BUDGET UPDATE
Last week, the House and Senate chambers considered and amended their respective versions of the state budget. The next step in this process is for Conference Committees to be appointed to work out the differences between the two versions. Each chamber appoints a separate conference committee to work on each section of the budget as well as several At-Large conferees that may work with any or all of the separate conference committees. The House has not yet appointed Conferees, but the Senate has appointed the following At-Large conferees and Education Appropriations Conferees:
At Large: Joe Negron (Chair), Lizbeth Benacquisto (Vice Chair), Andy Gardiner, Arthenia Joyner, Gwen Margolis, Garrett Richter, Chris Smith, and John Thrasher.
Education Appropriations: Bill Galvano (Chair), Joseph Abruzzo, Dwight Bullard, Nancy Detert, John Legg, Bill Montford, Maria Sachs, David Simmons, and John Thrasher.
It is expected that the Conference Committees will begin meeting later this week. We have prepared an updated side-by-side comparison of the House and Senate education allocations, as well as a comparison of the education provisions in both implementing bills and both FRS contribution rate bills. These comparisons have been posted on the FSBA website in our 2014 Legislative Session Resource Center at https://fsba.org/services/
As a side note, FSBA is currently tracking nearly 500 education related bills and we have updated our FSBA Bill Tracking List with several new bills. We have also removed from the posted list several bills that are highly unlikely to move this year (NOTE: We will continue to track ALL of the education related bills that have been filed during this session; we have only edited them out of our posted Tracking List.)
TODAY’S HAPPENINGS
In the Senate Agriculture Committee:
SB 1206 – Agricultural Industry Certifications by Montford – PASSED
Requiring the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to annually provide to the State Board of Education and the Department of Education information and industry certifications for farm occupations to be considered for placement on industry certification funding lists; defining the term “industry certification”; requiring the state board to adopt rules for implementing an industry certification process for farm occupations, etc.
In the Senate Commerce & Tourism Committee:
SB 952 – Workers’ Compensation by Simpson – PASSED WITH A CS
Authorizing employers to negotiate the retrospectively rated premium with insurers under certain conditions, etc.
COMING UP TOMORROW
The House Government Operations Appropriations Committee will meet – 9:00-11:00 am; Florida Channel webcast – to consider the following item and others:
HB 7001 – Administrative Procedures by Rulemaking, Oversight & Repeal
Revises deadline to propose rules implementing new laws; revises requirements for periodic review of agency rules; requires agencies to annually review rulemaking & prepare & publish regulatory plans; requires publication by specified dates of notices of rule development & proposed rules necessary to implement new laws; provides for suspension of agency’s rulemaking authority for failure to comply with specified provisions; repeals provisions relating to legislative review of agency rules in effect on or before specified date & Internet-based public survey of regulatory impacts; provides for recision of suspension of rulemaking authority under such repealed provisions.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet – 9:00-11:00 am; Florida Channel webcast – to consider the following items and others:
SB 612 – Preference in the Award of State Contracts by Hays
Preempting and superseding a local ordinance or regulation that gives preference for an award to a certified contractor under certain circumstances; requiring a university, college, county, municipality, school district, or other political subdivision to make specified disclosures in competitive solicitation documents; requiring agencies to provide the Department of Management Services with copies of vendor complaints and names of suspended and terminated vendors, etc.
SB 1060 – Code of Student Conduct by Evers
Providing that simulating a firearm or weapon while playing or wearing certain clothing or accessories is not grounds for disciplinary action or referral to the criminal justice or juvenile justice system; providing actions that constitute simulating a firearm or weapon while playing; providing criteria for determining whether certain student conduct warrants disciplinary action, etc.
The Senate Community Affairs Committee will meet – 3:00-5:00 pam; Florida Channel webcast – to consider the following items and others:
SB 1198 – Florida Retirement System by Montford
Revising criteria for employment eligible for purchase of retirement credit, etc.
SB 396 – Joint Use of Public School Facilities by Bean
Authorizing district school boards to enter into joint-use agreements with a local government or a private organization or adopt public access policies; authorizing a district school board to enter into agreements with a county, municipality, or Florida College System institution to develop and operate joint community projects; requiring certain provisions to be included in joint-use agreements for joint community projects, including indemnification of district school boards and liability insurance, etc.
SB 1464 – Environmental Regulation by Simpson
Regulation; Revising procedures for the transmittal and adoption of a comprehensive plan or plan amendment; exempting certain lessees of sovereignty submerged lands from lease renewal processing fees under certain circumstances; specifying the authorized duration of consumptive use permits for certain developments; encouraging certain counties to establish water well construction advisory boards; providing that proof of insurance satisfies a specified requirement to obtain a mitigation bank permit; requiring that certain criteria be incorporated into a regional water supply plan, etc.
The Senate Health Policy Committee will meet – 3:00-5:00 am; Florida Channel webcast – to consider the following item and others:
SB 1580 – Workers’ Compensation Cost Task Force by Hays
Creating the Workers’ Compensation Cost Task Force; providing for membership; providing duties; requiring the task force to submit a report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by a specified date; providing an expiration date, etc.
IN THE NEWS
Daytona Beach News-Journal – 4/5/14
Scaled back pension bill gets approval from House panel
http://www.news-journalonline.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune – 4/6/14
Bill would diminish state’s role in reviewing textbooks
http://politics.heraldtribune.
Tampa Tribune – 4/6/14
Criticism grows as bright futures standards rise
http://tbo.com/pinellas-
