On Thursday, the Senate passed SB 434, by Senator Ed Hooper, off the Senate Floor, 36-1. SB 434 extends VISIT FLORIDA, the state’s tourism marketing arm through October 1, 2031. The House companion is also ready for the floor and could be taken up as early as week 6. Florida’s tourism industry is a key driver of the state’s $1.23 trillion economy and for every state dollar spent on VISIT FLORIDA, $3.27 was returned in additional tax revenue to the state economy. Despite the setback of the pandemic, the Florida Chamber remains committed to the 2030 Blueprint goal of being the #1 state for international visitors. This makes the mission of the Florida Tourism Industry Marketing Corporation even more important in promoting Florida’s tourism brand to national and international travelers.

HB 943 and SB 1124, sponsored by Representative Joe Harding and Senator Joe Gruters, both moved through committees this week. The bills continue the previous work by the Florida Chamber to preempt minimum wage and employee benefits to the state level by prohibiting local governments from requiring higher than the state minimum wage in any procurement policy, contract, or purchase order. Also known as “prevailing wage,” these bills protect taxpayers that pay for these inflated wages and prevent a patchwork of prevailing wage laws. The House bill has one committee stop remaining, and the Senate bill has two.

House and Senate proposals to reform Citizens Property Insurance advanced through committee this week. HB 1307, which passed unanimously, will allow private companies to take out policies from Citizens Property Insurance at renewal if they have comparable coverage and the new policy is within five percent of premium cost during 2023. The bill slowly increases the premium threshold to twenty percent by 2026. Meanwhile, SB 1728 allows for the takeout of policies immediately at the twenty percent premium threshold. SB 1728 also includes language to warn a consumer about the potential of insurance fraud when being solicited for a new roof and allows for insurers to offer insurance policies that pay actual cash value on roofs of over 10 years, instead of replacement cash value. These two provisions in SB 1728 are a continuation of last year’s Chamber-backed insurance reform bill, SB 76, and is intended to address skyrocketing rates in the insurance market. The Citizens Property Insurance changes will help reduce the size of Citizens, which is intended to be the insurer of last resort and prevent the need for “hurricane taxes” on all insurance policies if Citizens is unable to pay claims. 

The Senate Finance & Tax Committee advanced two important tax priorities for the Florida Chamber when the committee met on Thursday. SB 1090 avoids an estimated $1.2 billion corporate income tax increase by addressing federal tax base broadening measures that were included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. SB 952 contains two tax proposals that were identified by the Florida Chamber as necessary changes to improve Florida’s competitiveness. First, SB 952 increases the cap for the state Research & Development Tax Credit from $9 million to $50 million. Year after year, the R&D Tax Credit receives far more applications than there is available credits and increasing the cap would take a significant step in the state holding up its side of the bargain.

The Florida Chamber Safety Council is presenting a full agenda of three nationally-recognized keynote speakers that include Mike Rowe of the hit TV show Dirty Jobs, Correct Craft CEO Bill Yeargin and bestselling author Dr. Henry Cloud. There will also be 24 breakout sessions with presentations from companies including Amazon, AdventHealth, Ryder, OSHA, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, the FBI, and many more.

In addition to breakouts and keynotes, the conference is also offering Safety Training Courses where EHS and HR professionals can earn CEUs, and an Exhibit Hall with dozens of safety companies that provide goods and services to all industries.