The Senate considered and passed most of their budget and related bills in floor session yesterday and the House will follow with consideration their budget and related bills today. In addition, the Senate will consider several bills of interest including bills relating to curriculum, taxation, and impact fees. Today’s schedule is posted below and will be updated to show the outcome as soon as possible (please forgive any delays in our reporting this week while we are engaged in the Annual FSBA Day in the Legislature).
[toggle title=”Committee/Subcommittee Meetings – April 4, 2019“]
Please note that all of the meetings listed below may be viewed in real time via live webcast on the Florida Channel or may be viewed later in the Florida Channel Video Library. Also note that clicking on the Committee/Subcommittee names linked below provides access to membership, meeting packets, and other committee information; clicking on the bill numbers linked below provides access the bill summary, analysis, related bills, and other information
In the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee:
SB 226 – Mastery-Based Education by Brandes – AMENDED; PASSED WITH A COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
As amended, the bill:
- Renames the Competency-Based Education Pilot Program as the Mastery-Based Education Program;
- Authorizes a district school board or developmental research school participating in the Mastery-Based Education Pilot Program to award credit on student mastery of certain content and skills; Authorizes a participating district school board or developmental research school to use an alternative interpretation of letter grades for certain students;
- Requires participating district school boards and developmental research schools to use the current 4-point scale in determining student grade point averages;
- Authorizes public school districts and developmental research schools to submit applications for the program and authorizes participating school districts and developmental research schools to amend their applications to include alternatives for the award of credits and interpretation of letter grades;
- Requires the statewide articulation agreement to ensure fair and equitable access for students who have earned high school credit through mastery-based education and graduate with a standard high school diploma.
In the Senate Finance & Tax Committee:
SB 576 – Back-to-school Sales Tax Holiday by Perry – AMENDED; PASSED WITH A CS
The bill establishes a 10-day sales tax holiday beginning Friday, August 2, 2019, and ending Saturday, August 11, 2019. During the holiday, certain purchases of clothing, school supplies, and personal computers are exempt from the state sales tax and county discretionary sales surtaxes. The bill allows a business to not participate in the holiday if less than 5% of the business’s gross sales of tangible personal property in the prior calendar year consist of items that would be exempt.
In the House Session:
HB 5001 – General Appropriations Act – READ 3RD TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR SB 2500; HB 5001 LAID ON THE TABLE
SB 2500 – Appropriations – SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 5001; READ 2ND TIME, AMENDED; READ 3RD TIME, PASSED THE HOUSE; IN RETURNING MESSAGES TO THE SENATE
The bill provides moneys for the annual period beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2020, and supplemental appropriations for the period ending June 30, 2019. The Senate approved 3 amendments but none that impacted the K-12 funding sections of the budget. (NOTE: The end result of today’s House action is that the Senate’s Appropriations bill now contains the text of the House Appropriations bill. This is the typical practice with the budget bills and signals the formation of Budget Conference Committees to begin the next stage of the budget development process of working out the differences between the two versions of the budget bills. Please see our updated Side-by-Side Comparison of the education related portions for more details on the similarities and differences between the House and Senate budgets.)
HB 5003 – Implementing the 2019-20 General Appropriations Act – READ 3RD TIME; TEMPORARILY POSTPONED ON 3RD READING (no further action taken)
The bill provides the statutory authority necessary to implement and execute the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year 2019-2020. The statutory changes are effective for only one year and either expire on July 1, 2020 or revert to the language as it existed before the changes made by the bill. To implement provisions relating to PreK-12 education, the bill:
- Incorporates the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) work papers by reference for the purpose of displaying the calculations used by the Legislature.
- Provides that funds provided for instructional materials shall be released and expended as required in the proviso language attached to Specific Appropriation 93.
- Specifies that no section of the bill shall take effect if the appropriations and proviso to which it relates are vetoed.
- Provides that a permanent change made by another law to any of the same statutes amended by this bill will take precedence over the provision in this bill.
HB 5007 – State-Administered Retirement Systems – READ 3RD TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR SB 7016; HB 5007 LAID ON THE TABLE
SB 7016 – State-administered Retirement Systems – SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 5007; READ 2ND TIME; READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE HOUSE, PASSED THE LEGISLATURE
The bill establishes the contribution rates paid by employers participating in the Florida Retirement System (FRS) beginning July 1, 2019. These rates are intended to fund the full normal cost and the amortization of the unfunded actuarial liability of the FRS. With these modifications to employer contribution rates, the FRS Trust Fund will receive roughly $123.3 million more in revenue on an annual basis beginning July 1, 2019. The public employers that will incur these additional costs are state agencies, state universities and colleges, school districts, counties, municipalities, and other governmental entities that participate in the FRS. The cost of the adjusted contribution rates for school districts is projected to be about $35 million statewide.
In the Senate Session:
SB 144 – Impact Fees by Gruters – READ 3RD TIME; SUBSTITUTED FOR HB 207; ST 144 LAID ON THE TABLE
HB 207 – Impact Fees by Donalds – SUBSTITUTED FOR SB 144; READ 2ND TIME, READ 3RD TIME; PASSED THE SENATE
The bill prohibits local governments from requiring the payment of impact fees prior to issuing a property’s building permit. The bill also codifies the ‘dual rational nexus test’ for impact fees, as articulated in case law. This test requires an impact fee to have a reasonable connection, or rational nexus, between the proposed new development and the need and the impact of additional capital facilities, and the expenditure of funds and the benefits accruing to the proposed new development. Additionally, the bill requires any impact fee ordinance earmark impact fee funds for capital facilities that benefit new residents and prohibits the use of impact fee revenues to pay existing debt unless specific conditions are met.
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