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Legislative Status Report
April 12 2019
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Since 1987, the Daytona Regional Chamber worked closely with our Volusia delegation and others to relay the local business viewpoint on matters that come before State government. In an effort to keep you, our members, informed of the Session in Tallahassee, we present our Legislative Status Report. If you have any questions regarding its content, please contact
Jim Cameron
at 386.566.2140.
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With the May 3 adjournment date approaching, the House and Senate are preparing for the final stages of the Session. Budget conference committees are in the
dialogue phase. Next week is the final week of committee meetings (unless authorized).
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House & Senate Approve Budgets....
Process to Negotiate Differences Begins
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The Senate passed
S 2500
its
$90.3 billion
budget for FY 2019-20. The House approved
H 5001
its
$89.9 billion
budget, thus, House/Senate budget leaders could begin to negotiate differences this weekend.
Biggest gaps include preK-12 and higher education, affordable housing, Enterprise Florida, and Visit Florida.
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Click here
for some of the specific allocations for Volusia County.
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There are several budget differences in the Senate and House budgets.
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Visit Florida
-
House Budget leaders budgeted $19 million for Visit Florida.
The Chamber believes Visit Florida is vital as tourism remains the state’s dominant industry, and while the state continues to recover from toxic algae blooms and hurricanes.
Despite these setbacks, Florida saw a record number of visitors last year
.
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In addition to visitors from other states, there were gains in international tourists from Canada, the United Kingdom and Brazil, with fewer visitors from Europe, South America and Asia.
VF’s budget went from $25 million a year in 2004 to $76 million in 2018 and
Governor DeSantis
wants funding maintained at that same amount.
The Senate plan would allocate $50 million
.
Meanwhile,
FLORIDA TOURISM MARKETING
-
S 178
by
Sen Gruters
would remove any repeal date and make Visit Florida permanent.
S 178
was approved by the Senate.
Keeping Visit Florida fully funded is important to the Chamber because the hospitality and tourism industry employs 1.4 million workers in Florida (est 32,000 in Volusia County).
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Enterprise Florida -
b
oth House and Senate subcommittees have zeroed out the Job Growth Grant Fund which is used for economic development projects while
Gov DeSantis
is recommending $85 million for the Job Growth Grant Fund.
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WorkForce Housing /Budget Talks
Numerous organizations, including the Chamber, want Sadowski Housing Trust Fund money spent on affordable housing. At the same time the Senate and the House have different concepts of how much should be allocated. For years, the legislature has “swept” this trust fund for other purposes to balance the budget.
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There’s an estimated $352 million in the affordable housing trust fund.
Meanwhile, wait lists for housing continues. Central Florida including Orlando, Tampa and Daytona Beach are in dire need of affordable housing.
A significant amount of housing in the Panhandle was destroyed by Hurricane Michael and the House also wants to allocate $200 million of Sadowski dollars to replace it while the Senate wants to use that money for affordable housing programs.
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There are several tax-cut measures moving in the Senate and House..
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- reduce the state tax rate on the rental, lease, or license to use commercial real property from 5.7 % to 4.2 %;
- clarify when remote sales are subject to Florida sales and use taxation;
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- provide for the taxation of sales facilitated through a marketplace provider (thus more remote sellers may be subject to Florida’s sales/use tax pursuant to the provisions relating to remote sates and marketplace sales)
- require a marketplace provider to collect and remit the tax on taxable sales made by marketplace sellers.
It's on the
Finance & Tax Committee
agenda on Tuesday, 1 pm.
The Chamber supports collecting sales tax on internet sales to provide a “level-field” of competition with our “local bricks & mortar stores”.
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Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday
S 576
by Sen Perry
sets a 10-day sales tax holiday August 2 – 11 whereby certain purchases of clothing, school supplies, and personal computers are exempt from the state sales tax and county discretionary sales surtaxes.
$60.5 million cost impact to the State and $15.5 million cost impact to local government.
It was approved by the
Finance & Tax Committee
and now is en route to the Senate floor.
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Sales Tax Holiday for Disaster Preparedness Supplies
S 1412
by
Sen Gruters -
11 items
for disaster preparedness/protection would be sales/use tax exempt June 1 - 14.
$70 million cost impact to the State.
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The
House
Ways & Means Committee
drafted a new tax package
H 7123
which provides several tax reductions and other tax-related modifications designed for families and businesses.
Sales tax:
- reduction in the tax rate for commercial property rentals from 5.7% to 5.35%,
- three-day “back-to-school” holiday for certain clothing, school supplies, and personal computers,
- seven-day “disaster preparedness” holiday for specified disaster preparedness items.
Property tax:
- amends requirements for hospitals to qualify for a charitable tax exemption (see CS/H 1295)
- clarifies that usage of school district voted discretionary operating property tax levies is to apply proportionately to charter schools in the levying district in the same manner as charter schools are funded under current law.
The total state and local government impact of the bill in FY 2019-20 is $102.4 million ($114.0 million recurring).
(
Rep David Santiago
voted
YES)
These recommendations were included as part of the House General Appropriations Act (budget)
H 5001
.
Gov DeSantis
’ budget recommendation also includes a back-to-school and a hurricane-preparation sales tax holiday.
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Communications Services
S 1000
by
Sen Travis Hutson
would reduce the state tax on general communications services from 4.92% to 3.92%, on direct-to-home satellite services from 9.02% to 8.07%. It would also
specify limitations and prohibitions on cities and counties relating to registrations and renewals of communications services providers.
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K-12 Education
S 7070
by
Sen Diaz
creates and amends K-12 education programs to support students and families, public schools, and teachers by expanding school choices for low-income families, expanding student support services and reducing regulations, and removing teacher certification barriers and providing incentive awards.
A similar House version
School Choice
-
H 7095
by
Rep Aloupis
. would
provide greater access to quality educational options and services for underserved students by allowing Schools of Hope to open in “Florida Opportunity Zones” and their funding would be used for capital outlay/initial leasing and to compensate executive directors until a school reaches full enrollment. It also revises the definition of “persistently low-performing schools” to include schools that rank below a “C” for 3 out of 5 years.
It was approved by the
Education Committee
and now is en route to the House floor.
NOTE -
H 5101
House Education budget appropriates $140 million in recurring general revenue to the Schools of Hope program.
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Rep Elizabeth Fetterhoff
presents Financial Literacy bill
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High School Graduation Requirements
H 73
by
Rep
Elizabeth Fetterhoff
says financial literacy instruction must be an integral part of the high school economics c
urriculum
and include earning income, buying goods and services, saving and investing, taxes and other subjects.
It w
as approved by the PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee
Rep
David Santiago
voted
YES).
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Senate version
High School Graduation Requirements/Dorothy Hukill Financial Literacy Act
S 114
by
Sen Travis Hutson
is on the calendar for a floor vote.
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District Cost Differential -
H 5101
(Education Budget)
includes $100,000 to hire a consulting firm to conduct a study to overhaul the DCD education funding formula that distributes money to school districts.
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The Senate
Education Committee
approved a similar bill
S 1284
by
Sen Diaz
Both DCD bills are on the Chamber's Watch List. We also appreciate the attention that the Volusia delegation has given both bills.
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Prescription Drug Importation Programs
H 19
by
Rep Tom Leek
creates programs for purpose of safely importing cost-effective prescription drugs into state from Canada & other foreign nations under specified conditions; provides eligibility criteria for prescription drugs & program participants; provides distribution requirements; provides annual reporting requirements; provides application & permitting requirements for certain participating entities; provides that implementation of International Prescription Drug
Importation Program is contingent on federal arrangement or obtaining
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S 1452, S 1528)
A similar Senate version
CS/S 1528
by
Sen Bean
is currently before the
Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee
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Electronic Prescribing H 831 by Rep Mariano
beginning January 2021, all prescriptions will be electronically generated & transmitted; prohibits electronic prescribing from interfering with patient's freedom to choose pharmacy; provides restrictions for electronic prescribing software; authorizes electronic prescribing software to display information regarding payor's formulary under
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Senate version
CS/S 1192
is on
the
Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee
agenda on Tuesday, 1 pm.
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Health Insurance Savings Programs
H 1113
by
Rep Paul Renner
would allow health insurers to create a
voluntary shared savings incentive program
to encourage insured individuals to shop for high quality, lower cost health care services.
It was approved by the House 114-0.
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Telehealth -
H 23
by Rep Yarborough
creates standard of care for telehealth providers and authorizes them to use telehealth means to perform patient evaluations and to prescribe specified controlled substances;
STAFF ANALYSIS - For individuals located in areas where certain types of practitioners are scarce or who have mobility issues, this may provide additional or timelier access to needed services. Voted was 102 -14 (
Reps Tom Leek
,
Elizabeth Fetterhoff
,
Paul Renner
David Santiago
voted
YES).
Senate version
S 1526
is on the
Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee
agenda on Tuesday, 1 pm.
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Red Tide Mitigation/Technology Development Initiative
S 1552
by
Sen Gruters
would be a first step to test and implement technologies to control/ mitigating the impacts of red tide. It wa
s approved by the
Agriculture, Environment, General Government
A
ppropriations Subcommittee
(
Sen Travis Hutson
-
voted
YES).
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Identical House version
H 1135
by
Rep Grant
is before the
State Affairs Committee.
Addressing Red Tide is a water quality issue on the Chamber’s priority list.
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Tourism / Vacation Rental Units
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V
acation Rental Units
H 987
by
Rep Grant
was approved by the House
Government Operations and Technology Appropriations Committee.
It would shift regulation of VRUs to the Dept of Business Regulation. While it adds reporting requirements for VRU owners, it p
rohibits local vacation rental regulations regarding occupancy limits, inspections, and licensing
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The Chamber believes VRUs could be better regulated at the local level i.e. cites. VRU's should be required to pay taxes
(sales and bed) and adhere to the same
SAME standards as hotels.
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(AOB)
-
CS/H 7065
by
Rep Rommel
which would
address post-storm losses for residential or commercial property insurance claims, or motor vehicle glass claims under motor vehicle comprehensive or combined additional coverage.
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Motor Vehicle Insurance
S 1052
by Sen Lee
would repeal the Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law, requiring every auto owner in the state to maintain Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage beginning January 1, 2020.
The Chamber supports AOB bills
CS/H 7065
(and a similar Senate version
S 122
by
Sen Broxon
. At the same, Motor Vehicle Insurance
S 1052
is on the
Chamber’s Watch list.
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Insurance
H 301
by
Rep
David Santiago
revises the reimbursement of loss adjustment expenses by Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund; revises requirements for workers' compensation insurance applications; provides right of contribution of certain liability insurers against other liability insurers for defense costs; specifies risk-based capital determination for certain insurers; removes cap on per-policy fees charged by filing surplus lines agent;
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It also authorizes reasonable per-policy fee charged by retail agent on surplus lines policies; reduces amount that must be collected from insureds before policies or binders are issued.
Approved by the House and now en route to the Senate.
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Half-Cent Sales Tax Referendum for Infrastructure
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Workers' Compensation
H 1399
by
Rep Byrd
makes changes to the workers’ compensation law to address the delivery of benefits and system cost drivers by :
- mandating a specified notice regarding attorney fees be signed by the claimant.
- requiring a good faith effort by the claimant and their attorney to resolve disputes prior to filing a petition for benefits.
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A similar Senate version
S 1636
by
Sen Perry
is stalled before the
Banking & Insurance Committee
.
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Community Development/Housing
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Community Redevelopment Agencies
S 1054
by
Sen Lee
would seek to increase accountability/transparency for CRAs by requiring CRA commissioners to undergo ethics training annually;
requiring each CRA to use the same procurement/purchasing processes as the creating municipality.......
S 1054
passed the
Transportation, Tourism, & Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee (
Sen Travis Hutson
voted YES).
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Similar House version
H 9
by Rep LaMarca
is up for a House floor vote on April 17.
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Community Development & Housing -
S 1730
by
Sen Lee
and House version
Property Development
H 7103
by
Rep Fischer
would curtail local entities mandating affordable housing i.e. “inclusionary zoning” in comprehensive plan amendments, land development regulation, or as conditions of a development order or permit.
These bills also stipulates that local governments may provide a waiver of impact fees for the development or construction of affordable housing and is not required to use any revenue to offset the impact.
H 7103
by
Rep Fischer
is en route to the House floor while
S 1730
is en route to the Senate floor.
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Chamber Hosts Congressional & State Administrative Staff
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Cheryl Perreault, Zane, Amanda, Scott McGuire at Teledyne-Marine
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Amanda, Zane, David Whan,
Tabitha Zane at TopBuild
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As part of its role of keeping the Daytona Beach/Volusia County business community in touch with our government officials, the Chamber hosts elected officials and staff members each month to hear concerns and discuss issues.
On August 12, the Chamber hosted welcomed
Amanda Thorpe
,
Regional Director for Gov Ron Desantis and Zane Beard, Regional Director for CFO Jimmy Patronis
for meetings with
Teledyne-Marine, TopBuild, Daytona Beverages, Bank of America, City of Daytona Beach,
CEO Business Alliance, and Daytona International Speedway .
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Amanda, Kevin Bowler, Zane,
Chris Bowler at Daytona Beverages
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Kent Sharples, Zane, Amanda
at CEO Business Alliance
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Chamber's 2019 Legislative Priorities
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Click
2019 Legislative Priorities
to see the Chamber's recommendations for the Session. Compiled by our Legislative Action Committee -
Phil Maroney, Chair (Root Company
).
These recommendations will be tracked throughout the session and reported each week in the Chamber's Legislative Status Report.
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Click
Subject Index
- A list of all House and Senate bills, in alphabetical order by subject.
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Contact Your House and Senate Members
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Click her
e
to see Volusia's House/Senate contact information
as well as new committee assignment.
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The Chamber would like to thank
Charter-Spectrum
for sponsoring our Government Relations E-Newsletters.
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Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce
126 E. Orange Avenue, Daytona Beach, FL 32114
386.255.0981 | info@daytonachamber.com
DaytonaChamber.com
Your Chamber of Influence
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