Capitol Connection
2021 LEGISLATIVE SESSION: WEEK 7
The 2021 Florida Legislative Session is well underway. These eight weeks move quickly in Tallahassee, and we appreciate your interest in monitoring issues that may impact Florida’s children and families. The Florida Children’s Council hopes that the content provided in this digest and the subsequent issues will help inform your advocacy efforts until session ends (sine die) on April 30th.
 
Each week the Capitol Connection will provide a brief summary of relative events from the executive and legislative branches. The update will also include information on legislation that has moved that week and provide updates on presentations, press conferences and conversations that may be of interest.
 
The first column lists the bill number, name and sponsor and provides a hyperlink to the bill's text and history. The numbered circles represent the number of committees of reference for each bill, and the final column provides a brief description of the bill(s). Here is a key to help guide you in your review of where each bill is:
This week the Senate and House chambers met for Week Seven of the 2021 Legislative Session.  At approximately 6:30 pm on Friday, April 16th the House and Senate announced budget allocations and named budget conferees for each committee, setting the stage for the first round of budget conferences. Subsequently, the Appropriations Chairs from both chambers met at 7:30 pm on Friday to officially begin the budget conference process, and we should expect to see the conference committees meeting throughout the weekend. While the conferees have been announced, the Senate President’s office has already indicated that they will be making changes to the members of at least the Conference Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice. Conference committees are authorized to begin meeting Saturday, April 17th at 10:00 am and all unresolved issues will bump to Appropriations Chairs Senator Stargel and Representative Trumbull no later than the close of business on Monday, April 19th. Conference committees have been asked to begin the final meeting each day no later than 8:00 pm. 




This week also included substantive legislation from the House that would look at economic self-sufficiency, mental health, police reforms, early learning, and early literacy. The Senate met on several gaming proposals early in the week, but was unable to strike a deal with the Seminole Tribe thus setting up the possibility for a special session. Additionally, news focused on Governor Desantis’ picks to lead his health agencies was published this week, with a hope that their diverse perspectives may encourage a focus on equity as a part of their leadership.


Below are links to news articles published this week that may be of interest to you. 





Until next week!

Sincerely,
The Florida Children’s Council
Economic Self-Sufficiency
Economic Self-Sufficiency
Early Learning
Early Learning
Healthy Development
Healthy Development
Children With Disabilities
Children With Disabilities
Child Protection
Child Protection
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Justice
Equity
Equity
K-12 Education
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For more information, contact: Jenny Foltz - jfoltz@floridacsc.org