GEARING UP FOR THE 2017 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
The Legislature has begun holding Interim Committee Meetings in preparation for the 2017 Legislative Session that will officially begin on Tuesday, March 7, 2017. As always, we will report on events during each week of the Interim Committee Meetings and, once the Session begins, we will resume providing daily reports. We are launching an enhanced version of our usual reports that will provide both a concise summary of the major events of the day in addition to our usual extensive and detailed report on all other bill and budget actions taken by the Legislature. Our new format will allow readers to choose to review either the highlights, the details, or both. In addition to enhancing our usual reporting, we have also been updating and expanding our Legislative Advocacy Toolkit located on our Advocacy Tools page in our Resource Room. Here you will find information to support your general advocacy efforts and background materials on the legislative process, state budget development process, email and website links, and media tips. We have also launched a 2017 Legislative Session page where we have posted some preliminary budget and legislation links, including key committee lists (with email addresses) and our current Bill Tracking List of bills filed thus far for the 2017 Session.
[toggle title=”December Interim Committee Meetings“]
The Legislature held their first round of Interim Committee Meetings in December. The House meetings offered “Legislator University” training to its members. This was particularly important due to the large class of new House members and to the substantial changes that House has adopted to its Rules. The training subjects included (among others) civility and professional conduct, the mechanics of the state budget process, the new Rules of the Florida House of Representatives, and various hot topics such as school accountability, workers’ compensation, and the Florida Retirement System. The new House Rules present some significant changes to how the House will develop its budget and to guidelines for lobbyists. We have posted the Rules of both the House and the Senate (including a summary of the changes for each chamber) on the FSBA website on our Advocacy Tools page.
The Senate held more traditional meetings during December. Of particular note, in the full Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, Amy Baker of the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) presented Florida’s Long Range Financial Outlook which highlighted several reasons to anticipate a very tight budget year, including increased Medicaid costs. In general, while there are sufficient state General Revenue (GR) to fund the states critical needs in 2017-2018, there will be little, if any remaining GR for discretionary issues. Further, the budge t outlook for 2018 and beyond is significantly darker with projected recurring expenditures and revenue adjustments exceeding available recurring revenue resources. Of particular interest to school districts, Ms. Baker noted that EDR’s budget projections for 2017-2018 assume that the state will maintain the current year Required Local Effort millage rate of 4.638 mills for 2017-2018. This would generate additional ad valorem revenue due to increases in property values. However, if the state chooses to roll back the millage rate – as was done for this 2016-2017 fiscal year – there would be a loss of about $400 million in ad valorem revenue and it would be extraordinarily difficult for the state to find sufficient GR funds to “buy back” that lost revenue. There will, no doubt, be further discussion of the state budget situation in the coming Interim Committee Meetings. in the Senate PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, Chair David Simmons outlined several areas of concern that are likely to receive attention this year. Senator Simmons highlighted his continuing concern about the amount and cost of testing, teacher pay, and extending the school day to serve low performing schools. Other appropriations topics that were discussed included FEFP funding (in what is likely to be a very tight budget year), potential revision of the Best & Brightest Scholarship Program, implementation of the new Open Enrollment legislation, and capital outlay funding.
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[toggle title=”Coming Up in January Interim Committee Meetings“]
The Legislature has scheduled Interim Committee Meetings this week – January 9-13 – and again during the week of January 23-27. Key meetings scheduled for this week are listed below. We will provide a report on these meetings at the end of the week or sooner if warranted. [NOTE: Nearly all meetings may be viewed via live webcast or archived videos on the Florida Channel at http://thefloridachannel.org/.]
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
The House Appropriations Committee will meet (1:00-3:00 pm) to consider the following items:
Financial Outlook Update
Budget Exercise
The House Ways & Means Committee will meet (1:00-3:00 pm) to consider the following items and others:
State Tax & Fee Structure
Local Government Tax & Fee Structure
The House Education Committee will meet (3:30-5:30 pm) to consider the following items:
Presentation on the Purpose of Education
Presentation on Closing the Opportunity Gap
The House Judiciary Committee will meet (3:30-5:30 pm) to consider the following items and others:
Workers’ Compensation
Candidate Qualifying Fee Payment Requirements
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
The Senate PreK-12 Education Appropriations Subcommittee will meet (10:00 am-12:00 pm) to consider the following item:
Workshop on K-12 Assessments Policy and Funding
The House PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee will meet (1:00-3:00 pm) to consider the following items:
Presentation on the Impact of School Choice
Presentation on Florida School Choice Programs
The House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee will meet (3:30-5:30 pm) to consider the following items:
Budget Exercise
Base Budget Overview
The House PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee will meet (3:30-5:30 pm) to consider the following items:
Presentations on Effective Teachers
Panel Discussion on Recruiting and Retaining Effective Teachers for Turnaround Schools
Thursday, January 12, 2017
The House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee will meet (9:00-11:00 am) to consider the following items:
Budget Exercise
Base Budget Overview
Review and History of Major Programs
The House Public Integrity & Ethics Committee will meet (12:00-2:00 pm) to consider the following item and others:
Proposed Committee Bill (PCB) PIEC3 relating to Local Government Ethics Reform (Bill text not yet available)
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