Dear Friend,

We’re halfway there. 

We just wrapped up the fifth week of the 2024 Legislative Session, which runs for nine weeks in total. 

This is one of the very busiest points of session: The House and Senate both passed versions of the state budget, while a bunch of committees in each chamber held hours-long meetings as they raced to get bills moving before the clock runs out. 

There were some really ugly moments last week – from a white supremacist testifying in support of a bill to protect Confederate monuments to billionaires and big businesses teaming up to deny unemployment support to laid-off Floridians. 

But there were some positive developments, too. Our bill to protect veterans from fraud cleared its first committee last week, which means it’s got a chance to pass before session ends. And several bad bills slowed down in the face of heavy opposition. 

It’s yet another reminder that activism works. So please stay involved and engaged, as we head into the second half of session. 

You’ll find a much more detailed update from Week 5 below. And please don’t forget to stay connected with us on our social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. 

We’ve still got lots of work to do. 

Onward,

Rep. Eskamani 

The House and Senate pass dueling budgets

There is one bill we are constitutionally required to pass every session: the state budget. 

And we started that process last week, when the Florida House of Representatives passed a roughly $116 billion proposed state budget on a 112-2 vote. The Senate also passed its own version of the state budget on a 38-0 vote. 

The two chambers will now spend the final four weeks of session negotiating a final state spending plan. 

I voted for the House budget, even though I have mixed feelings about it. For instance, it provides a lot of funding – though not yet enough – for arts and culture programs, which has been a big priority for me ever since I was first elected. But it also continues funding Gov. Ron DeSantis’ unnecessary and intentionally cruel program to traffic asylum seekers. We also need to stop giving the governor money to pay his buddy lawyers to defend constitutional laws – and we need to start spending money on crucial programs like rental assistance and ensuring that Floridians with disabilities don’t have to wait years for support. At the same time, the budget does include funds for some of our local projects that support House District 42, and includes additional funds for the My Safe Florida Home Program. Hometown Heroes, and many other important programs. 

In the end, I decided to vote yes knowing that the first version of the budget is only a draft and that there is still time and room for improvement. I’m hopeful the final product will be a lot better and will be working with colleagues to make that happen. 

A higher salary for the governor? No way.

In addition to passing a budget, the House and Senate also passed a number of budget-related bills. These are usually called “conforming bills,” because they adjust our laws to conform with the funding directions spelled out in the budget. 

This year, the House has decided to use a conforming bill to try and give the governor of Florida a big raise. House Bill 5007 could boost the governor’s salary from $141,400 a year to $251,414 a year starting in 2027, after the next gubernatorial election. 

This is a dumb idea. The governor of Florida already gets to live rent-free in a publicly owned mansion, with taxpayer-funded security, support staff and travel, and has some of the best health insurance in the state. Before we give the governor another $100,000 or ore, let’s take care of everyday Floridians and ensure the economic security of our constituents. 

I voted no. 

White supremacy in the state Capitol

One of the most disgusting moments of this year’s legislative session happened last week, when an actual white supremacist showed up to testify in support of a bill that would stop cities and counties from removing statues and other memorials that honor Confederate leaders from the Civil War.

Several Republicans on the Senate Community Affairs Committee claimed to be outraged by the man’s comments – yet they all still voted in favor of Senate Bill 1122. 

You can watch the comments here. 

Similar legislation, House Bill 395, is also moving through the state House. We’re going to keep fighting hard to stop these bills – no matter how many white supremacists lobby for them. 

A backdoor attack on abortion access

A backdoor attack on abortion access keeps moving forward. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 476, which would give civil liability rights to a fetus – and allow a person who impregnates a partner to then sue an abortion provider if that partner gets an abortion. The House version of the bill, House Bill 651, has already been approved by a committee, too. 

These bills are being sponsored by the very same lawmakers who sponsored Florida’s six-week abortion ban during last year’s legislative session.

Committees in the House and Senate also approved House Bill 415 and Senate Bill 436, which order state agencies to create a one-sided “pregnancy and parenting” website that would legitimize and elevate anti-abortion propaganda and attempt to coerce pregnant people into carrying pregnancies to term. 

Supreme Court considers abortion amendment

Across the street from the state Capitol, the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in a case that will decide whether a proposed constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights can go on the 2024 ballot. 

Nearly 1 million Floridians have signed petitions in support of the abortion-rights amendment. But Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody is trying to block it. She’s asked the Supreme Court to prevent the measure from being placed on the ballot. 

Moody’s arguments are weak and rooted in politics rather than the law. And most Supreme Court justices sounded skeptical of her position. I’m hopeful we’ll get a favorable ruling soon and we can move forward with this critical protection for women and pregnant people – not only in Florida but from states across the southeastern U.S., where politicians have cut off access to abortion. 

Read more about the oral arguments here: ‘People of Florida aren’t stupid’: State high court grapples with abortion measure (Politico Florida)

A bunch of insurance bills move forward

A bunch of insurance bills moved forward last week. Most of them were pretty good – but they really just nibble around the edges of our state’s property insurance crisis. 

For instance, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 1104 and the House Insurance & Banking Committee passed House Bill 1149. These bills would help homeowners whose homes are damaged during a hurricane, by preventing insurance companies from canceling their policies before they have time to make repairs. 

The same House committee also passed House Bill 893, which may allow state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to write wind-only insurance policies in different parts of the state. 

And the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed Senate Bill 1366, which would make condo associations eligible for hurricane-mitigation grants through the state’s My Safe Florida Home Program. 

Unfortunately, none of this bills would do anything to make insurance more affordable for Floridians. That’s why the most important development last week came when the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee held a workshop on House Bill 1213 – a bipartisan bill that would create a full public option for windstorm insurance open to all Floridians. 

This is an idea I really like – and it’s one that would absolutely bring down the cost of insurance, while also making sure those policies are reliable. It’s a very big idea, though, and it was always a long shot that it would pass this year. The fact that the Florida House is even talking about it is a great sign for the future, though. 

Our bill to crack down companies scamming veterans clears its first committee

Our bill to protect veterans from predatory fraudsters passed its first committee last week. 

The House Local Administration, Federal Affairs & Special Districts unanimously approved House Bill 1351, which would crack down on unaccredited entities that are charging veterans illegal fees for assistance in filing VA benefits claims. 

Getting a bill through a committee is a big step. This means that the bill will keep progressing during the second half of the legislative session – and that it now has multiple pathways to passage before the session ends on March 8. 

Click here to watch me present HB 1351 to the committee.

And click here to watch veterans and advocates testify in support of the bill. 

A few bad bills just stopped in their tracks

We won important victories last week in the battles against some really bad bills.

The Senate Government Oversight & Accountability Committee postponed a planned vote on Senate Bill 1120, which would prohibit the display of pride flags at public buildings like city halls and schools. 

The very same day, the Senate Community Affairs Committee delayed a schedule vote on Senate Bill 1126, which would expand a law that prevents cities and counties from doing anything about pollution from plastic bags and other single-use plastic containers. 

Meanwhile, the House Infrastructure & Tourism Appropriations Subcommittee rewrote House Bill 1551 – a bill that would have given Gov. Ron DeSantis nearly unlimited military power via his Florida State Guard militia. The committee amended the bill to remove all the really problematic parts. 

None of these fights are over. We still have to be on the lookout for last-minute committee hearings or amendments that might surface on unrelated pieces of legislation. But the fact that these bills are running into such opposition is more evidence that your activism and engagement really does matter.

At DeSantis’ urging, the Legislature may criminalize homelessness

It sure looks like Republican leaders in Tallahassee are going to criminalize homelessness this year. 

Committees in the House and Senate advanced House Bill 1365 and Senate Bill 1530 – bills being pushed by a right-wing, billionaire-funded think tank that aim to criminalize homelessness without explicitly doing so. 

Here’s how they would work: They would forbid cities and counties from allowing homeless people to sleep anywhere on public property except for in permitted camps – as long as those camps have security, running water, and access to social services. But the bill does not provide any funding for such camps. 

The bill also says the camps can’t be put anywhere that might impact neighboring properties. And it empowers people and businesses to sue cities and counties that violate any of these requirements – and to have taxpayers pay for their lawyers. 

This appears to be a designed-to-fail bill whose true goal is to leave communities with no other option than to start arresting homeless people. 

The bills have started moving more quickly because Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came out in support of the. That’s not surprising since the bills are being pushed by a think tank called the Cicero Institute – which is funded by a big DeSantis donor. 

Billionaires and big businesses team up to deny Floridians their unemployment help

Speaking of right-wing, billionaire-funded think tanks, another one is pushing House Bill 1289, which would make it even harder for Floridians who lose their job through no fault of their own to access unemployment benefits. 

The bill would give the DeSantis administration even more power to disqualify people from unemployment compensation. It passed the House Regulatory Reform & Economic Development Subcommittee, which I joined as an ex-officio member.

During the pandemic, my office helped more than 50,000 Floridians navigate Florida’s already-broken unemployment system to get the benefits they needed to keep roofs over their heads and food on their table. It is outrageous that we would make this system even worse for working families. 

Click here to watch my debate against this bill. 

The sponsor of HB 1289 said he has been working on the bill with the Foundation for Government Accountability – that’s the same right-wing think tank that is pushing bills to roll back Florida’s child-labor laws and eliminate local living wage laws. And the FGA, too, is funded by a big DeSantis donor.  

So many corporate favors

Unfortunately, we also saw a bunch of other bills move forward last week that are being pushed by big corporations and billionaire-funded front groups. Among them: 

• Senate Bill 1492, which is being pushed by the agriculture and construction industries and would stop local communities from making sure that people working outside in extreme heat are guaranteed basic on-the-job-protections – like access to cool drinking water
• Senate Bill 742, which is also being pushed by the construction industry and would stop local communities from making construction firms pay their workers better wages and provide better benefits when they get contracts to build big public works projects
• Senate Bill 460 and House Bill 917, which would allow homebuilding companies to use more 16- and 17-year-old teenagers on construction sites
• Senate Bill 888, which could allow landlords to evict rightful tenants if tenants can’t produce documents like a notarized lease.
• House Bill 1347 and Senate Bill 1436, which would allow predatory consumer lenders to nearly double their interest rates
• House Bill 1547 and Senate Bill 1628, which would empower real-estate developers and other big businesses to stop local governments from enforcing land-development rules
• House Bill 1645, which literally erases most references to climate change in Florida law
• Senate Bill 1084, which would protect the cattle and poultry industries from potential competition by banning the sale of lab-grown meat

Censoring teachers while pushing religion in public schools

On the education front, both the House and Senate seem bound and determined to expand Florida’s unconstitutional “Stop WOKE Act” and Senate Bill 266 – laws the state is using to try and shut down conversations about the impacts of racism, sexism, and other prejudices.

House Bill 1291 and Senate Bill 1372, both of which passed committees last week, would extend the Stop WOKE Act and SB 266 to educator-preparation programs. Those are the programs that students go through when they are training to become teachers themselves. 

These bills, which come straight from the DeSantis administration, are nothing more than state censorship and enforced ignorance. The entire goal is to stop future teachers from learning about and understanding the history and impact of white supremacy and patriarchy – to ensure that can’t ever teach their future students about these issues, either.  

At the same time, some Republicans want to push more evangelical indoctrination into public schools, too. The Senate Education PreK-12 Committee passed Senate Bill 1044, which would allow religious chaplains to work in public schools. Bills like these are benign promoted across the country by a national evangelical organization that boasts about “bringing Jesus to the classrooms of public schools.” 

There was also HB1349 heard in committee about a week ago too — this bill would lead to the development of a task force that will develop a K-12 curriculum about communism and “cultural marxism” which the bill sponsor cannot define. Imagine if we spent this kind of time on things like property insurance or teacher recruitment/retention.

Tax breaks for utility companies

Sometime this week we should get our first look at the House’s proposed “tax package” – which is a collection of various tax cuts for different consumers. 

But we got a bit of a preview last week during a meeting of the Ways & Means Committee, and some of the ideas Republican leaders are considering are a bit concerning. 

For example, it looks like Republicans may once again try giving bigger tax breaks to businesses than to actual Floridians – including yet another cut to the sales tax businesses pay when they lease property. It also looks like they may try to slip a tax break for Florida Power & Light into the tax package, via a property tax break that would really hurt rural communities around the state where FPL builds most of its solar farms. 

The Ways & Means Committee also separately passed House Bill 769, which would give tax breaks to corporations like Chesapeake Utilities and TECO that build “renewable natural gas.” I voted not because, in addition to being an unnecessary business giveaway, even though it has “renewable” in the name, RNG is just methane – an exceptionally dirty fuel. 

At the same time, the House Commerce Committee also passed House Bill 471, which would give an enormous tax break to timeshare owners and timeshare developers – and absolutely devastate funding for schools and other public services in Orange and Osceola counties. 

Other bills worth paying attention to 

Both the House and Senate advanced dangerous bills (House Bill 757 and Senate Bill 1780) that would lower the standards for defamation lawsuits and make it easier for billionaires to sue journalists and community activists. 

The Senate also began Senate Bill 1788, which is that chamber’s answer to House Bill 1 – the bill that would ban anyone under the age of 16 from social media. House Bill 1 has already passed the full House, even though it is clearly unconstitutional. 

The Senate Community Affairs Committee passed Senate Bill 438, a bill that would have state politicians in Tallahassee impose eight-year term limits on all county commissioners in Florida. The same committee also passed Senate Bill 1174, another anti-immigrant bill that would prohibit local governments from accepting forms of identification issued by groups that provide community IDs to undocumented immigrants. 

Committees in both the House and Senate passed House Bill 1195 and Senate Bill 1322, which would prevent city councils and county commissions from raising property tax rates unless they do so by a two-thirds vote. Committees in both chambers also passed House Bill 1051 and Senate Bill 1082, which would help agricultural companies build housing for migrant farmworkers. 

The House State Affairs Committee passed two more bills (House Concurrent Resolution 7055 and House Concurrent Resolution 7057) urging Congress to call a national constitutional convention at which states could propose new amendments to the constitution – such as a nationwide abortion ban. 

The House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 601, would would eliminate local civilian review boards that provide independent oversight of police departments. 

The Senate Fiscal Policy passed Senate Bill 632, which would allow people to shoot and kill Florida black bears if they decide the bear is threatening them, someone else or their home. 

The week in photos