We have hit the halfway point of the 2022 Legislative Session! This means things are moving very quickly and there
will be more focus on the budget process. This week, both the House and Senate are scheduled to debate and pass
their budget proposals out of their individual chambers. From here, the budget moves into conferencing where the
chambers negotiate and work to come to an agreement on one budget.
HERE you will find the legislative bill tracker supplied to us by our team at GrayRobinson. All of the bills we are
tracking are listed on the report in numerical order. A few of the bills to highlight:
- SB 1048 Student Assessments by Sen. Diaz was heard in Senate Appropriations, its last committee of
reference. In this committee, the bill was amended to more closely align to the House version (HB 1193).
The bill passed out of committee unanimously. HB 1193 awaits its second committee hearing in House
PreK-12 Appropriations. - SB 1240 Mental Health of Students by Sen. Harrell passed through its last committee unanimously. This bill
revises the data to be analyzed around involuntary examinations as well as require charter schools to report
the same data on involuntary examinations as traditional public schools. The bill now goes to the Senate
floor for 2nd reading. - HB 1467 K-12 Education by Rep. Garrison was heard on the House floor on 2nd reading. It was also
amended, removing the language that reduced school board member salaries to the $200 stipend per
meeting and inserted term limits. This means, in its current form, school board members would continue to
receive their salaries as they currently do but, as of November, would only be able to serve 8 consecutive
years. Service prior to November would not count toward the term limits. This bill passed off the House floor
on Thursday on a party line vote. It was sent to the Senate in messages and has been referred to Senate
Rules Committee. SB 1300 by Sen. Gruters, which in its current form adjusts salaries to those of legislators,
continues to wait to be scheduled in Senate Rules, its last committee of reference. - HB 5101 is the House’s Education Conforming bill to accompany the budget. The bill proposes a variety of
changes including a provision to eliminate the Florida Virtual School franchise option for school districts as
well as modify the controlled open enrollment to determine capacity by grade level not by school. The bill
passed out of House Appropriations and will be heard on 2nd reading on the House floor this week.
