Dear Friend,

Well, this is it. 

We’re headed into the last week of the 2023 legislative session. The final day of the 60-day session – known as Sine Die – is Friday.

Before we start the final sprint, I wanted to get you a recap of Week 8. Unfortunately, we saw some more bad bills pass – including bills that take rights away from renters, weaken the collective bargaining power of public-sector workers, disrupt voter-registration efforts, and prop up Gov. Ron DeSantis’ feeble campaign for president. 

But there’s still a lot left to be decided in week 9. We’ll be debating and voting on bills that could slash wages for workers, erode academic freedom at universities, put immigrant families in danger and continue the governor’s petty and unconstitutional war on Disney. 

Things will be happening very fast. So I encourage you to follow us for real-time updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for updates in real-time. And don’t forget that every floor session of both the House and Senate are streamed live on the Florida Channel. 

Onward, 

Anna

The Legislature just took rights away from renters

Over the past year or so, renters and community organizers have won a bunch of big victories around the state, persuading cities and counties to pass Tenant’s Bill or Rights ordinances and other basic protections for people who rent. 

The Florida Legislature just took all that away. 

Siding with lobbyists for corporate landlords, the Senate voted 29-8 last week to pass House Bill 1417, which dissolves most local laws that provide rights to renters – and preventing local governments from passing any new laws in the future. This terrible bill, a priority for the Florida Apartment Association, had already passed the House, so it now goes to Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

You can see how every senator in the state voted on this bill by clicking here. And you can see how every House member voted by clicking here. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t all. The Senate last week also approved another awful bill for renters: House Bill 133, a bill written by special interests that will allow landlords to charge their tenants perpetual, non-refundable junk fees instead of refundable security deposits. 

This bill had already passed the House, too, so it’s also going to the governor. 

Click here to see how every senator voted. And click here to see how every House member voted.

Union-busting bill goes to the governor

There’s a real war on working people happening in Tallahassee right now. At the same time as the Senate was taking rights away from renters, the House last week passed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ union-busting bill.

The bill (Senate Bill 256), which was also pushed by billionaire-backed, dark-money groups, will undermine the collective bargaining power of public-school teachers, 911 dispatchers, cafeteria workers, municipal utility workers and many other public-sector workers. 

This bill is so bad for workers that nine Republicans in the House voted against it – after five Republicans senators voted against it, too. 

Unfortunately, it still passed and now goes to the governor. Click here to see how every House member voted and click here to see how every senator voted. 

And here’s my debate against this bill on the House floor:

Tallahassee Republicans are still trying to prop up DeSantis’ sad campaign for president

I’m not sure what’s more pathetic: The awkward, bumbling start to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ all-but-announced campaign for president – or the way the Florida Legislature is bending over backwards to prop it up. 

The latest example came last week, when the Legislature did a last-minute rewrite of an elections bill (Senate Bill 7050) to change the law so that DeSantis can run for president without resigning as governor. 

This was already a really bad bill. Even before the resign-to-run change was added, it already included a bunch of unnecessary obstacles meant to make it harder to register to vote. It would even weaken Florida’s campaign-finance disclosure laws, which will allow DeSantis and other politicians to hide their donors from the public for longer periods of time. 

This bill passed the House 76-34 and the Senate 28-12. Click here to see the House vote and click here to see the Senate vote. It now goes to the governor, who will obviously sign it, since his staff clearly wrote it. 

Watch my debate against the elections bill here:

Going backwards on gun safety

In 2018, the Florida Legislature responded to the tragic mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School prompted in Parkland by raising the minimum age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21.

Five years later, the House, now controlled by more extreme Republican leaders, passed a bill to undo that reform and go back to letting 18-year-olds buy guns. 

House Bill 1543 passed the House by a 69-36 vote, although it hasn’t been heard yet in the Senate. 

Here’s my debate against the bill: 

Disney sues DeSantis

We all knew this was coming: The Walt Disney Co. sued for constitutionally retaliating against the company for exercising its right to free speech. 

The state of Florida is going to lose this lawsuit, which is only happening because of the governor’s petty political agenda. 

Florida taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay the millions of dollars in legal fees we’re about to incur fighting this lawsuit. We should make DeSantis or his presidential campaign pay them instead. 

DeSantis is plotting against Orlando’s state attorney

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who already unconstitutionally suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, is plotting to remove a second independently elected prosecutor: Monique Worrell, the state attorney for Orange and Osceola counties. 

We won’t let that happen without a fight. 

A privatization plot

Despite overwhelming local opposition, the House approved a bill last week that would take control of the city-owned electric company in Gainesville – and give control to a board picked by Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

This is a really dangerous precedent. A Republican-controlled Legislature taking an asset away from a Democratic-controlled city commission and giving it to a Republican governor. 

What would prevent Tallahassee Republicans from doing the same thing with OUC here in Orlando? 

A lot of us suspect that House Bill 1645 is part of a plot to sell off Gainesville Regional Utilities to Florida Power & Light – the same corporate utility that tried to takeover the city of Jacksonville’s JEA just a couple of years ago. 

My diaper tax break passes the House

The House unanimously passed a bipartisan package of tax cuts that includes something I’ve been pushing for years: A sales tax exemption on all diapers and adult incontinence products. 

We were able to pass a sales-tax exemption for baby diapers last year, but it is scheduled to expire this summer. This legislation (House Bill 7063) will make the tax break permanent – and expand it to cover adult diapers, too. 

As the ranking member on the House Ways & Means Committee, I’m really proud that we were able to come together to pass a tax package that prioritizes the needs of everyday 

Here’s my debate on this year’s tax package.

Lots of bills are passing now – good ones and bad

With the 60-day session almost done, we’re spending almost all our time on the floor and passing out lots of bills. Here’s a quick list of some of the more significant bills we passed last week, plus how I voted and my debate for or against each of them. All of these bills were sent to the Senate, which has yet to pass them. 

House Joint Resolution 129 would put a constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot that would require that any future constitutional amendments pass with at least two-thirds of the vote (up from 60 percent right now). I voted no.

House Bill 931 is a poorly written and politically motivated bill meant to encourage a diversity of voices on college campuses, but which could end up forcing universities to provide a public platform for – and even pay the expenses of – fringe and extremist speakers and groups. I voted no. 

House Bill 387 would expand telehealth options for patients who use medical cannabis. I voted yes. 

House Bill 831 would create a new pilot program testing managed care coverage in MIami-Dade County under Medicaid for Floridians for developmental disabilities. I voted yes. But I also used my debate to remind my colleagues that Florida also needs to provide far more funding to help the more than 20,000 special-needs families around the state who are all still waiting for coverage, too. 

House Bill 1267 would allow high-interest lending companies that large lower-income customers to nearly double their interest rates. I voted no. 

House Bill 779 creates “Ava’s Law,” which would ensure that incarcerated women can get pregnancy tests and allow a pregnant woman who is about to give birth defer the starter of her incarceration until after her child is born. I voted yes.

House Bill 1191 would allow the Florida Department of Transportation to try building roads using phosphogypsum – a radioactive waste product produced by phosphate mining giant Mosaic Co. I voted no. 

Some bad bills are coming out of the Senate, too

The Senate passed a bunch of bad bills last week – all of which will be coming to us in the state House this week. 

The bills that passed the Senate included Senate Bill 266, which would erode academic freedom at colleges and universities; Senate Bill 540, which would help big real-estate developers and homebuilders silence opposition from local residents and environmentalists; Senate Bill 1604, which tries to unconstitutionally undo Walt Disney World’s long-term development plans; and Senate Bill 1718, which is designed to further inflame anti-immigration sentiment while exposing migrant workers and their children to more danger.  

This will be some of the biggest fights in the final week of session. 

Week 8 in Pictures

We’re on the floor so much now that it’s hard to find time for meetings and events. But we still squeeze in as many as we can, particularly in the evenings and weekends. 

Here’s a look at some of them from last week: