Becker’s State Lobbying Update: Week 1, March 4 – 7, 2025

Opening Day

The 2025 Regular Legislative Session began on Tuesday, March 7, with the House and Senate convening to address their priorities and pass a state budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.  Before the Joint Session and Governor Ron DeSantis’ State of the State address, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House outlined their priorities for the upcoming Session to their respective chambers. Senate President Ben Albritton outlined his wish for a comprehensive bill to create a Rural Renaissance for small rural counties to help expand education, commerce, and healthcare opportunities. Speaker of the House Daniel Perez outlined his wish to take a hard look at property insurance rates and the need to provide stronger oversight of government spending. The House will hold hearings looking at major reforms passed in previous legislatures and whether those reforms are producing the desired results by lowering property insurance rates without unjustly profiting insurance companies doing business in this state. The Speaker will also focus on creating a budget that meets the needs of the citizens while saving money.
During the Joint Session later in the morning, Governor Desantis thanked the Legislature for previous reforms relating to insurance and mentioned that Florida’s tourism numbers have hit all-time highs in 2024. His priorities include various sales tax holidays, elimination of the business rent tax and a constitutional amendment to phase out or eliminate property taxes in Florida, further hurricane recovery measures, citizen constitutional amendment reform, condominium reform, and lessoning regulation regarding the 2nd amendment.

Hot Topic

FL DOGE (Florida’s Department of Government Efficiency)

Succession to Office of Governor, Auditing, and Government History
HB 1325 by Representatives Sirois and Snyder
SB 1756 by Senator Fine

House Bill 1325 by Representatives Sirois and Synder is Florida’s own version of DOGE – the federal Department of Government Efficiency. This bill modifies the State Constitution to address Government efficiency, abolish specific offices, and revise succession processes. The proposed legislation would repeal Section 2 of Article IV of the State Constitution, eliminating the office of Lieutenant Governor. The bill also repeals subsection (i) of Section 19 Article III, abolishing the Government Efficiency Task Force.  In addition, this legislation proposes to create a Commissioner of Government Efficiency as part of the Executive cabinet along with the Commissioner of Agriculture, Chief Financial Officer, and Attorney General. The Commissioner of Government Efficiency shall have the power to audit, investigate and report fraud, waste, and abuse, providing government transparency to enhance accountability. HB 1325 was referred to two committees and is scheduled to be heard in its first committee, the House Government Operations Subcommittee, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at 1:00 pm. Its Senate Companion was referred to three committees and has yet to be considered.

Education

Charter School Conversion
House Bill 123 by the Education Administration Subcommittee and Representative Andrade
Senate Bill 140 by Senator Gaetz

House Bill 123, sponsored by Representative Andrade, was heard this week by the House Education Administration Subcommittee. As amended, the bill revises the application for a conversion charter school, requiring the application to be made only by parents whose children are enrolled at the school, removing the authority of the district school board or the school’s principal, teachers, or school advisory council to apply. A municipality with a school within its jurisdiction that has earned a grade below an “A” for five consecutive years may also apply to convert the school to a “job engine charter school” to attract job-producing entities to the municipality. The job engine charter must provide an annual report on investments to attract and maintain job-producing entities in the municipality. The bill revises the support required to convert a public school to a charter by removing the requirement that at least 50 percent of the school’s teachers vote in support. The bill prohibits a district school board from charging rental or leasing fees for the existing facility or property normally inventoried to the conversion school to a municipality organizing the charter school and prohibits any property normally inventoried to the school from being removed from the school. The bill requires that before a district school board occupies purchased or acquired real property, the board must submit a 5-year plan for the use of the property in a public meeting. The plan must consider enrollment growth, demographic shifts, and curriculum changes and must be updated and submitted to the Florida Department of Education annually. The bill prohibits a school board from purchasing or acquiring real property if enrollment in the district has declined during the preceding 5-year period. If such a decline has occurred, the board must dispose of real property deemed by the State Board of Education (SBE) to be surplus. Surplus real property must be given priority for conversion to affordable housing for teachers, first responders, or military servicemembers; charter school facilities; or recreational facilities developed by local government.  After lengthy questions and debate, the bill passed the committee as amended by a vote of 13-5 and now heads to the Education and Employment Committee. Its Senate Companion was referred to three committees and has yet to be considered.

Local Administration

“Rural Renaissance”
Senate Bill 110 by Senator Simon
House Bill 1427 by Representative Griffitts

Senate Bill 110, sponsored by Senator Simon, was heard in the Senate Community Affairs Committee this week.  As mentioned earlier, this bill is the priority of Senate President Albritton for the 2025 Session. This comprehensive bill addresses several issues that benefit rural communities in the state. Namely, the bill creates a statewide office to coordinate the advancement of rural communities and opportunities therein, and to that aim, amends a swathe of programs and regulations across various departments and policy areas. This $200 million proposal will establish the Office of Rural Prosperity within the Department of Commerce to serve as the state’s dedicated office for rural local governments, offering an increase in funding for “fiscally constrained counties” and providing $1 million block grants to eight counties that are experiencing population declines. The bill transfers the administration of existing rural community grant programs currently administered by the department to the newly established office and creates two new grant programs benefitting rural communities: the Renaissance Grant Program and the Public Infrastructure Smart Technology Grant Program. In addition to the grant programs, the proposal also includes funding to help residents access healthcare via mobile healthcare units and/or telehealth kiosks. It will also include funds to assist with road improvements, public safety, infrastructure, education, and affordable housing.

The bill passed the Senate Community Affairs Committee 6-0 and now heads to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee. The bill was also scheduled to be heard by the EDR’s Revenue Estimating Impact Conference on March 7, 2025, at 9:00 am. The House companion by Representative Griffitts was referred to three committees but has yet to be considered.

Suits Against Government
House Bill 301 by Representative McFarland
Senate Bill 1570 Senator DiCeglie

House Bill 301, sponsored by Representative McFarland, was heard in the House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee on February 19, during the committee weeks leading up to the start of the Regular Session. The bill increases the existing caps on the recovery of awards against a governmental entity. For a claim that accrues between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2030, the cap is increased to $1,000,000 per person from $200,000, and the cap for multiple claims or judgments arising out of the same incident is increased to $3,000,000 from $300,000; the bill provides for one automatic increase in the caps for claims accruing on or after October 1, 2030. The limitations of liability in effect on the date the claim accrues apply to the claim. The bill permits a subdivision of the state to settle a claim or judgment more than the caps without requiring the subdivision to seek further action by the Legislature. The bill prohibits an insurance policy, beginning October 1, 2025, from conditioning the payment of benefits or the coverage of liability on the enactment of a claim bill. The bill also revises certain statutes of limitation and presuit procedures for certain claims against government entities. The bill passed the Subcommittee 17-1 and now goes to the House Budget Committee. Its Senate companion was referred to three committees and has yet to be considered.

Healthcare

Coverage for Diagnostic and Supplemental Breast Examinations
Senate Bill 158 by Senator Berman
House Bill 141 by Representative Woodson

Senate Bill 158, sponsored by Senator Berman was heard in Senate Appropriations committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government on Wednesday. This bill seeks to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for breast cancer exams for those with state insurance coverage, aiming to encourage early detection and treatment.  As amended, the bill establishes new requirements that would prohibit state group insurance programs from imposing fees such as co-pays for diagnostic and supplemental breast examinations, allowing patients to continue further care without having to pay additional fees. The bill unanimously passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and General Government and heads next to its second and final committee of reference, Senate Appropriations. The House companion by Representative Woodson was referred to three committees but has yet to be considered.