Top News: HB 81-Medicaid School-based Services Passes Unanimously on the House Floor
Senator Montford and Representative Andrade at Medicaid School-based Services Press Conference
With only three weeks left in the 2020 Florida Legislative Session, committees may end next week, and bills are being moved from committees to the House and Senate floors as we wait for conferees to be appointed to begin the budget conference process.
On Thursday, HB 81-Medicaid School-based Services (Andrade; R-Escambia, Santa Rosa) was read for the third time on the House floor and passed unanimously. If its companion, SB 190, passes through the Senate, Florida could draw down up to $51 million in federal funding for health services.
The Florida Policy Institute has calculated what each Florida county could be eligible to receive in federal match dollars through Mental Health Assistance Fund. Click on the link below to search the interactive map for your community:
CS/HB 1323: Economic Self-Sufficiency (Aloupis; D-Miami-Dade) - Building on the work of the 2Gen Report, HB 1323 requires DCF to contract for an evaluation on the effectiveness of Medicaid, temporary cash assistance programs, School Readiness, SNAP, and the Housing Choice Vouchers Program to identify growth in self-sufficiency of participants over time. Program evaluations must be compiled into a final report by February 1, 2021. Passed by Health & Human Services on February 18.
CS/SB 7012: Mental Health (Children, Families, Elder Affairs) - Implements several measures related to suicide prevention. Broadens the scope and duties of the Statewide Office of Suicide Prevention in DCF. Requires Baker Act receiving facilities to provide suicide prevention information to minors being released from a facility. Adds new training and staffing requirements for instructional personnel at charter and public schools, etc. Temporarily Postponed by the Appropriations Committee on February 20.
CS/CS/SB 810: Tobacco and Nicotine Products (Simmons; R-Seminole, Volusia) - Revising the age limits for permits relating to cigarettes; revising age and time restrictions relating to the prohibition of smoking and vaping near school property; revising prohibitions on the sale of tobacco products from vending machines; requiring that the age of persons purchasing tobacco products be verified under certain circumstances, etc. Passed by the Appropriations Committee on February 20.
Click for Updates on all Florida United Way Priority Bills.
