HEADLINES Sine Die. The Florida Legislature adjourned on Friday, April 30th around 2:40 pm. The 2021 regular session presented some extraordinary challenges to all who participated in the legislative process. As this COVID-19 Session comes to an end, the following business was conducted: 3,140 Bills and Proposed Committee Bills (PCBs) filed 2,632 Amendments filed 3,788 […]
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BECKER UPDATE: 2021 Florida Legislative Session, Week #7 & Week #8
HEADLINES Budget. After a week of budget conferencing, the House and Senate appear to be nearing agreement on the state budget for the fiscal year. On Friday night, House and Senate budget chiefs publicly accepted compromises regarding health care, education and prisons expenditures. Some of the key decisions included backing off proposed Medicaid cuts for […]
Read MoreBECKER UPDATE: 2021 Florida Legislative Session, Week #6
HEADLINES Budget. The House and Senate took votes last week on their chambers’ ‘proposed respective budgets for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. The House voted on Thursday to approve their $97B proposed budget by a vote of 104-14, while the Senate unanimously passed their $95B spending plan. Senate President Wilton Simpson signaled that he did not think […]
Read MoreBECKER UPDATE: 2021 Florida Legislative Session, Week #5
HEADLINES Budget. The Revenue Estimating Conference will meet on April 6th. It is anticipated that revenue projections will be higher than expected, resulting in an increase in the amount of cash available going into budget negotiations. With respect to the expected $10B in relief money coming to the state from the federal government, Senate President […]
Read MoreBECKER UPDATE: 2021 Florida Legislative Session, Week #4
HEADLINES Budget. This week, the House and Senate released their respective budget proposals for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Both houses of the legislature prioritized resiliency, flood mitigation, and sea level rise-focused projects this year. The House set aside $29.1M for water projects; the Senate set aside $37.5M. Additionally, the House’s proposal included $100M for land […]
Read MoreBECKER UPDATE: 2021 Florida Legislative Session, Week #3
COVID-19. Governor DeSantis announced on Friday that Floridians aged 50 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine beginning March 22nd, due to the now modest demand for vaccines. The Governor estimates that the state will be on track to open vaccines to all Floridians before May 1st. At this juncture, more than 3 million […]
Read MoreBECKER UPDATE: 2021 Florida Legislative Session, Week #2
WASHINGTON, D.C. UPDATES COVID-19 On Thursday, March 11, 2021, President Biden signed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill known as the American Rescue Plan. This packaged bill contains a wide range of benefits to help Americans still suffering from the pandemic-related collapse of the economy. The measure includes direct payments of up to $1,400 for […]
Read MoreBECKER UPDATE: 2021 Florida Legislative Session, Week #1
OPENING DAY Tuesday, March 2, 2021 marked the opening day for the 2021 Legislative Session for the House and the Senate. Senate President Wilton Simpson, House Speaker Chris Sprowls, and Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed both chambers with a level of hope and optimism as the state is doing its best to function in what is […]
Read MoreFlorida House Moves Forward With Legislation to Preempt Local Governments From Regulating Vacation Rentals
Vote of the Regulatory Reform Subcommittee Fell Mostly Along Party Lines As our many local government clients know, the Becker Team has been intimately involved in lobbying against the many attempts to limit their ability to manage the vacation rental crisis. The issue continues to severely impact cities of all sizes. We continue to be […]
Read MoreINFLUENCE Magazine Names Derek Silver A Rising Star in Florida Politics
In the last few months of the 2018 race for Governor, with polls showing even support for Ron DeSantis and Andrew Gillum, the DeSantis team continued trying to reach roughly 630,000 Jewish Floridians, who tended to vote for Democrats. In August, the campaign hired Derek Silver, who was entering his last year at Florida State […]
Read MoreCoronavirus Special Edition “Federal Dollars: How the CARES Act is Affecting Florida”
It has been over a month since the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump on March 27, 2020. This over $2 trillion economic relief package provides fast and direct economic assistance for American workers, families, small businesses, and preserves jobs for American […]
Read More“Derek Silver Joins Becker’s Lobbying Team,” Florida Politics
Full-service law firm Becker announced Friday that Derek Silver is joining the firm a Government Relations Consultant in the firm’s State and Local Lobbying Practice. Silver spent the 2018 Legislative Session working on education policy in the Florida House and served as the Jewish Coalition Coordinator for Gov. Ron DeSantis’s gubernatorial campaign. After DeSantis’ victory, Silver was named to the transition team and […]
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