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Week Five of Florida's Session · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's the third hour of the morning Show with President Scott.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The band is back together. I'm Preston. He is Grand
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Allen in Studio one A running the program today. He's
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: our he's our designated producer today the DP as opposed
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: to the DH, which we hope to have him back
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: doing sometime soon. And joining me in studio is Salnuzzo
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: of Consumer's Defense. And it's our legislative update. And we
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: are through five weeks now of the session.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have passed the halfway point, and I'd like
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: to say it's all downhill from here, but I have
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: no clue at this point.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: If I were to ask you from a productivity standpoint,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: great at A through F, where are we at?
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: It's a great question, I'd probably say a C plus.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Maybe did we get spoiled from the previous few years?
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: And I mean historically speaking, were we spoiled or were
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the last few years what they should have been?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I would suggest that the last two years under Speaker
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Paul Renner we were incredibly spoiled. Okay, and we were
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: incredibly spoiled because we had a governor and a legislature
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: that were lockstep. They were aligned, and they were these
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: are the priorities, This is the agenda, this is the
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: direction that we want to move the state. We are
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: going to do it, and they did it, and we
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: have returned more toward the norm. Yeah, I don't know
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: that I want to call it the norm because we're
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: all in the same party and some of the dialogue
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: and so well, in some of the debate and dialogue,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I would push back a little bit because we are
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: in many respects, but the dialogue has become a little
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: bit more public than I would that I'm comfortable with.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: But yes, and we'll get to this when we talked proposals,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I think. But yes, we are all in the same party. Yes,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: we are having what would traditionally be a very healthy
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: debate about agenda and pathways forward. And yes, some stuff
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: falls off, some stuff gets put on. But yeah, I
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: would go a C.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Plus we are dealing with the legislative session, but you
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: still have to kind of start with the executive and
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the governor.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the really in the last week, he's become
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: a lot more vocal in what I you know, some
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: may call he's gone on offense. I would say he's
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: kind of tactically playing a little bit more defense because
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: he's having to respond to what the House, in particular
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the House is doing, and so he challenged him. There
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: was a press event or something where he challenged a
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: number of bills that were moving, specifically called out the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: effort to reverse many of the tort reforms that passed
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: back in twenty twenty three. He also highlighted a bill
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: that is kind of in my purview professionally and is
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: really concerning to me, and that's to set up a
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Task Force on Carbon s Questration, which is like this
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: kind of pseudo technology to try and quote unquote capture
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: carbon emissions, oh lord, before they damage the climate. And
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: it's really kind of what I would suggest is something
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: like that is playing policy on the field that the
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: left dictates the rules. And so those are the things
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: where he's kind of pointed out, and he actually had
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: a pretty pointed quote. He said, what I've seen so
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: far out of the Florida House or representatives, they're not
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: trying to step on the left's throat. They're giving a
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: lifeline to the Democratic Party. They're giving a lifeline to
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: the left. Now, that's that's pretty forceful language. It's not
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: something we would traditionally see even when you're having differences
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: on policy between the chambers and the governor's office and so.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: But in this particular case, on that particular issue, he's
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: on the money.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: On that particular is such we spot on one hundred
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: percent that bill is a trojan horse and it's not
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: something that I would ever have envisioned a very conservative
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: legislature moving through. And it's it's gotten hearings in both chambers,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: and so that's where you know, if it's moving in
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: one chamber and not another, and we expect it's just
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: going to die, you know, it's one thing. But that's
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: definitely the case with that one.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I think most people know, unless they're new to the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: state of Florida, there is one mandate they have, and
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: that is to have a balanced budget. They've got to
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: do that. The rest is gravy. So where are they
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: in the budget process?
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so one constitutional requirement passed not just a budget,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: but a balance budget. The House incentive both moved their
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: proposals through the Appropriations Committee, and that's the kind of
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: the first step and getting to what we call the
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: conferencing process, which is where they come together and negotiate
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: out all of the details.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question. They're four billion dollars
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: apart right now? Is put some historical kind text to that?
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Is that about right? Is that normal? Is that different?
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: It's a little bit more. And I had to look
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: back over the years. It's it's a little bit more
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: than we've seen traditionally between them. Sometimes it's it's two billions,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it can it's gotten as high as three. I
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: don't know that I've ever seen a four billion dollar gap,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: but I did take a look at where they're kind
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: of what they're looking at and why there is such
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: a difference. And so a couple of things. First off,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: you've got the House at one hundred and thirteen billion
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: and the Senate at one hundred and seventeen and some change.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: So one of the differences is the Senate proposal would
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: do away with about one thousand full time positions in
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: state government that have been vacant, and I think they've
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: been vacant for ninety days. And so the House side
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: is eliminating seven thousand positions that have been vacant, but
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: they've been vacant for I think one hundred days or more.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: So you've got a piece of that. The Senate's proposed
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: a four percent pay increase for state employees. The House
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: doesn't have anything on that side. But the big deal
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: in this and where I know we're going to talk
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: about the tax proposals, is the House has the sales
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: tax base reduction, the rate reduction from six percent to
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: five point twenty five percent in their budget bill, and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: the Senate does not yet have anything in there, And
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: so that's creating this kind of big gulf between the two.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: If any discussion circled around the Department of Corrections, because
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: of all the agencies, there's an agency there that is
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: it's staffing is dependent on populations that they have zero
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: control over. And I know that Corrections has seven eight
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: thousand more inmates in its system, but they don't have
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: more positions and their concerns there. It's a real good question.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: The answer is right now, I don't know, but it's
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: absolutely something that will be subsequent to this week very
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: easy to kind of dive in on it and get
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: a sense of kind of unpacking where is the House
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: on Public Safety and corrections? Where is the Senate and
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: where are the specific gaps there? And we can definitely
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: do that in a future maybe next Monday.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, So as we're looking at the tax proposals, now, sure,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: what are you seeing?
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: So last week the House Ways and Means Committee did
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: pass the House tax plan, and that includes the Speaker's
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: proposal for a permanent reduction, as I mentioned, from six
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: to five point two five percent. It does not include
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: anything on the local options. So like here in Leon County,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: I think we have three of them, which takes our
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: rate from six.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: It's a the max.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's at the max.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: And the reason for that is they can those are
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: local options, so they would have to go to a
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: constitutional amendment to ban those, and they're not going to
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: do that. In addition, sales tax holidays are currently not
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: in the tax bill, so in the Speaker's proposal, which
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: is now a bill moving, they're shifting from from what
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: we've traditionally done, which is allocating a month forced back
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: to school, sales tax and all of these other things,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: and they're just reducing the rate, which on the whole
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: I'm in favor of. So now I haven't looked at
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: the math on how much is saved in those holidays
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: versus what they're proposing and all of that, but that
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: does I like that part. However, it's a big contrast
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: to what the governor's proposing.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I know that merchants hate the sales tax holidays, yep,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: because it causes a disruption to the normal flow of
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: buying and selling. Absolutely, and when you compare that to
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: what the governor's proposing, it is a stark difference. It
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: is a stark difference. And the governor wants to eliminate
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: property taxes altogether.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Right. He also acknowledges that it would to get there,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: it would require a ballot amendment. It have to be
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: a constitutional deal, which would be on the twenty twenty
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: six ballot. In of that, he's called on the legislature
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: to include in the budget and tax bills one thousand
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: dollars rebate to all homesteaded property owners this year. That
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: is not currently in the House tax bill. So you've
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: got competing proposals. They're going to have to agree on
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: what goes to the governor. But really important in this
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: is the Senate President ben Ala I was going to ask.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: He did state in a press conference he wants the
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: best tax relief possible, but he did express some concern
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: that the pace of the debate is going in a
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: direction that he thinks they may need to pull back.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: And in the yard room period, which is shorter this
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: time because session starts in January, we can work through
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: a big tax cut back both of them, vet both
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: of them, and you're also passing a huge tax cut
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: in an election year, which I think is a great
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: political strategy.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Twenty two minutes past SALNWSA with me from Consumers Defense,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: how we were talking about the different tax proposals and
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: that that really kind of swings us right back to
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the budget in that in one way or another, it
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: addresses and speaks to what kind of government we're going
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: to have in its size.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Now, one thing I wanted to kind of point out,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: you've got both chambers talking very aggressively publicly and in
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: committee hearing about the need to have transparency and accountability,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: but also to cut the size of government and eliminate
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: wasteful spending and yes, absolutely laudable goals. We should always
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: be looking to do that, and it really should be
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: an evergreen process. It should be something that the legislature
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: is doing all this. It's the philosophy of Florida governance,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: lean and mean. However, I do want to point this out.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Florida's state budget per capita is the leanest in the
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: United States. We spend less per capita at the state
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: level than any other state in the country. It's just
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: an objective fact. And so well, I think at the
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: federal level, especially when you start talking about Doze and
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: all the money going and the corruption and grift, and
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: it's at levels unfathomable trillions of dollars at the state level,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: which at heart, I'm a federalist. The states created the
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: federal government, the states create the local government. The state
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: should be, in my opinion, supreme in terms of governing
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: at the state level. I really hope we do not
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: get so hung up on cutting that we end up
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: excising more than just waste and fraud, and we end
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: up inadvertently doing even some political damage because we've cut
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: money in ways that make state operations go in a
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: poor direction.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: I'm going to borrow from something that I learned thirty
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: five forty years ago, and it was if you put
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: efficiency in a front of effectiveness, you lose every single
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: time you find effective, then you find the most efficient
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: way to do it. What I hear you saying, and
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: correct me. If I'm wrong, is if we get too
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: focused on being efficient, we lose the ability to be effective. Yeah.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: And you know, to their credit, I think you can't.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: You can't deny the fact that we have done governing really,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: really well for the last fifteen twenty years, as long
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: as I've been really in policy work. But that pendulum
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: can swing, and it can swing fast. Yeah, And that is,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: to use a phrase that we've used a couple of
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: times in prior weeks, it's how you lose a super majority.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: It could be eventually how you lose a majority. We've
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: got to do governing good as well as efficient.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: As much as Tariff's is a hot button topic in
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: the nation right now, insurance is the topic in the state.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: And there are a lot of items going on in that,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: two things that I think I'm going to highlight, one
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: of which is something I've not seen happen in all
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: my years. So back in twenty twenty three to level set,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: we had comprehensive tort reform measures and they passed because
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: the governor put a whole lot of political capital into
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: getting the chambers to move on it. Because tort excessive
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: litigation was driving insurance premiums up. So you fast forward
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: a couple of years, we've got a couple of bills
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: moving that would completely reverse that course. So you've got
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: HB fifteen fifty one. That's one of them, and it's
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: being carried by one of the members who was actually
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: elected as a Democrat then switched parties. She's also an
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: attorney who represents individuals suing insurance companies. Yeah, it's still
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: moving and only has one more committee stop in the House.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: The Senate hasn't heard a companion in a single committee,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: and normally, in a traditional year, I would say, well,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: that means it's dead. You never know this year if
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: there's gonna be some kind of horse trade that puts
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: this one in play late in the game.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: The wild one, however, is HB nine to forty seven.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Now this is really wonky. It's about what evidence juries
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: can hear in assessing damages in some of that litigation. Now,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: I don't want to get too granular, but it's It
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: definitely reverses course from twenty twenty three. It made it
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: all the way to the House floor. But then the
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: former Speaker, Paul Renner, he sends out a post on
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: x weighing in against this bill, and subsequently the House
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: voted to pull the bill back and send it to committee. Now,
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know if one caused the other, or if
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: there was something that may have been already in a
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: tight spot, but that one was a new one, even
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: for me.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Let's talk. Let's talk about something instead that's that's equally infuriating,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: but not just to me.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Auto insurance.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Let's spread the misery, yeah.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: Auto insurance. Let's talk about something that's yeah.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So what can they do? What can the legislature
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: do to address auto insurance?
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: And it's well, let's set the stage on what the
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: status quo is. So we currently have what's called a
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: no fault system, which means every driver has to have
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: personal injury protection called PIP PIP coverage to cover the
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: medical expenses and lost wages after an accident, regardless of
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: who is at fault, and so you don't have in
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Florida a way to sue for non economic damage is
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: pain and suffering. Most states don't have this system, but
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: most states do not have the issues with trial attorneys
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: and excessive litigation and all of the furthest towarts. You know,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: a lot of it goes down to the rules on
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: attorneys' fees and who pays them and when, and all
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: of the little nuances within Florida that have evolved over time. Okay,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: but they've evolved, and so we have this system. And
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: so there have been some efforts to move to what's
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: called a negligence based system, which is repealing PIP, but
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: they haven't really addressed the underlying issues on the litigation
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: and the attorney's fees and all of that. So repealing
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: PIP without that would, by necessity, those rates would go
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: even higher. So the legislature a couple of sessions ago,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I think they did pass a bill and send it
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: to Governor DeSantis, and he vetoed it. He said the
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: rates would go up if this bill were to go
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: in in its current form. But they are trying again.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: So the House is moving a bill. The Senate companion
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: bill has not been heard yet, but I do believe
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: it will be. And this week I've seen a ton
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: of activity on social media from like big conservative Trump
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: influencer types trying to push this House bill across the
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: finish line. And so you have this kind of framing,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: and it's set up to be something where they may
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: try to push it toward the governor and he would
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: have to explain a veto again if he does, which
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: if it's in its current form, I would say he's
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: in the right on vetoing it.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: But time will tell on that ballot initiatives.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a big one because this is a
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: problem and it's always been the case as far as
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: I've been here doing policy work.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: And by problem you mean too easy to amend Florida's
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: constitution exactly. Okay, So the full House did pass HB
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: twelve oh five from Jenni Person's malca. It would further
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: restrict that process, the citizen's initiative process, and I think
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: it's worth a deep dive. So Florida has more ways
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: to amended state constitution than any other state. It's five
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: of them that you've got, the citizens initiative, the legislative initiative,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: those two are the most common. You also have the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Constitutional Revision Commission, the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, and
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: you have the option for a Constitutional convention. The CRC
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: and the TBRC they meet every twenty years, so you
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: never have to really worry about them except in a
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: small setting. The citizen initiative process has effectively been hijacked
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: over the years. We did increase the threshold from fifty
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: to sixty percent chambers, but it's still in the kind
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: of it's something where wealthy special interests are able to
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: hijacket and get initiatives on the ballot by investing tens
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: of millions of dollars. And so Jenna Person's Malka's bill
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: would tighten that. There is a proposed committee bill from
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Senator Don Gates to kind of mirror that. It's get
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: its first hearing in the coming in this week, and
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: so I'm paying a lot of attention because this is
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: really a big deal. I just like that they're tightening
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: down on how and who can get signatures.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so things like you've got to post a
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: million dollar bond, you can't hold on to signatures for
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: a month.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: You got ground checks.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: There is one piece of it that I worry about
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: the constitutionality of it, and it requires you It prohibits
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: anyone from out of state from being a signature collector.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: That gives me a little bit of heartburn in terms
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: of where litigation might be concentrated. But all told, this
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: bill is a good move for a state.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: To take forty two minutes past the hour, sal Newso
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: with me, we're going to run a minute late here
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: in this segment. But that's just fine because it's important
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and you need to know technology what's being talked about
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: in the session dealing with tech that we ought to
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: be aware of.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so there is a lot moving in the tech space.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: You've got a number of bills, a couple of that
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: I think are important to highlight. The most visible one
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: is HB seven forty three. It would it would provide
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: for further restrictions on social media for minors, particularly in
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: the fourteen and fifteen year old I think are the
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: thirteen and fourteen year old age rains. The new piece
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: would mandate that parents or legal guardians of miners under
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: sixteen years of age would have access to all messages
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: exchanged by their children. It would also.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Perably mandate that.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: It's dicey.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I mean that just seems unenforceable.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: Potentially, it would also permit law enforcement officers to access
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: a miner's messages relevant to any investigation, provided that they
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: have obtained consent from the confirmed parent, a guardian, or
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: secure to warrant. And it would also prohibit miners from
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: using or accessing messages that are designed to disappear or
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: self destruct. And you have these programs I think like
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Snapchat and Signal and others that. Yeah, and so I
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: understand the intent. But to your point on enforceability, I
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: think there's also in the same way that HB three,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: which was the one from last session or two sessions ago,
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: so that's tied up in litigation. I think this one
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: would likely also get litigated. It's a It's one of
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: those ones where I think I want to applaud the
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: legislature for taking it on, because you know, it's something
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: that we need to address.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I just don't think the government should be addressing it.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: I just don't know how. And I'm and I'm with you.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: Don't give a phone. I'm with you on this. I mean, yeah,
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: it's the only.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Way this could be. Look dat sal and I hate
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: to belabor this, but but would be for the kids'
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: messages to automatically appear on the parent's phone.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: And the tech companies and the folks who kind of
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: advocate for them and their trade associations would point out
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: that there are dozens of tools out there. Yeah, and
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: they advertise them to parents. That will allow parents to
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: have controls over what their kids see. That would immediately
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: allow them the ability to get all of those messages
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: and see them. And like I said, it's one where
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: as a parent, I understand the dilemma. I understand the
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: intent of the legislature wanting to figure out what the
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: most appropriate mechanism is. This one, it gives me a
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: little bit more heartburn.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: All right. Some other notable bills quickly.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Twelve to fifty five Employment of miners. It would allow
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: kids sixteen to eighteen to have more flexibility in the
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: hours that they can work. It's moving two thirty four
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: in the Senate side, increase penalties for killing a law
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: enforcement officer. Tom Lee could pull the bill from the
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: floor to address something called the good faith standard language
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: to help get it through. He had the votes before,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: but he wanted more. It passed the full Senate HJR.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Six seven nine term limits for municipal officers. It's moving
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: closer to getting on the ballot. In twenty twenty six.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Eleven forty four codifying the Hope Florida Program finally passed
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: a Senate committee. The House has moved it through one stop,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: So they're putting it into a posture where.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: They will stay getting a lot of scrutiny from the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: media in the state.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: It is indeed, and like you said last week, the
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: best way to ensure transparency and accountability is codify it,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: and so I think they're recognizing that in their moving it.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: What's coming up this week?
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: This week You've got today a big Commerce Committee hearing
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: at three o'clock a couple of the notable bills five
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: point forty one the minimum wage requirements where you would
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: have some training wage opportunities. I think it's really really needed. Yep,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: along with nine to fifty five closing at least one
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: of the everified loopholes. Bernie Jocks has got the bill there.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Not good enough.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: It's a good start. I got good enough, let's keep moving.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Not good enough.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Tomorrow at eight am, you've got an Education Committee meeting
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: with House Bill one twenty three allowing the conversion of
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: low performing schools to be turned into charter schools. And
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: I really like this kind of innovative idea. You've got
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: the State Affairs Committee hearing HB six seventy nine on
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: term limits. So that's continuing to move and then you've
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: got Tuesday and Wednesday, the really big rules committees, Fiscal policy,
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: where you have all of those bills that have got
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: to get their final stop marathon length bills those are
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: starting to move, and some really really long floor sessions
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: where they're getting bills ready for what they call the
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: second and third reading, where they pass them through with
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: full chamber votes.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: All right, we'll stop there.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: We will, we will continue on next Monday.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: We'll adjourn on Monday. There are still still.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: There are still days until the end. Thank you, always
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: a pleasure.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Sundards out with Consumers Defense forty eight pass