Your Week 3 Legislative Session Review from Team Anna

COVID19 UPDATES

Florida reported 198,719 coronavirus cases over the seven-day period from Jan. 21-27, an average of about 28,400 infections per day. That’s down over more than than 50 percent from Jan. 7-13 when the state hit a record 61,000 infections per day. It’s the second consecutive week that cases have fallen, suggesting that the omicron wave may have crested. Still, the past week’s case count is greater than the peak of any previous wave.

Continuing a trend that began over a week ago, the number of Florida hospital patients with COVID-19 fell by 171, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Sunday report. Of the people hospitalized in Florida, 1,445 were in intensive-care units, a decrease of four from Saturday. That represents about 22.70% of the state’s ICU beds, compared to 22.75% the previous day.

About 13,971,855 of eligible Floridians — 65.1% of the state’s population — have completed the two-dose series of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or have completed Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of that fully-vaccinated group, 5,169,202 have received a vaccine booster.

Read more here and here.

We’ve had a few folks ask us where to find N95 Masks. This link includes more details on where to find N95 masks in Central Florida.

DELAYS WITH FOOD STAMPS

Just before Christmas, dozens of families found out their SNAP food benefits cards were empty, but the problem has only gotten worse and it’s due to DCF’s delays in recertifying applications.

As reported by Orlando Fox 35: “Thousands of Floridians are worried that soon their shelves will be empty if the government doesn’t start hiring people to help them out. Some people told FOX 35 News their shelves are already empty. It’s the people who need help the most who now have nowhere to turn.”

We’ve contacted DCF and are doing everything we can to help folks one-on-one too. According to DCF’s own data, 25% of their Economic Self Sufficiency positions are vacant, and call center positions are 37% vacant. Their website is advertising call center job openings. No doubt this is why Floridians are facing such serious delays.

REDISTRICTING UPDATE

The biggest redistricting update is that the Florida House Redistricting Committee voted along a mostly party line vote, to send a draft map of Florida’s 120 House districts to the floor. You can view that map here.

APPOINTMENT OF SURGEON GENERAL

Gov. Ron DeSantis nominated Dr. Joseph Ladapo to serve as Florida Surgeon General in September, and last week a state Senate committee recommended to confirm him Tuesday along partisan lines. The confirmation came after the Democratic members of the committee walked out in protest mid-hearing.

ABORTION BAN MOVES FORWARD 

As we noted on the top of this update, HB5/SB146, the 15 week abortion ban, passed its second committee in the House which means it has only one more stop before the House floor. This Wednesday, SB 146 will be heard in its first Senate committee at 11am. 

HB5’s second committee stop was not without a disruption — as reported by The Tampa Bay Times, students began chanting “Let Us Speak” after the committee chairman cut public testimony short. This resulted in the Chair calling for a brief recess as the room was cleared.

The students left without incident and once the meeting resumed, only journalists were allowed back in to watch the early portion of the lawmakers’ debate over the abortion bill. Eventually, other members of the public were allowed back in as well.

The bill cleared the committee with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats opposed. We continue to do what we can to amplify how dangerous and politically motivated any new restriction on abortion is.

That same day, anti-abortion extremists blockaded access to a Planned Parenthood Health Center in Fort Myers. Read more here.

BILL TO ERASE HISTORY MOVES IN HOUSE

As reported by Scott Powers via Florida Politics:

Florida Republicans’ efforts to quell classroom or corporate training discussions they consider “woke” indoctrinations of cultural guilt emerged from a House committee Wednesday.

The meeting featured hard-drawn partisan characterizations of the bill as either being about freedom from discomfort or a ban of discomforting facts.

After nearly two and a half hours of discussion and debate, the House Judiciary Committee approved the measure on a 14-7 party-line vote. Republican Rep. Bryan Ávila is sponsoring the legislation (HB 7).

The Senate’s version (SB 148) from Republican Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. got through its first committee vote last week after similar contention. This is another example of a politically motivated bill that is in search of a problem and will actually create more problems versus solve any!

ANTI-IMMIGRANT BILL HEARD

As reported by The Tampa Bay Times, Republicans in a Florida Senate committee on Monday pushed through a bill that would bar the state from doing business with companies that transport undocumented migrants into the state, giving a nod to a controversial but key part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ election-year agenda.

The measure, approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote, would also expand the scope of a 2019 law that barred so-called sanctuary cities in the state, less than four months after a federal judge in Miami deemed portions of the law unconstitutional and tinged with “discriminatory motives.”

Democrats argued the bill is not needed, that it would be deemed unconstitutional like portions of the 2019 law were, and said that it was “wrong on a human level.” They asked, without receiving answers, how private transportation companies would know the immigration status of the passengers they are carrying on behalf of the federal government.

We learned later in the week how truly politically motivated this bill is. See below for context. 

SPEAKING OUT AGAINST CORPORATE TAX BREAKS

In our Ways & Means Committee we continued to dive deep into tax policy, and spoke out against a bill that would be a major tax break to one specific industry. HB 751 – Ad Valorem Taxation of Construction Equipment, would classify bulldozers, backhoes and other construction equipment that companies like United Rentals rent out as “inventory” – treating bulldozers actively being rented out as if they were boxes of cereal waiting on a shelf to be sold.

Inventory is exempt from property taxes, so this change would exempt this rental equipment from property taxes. The exemption would not apply to school property taxes. The REC estimates the tax break would cost local governments more than $20 million a year in lost property taxes. It’s part of a nationwide campaign by the industry to get states to eliminate taxes on their equipment.

The industry has been lobbying for this tax break for several years now. In the past, they have tried claiming that companies move equipment out of Florida to avoid the tax. Sometimes they claim equipment gets moved out of Florida temporarily around Jan. 1 (because that’s the date property values are determined). Sometimes they claim companies are just choosing to put more equipment in other states permanently because of the Florida tax. They even claim this tax break would help with hurricane prep, because it would incentivize companies to store more equipment in Florida. Those same talking points were used, with no evidence — so I voted no on this bill and did ask for evidence to their claims for when we potentially see their bill again. 

Meanwhile, it was reported by Jason Garcia of Seeking Rents, that a bunch of corporations defied the Florida Legislature but the state is waiving millions in penalties. You can read more here.

SPEAKING IN SUPPORT OF LGBTQ+ EQUALITY

As we mentioned above, a Florida House committee passed a bill to let doctors and insurance companies deny care based on “moral objection”. It’s a terrible and unnecessary bill — especially since medical professionals already have religious exemptions. This takes it another step farther purely for political gain. See our full debate remarks against the bill above. Read more here.

This bill passed along a party line vote. In addition to fighting against it, we also spoke to CNN about HB1557, a bill being named by activists as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” You can see our full interview at this link.

WORKERS’ RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK (AGAIN!)

The state’s top business lobbying associations are putting their combined political might behind a bill that could cut the pay of thousands of Florida workers.

The Florida Chamber, Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and the Florida Retail Federation are urging House and Senate committees to approve a proposed ban on local wage mandates that are higher than the state minimum of $10 an hour.

Cities, counties and workers argue local governments should be free to include so-called “living wage” and benefits mandates in local contracts. Read more from James Call via The Tallahassee Democrat here.

This bill would severe consequences for Florida workers. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen T. Higgins recently explained to the House Local Administration & Veterans Affairs Committee that her board moved to require a living wage on contracts for more than $100,000 because of a local high cost of living.  If the bills were to become law, Higgins calculates more than 20,000 Miami port workers alone would see an immediate pay cut of nearly 30%. Miami’s living wage mandate is $14.02 an hour with another $2.06 for health care benefits.

“So please, we encourage you to vote against this bill because local governments are uniquely positioned to understand the cost of living where we are,” Higgins told lawmakers.

As the legislature attacks local control, we filed a bill to expand it! For the last two decades, Republican lawmakers in Florida have waged a war on local control in our state. While Floridians in cities and counties throughout the state work to find regional solutions to the challenges affecting our communities, ranging from raising wages to common sense gun safety reforms to affordable housing, Republicans in the legislature, at the bequest of corporate donors, have consistently erased and prohibited these measures, ruling from Tallahassee and expanding the size of state government.

So we’ve filed SB 1900/HB 6113, the Restoring Local Freedom Act, to put power back in the hands of the people who know their communities best. This measure would repeal 35 state laws that remove local policy making passed by Republican legislators, ensuring that Floridians have the freedom to enact local policies that improve their lives. Read more here.

EDUCATION POLICY ISSUES

A Broward County Public Schools employee inappropriately used more than $90,000 in taxpayer money to buy computer equipment and gift cards for himself and colleagues while helping to manage a computer science training project for the Florida Department of Education, a report released last month by the department’s inspector general concluded. Read more from Ana Ceballos of the Tampa Bay Times here.

This bill is back again, as reported by The Tampa Bay Times: The Senate Rules Committee approved a bill (Senate Bill 520), sponsored by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, that would keep confidential names and other information that could identify applicants, though information about finalists would be disclosed at the tail end of searches.

Andrew Gothard, president of the United Faculty of Florida and a professor of English at Florida Atlantic University, slammed the proposed legislation as “a recipe for corruption.”

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT & GOING AFTER POLLUTERS

Last week was a busy week for advocacy of Florida’s environment. Not only did we serve on a panel discussion following the screening of The Fellowship of the Springs, but we also penned an op-ed with Senator Gary Farmer debunking a misleading editorial published by pro-sugar industry advocates. We also spoke against efforts to end metering in Florida; meanwhile FPL investigated themselves and (as expected) said there was nothing wrong with their political spending!

Scroll down for a few highlights.

FIGHTING FOR CONSUMERS

When you buy a vehicle in Florida, the law requires dealers to apply to transfer the title into your name within 30 days. If they don’t, the state can fine the dealer or even suspend or revoke their license. This law is what gives regulators the power to help make sure consumers can register their cars in their names.

But State Senator Tom Wright, of Volusia County, has filed a bill that would take that requirement away, and critics say it give more power to dealers and curt consumers.

Senate Bill 1346 would amend existing legislation so that a dealer no longer “must” obtain a title in the name of the purchaser. Instead, the bill would replace “must” with “should.” The proposed bill literally strikes out words that give the state regulators power. Read more here.

Another bill moving through the Florida Legislature would give financial heavyweights an edge in online government auctions at the expense of smaller investors.

Finally: The Florida House on Thursday refueled a debate about whether parents should be able to seek damages for mental pain and suffering when their adult children die because of alleged medical malpractice.

The debate centers on an unusual part of Florida law that involves wrongful death claims in medical malpractice cases. That part of the law bars parents from seeking pain-and-suffering damages when their adult children do not have surviving spouses or children. I voted yes on this bill, and you can read more here.

SCENES FROM TALLAHASSEE & THE DISTRICT