Dear Friend,
Well, here we are again: The Florida Legislature is back in session.
We just completed the first week of the 2025 Legislative Session. And we are already fully engaged in what I think may be the most important fight of the entire 60 days: Defending the rights of Floridians to engage in direct democracy and pass ballot initiatives by petition drives.
With Gov. Ron DeSantis and Big Business lobbyists urging them on, the Florida House of Representatives began moving forward last week with a bill that is intended to cripple the citizen initiative process – by burying petition drives in red tape, imposing difficult-to-meet-deadlines, and exposing petition gatherers to financially ruinous fiend and even criminal charges.
And the Florida Senate will start advancing its own anti-direct democracy bill this week – one that is even worse than the House legislation.
We need everyone engaged in this battle. Citizen initiatives are one of the most powerful tools available to everyday Floridians – they are why Florida has a rising minimum wage, dedicated funding for environmental preservation, and term limits for politicians in Tallahassee, among so many other important policies.
But there’s already so much more happening in session, too – both good (like bills to ensure wheelchair owners can make repairs when needed and to protect our state parks from turned into golf courses) and bad (like efforts to strengthen and expand Florida’s already-draconian abortion ban.)
You’ll find updates on those issues and many more below in our weekly recap. And if you’re not already, make sure to connect with us on our social-media channels – Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube – where we’ll be posting real-time news and alerts to keep you posted on events in the state Capitol as they happen.
Onward,
Direct democracy is under attack, as Tallahassee tries to crush citizen ballot initiatives
One of the most dangerous issues this session is an effort – led by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Big Business lobbyists like the Florida Chamber of Commerce – to shut down the citizen initiative ballot process.
Citizen initiatives are so important, particularly in a state where the Legislature is so grotesquely gerrymandered that most members are not responsible or accountable to the vast majority of voters. The petition process is how Floridians have passed important polices like a higher minimum wage, funding for environment protection, restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, and term limits for politicians. And the process is already incredibly difficult: Petition drives must collect nearly 1 million signatures to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot – and then it must pass with 60 percent of the vote.
But Republican leaders in Tallahassee and corporate lobbyists want to make citizen initiatives almost impossible to pass. House Bill 1205, which passed the House Government Operations Subcommittee last week on a 14-4 vote, would impose all kinds of new barriers to and restrictions on petition drives.
It would, for instance, cut the amount of time you have to turn in a signed petition from 30 days to 10 days – while simultaneously raising the maximum fine for turning petitions in late by *50 times.* The goal is to scare people out of pursuing ballot initiatives entirely, and then to put groups at risk of financial ruin if they try anyway.
Click here to see how members of the House Government Operations Subcommittee voted on this bill.
The Senate’s version of this bill – Senate Bill 7016 – is even worse. It has almost all the worst parts of HB 1205. But it would also prohibit Floridians from collecting petitions voluntarily without first registering with the state and going through an unnecessary and cumbersome state-run training program.
The Senate bill also makes it harder for groups sponsoring a ballot initiative to pay professional signature gatherers. And it would empower opponents to file lawsuits trying to get an initiative struck from the ballot – which, even if the lawsuit ultimately fails, could still succeed in bogging supporters down in expensive and distracting litigation.
‘Right to Repair’ for Floridians who rely on wheelchairs clears key committee
In much better news, one of the bills I’m sponsoring this year is the “Right to Repair Act for Powered Wheelchairs,” which would ensure that wheelchair users can get timely and affordable repairs when needed. This landmark legislation targets anti-competitive and overly restrictive repair practices in the mobility device industry, which have led to long wait times and high costs for Floridians who need to get their wheelchairs fixed.
I’m happy to report that the Senate version of this bill – Senate Bill 412, sponsored by Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith aka my work husband – cleared its first committee last week, passing the Senate Commerce and Tourism by a unanimous vote.
I’m optimistic we will be able to get a hearing very soon for the bill I’m sponsoring in the state House, too. That one is House Bill 311.
A bipartisan bid to stop Ron DeSantis from paving over our state parks
The House Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee unanimously approved House Bill 209, a bipartisan bill mean to make sure that Gov. Ron DeSantis never again resurrects his disastrous plan to pave over our state parks with golf courses, hotels and pickleball courts.
We’re calling it the “State Park Preservation Act,” and I’m proud to be a cosponsor on this important bill.
Amid calls from Democratic lawmakers, House Speaker orders insurance industry investigation
On the very first day of session, Houser Speaker Danny Perez announced that he was ordering an investigation into Florida insurance companies, following a shocking report from the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald that insurance companies have been secretly pocketing billions of dollars in profit while claiming to lose money.
I and several of my Democratic colleagues in the House had asked Speaker Perez to launch an investigation following the report, and I’m genuinely grateful that he listened to us.
This could prove to be really important, too: The speaker says he has empowered the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee to subpoena records from insurance companies and compel industry executives and lobbyists to testify under oath – a power the Legislature has but rarely uses.
That said, I was disappointed to see that Rep. Hillary Cassel withdrew her bill to turn Citizens Property Insurance into a true, public nonprofit option for any Floridian in need of affordable and reliable windstorm insurance. But I’m hopeful we’ll still be able to make some progress on that front this year, perhaps by commissioning an in-depth – and independent – study of the issue.
Improving emergency response for victims of domestic and dating violence
A bill to support victims of domestic violence and dating violence took a big step forward last week, when the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee unanimously approved House Bill 19.
This is another bipartisan idea. It would order a feasibility study for an online 911 alert system specifically for victims of domestic or dating violence that would allow them to use a nondescript phone number to contact 911 – and a user-generated code or phrase to indicate their need for immediate help from law enforcement.
The bill would also expand eligibility for participation in the Attorney General Office’s “Address Confidentiality Program for Victims of Domestic Violence” to victims of dating violence.
I’m proud to be a cosponsor of this important piece of legislation.
The next phase of abortion bans in Florida
Even though more than 57 percent of Florida voters supported a ballot measure last year to overturn the state’s near-total abortion ban, I’m really worried that Republicans in Tallahassee are going to try to strengthen and expand their abortion ban this session.
One way they may try to do it is by expanding “fetal personhood” – which is an attempt to give a fetus or embryo the same legal rights as a living human being. Fetal personhood laws can then be weaponized in court to cut off access to abortion services and even other reproductive care.
It looks like Republican leaders in the state House are going to fast track a major fetal personhood bill this session: House Bill 1517, which would grant civil liability rights to a fetus and allow a parent to sue and collect damages on behalf of a fetus that is lost in an accident. House leaders have only referred to the bill to two committees this session – compared to at least three hearings for most bills.
But we’re also seeing the fetal personhood movement slipped into other bills, too. For example, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee and the Senate Criminal Justice Committee both passed boating safety bills last week that would, among other things, would allow authorities to charge someone with “vessel homicide” if they cause a boating accident that results in the loss of a pregnancy.
These provisions – which are in House Bill 289 and Senate Bill 628 – are a subtle attempt to continue cementing the concept of fetal personhood into state law.
A powerful corporation wants a favor from Florida lawmakers
A bill pushed by the giant mining corporation Mosaic Co. is moving very quickly this session.
House Bill 585, which was approved by the House Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee by a 16-2 vote, would strengthen Mosaic’s defenses against lawsuits stemming from radioactive materials left behind in land the company has mined for phosphate ore.
Mosaic is currently being sued by a few Floridians who live in trailer parks in central Florida that were built on some of the company’s former mining land and who say they have been exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation because of materials that Mosaic left buried just beneath the surface.
This legislation would cripple that lawsuit. But the main goal is to reduce Mosaic’s legal exposure across the more than 100,000 acres of former phosphate mine land that the company owns – and that it hopes to develop in the future.
The Senate version of this bill – Senate Bill 832 – is up for a hearing on Wednesday morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The continued privatization of public schools
Yet another effort to continue privatizing Florida’s public schools moved forward last week, when the House Education Administration Subcommittee passed House Bill 123 on a 13-5 vote.
The bill would allow traditional public schools to be converted into privately managed charter schools without approval from the teachers who actually work in the school. The bill would also make it harder for some school districts to build new traditional public schools, in an effort to force them into opening more charters instead.
You can see each member of the committee voted on this bill by clicking here.
Committee check-in: Expanding daycare options and common-sense criminal legal reform
One of the committees I serve on is the House Human Services Subcommittee. One of the bills we heard last week was House Bill 47, which would cut red tape and streamline the approval process for daycare facilities.
We desperately need more high-quality daycare options in Florida, as childcare is one of the most challenging expenses facing working families. I voted yes on this bill.
I’m also a member of the House Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee, where we approved an important criminal legal reform bill last week.
House Bill 195, which has bipartisan sponsors, is a truly commonsense bill. It requires our Corrections Department to coordinate with the state’s many occupational licensing agencies to ensure that – when an incarcerated person completes educational and training programs required to obtain a professional license – they actually receive credit towards their licensure once they leave prison.
This is so important to addressing some of the barriers that formerly incarcerated folks face when they complete their sentences. It will help ensure that they can actually do jobs they have trained to do, so that they can better provide for themselves and their families – and makes it far less likely that they will commit another crime in the future. I voted yes for this bill, too.
The Senate version of this bill – Senate Bill 472 – also unanimously passed the Senate Criminal Justice Committee last week.
Rapid fire: From chemtrails to ‘free kills’
A silly bill filed in response to the “chemtrail” conspiracy theory was postponed by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government. (Senate Bill 56)
A bill to let Donald Trump build a presidential library in Florida without any oversight from the local community he chooses to build it in passed the House Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee by a 13-2 vote. (House Bill 69)
Senate President Ben Albritton’s “rural renaissance” package – which is meant to improve access to healthcare, education and technology in Florida’s rural areas – passed the Senate Community Affairs Committee by a 6-0 vote. (Senate Bill 110)
A bill to repeal Florida’s controversial “free kill law” – by allowing older children of parents killed as a result of medical malpractice, or parents of older children killed as a result of medical malpractice, to recover punitive damages in a lawsuit – passed the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee by an 18-0 vote. (House Bill 6017)
A bill to expand eligibility for compensation for victims of wrongful incarceration passed the Senate Civil and Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee by an 8-0 vote. (Senate Bill 130)
Thank you to all of our State Capitol visitors!
In between all of our committee meetings were tens of constituent groups making the long trip up to Tallahassee to meet with me and advocate for issues that reflect your needs and values. Thank you for visiting with us!