FLORIDA HOUSE ADJOURNMENT
As we reported to you earlier today, the Florida House adjourned, sine die, early this afternoon, three days prior to the scheduled end of the Session on May 1. House Speaker Crisafulli explained that efforts to resolve the disagreement between the House and Senate over health care issues had not been productive so the chambers would be unable to make any progress on negotiating a state budget agreement. He indicated that it was in the best interests of the House to bring the Session to an end and start over with budget negotiations in a Special Session sometime in the next few months.
In response to this highly unusual and surprising action by the House, Senate President Gardiner has said that the Senate will remain in Session to complete work on pending legislation. However, the departure of the House places several limitations on how much the Senate can fully accomplish. First, any bills that have not already passed the House are “dead” and are not available for consideration by the Senate – this is the case even if the Senate has a similar companion bill. Among the bills that have died for this reason are HB 1063 – Government Accountability and HB 19 – School Safety. Second, any bills that have passed the House cannot be effectively amended by the Senate because the House is not available to consider the amended version of the bill — as a result, the Senate must either pass the House version of the bill or abandon the bill altogether. Among the bills that have passed the House but the Senate might wish to amend to better align with the Senate version are HB 7037 – School Choice / Charter Schools and HB 1145 – Education / Parent and Student Rights. Third, the Senate cannot pass any new bills of its own because, as described above, the House is not available to consider, amend, and/or pass the Senate version of the bill. The most significant example of a Senate bill that has died because it falls into this category is SB 948 – Education — this is the Senate’s omnibus bill that incorporates more than a dozen stand-alone bills into one Senate bill (please note that some of the bills that were rolled together into this omnibus bill still could be passed separately by the Senate). Even with these limitations, there remain dozens of education related bills – some of which are welcome, others are troubling — that are still “alive” that the Senate may wish to pursue. In addition, the Senate may choose to pass some bills and forward them to the vacant House as a symbolic gesture.
We are in the process of compiling lists of education related bills that have died, bills that are still viable, and bills that have passed the Legislature and ordered enrolled. Once we have double checked our lists we will provide them. In the meantime, if you have questions about the status of any particular bill, please contact the FSBA office.
TODAY’S HAPPENINGS
In the House SSESSION:
Bills on 3rd Reading:
SB 908 – Traffic Safety by Altman – READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE HOUSE
Providing criminal penalties for certain noncriminal traffic infractions that cause serious bodily injury or death to a person; defining the term “serious bodily injury”; prohibiting passing and turning in front of a vulnerable user in an unsafe manner; providing penalties; prohibiting harassing, taunting, or throwing an object at a person riding a bicycle; providing mandatory revocation of license for a specified conviction, etc. [NOTE: SB 908 passed the Senate last week and was sent to the House for consideration. The House amended the bill yesterday, so it must return to the Senate for approval of the revised version of the bill.]
SB 954 – Involuntary Examinations of Minors by Garcia – READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE HOUSE; PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
Requiring school health services plans to include notification requirements when a student is removed from school, school transportation, or a school-sponsored activity for involuntary examination; requiring a receiving facility to provide notice of the whereabouts of an adult or emancipated minor patient held for involuntary examination; providing conditions for delay in notification, etc.
Bills on 2nd Reading:
HB 7121 – Child Welfare by Children, Families & Seniors – READ 2ND TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR SB 7078; HB 7121 LAID ON THE TABLE
SB 7078 – Child Welfare by Children, Families & Elder Affairs – SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 7121; READ 2ND TIME; AMENDED; READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE HOUSE
Authorizing critical incident rapid response teams to review cases of child deaths occurring during an open investigation; requiring case staffing when medical neglect is substantiated; requiring an epidemiological child abuse death assessment and prevention system; providing intent for the operation of and interaction between the state and local death review committees, etc. [NOTE: SB 7078 passed the Senate last week and was sent to the House for consideration. The House amended the bill today, so it must return to the Senate for approval of the revised version of the bill.]
HB 599 – Exemption / Legislative Lobbying Requirements by Rogers – READ 2ND TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR SB 984; HB 599 LAID ON THE TABLE
SB 984 — Exemption / Legislative Lobbying Requirements by Braynon – SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 599, READ 2ND TIME; READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE HOUSE; PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
Revising the definition of the term “expenditure”; specifying that the term does not include use of a public facility or public property that is made available by a governmental entity to a legislator for a public purpose, to exempt such use from legislative lobbying requirements, etc.
In the Senate SESSION:
Bills on 3rd Reading:
SB 960 – Bright Futures Scholarship Program by T. Lee – READ 3RD TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 747; SB 960 LAID ON THE TABLE
HB 747 – Bright Futures Scholarship Program by Rooney – SUBSTITUTED FOR SB 960; READ 2ND TIME; PLACED ON 3RD READING FOR 4/29/15
Requiring a student, as a prerequisite for the Florida Academic Scholars award, the Florida Medallion Scholars award, or the Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars award, to identify a social or civic issue or a professional area of interest and develop a plan for his or her personal involvement in addressing the issue or learning about the area; prohibiting the student from receiving remuneration or academic credit for the volunteer service work performed, etc.
HB 383 – Private Property Rights by Edwards – READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE; PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
Authorizes governmental entity to treat written claim as pending litigation for certain purposes; provides that certain settlement agreements reached between owner & governmental entity apply irrespective of when agreement was executed; authorizes property owner to bring action to recover damages caused by prohibited exaction; requires owner to provide written notice of such action to governmental entity; authorizes governmental entity to treat such claim as pending litigation for certain purposes; specifies burdens of proof; authorizes award of attorney fees & costs under certain circumstances; waives state’s sovereign immunity for certain causes of action; specifies that action concerning prohibited exaction is not to be construed in pari materia with certain other provisions of law.
HB 541 – Athletic Trainers by Plasencia — READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE; PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
Deletes requirement for Governor to appoint initial members of Board of Athletic Training; revises board’s authorization to adopt certain rules; revises requirements for licensure; authorizes board to require background screening; revises responsibilities of athletic trainers to practice under direction of physician; prohibits sexual misconduct by athletic trainers; prohibits unlicensed practice of athletic training; prohibits unlicensed person from using specified titles; revises which acts constitute grounds for disciplinary action; provides exemptions; revises general background screening provisions to include athletic trainers.
SB 118 – Voluntary Contributions for Education Facilities by Hays – READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE
Authorizing a participating business that registers with the Department of Revenue to solicit and collect contributions from its customers for the construction and maintenance of public education facilities; providing registration requirements; requiring a participating business to file a return and remit contributions to the department within a specified timeframe; including voluntary contributions as a source of funding for the Public Education Capital Outlay and Debt Service Trust Fund, etc. [NOTE: The House companion to this bill – HB 37 – has not passed the House, so this bill has died.]
SB 972 – Ad Valorem Taxation by Flores — READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE
Revising the definition of the term “common element” for purposes of prorating ad valorem taxes for certain properties under certain circumstances; establishing deadlines for value adjustment boards to hear petitions and issue the second tax roll certification; authorizing the district school board and county commission to audit certain expenses of the value adjustment board; requiring a property appraiser to notify a petitioner when property record cards are available online, etc. [NOTE: The House version of this bill – HB 695 – has passed the House. However, the House version contains provisions that are not acceptable to the Senate, so this bill had died because the House is not available to consider the Senate version of the bill.]
SB 7082 – FRS / Death Benefits by Governmental Oversight — READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE
Authorizing payment of death benefits to the surviving spouse or children of a Special Risk Class member killed in the line of duty under specified circumstances; requiring the State Board of Administration or the Division of Retirement to take certain action upon receipt of notification of disqualification from the Internal Revenue Service; providing for allocations for death benefits authorized by the act, etc. [NOTE: The House has not passed this bill, so it has died.]
Bills on 2nd Reading:
SB 154 – Hazardous Walking Conditions by Hays – READ 2ND TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 41; SB 154 LAID ON THE TABLE
HB 41 – Hazardous Walking Conditions by Metz – SUBSTITUTED FOR SB 154; READ 2ND TIME; PLACED ON 3RD READING FOR 4/29/15
Revising criteria that determine a hazardous walking condition for public school students; requiring a district school board to correct hazardous walking conditions and provide transportation to students who would be subjected to hazardous walking conditions; requiring state or local governmental entities with jurisdiction over a road with a hazardous walking condition to correct the condition within a reasonable period of time, etc.
SB 1116 – Literacy Jump Start Pilot Project by Abruzzo — READ 2ND TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 153; SB 1116 LAID ON THE TABLE
HB 153 – Literacy Jump Start Pilot Project by L. Lee — SUBSTITUTED FOR SB 1116; READ 2ND TIME; PLACED ON 3RD READING FOR 4/29/15
Requiring the Office of Early Learning to establish the pilot project in St. Lucie County to assist low-income, at-risk children in developing emergent literacy skills; requiring the office to select an organization to implement the pilot project; encouraging the coordination of basic health screening and immunization services in conjunction with emergent literacy instruction, etc.
COMING UP TOMORROW
The Senate will be in SESSION (10:00 am – completion of business) to consider the following items and others:
Bills on 3rd Reading:
HB 747 – Bright Futures Scholarship Program by Rooney
Requiring a student, as a prerequisite for the Florida Academic Scholars award, the Florida Medallion Scholars award, or the Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars award, to identify a social or civic issue or a professional area of interest and develop a plan for his or her personal involvement in addressing the issue or learning about the area; prohibiting the student from receiving remuneration or academic credit for the volunteer service work performed, etc.
HB 41 – Hazardous Walking Conditions by Metz
Revising criteria that determine a hazardous walking condition for public school students; requiring a district school board to correct hazardous walking conditions and provide transportation to students who would be subjected to hazardous walking conditions; requiring state or local governmental entities with jurisdiction over a road with a hazardous walking condition to correct the condition within a reasonable period of time, etc.
HB 153 – Literacy Jump Start Pilot Project by L. Lee
Requiring the Office of Early Learning to establish the pilot project in St. Lucie County to assist low-income, at-risk children in developing emergent literacy skills; requiring the office to select an organization to implement the pilot project; encouraging the coordination of basic health screening and immunization services in conjunction with emergent literacy instruction, etc.
Bills on 2nd Reading:
SB 1232 – Building Codes by Simpson
HB 915 – Building Codes by Eagle
Revises educational provisions for building code inspectors, plans examiners, & building code administrators; revises provisions related to the Florida Building Code; revises provisions regarding the Florida Building Code Compliance and Mitigation Program; restricts application of the Building Code for certain aspects of construction; revises provisions related to portable pools; revises provisions regarding the authority of building officials to issue building permits; revises provisions regarding appeal boards; revising provisions addressing certain fire service access elevators; authorizing DBPR to develop code-related training; creating a task force to study electrical safety in swimming pools.
Ruth Haseman Melton
Director of Government Relations
Florida School Boards Association
Office: 850 / 414-2578
Cell: 850 / 509-6411
Email: melton@fsba.org
