We heard from the Governor during his State of the State address where he urged Florida’s Legislature to “stay the course.” The Governor called for further expansion of school choice programs, reduction in the state’s budget, allocating additional money to law enforcement and continued tax cuts of $1 billion, but offered few details as to specific tax cuts other than extending tax holidays. Read Governor DeSantis’ full speech here.

We also heard from Speaker Renner during the opening of the House. He echoed many of the same themes as the Governor, addressing educational freedom, mental health, enacting age verification for social media and pornography and taking additional steps to combat organized retail theft. Read Speaker Renner’s full speech here.

Finally, we heard from Senate President Passidomo to open the Session. President Passidomo rejected the idea of expanding Medicaid in Florida, saying “it is not going to happen.” Rather, she is working on a plan “to expand Florida’s healthcare workforce with new opportunities for education, training and retention.” In addition, she announced the “Learn Local initiative,” aiming to cut red tape and reduce bureaucracy in public schools. Finally, she discussed plans to deregulate public schools and increase conservation efforts using revenue from the gaming compact. Read the President’s full remarks here.

SB 258 -- Interstate Safety -- After several years of dying in committee, things look better for Senator Keith Perry’s efforts to prohibit drivers from camping out in the left-hand lane on roads, streets or highways of two or more lanes in the same direction and a speed limit of at least 66 mph. Drivers who violate could get fined and ticketed.  

HB 91 -- Transportation Facility Designations -- (or the "Jimmy Buffet Memorial Highway Bill”)

HB 781 -- Unsolicited Proposals for Public-Private Partnerships -- This bill is sponsored by Representative Chuck Clemons and sets to refine how Florida tackles infrastructure projects. It would ease or eliminate requirements for a competitive bidding process and gives public/private partnerships wider discretion in unsolicited proposals. 

SB 7000 -- Deregulation of Public Schools/Instructional, Administrative and Support Personnel

SB 7002 -- Deregulation of Public Schools/School District Finance and Budgets, Facilities and Administration and Oversight 

SB 7004 -- Deregulation of Public Schools/Assessment and Accountability, Instruction and Education Choice

SB 1084 -- Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services -- explicitly preempts regulation of EV charging stations and provides that “a local governmental entity may not enact or enforce an ordinance or regulation related to electric vehicle charging stations." 

SB 1624 / HB 1656 -- Energy Omnibus -- proposes multiple changes to the energy landscape in Florida. It contains several local pre-emptions on the use of natural gas and natural gas facilities. It includes a ban on the government's purchase of batteries made from “forced labor” (general thought: language targeting Chinese-made goods). It eliminates fuel efficiency considerations for statewide procurement of vehicles. The bill also will require purchasers of new electrical vehicles to pay a new “deposit” or fee of $500 to $1000 at the time of purchase.   

SB 1718 -- Wind Energy Facility Siting -- A bill prohibiting construction, operation or expansion of wind energy facilities and offshore wind energy facilities in this state. 

HB 1277 -- Municipal Utilities -- This bill would set limits on what a municipal-owned utility could transfer to general revenue from revenue generated by electricity, natural gas and waste water. The transfer would be: “equal to the amount derived by applying the average of the midpoints of the rates of return on equity approved by the Public Service Commission for each investor-owned electric utility in the state to the municipal electric utility's revenues.” It also further reduces the transfer amount depending upon how many customers of the utility are located outside the city limits.   

HB 1301 -- Department of Transportation -- This bill will ban the use of “ESG” planning criteria, like climate reductions and social justice, by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and would prohibit local governments from “any marketing or public awareness campaigns . . . in support of any social, political or ideological interest,” including “the promotion of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) interests, [and] any campaign related to environmental or social justice causes.” 

CS/CS/HB 49 & SB 1596 -- Employment and Curfew of Minors -- This bill would revise age restrictions for 16- and 17- year-olds in the workforce, allowing them to work additional hours while attending school.  

HB 151 -- Cost-of-living Adjustment of Retirement Benefits -- State workers are on track to receive a 3% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in their pensions. The COLA increases were eliminated during the recession; reinstating them is estimated to come with a cost of $2 billion dollars.   

CS/SB 328 -- Affordable Housing -- As noted, this bill makes several significant changes to the law enacted last year. Some of the major changes: require counties and cities to post on their websites their procedures for administrative approval of Live Local projects; require fewer units in development that are located in the Florida Keys to be set aside for income-limited households, dropping that number from 70 units to 10; expand the FHFC’s ability to preclude developers from participating in its program for certain violations; and require local governments to weigh parking requirements for developments near transportation stops or hubs. 

HB 599 -- Gender Identity Employment Practices -- This bill bars government employees and contractors from using any pronouns that do match sex assigned at birth.

HB 1135 -- Lewd or Lascivious Grooming -- This bill creates a new felony of “lewd and lascivious grooming” as defined as “the process of preparing or encouraging a child to engage in sexual activity through overtly sexually themed communication with the child or in conduct with or observed by the child without permission from the child's parent or legal guardian.”   

SB 438 -- Term Limits/Term Limits for County Commissioners -- This bill sets a limit of 8 consecutive years for County Commissioners.  

HB 401 -- Tracking Devices and Applications -- This bill would prohibit the use of tracking devices like AirTags to track a person without their consent, making it a felony.  The bill does contain some exceptions.   

HB 601 -- Complaints Against Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers -- This bill will pre-empt local governments and prohibit local police review boards. 

HB 759 -- Solicitation of Contributions Act -- This bill will prohibit panhandling in most cases, from 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. the next day, and makes the violation of the proposed panhandling law a felony.   

HB 1223 -- Minimum Age for Firearm Purchase or Transfer -- is a bill to lower the age to purchase a firearm from 21 to 18.