Legislative Update - September 15, 2023

The Florida House of Representatives will return to Tallahassee next week to prepare for the 2024 legislative session but will hold meetings on only one day. The House originally scheduled times for 11 subcommittee meetings on Sept. 19, with no subcommittee or committee meetings slated the rest of the week.  However, 8 subcommittees have canceled their meetings.

A ceremony will be held on Sept. 18, however, to formally designate state Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami, as the next House speaker. Perez will become speaker after the November 2024 elections, succeeding Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, assuming the GOP caucus continues to hold a majority. It now outnumbers Democrats 83-35 in that chamber. 

The Senate will not hold committee meetings next week. Both chambers will hold a series of committee weeks in October, November and December in advance of the 2024 session, which starts Jan. 9.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo are going against federal health regulators, encouraging residents under 65 to not get the newly approved COVID-19 booster shots.

First Lady Casey DeSantis highlighted the expansion of Florida's CarePortal platform to serve vulnerable Floridians, including those with disabilities, veterans and the elderly. CarePortal was initially created to support children and families in need, connecting them with faith institutions and local businesses willing to help. Nearly 500 churches and over 5,000 community members have helped around 13,400 children and their families since 2020 through the initiative. DeSantis Press Release 

A federal appeals court this week declined to rehear a legal challenge from challengers to the state's gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe that legalized sports betting in Florida, which could open up operation of the tribe's online betting operation as early as this month barring action by the U.S. Supreme Court of a new challenge in state courts. Sun Sentinel

Legislative …

Committees Are Set for Upcoming Legislative Session - The Senate and House late last week announced committee assignments for the upcoming legislative session after announcing a slate of scheduled committee weeks heading into the session, which starts in January. The first interim committee week will start Sept. 18, followed by two committee weeks in October, two in November, and two in December leading up to the Jan. 9 opening of the session. LobbyTools House Committee Assignments / Senate Committee Assignments

MONEY TALKS: With a week to go till the first legislative committee week, state budget leaders were told general-revenue surpluses are projected to decline over the next three years, and that’s without factoring in the impact of Hurricane Idalia.

Agency Budget Requests Due Today - Legislative Budget Requests from state agencies and the judicial branch must be submitted to the Legislature and governor's office by today for the FY 2024-25 budget proposal. Five-year plans for building and other facility needs, or Capital Improvement Plans, are also due today

Signaling that health care could be a key issue during the 2024 legislative session, House Speaker Paul Renner announced that he has created a House Select Committee on Health Innovation, the Tampa Free Press reports. 

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo only “adjusted” her chamber’s committee assignments, meaning little change from last year, and made no changes to the legislative “last-stop” committees of Rules, Appropriations and Fiscal Policy, Florida Politics reports. 

A bill (SB 28) filed Tuesday ahead of the 2024 legislative session would require electric and hybrid vehicle owners to pay a new fee – $200 for EVs and $50 for hybrids – on top of fees vehicle owners already pay for registration and license tags to help plug the hole caused in road budgets as Florida drivers increasingly shift to EVs, lowering state revenue from the gas tax. The fee for such vehicles would increase by $50 beginning in 2029. The sponsor, Clearwater Republican Sen. Ed Hooper, filed a similar proposal last year.

Rudman Files Bill to Require Most Businesses to Take Cash - Most brick-and-mortar businesses would be required to accept cash under legislation (HB 35) filed by Navarre Republican Rep. Joel Rudman on Monday. All sales in person at most businesses at a fixed location, or operating from a vehicle, would have to take cash for payment under the bill, which is part of a move around the country to counter a growing trend in which some merchants have started to move toward accepting only electronic forms of payment. Some restaurants, including some national chains, have experimented with cashless operation, citing the efficiency and cleanliness of not having to use money, and the safety of not keeping large amounts of cash on premises. But critics of that shift have said refusing to take cash leaves some people – including those who can't get bank accounts – out of the economy. A few other states, including New Jersey and Massachusetts, require that merchants accept cash in most cases. Some large cities have also considered the requirement. The Florida measure would exempt parking garages that operate without attendants and use credit card machines for payments, certain professional services, all Internet transactions, and wouldn't apply to transactions over $5,000. Violators would be fined. Similar bipartisan proposals have been filed in the past. Florida Politics

Nearly 123K New Students Received Private School Vouchers Under State Expansion - The expansion of Florida's school voucher programs, which include the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Family Empowerment Scholarship, has led to nearly 123,000 new students receiving private school vouchers, totaling 242,929 students enrolled at 2,098 private schools as of Sept. 8. Last year, about 170,000 students used vouchers through the programs during the 2022-23 school year, according to Step Up For Students, the private group that administers most of Florida's private school scholarship programs. Of the new students, 69% were already attending private schools, 13% came from public schools and 22,294 are entering kindergarten. The expansion, passed as HB 1 during the 2023 legislative session, also allowed homeschooled students to receive vouchers, with 15,097 participating in the program. News Service Florida

Florida Supreme Court …

REDISTRICTING: Seeking a final ruling before the legislative session starts in January, both sides in a battle over a congressional redistricting plan asked an appeals court to fast-track the case to the Florida Supreme Court.

In a case that could have a dramatic impact on women’s reproductive rights, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments in a constitutional challenge to a 2022 state law that prevented abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, the News Service of Florida reports. 

Business …

This is how much you need to make to live alone in Florida, new report says - Living alone in Florida is expensive, a new report shows. The price of essentials like gas and groceries has increased by 3.2% nationwide in the past year, according to the Consumer Price Index report from July 2023. That means that the amount of money required to live and work in the U.S. has gone up, too. In Florida, a single person must make $57,064 per year to cover all of their expenses. This places Florida 30th on the ranking of states by income requirements. [Source: Miami Herald]

Florida Chamber: Lack of Access to Child Care is Costing the State $5.4 Billion - The state is missing out on nearly $5.4 billion annually due to the limited accessibility of child care, according to a recent report by the Florida Chamber Foundation. The study, conducted in collaboration with the National Chamber Foundation as part of the "Untapped Potential in FL" research initiative, highlights that child care issues result in annual tax revenue losses of $911 million and $3.47 billion in annual losses attributed to employee turnover and absenteeism. The data underscores the significant impact of the lack of available and affordable child care on parents, leading to workforce exits, reduced tax revenue, and increased strain on households and businesses. Key findings include the need for parents to adjust schedules (48%), parents missing work or class due to child care issues (64%), and a notable 15% of parents leaving their jobs in the past six months because of child care challenges. The Florida Chamber Foundation focuses on enhancing economic prosperity and supporting the business sector by researching, advocating, and providing solutions to statewide issues. Florida Politics

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Tuesday that real median household income in 2022 fell in comparison to 2021 nationwide, though there was no statistically significant change to the official national poverty rate of 11.5%. Real median household income in the United States dropped by 2.3% from $76,330 in 2021 to $74,580 in 2022, the Census Bureau said. The regional breakdown of the data showed, however, that the percentage change in the South region, which includes Florida, was negligible. Real median household income in the South region dropped from $68,330 in 2021 to $68,230, a much smaller 0.1% decline than the national drop. U.S. Census Bureau

Florida Jobless Claims Remain Steady - First-time unemployment claims in Florida went up after the Labor Day weekend, but the number was similar to the weekly average since the start of the year. The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday issued a report that said an estimated 5,418 jobless claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended Sept. 9. That was up from 4,812 claims during the previous week and slightly below the weekly average of 5,768 claims since the start of the year. The Florida Department of Commerce on Friday will release an August unemployment report. The state had a 2.7 percent unemployment rate in July, representing an estimated 295,000 Floridians qualified as out of work from a workforce of 11.08 million. The national unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in August, the highest rate since February 2022. That came despite the Department of Labor reporting that the economy added 187,000 jobs in August and the labor-force participation rate hit 62.8 percent, the highest since just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Idalia losses in Florida near $160M” via Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics — Damage from Hurricane Idalia has already resulted in nearly $160 million in estimated insured losses, and that number is rising by the millions daily. The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) website showed that as of Monday, estimated insured losses exceeded $159.1 million from 17,681 claims, up from $156.4 million Sunday based on 17,472 claims and $135.7 million Thursday from 15,444 claims. Sept. 11 figures included 12,177 residential property claims of which 21.2% have been closed. There were another 4,624 claimed losses for automobiles, aircraft and various machinery, among other things, of which 27.4% were already closed.

“Industries push back as Miami-Dade moves forward on outdoor worker heat protections” via Nicólas Rivera of the Miami Herald — Miami-Dade County’s construction and agriculture workers moved one step closer to having a legally protected right to water and shaded breaks on hot days, but pushback from both industries makes some key details and the future of the county bill far from certain. The five Miami-Dade County Commissioners on the Community Health Committee voted 4-1 in favor of the bill, setting it up for a final vote in front of the full 13-member Board of Commission sometime in October. If passed in its current form, the bill would require construction and agriculture companies with five or more employees to guarantee workers access to water and give them 10-minute breaks in the shade every two hours on days when the heat index hits 90 degrees.

AAA: Florida Gas Prices Dropped 24 Cents Since Mid-August - Gas prices in Florida have fallen for the third consecutive week, dropping by 24 cents per gallon since mid-August. The current state average is $3.61 per gallon, 8 cents lower than the previous week and 24 cents lower than this year's highest price reported last month. The nearly 20% increase in U.S. oil prices over the past two months, driven by concerns that OPEC's production cuts would further tighten global fuel supplies, has resulted in oil prices closing at $87.51 per barrel as of Friday. Gasoline futures also fluctuated, rebounding by about 6 cents per gallon after a 19-cent decrease last week. The most expensive markets for gas include the West Palm-Boca Raton area, Naples and Gainesville, while the least expensive areas in the state are Pensacola, Panama City and the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach region in the Panhandle. AAA Press Release 

COVID …

Contradicting federal guidance, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said state health officials will recommend against anyone under 65 getting the recently approved and new COVID-19 vaccine boosters, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports. 

The FDA approved a new round of COVID-19 vaccines this week, but a recent survey suggests Floridians’ choice to get the booster shot will likely be divided along party lines, Axios Tampa Bay reports. 

Florida's COVID-19 Hospitalization Rate Highest in Country - Florida has the highest COVID-19 hospitalization rate in the nation, with 12 out of every 100,000 residents hospitalized, after the 11th consecutive week of hospitalization increases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The recent surge corresponds to a rise in SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in wastewater, but experts emphasize the current situation is not nearly as severe as last year. Factors like waning immunity and new variants are contributing to the current wave of cases. Officials plan to monitor the virus as the seasons change, noting that vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, face the highest risk. Booster shots for the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant are available but not free, along with COVID-19 tests. Orlando Sentinel

Campaign and Elections …

Both sides in a lawsuit over newly drawn congressional districts have asked for the court to quickly get the case to the state Supreme Court in a bid to reach a resolution before the January legislative session. Last week, Leon Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh ruled the current congressional map, which was put forth by the DeSantis Administration, violates the state constitution and has to be redrawn. Lawmakers may end up having to redraw the congressional map. The qualifying period for congressional candidates in 2024 starts in early April. The Capitolist

Miami will host the third Republican presidential primary debate in early November. CNN / Sun Sentinel / The Hill / Bloomberg / Politico / Reuters

“Ron DeSantis-aligned super PAC Never Back Down knocks on 2 millionth door” via Paul Steinhauser of Fox News — According to the details, Never Back Down founder and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli knocked on the 2 millionth door Tuesday in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first Primary and second overall contest in the Republican presidential nominating calendar. The canvassing effort includes more than 355,000 doors knocked in Iowa, whose caucus leads off the Republican nominating calendar, more than 227,000 in New Hampshire and more than 676,000 in South Carolina, another early-voting state that holds the first Southern contest.

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows DeSantis far behind Trump, having fallen 11 more points than his previous August number, Florida Politics reports

RPOF May Consider Loyalty Pledge Requirement at Party Meeting Today - The executive board of the Republican Party of Florida today could be asked to consider a proposal to rescind a current requirement that GOP candidates sign a loyalty pledge to support the party's eventual presidential nominee if they want to be on the ballot for the March 19 presidential primary in the state. Former President Donald Trump is opposed to signing the pledge. NBC News reported this week that State Sen. Joe Gruters is expected to offer a motion at the party's quarterly meeting Friday in Orlando to scrap the requirement. The pledge is supported by backers of Trump's main rival in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis. The state party's quarterly meeting coincides with the GOP's annual Statesman's Dinner, one of its biggest grassroots and fundraising events of the year. NBC News

“Don Gaetz considering Florida Senate run” via Rick Outzen of Rick’s Blog — Gaetz will decide whether to run for the Florida Senate District 1 seat after meeting with his family in the next few days. Gaetz served in the Senate from 2006-2016 and as its president for the last two years before he termed out. Doug Broxson holds the seat, but he will term out next year. Currently, Frank White, a former state representative, is considered the front-runner to replace Broxson. “You ask any politician past or present, and they’ll love to tell you that their phone is ringing off the hook and people want ’em to run. And sometimes that’s true,” joked Gaetz. “Most often, it’s probably an exaggeration, but for some reason, maybe it’s because people like to torture me. I have gotten a lot of unsolicited requests from people in Northwest Florida and around the state to consider running for the Senate,” he said.

New poll shows how Florida voters feel about medical, recreational use of marijuana

https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-poll-marijuana/45038846

“Florida groups push to get abortion rights into state’s constitution” via Steven Lemongello of the Orlando Sentinel — Abortion rights groups are working to get a referendum on the 2024 ballot that would enshrine access to abortion in the Florida Constitution, a measure designed to sidestep Republican control of the issue in Tallahassee. Recent votes in Republican-leaning states have shown that there are sizable majorities who will back abortion rights if they are put to a vote of the people. But more money needs to be raised, and time is running out if the Florida activists want to get the nearly 900,000 valid signatures needed by the Feb. 1 deadline. And all the while, a conservative state Supreme Court could torpedo the campaign at any time. “The Florida Legislature has not made it easy for groups to qualify measures for the ballot,” said Daniel Smith, the political science Chair at the University of Florida. “And that is quite intentional.”