The 2018 Legislative Session adjourned, sine die, on Sunday evening with the passage of the $88.7 billion state budget, budget implementing bill, and a tax relief bill. On the same day, Governor Scott signed Senate President Joe Negron’s priority legislation relating to post-secondary education ( SB 4) and House Speaker Richard Corcoran’s priority legislation relating to…
Florida lawmakers finished the 2018 legislative session Sunday with the approval of a record $88.7 billion state budget that included $170 million in tax cuts. The spending plan includes $400 million in school security measures and immediately earned an F grade from educators for shortchanging the operations budget for public schools. Read More
Tallahassee, FL – Watch this edition of the FSBA Legislative Weekly Update to hear details as Florida’s Legislature approaches Sine Die.
The Legislature’s new plan to arm school employees as a last line of defense to an active shooter might never get tested in Florida’s biggest school districts. Officials in 10 of the state’s largest systems, which educate nearly 60 percent of all Florida school children, said they have no intention of giving teachers or other…
As we begin the last scheduled week of the 2018 Session, please take a few minutes to view our Legislative Weekly video featuring Andrea Messina providing a recap of recent legislative events and focusing on the key bills and issues that remain to be resolved. One of those key bills – HB 7055 — was…
Florida took steps Monday to set up the nation’s first ever private school voucher program for bullied students under a sweeping education bill that the state’s Legislature passed and sent to Gov. Rick Scott.The vote came the same day that legislators also sent to Scott a significant revamp of Florida’s universities and colleges that includes…
Tallahassee, FL – Watch this edition of the FSBA Legislative Weekly Update to hear details on Week 8 of Florida’s Legislative Session.
Because the Senate held a rare Saturday floor session, this issue of the Session Spotlight provides our report on bills that were considered on both Friday and Saturday. On Friday, both chambers postponed consideration of their respective public safety bills but legislators did consider several other bills of interest, including bills relating to local tax…
The Florida state Senate will hold an extraordinary Saturday session to try to forge a compromise on a school safety plan. Both the state House and the Senate delayed taking up the proposal Friday as they work toward a March 9 deadline to pass new safety laws in the wake of a high school massacre…
The Florida Senate advanced HB 7055 on Friday, but it wasn’t the same education package that had passed through a committee earlier in the week. A major amendment filed the evening before it went to the floor for a vote was the result of negotiations with House members, said sponsor Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples. Those negotiations…