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The 2024 Florida Legislative Session Begins · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

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In nineteen ninety one, Alzheimer's our number three of the Morning Show with preston'
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sky. Good morning. I'm Preston. That's Grant. And it is January
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eighth, which means tomorrow is the ninth, which means it's time the session
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will begin, and it's already begun. I mean, we were covering with
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Sal Nuzzo, who joins me especially during the legislative session, but he joins
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me all throughout the year, but every week during the session from the James
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Madison Institute where he's vice president of policy. We were talking about the committee
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weeks, we were talking about bills being filed. The numbers. Just give
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us a snapshot again, how many bills have been filed? Last I looked
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at was one thy six hundred and fifty five, which they have one more
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day until the bill filing deadline. But proposed committee bills called PCBs you can
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file late. But I think we're going to land somewhere in the seventeen to
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eighteen nineteen hundred range by the end of tomorrow. And for those that keep
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track of such things, percentage wise, how many of them get across the
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finish line and get signed in prior years before last year there was a lot
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more filed and the percentage was way low. This last year under Speaker Renter,
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there was far less and they passed more. It was kind of they
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weren't just doing a whole lot of the kind of notification bills. But I'm
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going to gauge maybe in the ten to twenty percent range, depending on what
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ends up getting filed and how many things get combined. We talked earlier about
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the fact that the Iowa caucuses are next week, which means our CEO,
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for lack of a better way of putting it, the governor of the state
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of Florida is busy. Yeah, he'll be here tomorrow. Who will give
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the State of the State address? Or read a couple of articles that it'll
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say that his State of the State address tomorrow will likely be geared at Iowa
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voters as opposed to Floridians. I don't know about that, but it was
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an interesting take. One week away. It's next Monday. Here's the interesting
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thing, because if you pay attention to the polls, he's way back.
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However, if you pay attention only to what Trump and Haley's campaigns are putting
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out, they're treating him like a real threat. So while I'm not a
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political analyst, I think we may be in for a surprise and that he
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overperforms, maybe wins comes in a close second. If that happens, I
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would expect he gets some momentum, he charges ahead, and we know he's
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not going to do well in New Hampshire. He's basically kind of written it
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off. He's in fourth place, but I could see him going into February
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or March based solely on Iowa. If he doesn't, if he falls back
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to third, I could see the campaign maybe losing some steam. Why this
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matters for the legislature is who returns, what type of governor comes back to
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the state, and what is the legislature's relationship with that governor compared to how
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it's been in prior years. He has held a lot of sway over the
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legislative process. He's been an exceptional executive kind of winding his way through legislative
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priorities. We will have to see how the legislature responds to him if the
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campaign falters and he comes back, and how aggressive they may get or not
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get in response. I would propose that Governor Desantas has done well in Florida
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because he's had a moral compass. If you look at a lot of the
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things he's decided, he's done what many of us would simply say is the
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right thing. Yep. And that is something that even those that would be
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opponents find predictable, and predictability is generally a very good thing. Absolutely,
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I agree completely with all of that. I think there will likely be some
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differences in I mean, the governor. While he definitely had priorities with a
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moral compass, there is also sausage making involved, and so that process he
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really got heavily involved in, in the committee process and getting bills to his
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desk and getting the specific bills he wanted at specific times to line up the
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session. I'm wondering, does the legislature acquiesce as much to the governor's offices,
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you know, Hope's dreams, desires as they did in prior years if
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he comes back without a campaign win short version answer when it comes to the
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governor's proposed budget, yep. Is it with optics nationally or optic strictly on
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what is best for the state of Florida. It's probably a mix. I'm
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surprised that he came in with a budget that cuts spending at the real number
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from one sixteen to one fourteen. With that being said, the moral compass
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that he has is he is a limited government conservative that wants to return tax
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dollars to the people of Florida. So I my guess is there's a little
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bit of both in that he does have the ability to then say he cuts
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spending in the third largest state in the country in contrast to a state like
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California. But we'll have to see how it plays and whether or not he
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uses it as the campaign unwinds. I have tasked sal Nouzo with what is
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seemingly an impossible task when you consider the sheer volume of legislative bills that are
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going to be introduced. I asked him one thing in preparation to this legislative
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session and our weekly visits which will bump to Tuesday next week but will always
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be Mondays for the most part during the session. I said, let's do
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this through the lens, through the filter of what is the most important set
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of bills, set of things that the majority of people in Florida need to
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know about. Yep, And you have done your best to do just that
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I've done my best, and I think in future weeks, I think what
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we can do is a little bit more of a speedy rundown of a number
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of things as they begin to move through the process, because some of these
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bills will start and then the loose steam and it doesn't make much sense to
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kind of pay attention to them in this context. But without knowing what's going
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through the committee process and where things are standing, I try to take a
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look at kind of a broad spectrum yeap, and what is going to impact
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Floridians the most, And so over the weekend, the first one over the
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weekend, HB one drops. Now, if you think back over the years,
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HB one is usually one of the biggest priorities. It was universal school
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choice House Bill one one. It's a big deal. So it dropped.
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I think it was Friday or Saturday. It's sponsored by Tyler Siroy and Fiona
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McFarlane, both members who have taken vocal positions against large technology companies in prior
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sessions. So what does the bill do. The bill would ban any social
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media account for anyone under the age of sixteen in the state of Florida.
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So no Facebook, no Instagram, no Twitter, no TikTok, no snap,
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whatever the kids are using these days. It's not only a ban from
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the enactment of the bill, but it's also social media accounts must remove all
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existing accounts for minors under the age of sixteen if it goes into effect.
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Yeah, it would. It would implement age verification policies for account holders.
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So even if you're an adult, you have to prove that you're an adult
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when you sign up for an account, and it should I be. I
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mean, I'm nervous about this. Yeah, And it also includes I'm not
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even done. It also includes a private right of action for individuals to sue
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and subjects platforms to state court jurisdiction. So yeah, important note here.
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Similar bills were enacted in Utah and in Arkansas last year. In Arkansas,
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the bill was injuncted. It was held up immediately by a federal court.
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In Utah, the bill doesn't go into effect until twenty twenty five, and
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based on the Arkansas case, the governor in Utah and the legislature are kind
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of rolling it back in this legislative session. Yeah, it's a bit of
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a concern. We're working through the language, trying to see where Jmi's take
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on this is a couple of other states over the last years have taken slightly
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different tax on a very important issue, and that is how do we keep
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kids safe online? Agreed, and the intention is absolutely necessary and laudable.
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Louisiana and Virginia have passed what they call age verification bills that require age verification
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for adult content, so content harmful to kids, alcohol, cigarettes, pornography,
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those types of things. But they have narrowly tailored their age verification in
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ways that do not run up against some of these constitutional concerns that are there.
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We have thirty seconds draft more on technology. More on technology. You
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have a number of other bills that are kind of aimed at tech platforms,
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smartphone manufacturers. HB three is one of those. Similar to Louisiana and Virginia,
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You've also got Senate Bill eleven ninety six from Blazingolia requiring age verification,
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but to be done at the device level, So if you buy a smartphone,
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it would have to come with a filter installed that you would then have
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to verify your age or you do not get certain content. And you basically
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have a number of these bills filed. My prediction is they're going to coalesce
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around a strategy and figure out where they go. But it's a big issue
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to JMI as we have an entire center to devoted to tech policy. Twenty
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two minutes past the hour, sal Newso with the James Madison Institute, he's
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vice president of policy. And more importantly than all of that, Okay,
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sure you might draw paycheck from them, but more important than all of that
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is that he is our legislative analyst. This is at the top of my
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right I would think it is. Yeah, absolutely, let me know when
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I need to write a note. Let's hope not for a long time.
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Well, you know, you say the word taxes in Florida and it almost
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sounds oxymoronic because when most people think taxes, they're thinking of the big one
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income tax, and Florida is a shining example of Look at us. We
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run surpluses without one. Yep, we run a surplus without one. We
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are one of I think it's ten states now without a state level income tax.
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As a result, we rely a whole lot more on things like the
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sales tax, homestead tax, I mean, consumption tax, consumption tax.
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We've got a communication services tax, a business least tax. We do have
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taxes that need addressing. We do have taxes that need addressing. But when
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you talk about tax policy, it's generally geared in those directions. So you
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have a series of homestead exemptions on the property taxes. You have sales tax
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holidays so you get two or three days or a month free from sales taxes
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on certain items. The communication services tax it's a little bit a lot higher
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than most other states. You have assessments on insurance premiums and things like that.
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So tax policy is generally geared in that direction. Now that's just the
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state. You have a local governments that raise money through property taxes, in
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the millage rate and other things. And this brings us to what I am
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preemptively calling my favorite bill. Come on of twenty twenty four. Come on
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me, drums. It may be my favorite bill, one of my It
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is definitely one of my favorite bills in the last five years. House Bill
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eleven ninety five from Sam Garrison, who will become the Speaker designate when Danny
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Perez takes the gavel after this year. House Bill eleven ninety five would require
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a two thirds super majority of any local government commission to raise the millage rate.
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It would radically alter the process of budgeting at the state. At the
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local level, It's going to impact every single Floridian because everybody resides in the
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county and everybody pays some form of tax that's relative to what the millage rates
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are. It's not just property owners. If you rent it, it tends
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to iphened down to you. This is my favorite bill thus far of twenty
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twenty four. What if I said to you, eh, because in our
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community, it really only impacts the county commission not the city. I mean
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what I mean. So, in other words, the city can raise taxes
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with three out of five right now, anyway, that's true. And so
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to me, this impact is only if you have seven or more commissioners.
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Ah, you know, it takes it from a simple majority to something a
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little bit higher. If you have five, you only need one more commissioner.
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I get what you're saying there. Yeah, it does make sense.
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I'd have to look at how many local government bodies only have a five five
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member commission state definitely worth pursuing. But I would say it's definitely it's a
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step in the right direction, in the right direction, I agree, Yeah,
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another bill that I wanted to tackle today because I'm not sure how much
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speed it's going to get, but I wanted to mention because it's a really
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important conversation starter. JMI has worked in the election front for a number of
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years. We've had many successive years of election reform packages coming through. In
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all cases they have strengthened our election system and increased turnout. So send it.
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Bill seventeen fifty two from Blazing Goolia, big change to the vote by
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mail process in Florida. Now, we've had a no excuse vote by mail
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system in place for about twenty years or so. This would eliminate much of
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that. It would require individuals to have a specific and verifiable reason for not
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being able to vote in person. At the same time, it expands the
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early vote in person window from ten days to fourteen days. It retains souls
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to the polls. So it's a very different tack than we've taken in prior
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years of election reform policy. Okay, I'm really intrigued by the direction that
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he's looking and where this one goes. This is the Mad Radio Network where
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we challenge you to make a difference in your world. At the Morning Show,
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Preston Scott, I don't think it's a stretch to say that what we're
15:22
talking about qualifies as big stories in the press box, which are brought to
15:28
you by each and every day our friends who restore carpet care and tile.
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But with me is sal news of the James Madison Institute, and we teased
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it. So what's going on in the world of business. In the world
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of business, one of the things that I'll mention, it's getting a lot
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of visibility and it's mainly coming from left leaning journalists social media. They're trying
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to trash Senate Bill forty nine from Linda Cheney. It would open up the
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labor market in the thirty to forty hour window, so almost full time to
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full time to sixteen and seventeen year olds. Now, at first blush,
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someone might scratch their head and say, well why, one why is this
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a bad idea? And one why is this even a good idea? But
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if you look at the fact that in this realm we have serious labor shortages
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in a host of different employment categories where young kids in high school or those
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kids who are getting their ged or things along those lines need to get thirty
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and forty hour a week jobs but are currently prohibited. This is something that
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can open the market up to a whole new cohort of potential employees. Now
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you think about kids that are potentially returning citizens, folks who have been in
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a juvenile detention facility, what do they need? They need a ged and
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they need a job, and those are things that this bill would effectively get
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them a leg up on. In addition, I read a quick note about
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I believe it's Senator Corey Simon. He's got a bill as well that addresses
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some of this with respect to roofing jobs and some other things. So that's
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one I'm going to take a look at as well. Speaking of roofs,
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yeh homeowners insurance property insurance, it is still a big issue India on that
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phone, Yeah, and one of the challenges is that the legislature passed a
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massive, fundamentally transformational tort reform package that will address our property insurance market last
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year. What people are not aware of is that before that bill was signed,
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two hundred and fifty thousand lawsuits filed. I think it's in the thirty
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days leading up to that bill becoming law. All of those lawsuits have to
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work their way through the legal system and be addressed before the actuarial markets can
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catch up and people can begin to see some relief. So HB ten point
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fifteen from Representative Cindy Stevenson. It is a ninety five page bill on property
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insurance. A lot of it in there I've seen is related to policies and
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Citizens Property Insurance Corp. What they call surplus lines, which are insurance policies
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where you can't get it's like non traditional insurance and some disclosure pieces. But
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there is a provision in the bill about non renewal or cancelation of a policy
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where the property has been damaged by a hurricane or a natural disaster. An
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insurer under this bill would not be allowed to cancel or non renew within a
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ninety day window of repairs being completed. So if you have a hurricane it
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takes you six months to get the repairs completed, you have ninety days after
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that. If repairs or renovations take a year, you're still in your insurers
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cycle. So I see this as kind of a possible step and the legislature
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saying, okay, insurers, we address toort challenges we know it's going to
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take eighteen months two years for the system to begin to get in a better
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space. We want to make sure that data are at the ready in the
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future if we want to come back and do something different as well. Six
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twenty five from RepU can in some additional guard rails on roof inspections, which
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was driving a lot of the litigation problems we had in that realm. How
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long is it going to take for those two hundred and fifty thousand lawsuits.
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I believe it can be up to three years, but the majority of them
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will probably get cycled through pretty quickly. There. This is a process.
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It's just gonna take some time. Boy. We could take a show talking
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about insurance, not just property. But I think we have in the past
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The Morning Show with Preston Scott, fun News Radio one hundred point seven,
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Double UFLA Final Moments with sal News Oh, James Madison Institute, and we
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could talk a full show and more on insurance alone, but moving on to
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things that need to be on your radar, we move from that to healthcare.
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Healthcare. Yes, so two main bills in Senate President Pasadomo's Live Healthy
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Policy effort. Senate Bills seventy sixteen and seventy eighteen. I have not seen
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the House version drop the last time I checked, but it'll likely come in
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the next couple of days. But in the same way that a housing bill
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last session was her major priority, healthcare is it for this year. The
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main policy elements of the package are licensing reform. We have a shortage in
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practitioners, doctors, nurses, et cetera. So we want to either recognize
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licenses from other states or very aggressively streamlined the process. If you're a doctor
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in Georgia and want to come into Florida to practice. Focus on expanding teaching
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hospitals because data show that if you have a residency at a teaching hospital,
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you're like ninety times more likely to stay in the state after your residency is
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done, and we need folks to stay here to practice. Price transparency.
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This is an interesting one because we've been promoting this for a number of years.
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Ideas around creating programs where if you're able to cost shop for a procedure
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if it's elective or non emergency, and you're able to get a savings off
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of what you're in insurance pays, so for procedure is the insurer pays fifteen
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thousand dollars, but you could get it for ten that savings of five thousand
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dollars. This bill or portion of this bill would allow you to apply a
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portion of that toward your deductible So it helps to lower or incentivize consumers to
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price shop to get lower prices. Also, we've got component parts from Rep.
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Ga Lombardo and Senator in Golia to fifty seven and eight ten that would
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expand additionally the ability of advanced registered nurse practitioners and nurse anesthesist to practice with
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greater autonomy. So it kind of works in the bucket of expanding out how
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individuals can receive certain types of care. We need more mid level providers in
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that cohort, not quite a doctor, more than a basic nurse, and
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we need them doing as much as they can up to the levels of their
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trend. As Florida continues to grow a thousand people moving here a day,
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two thirds of that population growth is over the age of sixty. They're the
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ones needing the most healthcare. It's a supply and demand thing. We need
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the supply. The demand is coming on price transparency. Where are we now
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with people knowing what just the fundamental basics are with the costs of whatever.
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It's far less along the road than we should be. And there were bills
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in prior sessions that we're supposed to create like a database of costs at hospitals.
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We're going to put the cost of services into them that people could utilize
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and visit. That is it languished. There is a whole need for,
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not just in Florida, but nationally, an examination of the pricing and payment
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of healthcare services. It functions unlike any other market, and it does this
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because of what we call the third party payer system. JMI provides the premium
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for my insurance policy. I literally have no idea how much it costs.
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They negotiate prices with the people who provide services. I'm divorced from that,
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and I have no clue about the costing. All Right, the gavel drops
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tomorrow. What's going to happen this week? So this week today, actually,
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Randy Fine is hosting a two hour workshop on Health and Human Services about
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prescription drug pricing related to adopting European models of price controls. So I'm going
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to be attending that, and I'm not sure where I'm at on that session
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gabbles in Tuesday morning. They've got two resolutions calling for a federal balanced budget
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and for congressional term limits, so we'll see how that goes. And the
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calendar for later in the week doesn't come out to Tuesday or Wednesday, so
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can't wait. It's going to be a fun one. See you next week.
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Always a pleasure. My friend Salnders are with the James Madison Institute forty
24:59
six Pass the Hour in the Morning Show with Preston Scott H