The Florida House and Florida Senate on Tuesday conducted the annual joint legislative session to receive Governor DeSantis’ State-of-the-State speech. This annual set of remarks lays out many of the Governor’s public policy priorities ahead of each legislative session. Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls also delivered opening remarks (their full speeches are linked here: Simpson / Sprowls) in their respective chambers outlining some of their legislative priorities for the coming session. Their remarks touched on several of the Florida Chamber’s top legislative priorities outlined in the Florida Chamber’s 2021 Jobs and Competitiveness Agenda.

Today, the Florida House passed the business COVID-19 liability protections bill, HB 7 by Representative McClure, with a bipartisan vote of 83-31. This bill sends a signal of confidence for businesses that are doing their part to keep employees and customers safe that they will not be party to litigation. The Florida Chamber thanks Representative Lawrence McClure and Speaker Chris Sprowls for ensuring this bill passed the House during the first week of the 60 day legislative session. 

COVID-19 continued to dominate discussions before the legislature this week with all four COVID-19 liability protection bills seeing movement this week (see below tracking chart). The Florida Chamber was proud to stand in support of these important bills in each committee and fight accusations from trial lawyer interest groups that lined up against these common-sense protections for our local businesses.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with other Florida business advocacy associations, sent a letter to Governor DeSantis, Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls, encouraging their immediate attention to the $713 million unemployment compensation tax increase facing Florida employers.

Florida businesses are being faced with a $713 million tax increase as a result of pandemic-imposed shutdowns and the subsequent economic downturn and layoffs. This increase is happening at a time that employers are still struggling to keep employees paid and bring employees back to work. It is in the best interest of businesses, employees, and Florida’s economy that we find ways to reduce this tax burden and work toward recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

Florida’s first week of legislative session saw several Florida Chamber-backed education priorities move through their respective committees. In a year dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is of paramount importance that Florida’s Representatives and Senators continue to focus on passing legislation that will help each Florida student find their own pathway to prosperity.

SB 48, important school choice legislation sponsored by Senator Manny Diaz, was voted out favorably by its final committee and is ready for the Senate floor. SB 48 modernizes and consolidates Florida’s five choice scholarships programs into two, thereby reducing the burden on parents and allowing them to help students take advantage of educational choice options. Additionally, Representative Erin Grall has refiled HB 419, Florida Chamber-backed early learning reform legislation that better aligns VPK evaluation standards with Florida’s K-20 educational system and establishes a timeline for phasing in a new VPK accountability system based on a performance metric that includes student outcomes, learning gains, and observations of child-teacher interactions. HB 419 passed out of its first committee stop with a unanimous 16-0 vote. Also, this week, the Florida Senate Education Committee heard SB 366 that is Sponsored by Senator Travis Huston. This bill broadens the scope of apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs and brings in state universities as partners. And finally, SB 586 / HB 435 that relates to Veterans Employment and Training passed a committee in both the Senate and House. This bill designates Veterans Florida as the state’s principal assistance organization under the United States Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program. 

A bill filed by Senator Joe Gruters to provide parity between main street businesses and internet retailers and ensure that Florida’s hometown businesses are no longer at a 6 percent tax disadvantage is ready for the Senate floor after unanimously passing its final committee. SB 50 modernizes Florida’s sales tax code to allow for the collection of sales taxes from online retailers that have a substantial economic nexus in Florida and marketplace facilitators. This is a tax already due, but because it has not been enforced, it will bring an additional $1.3 billion into state and local coffers. Florida and Missouri are the only two states in the country that collect sales tax but have not passed an economic nexus law. HB 15, the House companion by Representative Chuck Clemons, is awaiting its first hearing following a workshop during interim committee weeks that included testimony from Florida Chamber Board of Directors member and Ron Jon Surf Shop President Debbie Harvey.