We have finished sine die! The 2024 Legislative Session was officially complete as of 2:25 pm on Friday, 3/8/2024. Both chambers passed the budget off their respective floors after some final back and forth with a few final pieces of policy. Below is the final bill tracker and update. GrayRobinson will put together the final budget side-by-side comparison. Once that is complete, it will be sent to all of you. In addition, we will begin working next week on our complete session summary of all the bills that impact districts. That will take several weeks to complete.
Our team at GrayRobinson is once again providing us with our bill tracker. All of the bills we are tracking are listed on the report in numerical order. Bills that align with our platform are highlighted in yellow. A few of the bills to highlight:
- HB 1473 School Safety by Rep. Trabulsy passed out of both chambers. It included an amendment that clarifies when school gates need to be locked or manned addressing concerns about shared use agreements.
- SB 472 Suits Against the Government by Sen. Brodeur died during the last week of session as the bill was never heard on 2nd reading. This bill would have increased the sovereign immunity caps. We are expecting similar language to be filed again next year.
- SB 7032 Education by Sen. Simon which creates the GATE program as an alternative for students who are struggling to graduate also passed both chambers.
- 2 of the deregulation bills SB 7002 and SB 7004 passed both chambers the final week of session. These bills are a product of the hard work of both chambers and the Senate in taking the lead in reducing the regulations placed on traditional public schools. Both chambers have indicated this is a first step in reducing the restrictions that tie the hands of our traditional public schools.
We want to be sure to convey our sincere appreciation to President Passidomo and her staff for their hard work and dedication to the deregulation of our public schools. We encourage you to send an email to President Passidomo and copy her education policy leader Kathy Mizereck expressing your thanks and appreciation. You can reach them at: passidomo.kathleen.web@flsenate.gov and mizereck.kathy@flsenate.gov
