongovernmental entity that organizes, operates, or coordinates a youth athletic team, and it excludes teams affiliated with a private school. An authority may exempt people under 18 and certain referees if they pass a Level 1 screening and work under the direct supervision of a fully screened coach.
It depends on where the case stands. Under s.435.04, a person who has been arrested for a listed offense and is awaiting final disposition is disqualified. Once the case ends without a guilty finding, a guilty or nolo contendere plea, or an unsealed delinquency adjudication, the arrest alone doesn't disqualify. Adjudication being withheld doesn't help: a guilty finding or plea counts regardless of adjudication.
Sometimes. It depends on which branch the offense falls into. Sexual predators, career offenders, and sexual offenders (unless the registration requirement has been removed) can't receive an exemption under s.435.07(4)(b). Other disqualified coaches may qualify for an exemption. If the process is successfully completed, your authority may allow the person to coach.
The statute doesn't say. It sets conditions before an exemption can be granted, including 2 years since completing all sanctions for a disqualifying felony and full payment of court-ordered financial obligations, and it requires clear and convincing evidence of rehabilitation. It sets no deadline for a decision, so don't promise a coach a return date.
Then the statute doesn't disqualify them. Anything stricter is your own policy, and it should be written down before you see any result and applied to everyone. If a stricter rule leads you to act on a consumer reporting agency's report, the FCRA steps above apply to that decision.
Resubmit. A rejected print generally means the prints couldn't be read, not that a record was found, and it's corrected by capturing the prints again at a LiveScan provider. Decide in advance who pays for the reprint and assign one person to track resubmissions, because a rejected print left unattended can silently stall a coach's onboarding.