Legislative Update - December 23, 2022

Legislators are participating in local Delegation Meetings where legislators from the same county meet with their constituents to discuss topics important to the community.

Florida lawmakers plan to hold two days of committee meetings during the first week of January as they prepare for the 2023 legislative session, according to schedules posted online. The Senate and House will hold numerous committee and subcommittee meetings on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5. That will follow Jan. 3 inauguration ceremonies at the Capitol as Gov. Ron DeSantis starts his second term. The Senate has posted details for its meetings, including a Jan. 4 presentation by state Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie to the Senate Select Committee on Resiliency. The House schedule lists times and locations of meetings but does not provide details of what will be discussed.

Governor …

Gov. DeSantis appointee rejoining Broward County School Board in place of elected candidate

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/577846-gov-desantis-appointee-rejoining-broward-county-school-board/

DeSantis to Push for Teacher Union Dues Opt-Out - Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he'll push for legislation to let teachers opt out of automatic deduction of union dues from their paychecks, calling the unions "zombie" organizations that don't have support from the teachers they represent. DeSantis said during a speech to school board members in Orlando that many rank-and-file teachers object to the politics of the state's teachers union and argued the law should allow teachers to write a dues check for their membership if they want to, but that the union shouldn't be allowed to automatically deduct pay for dues. "If they don't have a majority of the teachers who are actually signing up to pay dues, it should be decertified," DeSantis said. "You shouldn't be able to continue as a zombie organization that doesn't have the support of the people you are supposedly negotiating for." Union opponents have pushed for a similar move for several years, but have come up short in the Legislature. One proposal (HB 1197) similar to what DeSantis is proposing passed the House during the 2022 session, but wasn't passed by the Senate. Business Insider / New York Post 

State Has Spent Millions Defending New Laws - Florida taxpayers have paid nearly $17 million in legal fees to defend against lawsuits challenging measures passed by lawmakers that have been pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Among the lawsuits challenging elements of the "DeSantis agenda" have been those against measures limiting social media companies, changing how gender-related health care can be delivered, restricting what can be taught in workplace trainings and how issues related to race can be taught in schools. The state has also had to defend against lawsuits challenging laws related to penalties for protesters, changes in voting laws, an effort to relocate migrants and a ban on early abortions. The state's record at defending those new laws has been mixed. Miami Herald

“Ron DeSantis vows to ‘flip’ more school boards in 2024” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics — The political world is talking about whether DeSantis has what it takes to run for President, but remarks Monday suggest DeSantis is currently more focused, at least for now, on smaller stakes, namely school boards and replicating the formula that led to a successful 2022 cycle. A majority of his endorsed candidates for school boards won, his latest in a series of existential challenges to the education establishment. “The school board races in 2024 I think give us an opportunity to flip some more of these boards throughout the state of Florida,” DeSantis said to applause at an Orlando “The Freedom Blueprint” event Monday afternoon.

DeSantis to Push for Open Carry Law - Gov. Ron DeSantis wants lawmakers to pass legislation next year to allow gun owners to carry a gun in public without a permit. Under current law, gun owners must have a concealed weapons permit to carry firearms in public, but gun rights advocates in several parts of the country have pushed to eliminate such permit requirements. Backers of the idea – and opponents – say that with a Republican supermajority in both chambers of the Legislature, a bill that would end the permit requirement could pass in the Florida Legislature. WFLA 

DeSantis rises in 2024 polls: In a new round of polls, Gov. Ron DeSantis has emerged as the front runner in the GOP primary for president in 2024, even in a head-to-head matchup against former President Donald Trump. DeSantis, who is not expected to make an announcement until after the legislative session next year, led Trump 52% to 38% in the Wall Street Journal poll and 56% to 33% over Trump in a USA Today/Suffolk University poll.

Insurance …

Insurance test: With the Florida governor rising in popularity among the GOP base, the package of insurance proposals legislators drafted with the help of DeSantis’ office is being watched as a test of his handling of an explosive dilemma that is not about culture wars but is about something that can materially affect many people’s lives.

New market warnings: The stated goal of the reforms is to stabilize the insurance market by lowering industry costs and halting the exodus of private companies out of Florida. But even as legislators finished their work, the reinsurance market was warning that legislators may not have done enough. The pressure to raise the cost of insurance, the experts fear, will continue for at least another year.

No immediate relief: Meanwhile, Florida homeowners who face the highest property insurance costs in the nation, will see no immediate rate relief. Instead, there are warnings signs that the rising costs will add stress to homeowners already on the brink. Thousands of homeowners across the state are increasingly choosing to forgo insurance, sell their homes or even leave Florida said Tasha Carter, Florida’s insurance consumer advocate. Consumers tell her daily they “are absolutely worried about losing their homes because they cannot afford their homeowners insurance premiums,’’ she said.

Wait Now On for Insurance Changes to Work - Backers and critics of changes made to Florida property insurance laws last week will now wait and watch to see how the changes affect the state's homeowners market. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed legislation (SB 2A) passed last week that supporters hope will keep private insurers from going out of business or leaving the state. They're also hoping it will at least slow rising premiums.The bill passed during last week's special session, mostly along partisan lines with Republicans in favor. Major parts of the new law make changes in legal rules, eliminating a requirement that insurers pay plaintiffs' legal fees if the carrier loses in court in a bid to lower litigation costs for companies with the hope it will help entice more private carriers into the market. The measure also does away with a system where contractors are assigned insurance benefits and work out claims with the carriers. Another major change is a provision providing for a new Florida Optional Reinsurance Assistance Program, or FORA, an additional $1 billion state-funded layer of reinsurance aimed at making the market more attractive to insurers. Opponents argued the new law won't offer consumers enough protection in disputes with insurers, and that it may not lower rates, at least not quickly enough. Associated Press / Insurance Journal / Orlando Sentinel

—“Florida insurance department has lost its top three regulators” via Christine Sexton of Florida Politics

Insurers' Attorneys Blamed for Rising Workers' Comp Legal Fees - A new report on workers' compensation insurance found the amount injured workers spent on plaintiffs' attorneys declined by almost 1.9% during fiscal year 2021-22, while legal defense fees rose. Business groups, however, in criticizing high legal costs have advocated for caps on how much employees can pay their lawyers. The 300-page report, published by the Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims, found that legal fees overall increased by 2% compared to fiscal year 2020-21 with insurance companies paying 5.6% more in legal defense fees. Workers' compensation insurance is coverage purchased by employers that provide benefits for job-related employee injuries and in exchange, the business is immune from some injury lawsuits by workers. The no-fault, self-executing workers' compensation system in Florida relies on the Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims to help settle insurance claims. The state did away with plaintiffs' fees caps for workers in 2016 following a Florida Supreme Court ruling. A two-year ban on benefits was then repealed and lawmakers also agreed to a 14.5% rate increase. As a result, workers' compensation premiums have consistently decreased over the past six years. Earlier this year, the Office of Insurance Regulation approved an additional reduction on new and renewed workers' compensation policies, proposing an 8.4% rate decrease scheduled to take effect in January. Although statewide business associations hope the more conservative-leaning Supreme Court and Legislature will favor businesses, it's still unclear if lawmakers will try to reinstate some kind of cap on fees. Florida Politics 

Business Issues …

Toll savings: And although lawmakers couldn’t guarantee that homeowners will see lower insurance bills, they delivered tax breaks to drivers who use toll roads. The $500 million program would provide a 50% discount on toll charges to drivers who go through at least 35 toll stations each month.

Ratings agency raises questions about future of Florida’s toll road rebates -  Florida lawmakers should anticipate some “political and social” pressure at the end of a one-year program that will offer credits to frequent toll-road users, according to a financial rating agency. In a report released Tuesday, Moody’s Investors Service said the program, which will begin Jan. 1, will “buoy” toll road demand without reducing revenues because the state will make up lost toll dollars. But the report also questioned what could occur when the temporary program ends. More from the News Service of Florida and the Tampa Bay Times.

Hurricane damage breaks: Legislators also approved a tax relief package to help people whose homes were destroyed or left uninhabitable after they were hit by Hurricane Ian or Hurricane Nicole earlier this year.

Florida unemployment rate lowest in 10 largest states -  Florida's unemployment rate dropped to 2.6% in November, the lowest of the 10 largest states in the U.S. and 1.1 percentage points lower than the national rate. It was also the 24th consecutive month that Florida’s unemployment rate remained below the national rate. In November, Florida continued to exceed the national job growth rate for the 20th consecutive month; its employers have added jobs for 31 consecutive months. [Source: The Center Square]

Florida Fastest-Growing State - Florida was the fastest-growing state from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022, with its population increasing by 1.9 percent, according to a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Florida had an estimated 22,244,823 residents as of July 1, up from 21,828,069 a year earlier. “While Florida has often been among the largest-gaining states, this was the first time since 1957 that Florida has been the state with the largest percent increase in population,” Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the population division of the Census Bureau, said in a prepared statement. While topping states in percentage increases, Florida also had the second-largest increase in raw numbers of residents. Its 416,754 increase trailed only Texas’ 470,708 increase. Florida continued to have the third-largest population in the country, behind California and Texas. Texas’ population grew by 1.6 percent, to 30,029,572, during the one-year period, while California’s population declined by 0.3 percent to 39,029,342. Other states with the largest percentage increases during the year were Idaho at 1.8 percent; South Carolina at 1.7 percent; and South Dakota and Montana, at 1.5 percent. States with the largest percentage decreases were New York at 0.9 percent; Illinois and Louisiana at 0.8 percent; West Virginia at 0.6 percent; and Hawaii at 0.5 percent.

Florida Weekly Jobless Claims Below 5,400 - The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,398 new unemployment claims were filed in Florida last week, down from a revised count of 6,393 during the week that ended Dec. 10. The state has averaged 5,573 claims over the past four weeks, slightly higher than the 5,532-claim weekly average from the start of February to the end of September, before Hurricane Ian hit. The state Department of Economic Opportunity last week said Florida’s unemployment rate decreased from 2.7 percent in October to 2.6 percent in November. The November rate represented 280,000 Floridians out-of-work from a labor force of 10.756 million. The national unemployment rate was 3.7 percent. Nationally, 216,000 claims were filed last week, up 2,000 from the week ending Dec. 10 but lower than the 222,000 forecast by economists.

Gasoline Prices Continue to Dip - The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Florida rounded to $3 on Thursday, as motorists made holiday trips. The AAA auto club said Florida’s average price was $2.995 a gallon. That was down nearly 9 cents from a week earlier and about a dime cheaper than the national average. The last time Florida dipped below $3 a gallon was in August 2021. Its average price hit a peak of $4.89 on June 13. But Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis with the fuel-savings app GasBuddy, noted Wednesday that a recent increase in crude-oil prices could end a five-week drop in pump prices. “We’ve seen a bounce in oil prices and wholesale gas prices,” De Haan said on Twitter. “We’re basically close to the bottom and rising in some areas.” The lowest average prices in Florida were in the Pensacola and Panama City areas, at $2.81 a gallon. Sarasota, Daytona Beach, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Orlando, Port St. Lucie, Tampa and The Villages were all below $3. The highest averages were in the West Palm Beach area, at $3.21; Gainesville, at $3.14; Miami, at $3.12; and Naples, at $3.07.

Health Care Issues …

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the U.S. death rate to drastically increase in 2021 but preliminary data for 2022 shows the rate lowering. Current data suggests fatalities may have decreased by about 3% since the 2020 spike and dropped by roughly 7% compared to 2021. The report, which does not include December numbers, shows that 73,000 people died from COVID in January of this year but dipped to below 4,000 in April – averaging about 16,000 fatalities per month through November. The data suggests COVID-related deaths will most likely remain the third leading cause of death in the country behind heart disease and cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also estimates that around 3,500 deaths from January 2020 through June 2022 were directly linked to long COVID. Associated Press

Two studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show new COVID-19 booster shots are more effective at reducing hospitalization compared to original vaccines. Other smaller studies conducted by Columbia University and Harvard University found the updated boosters don't increase protection or antibody response against the BA.5 omicron subvariant than the original booster formula. The new bivalent shot, a mix of two previous vaccines, aims to protect against the original COVID-19 virus and the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants that became dominant strains over the summer. NPR

"Medical freedom" groups have been successful in Southwest Florida by electing three new members to the public hospital board at Sarasota Memorial Healthcare system. The recently elected individuals are opposed to COVID-19 vaccines and traditional treatment guidelines for the virus.NPR

Major commercial pharmacies, such as Walgreens and CVS, have limited the sales of medicine that treat COVID, flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, symptoms to avoid running out. Children's versions of fever reducers acetaminophen and ibuprofen have been limited in stores due to demand. The move comes after health officials warned of a "tripledemic" this winter.NPR

Supreme Court …

Florida high court OKs grand jury probe of COVID-19 vaccines

https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-health-florida-covid-f90dbf672338461457f6c30633398e90

Supreme Court Says No New Judges Needed - Florida lawmakers in 2023 should not add more judgeships and should consider trimming some, the state Supreme Court said Thursday as it made annual recommendations. The Supreme Court said “we certify no need for additional county court, circuit court, or district court of appeal judgeships.” At the same time, it recommended eliminating a county-court judgeship in Brevard County and reducing the numbers of judges on the 1st District Court of Appeal and the 2nd District Court of Appeal. The appeals-court recommendation came after the Legislature this year approved creating a 6th District Court of Appeal and revising the jurisdictions of the 1st District Court of Appeal, the 2nd District Court of Appeal and the 5th District Court of Appeal. The changes will take effect Jan. 1. “Based on the workload analysis the (Supreme) Court conducted for this first certification since the creation of a Sixth District Court of Appeal, we have determined that there is an estimated excess capacity of one judgeship in the First District and three judgeships in the Second District,” the recommendation said. “To address this situation, this (Supreme) Court recommends that during the 2023 regular session the Legislature consider enacting legislation that provides for reduction in the number of statutorily authorized district court judgeships based on attrition and without requiring a judge to vacate his or her position involuntarily.” The Supreme Court is required each year to make such recommendations to the Legislature. In addition to revamping the appeals-court system this year, the Legislature approved adding a county-court judgeship in Lake County.

Elections …

Special Election Set to Replace Former Rep. Harding - A special primary is set for March 7 and a general election for May 16 to replace state Rep. Joe Harding following his resignation. With those dates set this week, no replacement for Harding in House District 24, covering Marion County and including Ocala, will be in place for the 2023 legislative session. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Wednesday setting the special elections to replace Harding, who was indicted this month by a federal grand jury on six felony money laundering and wire fraud charges in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud the federal Small Business Loan Program. Harding sponsored the contentious "Parental Rights in Education" bill, or HB 1557, from last session that was referred to by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Florida Politics

Dem Files Bill to Tie Fla. Presidential Choice to National Popular Vote - Florida would join in a multi-state agreement to have the state's Electoral College voters make their choice for president based on the national popular vote under legislation (HB 53) filed by Rep. Michael Gottlieb, a Democrat from Davie. Gottlieb's bill mirrors an effort that had been pushed for several years by former Rep. Joe Geller, who left the Legislature this year because of term limits. Currently, state parties submit slates to cast Florida's electoral votes for President, and the chosen electors cast votes for the candidate that wins the most votes in Florida. The system is like that used in most states. Gottlieb's bill would award the state's votes to whoever wins the national popular vote for president, though the change would only go into effect if enough states adopted such a system to guarantee a candidate's victory in the Electoral College. Florida Politics