Legislative Roundup: HB1, SB 90, SB 50, SB 86

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HB1

Even those not particularly attuned to the state legislature’s actions have likely heard of HB1 due to the statewide and nationwide attention it has received as a result of its likely massive chilling effect on free speech and the sanctioned violence against protestors by excusing motorists for running protestors over. This bill has received significant news coverage even prior to its introduction as a result of Governor DeSantis’s public vocal support of legislation meant to curb protests such as those held globally in support of the Black Lives Matter and Police Accountability movements.

This bill was filed by Rep. Fernandez-Barquin and has a number of sponsors in the Florida House including Reps. Barnaby, Brannan, DiCeglie, Drake, Giallombardo, Gregory, Harding, Maggard, Maney, McClain, Plakon, Roach, Sirois, and Snyder. It’s accompanying bill in the senate, SB 484, was filed by Senator Burgess. HB1 was filed on January 6th and has since passed the Criminal Justice subcommittee on January 27, the Justice Appropriations subcommittee on March 4, and is before the Judiciary committee.

Given the importance of this bill to the Republican majority, it is likely to have a strong probability of passage through the GOP-controlled Senate and House and be signed into law by the Republican Governor who asked for it in the first place.

Considering the extreme attack this bill constitutes against our civil liberties and the chilling effect it will have on the right of the people to make their voices heard on extremely important topics including, but not nearly limited to, the BLM movement, it is extremely important that everyone make their voices heard and demand their representatives in Tallahassee do not pass this bill.

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SB 90

Another attack on the hard-earned civil liberties and suffrage of Floridians state-wide, SB 90 has also received significant coverage, though not nearly enough given the impact it will have on a great number of Floridians.

At present, Floridians are able to request vote by mail ballots and have that request remain valid “through the end of the calendar years of the second ensuing regularly scheduled general election” from that request. Vote by mail is an extremely helpful process which over 4.85 Million Floridians availed themselves of in the 2020 Presidential election. This allows a safe and easy way to vote for those with disabilities, those without reliable transportation, those without the time to go to a polling place, to vote at the best of times and represented a significantly safer way for people to vote in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The reality, however, is that of the 4.85 Million Floridians who voted by mail, 2.18 Million were Democrats and 1.5 Million were Republicans, and 1.09 Million were No Party Affiliation voters. Given the significant difference in numbers between Democrats and Republicans, it is no surprise that the GOP suddenly decided to attack this system even if it disenfranchises some of our most vulnerable voters.

The proposed bill shortens the validity of vote by mail authorization to one calendar year and also invalidates all current vote by mail requests as of its effective date, meaning that in order to avail themselves of this process, individuals would be forced to register after the effective date of July 1, 2021 and register every single year going forward. Worse still is the number of people who will likely not know of this invalidation of the recently registered vote by mail request and will likely be shocked to find that they did not receive a vote by mail ballot at the next general election, having relied on the law as it currently stands.

This bill was filed in the senate by Senator Baxley on February 3, 2021 and is before the Ethics and Elections Committee and the Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee. The Ethics and Elections committee replaced the bill by Committee Substitution with certain edits though the majority of the negative effects remain in effect. This bill does not yet have a companion bill in the Florida House.

Accordingly, this is a bill which all Floridians should vehemently oppose and contact their representatives and senators to voice that opposition. It is a bill that will likely disenfranchise hundreds of thousands if not millions of Floridians and serves no rational benefit to the electorate other than to make voting harder for our most vulnerable citizens.

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SB 50

SB 50 is the result of years of advocacy from a number of groups to reduce unfair competition by large out-of-state retailers against local businesses within Florida. At present, the law permits certain out of state sellers to avoid paying sales tax on sales made within the state of Florida which allows a company to unfairly compete with local businesses.

The gist is that if a Floridian visits their local store down the street (which rents its premises within the state or owns that premises and pays state taxes, pays local utilities and local business taxes, pays employees within the state, etc.) the Floridian will be responsible for paying the cost of the item purchased and the seller will be forced to pay sales tax to the benefit of Floridians. This tax is usually charged in addition to the price of the item to the purchaser. If that same Floridian, however, purchases the same t-shirt from a remote seller who does none of the above-mentioned activities that benefit our local communities, they may avoid paying the sales tax and, accordingly, pay a lower price for the item.

This bill is a bipartisan effort, filed by Senator Gruters (R) and Finance and Tax on December 18, 2020, and cosponsored by Senators Perry (R), Hooper (R), Torres (D), Taddeo (D), Burgess (R), Ausley (D), Albritton (R), Harrell (R), and Stewart (D) in the senate and filed by Reps. Clemons (R) and LaMarca (R) on November 30, 2020, and cosponsored by Reps. Bartleman (D), Bell (R), Benjamin (D), Caruso (R), Fernandez-Barquin (R), Grieco (D), Hinson (D), Overdorf (R), Robinson, W. (R), Skidmore (D), Smith, D. (R), and Tant (D) in the House. SB50 passed the Commerce and Tourism Committee unanimously on January 25, the Finance and Tax Committee (in its committee substitute form) unanimously on February 18, and the Appropriations committee unanimously on March 4.

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SB 86

Is an attempt to limit the possible avenues of education for those not fortunate enough to pay for education out of pocket. It inserts a requirement that eligibility for state-awarded financial aid and tuition assistance grants, such as Florida Bright Futures Scholarship, be “reevaluated each term based on the program of study to which the student has been admitted and in which he or she is enrolled.”

This gives the state government (which is Republican-majority) authority to decide what degree programs will be eligible for state help. Programs deemed by them to be unworthy would have state scholarship/assistance cut and students who rely on this assistance would be unable to pursue courses of study not explicitly approved by the state government. The bill also increases greatly the amount of bureaucracy involved in the state scholarship process, mandating a number of duties to the institutions relating to record keeping, documentation, and handling of the funds.

This bill also punishes students who earn college credits in high school by reducing the maximum number of credit hours which they may be awarded by the number of credits they earned. This adversely affects students who pursue AP courses among others.

While the bill has redeeming features in creating additional scholarship programs for individuals who did not complete high school and wish to pursue education, these redeeming features would be better served in a clean bill as this bill adds many restrictions and limitations to the existing programs.

A great concern is the ability of the state to, ultimately, determine which courses of study are to be permitted to financially limited students, creating entire careers that would be accessible only to those wealthy enough to pay for their education out of pocket. Another concern is the exodus of our brightest students as, without state assistance, there is no financial incentive to remain in Florida if your preferred course of study is not approved by the state, forcing students to rely on self-funding or school scholarships only.

This bill was filed on February 23 by Senator Baxley (R) and is scheduled for the Education Committee Agenda for March 9.

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