Tallahassee – With the close of candidate qualifying on June 17th, candidates for federal, state and local offices are now off and running with their sights on primary election day in late August followed by the general election on November 8th. Since most will be running in newly-drawn districts resulting from a once-every-decade remapping following the decennial census, it’s already proving to be a spirited and frenetic election season. While Gov. DeSantis drew no primary challenge in his reelection bid, he’ll face a general election challenge from likely one of the two best-known Democrats vying for their party’s nomination: Florida Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried and former Governor, now a U.S. Congressman, Charlie Crist.

Meanwhile DeSantis has been busy charged with giving his approval – or disapproval – to the 285 bills passed by the Florida House and Senate during their annual 60-day session which wrapped-up on March 14th. Topping the list was Florida’s record $110-billion state budget which DeSantis finally approved on June 2nd -- but only after vetoing another record $3.1-billion in line items citing prudence in the face of a slowing economy and mounting inflation. As of this writing the Governor still has close to four dozen bills still waiting on his desk before he can finally close the books on this year’s lawmaking.

In addition to work on their spending plan for FY 2022-23, the single task lawmakers are required to tackle each year, other top priorities included state legislative and congressional reapportionment, illegal immigration, voting rights reform and a controversial Parental Rights in Education bill that led to a high-profile face-off between the Governor and Disney.

The Legislature’s final adjournment also saw the end to yet another attempt to repeal and replace Florida’s no-fault/personal injury protection insurance system replacing it with a mandatory bodily injury coverage requirement. Bills addressing the issue in both the House and Senate passed through each of their first committees of reference, only to remain stalled in their next committees, where they sat without further action until the Legislature adjourned, effectively killing the idea yet again.

It was another busy session in the health care arena addressing a variety of issues. Here’s a look at issues of interest to the profession that saw attention and action.

Tallahassee – Failing to reach an agreement on their final state government spending plan lawmakers were forced to extend their annual 60-day session, originally scheduled to end tonight, until Monday, March 14th. Their extension was necessitated by a constitutional requirement to allow a 72-hour “cooling off” period before taking the final vote on their budget package. Negotiations by Senate and House leaders on the package concluded with the publication of the final conference committee report on Thursday afternoon, shortly after 2 p.m., thereby allowing the final vote to take place on Monday.

In addition to work on their record $100-billion-plus spending plan for state government for FY 2022-23, the single task lawmakers are required to tackle each year, other top priorities included state legislative and congressional reapportionment, illegal immigration, voting rights reform and parental rights in education.

The Legislature’s final adjournment will also mark the end of yet another attempt to repeal and replace Florida’s no-fault/personal injury protection insurance system replacing it with a mandatory bodily injury coverage requirement. Bills addressing the issue in both the House and Senate remain stalled in committees and in the closing days of the session resurrecting them for final consideration on the floor by the full House or Senate, while not impossible, is highly unlikely. Without an extraordinary effort, including a vote to contravene House and Senate rules, the issue is now dead -- at least until the legislature convenes again.

It was another busy session in the health care arena addressing a wide variety of issues. Following is a look at those of interest to the profession that saw action. If they successfully passed, they will next head to the Governor’s desk for review, approval or rejection. Watch for our final analysis in the FCA Journal.

Tallahassee – With just one week remaining in the Legislature’s annual session, state Senators and Representatives now spend most of their days – and nights – on the floor debating and voting on bills that have successfully navigated the committee process.

The two tasks the Legislature must deal with, passing a state government budget and redrawing the state’s legislative and congressional district boundaries, are both in their final stages. Joint Senate-House budget committees continue to meet to hammer out their spending differences between their two record-setting $100-billion-plus annual state government budget plans. Meanwhile, over in the map-drawing department, the task of redrawing the state’s legislative districts is now essentially complete as the congressional redesign is entering the final stages.

Here's a look at several other issues of interest to the profession that saw action this week in your capital.

Tallahassee – With just two weeks remaining in the year’s regular legislative session, proposals aimed at repealing Florida’s current No-fault/PIP auto insurance system and replacing it with a mandatory bodily injury coverage requirement saw no new action this week. While anything is still possible until the final gavel falls on this year’s sojourn on March 11th, with each passing day odds that the House and Senate could agree on and pass the proposed repeal decrease dramatically. That all adds up to meaning the issue is likely dead for yet another year.

Committees have largely concluded their work for this session as lawmakers turn their focus to floor debates in both chambers to the remaining substantive issues. Much of their efforts will also shift to working out the differences between their differing $100-billion-plus budget proposals in joint Senate-House conference committees.

Here's a look at several of other issues of interest to the profession that saw action this week in your capital.

Plans proposing to repeal and replace Florida’s long-standing No-fault auto insurance system remained in neutral this week on both sides of the capitol, as legislators wrapped up their sixth week of the Legislature’s annual nine-week session. There was no further movement on the Senate plan, Senate Bill 150, which remains in the Judiciary Committee awaiting its second public hearing. Likewise, over in the House, House Bill 1525 remained in its second and last committee of reference, the House Judiciary Committee, after it failed to make the committee’s Thursday agenda.

While anything is still possible up until the Session’s scheduled adjournment on March 11^th, standing committees now begin to finish their meetings as lawmakers shift their focus to both budget work and floor debate on bills that have successfully navigated the committee process. That makes the odds for final passage more challenging for bills still sitting in committees at this point in the session.

But over in the dollars-and-cents lane, it was full speed ahead on the one issue the legislature is mandated to pass: A state government spending plan. House members gave their 102 to 14 approval to their $105.3-billion budget version on Wednesday, while the Senate followed on Thursday by approving their slightly more generous $108.6-billion plan to likewise fund state government for FY 2022-2023. The Senate President and House Speaker are now postured to appoint their respective members to joint House-Senate conference committees to begin the work of hammering out the differences between the two plans.

Several other issues of interest to the profession saw action this week, while others remain at a standstill. Here’s the latest as we enter the last third of this year’s session.

Tallahassee – Lawmakers released the final drafts of their state government spending plans as they reached the halfway point of their 60-day annual legislative session this Wednesday. As Florida begins to emerge from the darkest days of the pandemic, the economic outlook for the Sunshine State is proving to be extraordinarily sunny. That’s encouraged the House to proposing a record-setting $105.3-billion spending plan while across the lobby the Senate is recommending a slightly more lofty $108.6-billion, also a record setter. In the remaining four weeks of their session, lawmakers will begin the process of resolving the differences between their plans, meeting in a series of joint Senate-House conference committees to reach a consensus on a single plan to take to their respective floors for a final vote before they can adjourn.

While committees continue to meet for the next several weeks, they will start to wrap up their deliberations as more time is devoted in both houses on the floor debating bills and moving them toward final passage. While anything is still possible, bills that have not started their journey through the committee process very soon will lose their chance for a final blessing. Nevertheless, here’s a look at some of the issues still very much alive – plus several others now on life support -- based on lawmaker’s actions during the fifth week of their nine-week session.

Tallahassee – The controversial issue of repealing Florida’s long-standing No-fault/PIP auto insurance system easily won passage last night in the House Civil Justice and Property Rights Subcommittee despite overwhelming public testimony offered by insurance stakeholders and health care providers in opposition to the proposal.

In stark contrast to the superficial 10-minute review offered last week by the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee during which no public testimony was permitted to be heard, the House subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Wyman Duggan (R-Jacksonville), devoted almost an hour-and-a half to the 122-page document seeking to end a 50-plus-year concept anchored in Florida auto insurance law.

Thursday, February 3, 2022, Tallahassee – It took the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee just ten minutes at the end of their meeting yesterday morning to hear, consider, debate and vote on a controversial proposal seeking to repeal and replace Florida’s No-fault auto insurance system with a requirement the drivers carry mandatory bodily insurance (MBI) instead. Even more astonishing was the pronouncement by committee Chairman Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton) that no public testimony would be allowed on Senate Bill 150 given the large number of appearance requests the committee had received.

Audience members were not the only ones taken aback. Committee member Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) called the abbreviated exercise “essentially, in my opinion, legislative malpractice,” further expressing his dismay that Senators were being asked to vote on an issue that would affect over 12 million Floridians without knowing how it’s going to impact premium rates.

Brandes also questioned if further research or studies on the potential effects of the changeover had been commissioned after the Governor vetoed the similar measure passed by the Legislature last spring. Prime bill sponsor Sen. Danny Burgess (R-Zephryhills) responded, “We have not.” Brandes later concluded, “The fact the Legislature would produce a bill and not provide a study to back the bill at this level is tantamount to malpractice.”

The bill introduced this session is essentially the same bill passed last session with one major change: This newest version would require policyholders to “opt in” to accept optional medical payments coverage (MedPay) insurers would have to offer. Last year’s version instead had a provision allowing drivers to “opt out” of a mandatory offer of MedPay coverage. Burgess claimed he believed this adjustment would have the effect of reducing premiums enough to offset the rate hike suggested by the 2021 study which, in his opinion, was otherwise “fundamentally flawed.”

The Committee moved quickly to pass the bill 10-to-1 with Brandes casting the lone dissenting vote. The proposal next moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee, its second of three committee references. A similar House bill, HB 1525 by Rep. Grall (R-Vero Beach) remains in its first committees of reference, awaiting scheduling for its first public hearings.

The FCA remains opposed to the repeal of No-fault/PIP and was on hand planning to testify at the hearing before the chair decreed there would not be an opportunity for the committee to listen to any public comments.

ACTION REQUEST: Now is the Time to Make Your Voice Heard on No-fault/PIP Repeal

Friday, January 28, 2022, Tallahassee – Legislators wrapped up week three of their annual nine-week session with much of their deliberations dedicated to committee hearings on individual member bills, taking public testimony and considering amendments, all readying the proposals for final consideration by both the full House and Senate. During the remaining six weeks, more and more of members’ time will be spent developing a state budget for FY 2022-23 and meeting in full sessions to debate and vote on bills that successfully navigated the committee process.

For example, on Thursday afternoon the full Senate tackled the contentious issue of designating Florida’s official “State Dessert.” Not to be confused with Florida’s designated official “State Pie,” previously awarded to the key lime pie in 2006, the Senate voted to add “Strawberry Shortcake” to the list of 42 other official state symbols.

With that hotly-debated issue now behind us – at least in the Senate – here’s a look at several other issues which saw action this week, together with one that didn’t, that your FCA Lobby Team continues to monitor and work on, primarily focusing on the health care and insurance fronts.

Thursday, January 20, 2022, Tallahassee – State lawmakers spent the second week of their nine-week regular session focusing primarily on committee work on individual member bills together with hearing individual appropriation requests. State budget committees also began their early work developing a plan to fund state government, the only exercise the constitution mandates legislators must complete each year.

But none of these tasks have taken priority over their top issue that must be tackled: A once-every-decade charge to redraw the political boundaries for our state legislative and congressional districts following each decennial census. Given pandemic-related delays in the 2000 national headcount, lawmakers in both chambers are now in full overdrive trying to agree on maps that will attract enough votes for final passage and satisfy a review by both the Attorney General and Florida Supreme Court. Then, in the case of the congressional exercise, it will need to please the Governor and ultimately win a nod of approval from the U.S. Department of Justice following its final review. Plus, all of this must happen before candidate qualifying opens on July 13th.