Dear Friend,

We’re almost halfway through the 2023 session, the Florida Legislature continues to be led around by the nose by an increasingly desperate Gov. Ron DeSantis – who is sinking in presidential polls but trying hard to prove he’s more of an extremist than the now-indicted Donald Trump. 

We’re already on our way back to Tallahassee for Week 5 of the nine-week session, where we’re likely to turn our attention to Florida’s roughly $110 billion budget. But I wanted to get you this recap of what happened in week four. 

Many of these fights aren’t over yet. So keep pushing back, contacting senators and House members, and making your voice heard. Remember that you can watch hearings and floor sessions live on the Florida Channel. And be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for extra updates in real-time. 

Onward, 

Rep. Eskamani

‘Permitless carry’ gun bill goes to the governor

A reckless bill allowing people to carry concealed guns without any license or training passed the full Florida Legislature last week. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is trying to sign as much extreme legislation as possible in order to win the Republican primary for president, is expected to sign this dangerous piece of legislation very soon. 

The Legislature passed this dangerous bill – which contribute to even more gun violence in Florida – just three days after yet another mass shooting, this time at an elementary school in Nashville. 

House Bill 543 passed the House 76-32 and the Senate 27-13.

You can see how every member of the House voted by clicking here and how every member of the Senate voted by clicking here.

Watch my debate against the permitless carry bill here.

Also — I tried filing an amendment to allow guns in legislative committee rooms, which Republicans actually denied which was super ironic since they all apparently think more guns make us safe.

The House passes Don’t Say Gay/Trans 2.0 and more book bans, and tries to inject more partisan politics into schools

After claiming that their homophobic and transphobic “Don’t Say Gay/Trans” legislation was only aimed at very young children – and insisting that they weren’t banning books from public schools – the House this week passed a bill that would expand Don’t Say Gay to eighth grade and make it even easier for far-right extremists to get books removed from school libraries. 

One of the especially cruel provisions of House Bill 1069 would even forbid school employees from referring to students by their personal pronouns. This is a disgusting effort to force LGBTQ+ folks back into the closet. 

This bill is so gross even some Republican lawmakers voted against it. But it still passed the House by a 77-35 vote. 

You can see how every member of the House voted by clicking here. 

I tried to amend this bill to at least require that schools teach comprehensive, scientifically accurate sexual health education. But Republicans rejected it.

And watch me speak in support of books – and against book-banning – here. 

Tallahassee Republicans also continued they and Gov. DeSantis’ efforts to further politicize our public schools, by passing House Joint Resolution 31, which will make nonpartisan elections for local school board seats into partisan races. 

The proposed constitutional amendment, which voters would have to approve in a statewide referendum, passed the House by a 79-34 vote. 

You can see how every member of the House voted by clicking here. 

Both HB 1069 and HJR 31 now go to the Florida Senate.

The Senate passes a bill to bust worker unions

The Florida Senate passed on the most anti-worker bills we’ve ever seen: Senate Bill 256, which is an attempt to strip collective-bargaining power away from teachers, nurses, custodians, 911 dispatchers and many other public-sector employees. 

This is another bill being rammed through the process by Gov. Ron DeSantis as he tries to out-Trump Donald Trump in the presidential race. It is something that the billionaire donors who are funding the governor’s presidential ambitions desperately want, so they can force employees to work for less money, thinner benefits and fewer workplace protections. 

Billionaire-backed, right wing groups have been lobbying for this union-busting bill for years, but the Florida Senate had always blocked it. Until now. 

It’s another sign of how the Florida Legislature has turned itself into a total lapdog for DeSantis. 

Five Republican senators voted against SB 256. But it still passed the Senate by a 23-17 vote. 

You can see how every senator voted by clicking here.

SB 256 now comes to the House. 

The DeSantis abortion ban moves closer to becoming law

After rejecting more than a dozen amendments offered by Democratic senators, the Florida Senate gave preliminary approval to Senate Bill 300 – the six-week abortion ban that Ron DeSantis has demanded the Legislature approve. 

It’s yet another part of DeSantis’ plan to be as extreme as possible in order to appeal to the most far-right voters in a Republican presidential race.

The Senate could give final approval to the abortion ban as early as Monday. The House version of the abortion ban (House Bill 7) cleared its final committee last week and is now ready for a full vote in the House, too.  

But this abortion ban won’t pass the House without a fight.

You can also watch the Committee Chairman threaten to prevent a Democratic bill that would expand access to KidCare from being heard if the debate on a 6 week abortion ban goes too long. Holding a bill about kids’ health hostage so you can ban abortion. Pretty gross stuff. Click here.

Attacks on LGBTQ+ Floridians continue to advance

The Florida Senate also gave preliminary approval to Senate Bill 254, which would deny potentially life-saving healthcare to transgender children. The House version of the legislation (House Bill 1421) also moved through its final committee stop and is now ready for a vote in the full House. 

At the same time, a Senate committee advanced Senate Bill 1438, which tries to pressure restaurants and other venues into refusing to hold drag shows. And committees in the House and Senate approved House Bill 1521 and Senate Bill 1674, respectively, which would criminalize transgender folks who simply use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.  

Other bills that passed the House Floor this week

There were several bills that passed the House Floor this week — some good, some not so good. This includes:

• CS/HB 733 – State Mandated Changes to Middle School and High School Start Times
• CS/HB 1035 – Teacher Training and Conduct; this is connected to DeSantis’ union-busting efforts 
• HB 411 – District School Board Elections; this allows people who do not live in a school district run for that school district 
• HJR 31 – Partisan Elections for Members of District School Boards; this makes all school board races partisan and would require voters to approve that
• CS/HB 87 – Lactation Space in Courthouses; this is a good bill! 

Putting a stop to corporate giveaways

I’m the ranking Democratic member on the House Ways & Committees, which is in charge of tax policy and where this week we approved House Bill 5 – a bill that would put an end to a bunch of broken tax breaks that are being exploited by big corporations.

This legislation would also eliminate Enterprise Florida, the state agency that exists to help companies squeeze taxpayer subsidies out of state and local governments. 

Independent research consistently shows that taxpayer incentives do NOT work. All they do is give public money to the private corporations that have the best lobbyists and make the most campaign contributions – and all for things these companies would do even without the incentives. 

One of the tax breaks that HB 5 would eliminate is a tax break I’ve been trying to get abolished for years: The Urban High-Crime Area Jobs Tax Credit, which was supposed to help financially struggling communities but instead just gives millions of dollars to Universal Studios. 

I wish we’d go even further. That’s why I’ve sponsored another bill that would have us sign a compact with other states to end the never-ending race to the bottom in which states compete with each other to see who can give away more public money to private companies. 

HB 5 isn’t perfect. I’m concerned it goes a little too far in disrupting support for small businesses and workers in our film industry which we are committed to help address. 

Watch my discussion of HB 5 and corporate giveaways here.

Proving real relief directly to working Floridians

During that same Ways & Means Committee Meeting, I also presented my bill to permanently eliminate sales tax on diapers and incontinence products. 

This is an important bill that would deliver real relief to everyday Floridians across all generations – from families with young children to folks with special needs to our elder community. 

My bill (House Bill 29) passed on a unanimous vote. I want to say thanks to Ways & Means Chair Stan McClain (R-Ocala) for giving the legislation a hearing, and all of my colleagues on the committee for supporting it. 

Watch my presentation of HB 29 here.

FPL and other electric utilities want to raise rates even more 

Ignoring testimony from working Floridians who said their monthly power bills are already too high, the Senate Community Affairs approved a bill (Senate Bill 1162) that would allow electric utilities like Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy to raise rates even more to pay for investments in dubious energies like so-called “renewable natural gas.” 

I don’t think folks have fully grasped how awful these bills are. Renewable natural gas uses methane – the second-worst greenhouse gas. By passing these bill, we’d be subsidizing further investments in fuels that make climate change even worse. 

And that’s not all. This legislation would also set a dangerous new precedent by allowing FPL, Duke and others to earn a guaranteed profit on their purchases of fuel. That means Floridians won’t just be paying for the cost of the fuel these utilities buy – they’ll be paying for an extra profit margin for the utilities’ investors on top of it. 

The House version of this bill (House Bill 821) is also on the House track. 

I encourage you to read more about this in the Miami Herald: Legislators back a bill to let utilities convert methane gas, pass cost to customers.

More corporate influence in action: Bills moving that would pad the profits of car dealers, predatory lenders, and chain retailers

A whole bunch of lobbyist-driven corporate legislation is moving quickly through the Legislature this spring. Here are three examples: 

House Bill 637, which passed the House Civil Justice Subcommittee last week, would force Floridians to keep buying new cars through monopoly car dealers who employ high-pressure sales staffers, hide the price of the car and try to sneak in all sorts of last minute fees. 

House Bill 1267, which passed the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee, and Senate Bill 580, which passed the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, would allow consumer-finance loan companies that target lower-income customers to nearly double their interest rates. 

And House Bill 715, which passed the House Regulatory Reform & Economic Development Subcommittee, and Senate Bill 580, which passed the Senate Regulated Industries Committee, would force the Florida Lottery to pay higher commissions to stores that sell its tickets – and which would end up cutting between $40 million and $100 million from the education trust fund that pays for Bright Futures Scholarships.

Keeping kids with disabilities safe at school

One of the bills I’m sponsoring this session got its first hearing last week: House Bill 1429, which is designed to ensure special-needs children are kept safe in public schools.

 The legislation would require all school districts to have School Staff Assistance for Emergencies (SAFE) Teams and that each school have elopement plans include search grids of the school, established procedures for school personnel to notify administrators if a student with disabilities elopes and to immediately begin searching; and coordinated responses plans that include announcing a “Code Gray” and immediately contacting the student’s parent.

My bill passed the House Education Quality Subcommittee by a 17-0 vote. I’m so grateful to Chair Dana Trabulsy (R-Fort Pierce) for agreeing to hear the bill, and to all the committee members who supported it. 

Watch my presentation of HB 1429 here.

It’s like a fairy tale ending (lol)

Ron DeSantis was too busy campaigning and pretending to be tough on big corporations to notice that Walt Disney World outsmarted him yet again.

To be clear: No company should have its own personal city government that gives it an unfair competitive advantage over other businesses. 

But no governor should have dictator-like control over one company, either. And no one should ever be punished simply for criticizing Ron DeSantis and his anti-LGBTQ+ agenda. 

Bill to protect the profits of corporate landlords keep moving

Bills that would dissolve local Tenant Bill of Rights laws and other city and county ordinances that try to protect renters from predatory landlords keep moving forward. 

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 1586 and the House Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts Subcommittee approved House Bill 1417 – bills that would forbid cities and counties from regulating any part of landlord-tenant law. 

These bills are the top priority this session of the Florida Apartment Association, the lobbying group that represents corporate landlords like Camden and Mid-America Apartment Communities. 

Helping tiny homes

I serve on the House Transportation & Modals Subcommittee where I was happy to vote last week in favor of House Bill 321, which would create a legal definition of tiny homes. 

It may sound bureaucratic but this is an important step towards supporting the growth of tiny homes, which can be far more energy efficient and potentially a source of quality affordable housing. 

Unfortunately, lobbyists for the RV and mobile home industries are trying to block this bill from becoming law. 

Meetings & Events

Our doors are always open in House District 42, both back home in Orlando and up at the state Capitol in Tallahassee. And we’re always showing up for folks who are fighting the good fight!