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Florida's Session Begins · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Here we go five past the hour. In case you
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: missed the news Thursday on the morning show at seven
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: thirty five. I've had to rearrange a few things. Doctor
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Steve Steverson will not be joining us because we will
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: have the governor Florida Governor on DeSantis with us. Had
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to talk them out of having him come in studio
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: because he only had ten minutes, and it's like, no,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: let's not go to the trouble of having you drive
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: down here for a ten minute visit. So we're going
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to do the phone, but we are working on trying
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: to get him in here for a full hour. I
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: don't know if that'll happen, especially during the session, but
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I'm grateful. So ten minutes with the Governor on Thursday,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: but it is time for us to do a legislative
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: preview because tomorrow is the day. And joining me is
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the executive director of Consumer's Defense. And I unapologetically say,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: because of Salnuzo and his knowledge of what goes on
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: in our Florida life legislature, this is the best coverage
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of the Florida session that you will find in any
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: radio station in this state. And it is why I
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: think we ought to be in other markets in Florida
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: because we're helping you stay apprized of what is happening
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and what will impact you sell newso of consumers. Defense
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: with me this morning, set the table. It starts tomorrow.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good to be with you, Yeah, man, and great
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: get with the governor this week.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Molly Best came through for awesome. Awesome.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Well yeah, the session begins tomorrow, sixty days. Each chamber
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: tomorrow will gabble in early. They will give their opening
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: speeches from the Speaker, the Senate President. Then collectively they'll
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: gather in the House Chamber for the Governor's State of
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the State, so you'll have an opportunity to chat with him.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: On the tail end of that, let's do a little
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: bit of numbers, because I think it would be helpful
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: for folks who maybe haven't tuned in in prior years,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: or just getting their feet wet, or maybe new to.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Florida, right, which is a lot a lot of people.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: By the way, to those who you just crossing the border,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: welcome to Florida, Goyell.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Free State of Florida, where we have
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty members of the Florida legislature one
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: hundred and twenty House members eighty four Republicans, thirty three Democrats.
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  Speaker 2: You'll notice that does not add up to one twenty.
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  Speaker 2: There are three vacancies from various things. On the Senate side,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: forty you've got twenty seven Republicans, eleven Democrats, one independent
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Jason Pizzow, who used to be a Democrat. I would
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: consider him a moderate center left member in terms of
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: his votes. He's a former prosecutor, so he kind of
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: veers a little bit more center when it gets into
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: law enforcement and criminal justice matters. And you've got one
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: vacancy there. So the legislature meets for sixty days each year,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: plus interim committee schedules and those kinds of things.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Do you think it's important to point out to people
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: that may not know it's a part time legislator.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is a part time legislature, which if you
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: say that to any member of the legislature, they will
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: smirk or laugh over. I guess it is a all
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: year long type of thing. You're dealing with constituents. You
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: have to come up to Tallahassee for committee weeks, you
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: have the session. The whole thing I want to say
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: they're somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty something thousand dollars
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: per year per member to compensate them for their service.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Which is a pittance. It really is.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: It is, And I would absolutely be in favor of
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: a very large raise because it does encourage other people
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: who would not or otherwise ordinarily have the means to
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: run and hold the office, to be able to do that.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: With that being said, we're actually in the upper quadrants
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: of legislator pay for part time legislatures.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Really.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah. New Hampshire is famous because New Hampshire has about
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: four hundred members of the House of Representatives. If you're
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: a resident of New Hampshire, eventually you get to serve
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: in the state legislature. It's like Jerry duty. But but
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: they only receive famously one hundred dollars per year for
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: their service to the state. And I mentioned this ironically.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I am.
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  Speaker 2: I leave here today and I go to two states
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: to do a committee testimony, Indiana and then New Hampshire.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: So I get my first taste of the one hundred
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: dollars a year.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Nice. Yes, so you're expecting to pick up the tab Oh,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to it. There is one constitutional requirement.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Those of you new to the Sunshine State only one
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: pass a balanced budget. They have to do that. Aside
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  Speaker 1: from that, it's who knows what comes our way, what
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: makes the cut what doesn't. So sal tell us how
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: does it happen, How does it work? How does a
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: bill get across the finish line?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the old schoolhouse rock. How does a bill becomes law?
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Good idea to review the process. So you mentioned one
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  Speaker 2: constitutional requirement the budget. Last I checked, there were about
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: seventeen hundred and fifty bills filed in addition to what
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: will come within the budget, and how many of those
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: generally make the cut couple of hundred, a couple of
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: one hundred old passed through both chambers onto the governor.
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  Speaker 2: More than that will make it into an agenda. But
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: this is where the process kind of unfolds. So let's
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: just go right to the right to the source. A
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: member of the legislature either has an idea or someone
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: gives him or her an idea for a bill. That
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: idea has to go into a process called bill drafting.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: So they write out an idea, type it up, send
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: it into some folks at the Capitol who will turn
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: that into proposed legislative language. It goes back to whoever
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: put that request in. Then someone can take that, because
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: it's public at that point, someone can take that and
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: file it as a bill. That bill, once it's filed,
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  Speaker 2: it'll get a number HB something with an odd number
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: at the NSB something with an even number at the end.
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  Speaker 2: It will then be what's called referenced to a series
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: of committees within that chamber. So if your bill is
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: referenced to one committee, well it's a priority of everyone
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: and it's going to be passed immediately and sent on
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: to the governor. One committee, it goes to the full floor,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: and you're done. Two or three committees is probably about
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: normal within each chamber. So as that bill then gets
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: placed on an agenda, and it's not a guarantee that
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: it does. The committee chair has control over the agenda.
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  Speaker 2: The sponsoring legislator on that committee hearing will present the bill,
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  Speaker 2: explain it, answer questions. Public has an opportunity to voice
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  Speaker 2: their opinion on the bill. Then members can debate it
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: and they vote on it in the committee, and then
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  Speaker 2: it goes to the next committee. If anything needs to
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: be changed, even so much as a comma added in
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: a bill, it has to be done through the amendment process.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: So in the committee an amendment can be filed. It
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: also then gets voted on and discussed and then amended
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: in and then at the end of that process, the
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: amendment process within the committee, the bill as amended will
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: be voted and sent on or rejected, but typically sent
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: onto the next committee hearing, and then once they're voted on,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: they get placed into the queue for the full chamber votes. Now,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: any bill in order to get to the governor has
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: to be identical on both sides and in both chambers,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: so as you can imagine, there can be a little
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: volleying back and forth on language or provisions, and they
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: can do that and frequently do. Full Chamber will amend
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: it on the floor, send it back over to the
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  Speaker 2: other chamber. That chamber considers it, accept or rejects the change,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: sends it back and there's all these with call in
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: messages back and forth. And then once it's passed by
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  Speaker 2: a full vote of the legislature and a majority of
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: both chambers approve it goes is a governor where he
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: has he could sign veto or wait a certain number
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: of days and then it gets like a pocket veto
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: where it's signed. Tell me this early on, when it's
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: first drafted, who's responsible for making sure that the language
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: in the original draft can pass legal muster. It's a
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  Speaker 2: very good question, and largely that is not a huge
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: consideration unless it is a very blatant violation of constitutional rights.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: But for the most part, where you're in the kind
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: of litigation gray areas where you would expect litigation on
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: a particular bill, but you don't know, they just they
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: just power forward, and well, that is the role of
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: the judicial branch in Florida. The courts will take it up.
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  Speaker 2: What we're seeing is even on some rather in innocuous
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: bills that the legislature has passed over the years, the
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: left goes ensues anyway. So the attitude is kind of
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  Speaker 2: changed over i would say, the last decade, where it's like, well,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to get sued anyway, Let's pass what it
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: is that we think is the best policy. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: as long as we're not, you know, egregiously out over
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  Speaker 2: our skis constitutionally, we're we're going to move forward and
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: we'll we'll have the courts sorted out.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: If there was one issue, aside from the constitutional mandate
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: of passing a balanced budget. What do you think that
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  Speaker 1: the buzz issue is going to be.
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  Speaker 2: I think if you were tasked with taking twenty twenty
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: six and putting one word behind it nationally, and Florida
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  Speaker 2: is kind of ground zero for this, it is the
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: issue of affordability. Affordability is going to be the word
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  Speaker 2: of the year for Webster's Dictionary when they do this
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: at the end of the year. It's a major theme
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  Speaker 2: for this session, not just in Florida, but across the country.
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  Speaker 2: It's a national electoral message and I will go political
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: for a moment. If Republicans do not figure out how
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: to message on this effectively in the next three to
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: four months, the midterms, in my opinion, are going to
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: be a bloodbath. And it matters for Florida because of
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: the trickle down impacts to state and local elections. Who's
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: running from state legislatures, who's running from county and city
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  Speaker 2: commission seats up, who is kind of graduating or getting
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  Speaker 2: promoted into DC. What are the things that DC is
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: then passing down. What is the makeup of state legislatures Nationally?
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: We've been in a what I would call a bull
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: market in state legislative chambers. I think there's thirty something
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: that are Republican trifectas at this point. All of that
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  Speaker 2: can begin the pendulum swing the other way if we
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: do not get this right on our side for twenty six.
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  Speaker 1: So in your mind, you're going to champion a singular thought,
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  Speaker 1: as James Carville did back in nineteen ninety two.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Carvil said it's the economy stupid in ninety two.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say in twenty twenty six, it's the
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: affordability stupid. If you do not center your campaign on
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: making your constituents' lives more affordable, you're going to be
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: in trouble.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: So are there bills, given that the committee weeks have
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: come and gone, are their bills poised to address this?
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah? And what I think would be helpful is because
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: they haven't really begun the full chamber process yet. I
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: put together a few buckets where I think you're going
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: to see a lot of bills moving and a lot
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: of action happening. And then what we can do is
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: as we begin kind of the next week, when we're
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: recapping where they've gone and what they've done and what
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: they passed, we can begin putting these bills into certain buckets.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: So bucket one is going to be taxes. Last section,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: you had that hole back and forth with the Governor
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: and the House Speaker property taxes, sales taxes. We don't
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: hear much on the sales tax question right now, and
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: that's primarily because of the way in which property tax
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: debate has just kind of sucked all the oxygen out
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: of the room. Houses got several proposals, they set up
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: an ad hoc committee. None of those proposals get the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: governor everything he's called for.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: He seems to be almost waving a white flag on
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: that front with some statements he's made publicly about the
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: heavy lift that's involved.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he does acknowledge it is a massive lift.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: The more data they get on how much the hit
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: is going to be to local governments. There are essential
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: services that local governments provide. Now, have they realized revenue
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: increases over the last five years that are astronomical, Yes,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: but there's still going to have to be a discussion
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: and a debate and dialogue on this. You've got four
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: proposals moving on this. You've got HJR twoh one, a
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: total elimination of all non school property taxes for homesteaded
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: properties immediately. That's the biggest ticket item, fourteen fifteen billion dollars.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: An interesting note though, it's interesting who the House picked
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: to sponsor this bill that will go on the ballot,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Representative Kevin Steele. Reason this is kind of interesting to
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: me is Kevin Steele is running as a Republican against
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Blazon Goolia as for Florida's Chief financial officer. So you
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: have this intramural, intra party kind of primary battle taking
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: shape in the House in who gets to sponsor one
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: of the biggest tax cut proposals that the state will
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: have ever seen or maybe ever seen if it goes
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: through HJR. Two of five senior exemption, so if you're
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: a senior sixty five or older, that's one where you
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: would get your exemption. You've also got property insurance relief.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: If you have a homeowner's insurance policy, you automatically get
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: an additional two hundred thousand dollars in homestead tax relief.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: This is from Demi Basada. I'm not sure it's moving,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: but I'm not sure how viable it is. And then
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: you've got the portability cap removal. HR two one point
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: one removes five hundred thousand dollars cap on the Save
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: our Homes benefit portability also just for nonschool taxes. So
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: if you had accumulated over the years, if you've got
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: a two or three million dollar home and you've got
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: six hundred thousand, seven hundred thousand dollars in exemptions are
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: not exemptions, but the save our Homes savings. You can
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: then buy another home and port all of that over.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: If this were to pass, You're gonna have a lot
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: more on tax policy within like the holidays and that
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: kind of stuff, But the property tax debate is the
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: big one.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: You believe that. Like my show, I break my show
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: down into three buckets. You got three buckets, Well, I
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: got three buckets for today. And now this is going
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: to evolve a little bit as we move in the session,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: takes on its character and whatnot. But the other big issue,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: not just for Floridians but nationally, he's going to be healthcare.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: And I just see this as being something we tackle
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: here in Florida. Is it is ever not going to
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: be a big issue in the next in our lifetime?
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Probably not. We will continue to barring any really weird circumstances.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: We will continue to be a growth state. We will
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: continue to be a haven for people in the sixty
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: plus age range, the cohort of the population that requires
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: the most healthcare. We are currently thousands of just primary
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: care doctors short, and that's not even getting into specialists
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: and whatnot. So this is going to be an issue ongoing.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: We've got eight hundred new residents a day on average
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: over the last five years Speaker's offices. On top of this,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: this is a package deal that he has been pulling together.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: You've got a couple of bills, in particular HB six
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: ninety three from Mike Rodondo, the Public Programs, MEDICI, SNAPCHIP.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: He's aligning those with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: so the work requirements, all of those things. You've also
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: got some supply side stuff. And by supply side, I
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: mean how do you get more practitioners, more doctors, facilities,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: et cetera. So Mike Redondo's bill eliminates the final Certificate
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: of need laws, which we can spend an hour going into,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: but they need to go away. Establishes an EMS licensing Compact.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: So if you're an EMS technician in Georgia or Alabama.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: You want to come to Florida. This will streamline your
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: ability to get licensed and begin working. Also expands scope
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: of practice for physicians' assistants, advanced practicing, registered nurses, dental hyghgenis.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Then you've got HB six ninety seven from John's Rep.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Johnson.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: This one takes aim at the drugs, prescription drugs. They're
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: going after pharmacy benefit manager tactics making sure patients are
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: getting the benefits of discounts, creating a process to try
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: and mandate and this is where I get a little sketchy.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: They're trying to create a process for mandating prescription drug
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: pricing in some way, shape or form. At European Union levels.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Price controls never really seem to work, but we're going
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: to monitor that one. Then you got bucket three, which
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: is AI and tech and I separate them out because
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: AI is going to be a big, big deal this year.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: We talked about the fact that the governor has issued
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: an AI Bill of Rights that's now taken the shape
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: of legislative language. I've attended and spoken at events where
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: AI has been as much as thirty percent of the
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: entire agenda it's a debate about really one question in particular,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: and that is who who should be responsible for setting guidelines,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: laws and regulations and policies over artificial intelligence. And as
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: I mentioned to you in prior segments and off air,
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: the first thing we have to do in that is
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: defund what exactly it is that we're trying to regulate.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term means everything from a
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Google search all the way up to predictive X ray
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: analysis of MRIs and such. So you've got a ton
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: of bills coming in. In the Governor's Bill of Rights
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: for AI, he's got things like transparency and disclosure, parental rights, privacy,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: et cetera. You've got Senate Bill for eighty two filed
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: by Tom Leak. It's got a ton of provisions. Will
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: unpack it as it's moving through, but it really enumerates
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of what we would call the residence powers
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: when it comes to artificial intelligence.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: He's really focusing on protecting kids.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Yes, there's a ton in here that's kid driven. You've
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: also got a handful, maybe about six bills that have
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: a good chance of moving that when we get into
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: committee hearings. As we see them unfold. We'll see what's
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: moving and what's being combined into maybe a train bill
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: and kind of go from there. But that is going
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: to be the other, really really big issue for this year.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: What are some other notable bills to pay attention to?
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I went through all one thousand and seven hundred
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: and sixty five. I at least looked at the titles,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: and then I found a handful of notable bills to watch.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Sorry, Megan, Hey, yeah, yeah, Oh my gosh, that.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: My poor wife. Yeah, on many levels. Yeah, all right,
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: So first off, Senate Bill three eighteen and zero zero
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: seven to two. This is one from Senator Gates and
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Senator Harrel. They're looking to put a lot more accountability
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: and control in place for school choice money. There was
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: an Auditor General's report on the school choice program. It's
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: expected it is the second year we're going to be
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: working through kinks and tweaks and figuring out how to
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: streamline things.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: We got terrorist organizations being promoted inside some of these schools.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: And they're going to get it all that. There's also
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: a proposal within here for individualized education plans Senate Bill
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: forty eight three thirteen. We did talk about affordability. This
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: one's in the housing space. It would allow for individuals
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: to place accessory dwelling units on their property, so tiny homes,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: mother in law suits, those kinds of things. A lot
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: of times you'll have local governments putting restrictions on that.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: This would lift that one. In particular, we've talked about.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: It's back one ninety seven from Rep. Jockas expanding a
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: verify to all employers. You just got to get the
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: back employees. Yeah, it doesn't go at the grandfathered in
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: employees employees, but it is something house built. One thirty
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: three Tyler Surroy moving the gun purchase age back to
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: eighteen considering we're now an open carry state. To me,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: this seems like low hanging fruit. But the Senate's gonna
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: be very difficult.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: The Senate's going to be the Senate on this.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: And speaking of the Senate, the Senate Residence Rural Renaissance
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Package is back. It made it, It did not make it.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: It was on the cutting room floor from last session.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Senate Bill two to fifty from Corey Simon. It would
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: expand the definition of a fiscally constrained county. It opens
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: up opportunities for those counties to have access to some
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: federal funds some other things at the state level to
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: try and address some of the challenges that not every
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: county in the state is growing at the rate that
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: we're seeing. So this is one that they're paying attention to.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Senate Bill one twenty six from Don Gates another one.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: I'm watching this one really really carefully. It would reform
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: the ways in which the Public Service Commission. Now the
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: PSC is what sets utility rates for almost all of Florida.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: It would reform the ways that they approve of rate increases. Now,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: this bill is long and it's in the weeds, but
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: the intent is to provide more visibility as we see
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: folks like Florida Power Light or Douke Energy or whomever
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: apply for rate increases.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: What's coming up this week?
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: So this week we have a slight of committee hearings.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: Now it'll take a week or two before it's like
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: fully at full power, but today, even before they gavel
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: in officially, you've got the Senate Judiciary Committee. One in
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: particular that I'm looking at there is Senator Stan McClain's
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Bill SB two eight. It's on land use restrictions. The
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: House pre k twelve Education Committee. HB one twenty nine
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: from Rep. Dave Smith on improvements to the Florida Virtual School. Now,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: if you're a homeschooling parent and you use Florida Virtual School,
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: this is one you're going to want to pay attention to.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: The Senate Community Affairs Committee all a community affairs committee,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: all about housing affordability today. Senate Bill three fifty four,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: it's called Blue Ribbon Projects five ninety four on local
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: housing projects, eight forty on local land use. The Government
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Affairs Subcommittee, You've got one thing I'm paying attention to.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: It's not on their agenda today, but House Bill nine
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: ninety one got filed late by Jenni Person's molica. It
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: is the big elections package. Now, this is one where
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: seemingly every year we have some big omnibus election package,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: they continue to do good positive reforms as technologies advanced.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: And so that's one, while not this year or not
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: this week, we should see in future weeks. But then
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: in commerce and tourism, you've talked about this bill or
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: this concept a lot.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Over the years.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: HB eight oh six is the Right to Repair Bill
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: from Keith True. Now, if you're a John Deere customer,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: if you're an Apple customer, if you've got tech, sometimes
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: they require to use require you to use specific people
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: to repair those. This would be something where you would
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: not have that requirement. You've also got this one's interesting
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: one Cenebill eight ninety eight from Ileana Garcia requiring the
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: disclosure of any funding or sponsorship money received from anyone
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: developing social media content. I've got to read this one
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: a whole lot more in detail. Just that line alone
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: has me very concerned about free speech protections here. But
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: I've got to look into it. Post Wednesday, most of
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: the committees have not yet placed their full agendas up
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: because they have what they call a forty eight hour rule.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: But as those committees get agenda and bills get placed
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: on those agendas, when we come in next Tuesday, we'll
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: have a whole report on what's advanced and what's moving
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: and what's falling by the wayside, and kind of monitor
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: it week by week.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: All right, Thanks, as always, always a pleasure to be
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: with you, sir, sal New Zone with Consumer's Defense back
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: with us next Tuesday with the first week and a
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: look ahead here on The Morning Show with Preston Scott