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Legislative Status Report
March 22, 2019
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Since 1987, the Daytona Regional Chamber worked closely with our Volusia delegation and others to relay the local business viewpoint on matters that come before State government. In an effort to keep you, our members, informed of the Session in Tallahassee, we present our Legislative Status Report. If you have any questions regarding its content, please contact
Jim Cameron
at 386.566.2140.
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Chamber Hosts Volusia Days at the Capitol
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Governor Ron Desantis with Volusia County representatives
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Attorney Ashley Moody addresses audience
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On March 19-20, the Chamber hosted Volusia Days at the Capitol. We began with a luncheon at the Florida Chamber that included presentations from
Rep Tom Leek
,
Dept of Economic Opportunity Exec Ken Lawson, Enterprise Florida CEO Jamal Sowell, and Florida Chamber Vice President
Edie Ousley.
More than 40 people were in Tallahassee to the lobby on behalf of business issues and Volusia County projects.
Some of the major issues included funding for
First Step Shelter, Volusia County Industrial Park, revisions to the District Cost Differential (Education) Funding formula, addressing Assignment of Benefits
(insurance)
as well as other issues.
The group met with
Senators Joe Gruters, Bill Montford, Aaron Bean, Oscar Braynon, Jeff Brandes, Kevin Rader; Representatives
Evan Jenne, Vance Aloupis, Thad Altman,
Florida Housing Finance Corporation Exec Trey Price
,
Asst Director on Office of Homelessness Zachary Summerlin, Florida League of Cities VP Allison Payne
and others.
Attorney General Ashley Moody, Transportation Secretary Kevin Thibault, and Visit Florida President Dana Young
updated attendees on their departments.
The group also heard legislative updates from House members
Tom Leek, Elizabeth Fetterhoff, Paul Renner,
and Senators
Tom Wright, David Simmons, and Travis Hutson
.
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Rep Elizabeth Fetterhoff discusses issues
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Visit Florida President Dana Young
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Transportation Secretary Kevin Thibault
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Senator Tom Wright discusses issues.
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The Chamber thanks our Volusia Days at the Capitol sponsors...
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House & Senate Budget Committees at work
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The House and Senate are moving forward with different plans to fund the state’s tourism-marketing agency and affordable housing trusts, thus setting the stage for budget negotiations in the coming weeks.
The
House Transportation & Tourism Appropriations Subcommittee
forwarded a proposed budget that provided NO funding for Enterprise Florida compared to the
Senate
Transportation, Tourism & Economic Development Appropriations Committee
which recommended $18 million for the agency.
As for tourism promotion, the House Committee recommended $19 million for
Visit Florida
(an adequate amount for 3 months..based on the current budget) and $12.5 million for
Space Florida
(
Rep Tom Leek
,
Elizabeth Fetterhoff
voted
YES
).
The Senate
Transportation, Tourism & Economic Development Appropriations Committee
proposal allocates $50 million to
Visit Florida
.
Committee Chair Travis Hutson
, “In my business, we advertise, we market. To say you’re not going to market and advertise your business to get tourism here is a bad idea.”
Both chamber subcommittees have zeroed out the Job Growth Grant Fund which is used for economic development projects.
Gov DeSantis
recommended $76 million for VISIT Florida and $85 million for the Job Growth Grant Fund.
Click here
for details on the Sadowski (Workforce Housing) Trust Fund.
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The total K-12 Education budget will be approximately $22 billion. However, House and Senate budgets are $500 million apart on public school spending.
The Senate
Education Appropriations Subcommittee
(
Sen
David Simmons
– member) proposed a $1.1 billion increase (an additional $350 million or 5% per student) for FY 2019-20 while the
House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee
is proposing a $579 million increase (2.7% per student).
The Senate proposal also includes a $600 million increase in “flexible spending” for school districts which could be used “for salary increases and other issues important to their teachers and schools”.
While the numbers may differ, there is some consensus in that the House, Senate and Governor’s office to revamp the teacher-bonus program. However, the Florida Education Association says there should be more emphasis increasing overall teacher pay as opposed to just bonuses.
Once the House and Senate finalize their own budget proposals, they will then negotiate a final K-12 Education budget that will begin July 1.
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Education Issues - Vouchers/Charter Schools/DCD
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S 7070
by the
Education Committee
would create a new voucher program based around their
Family Empowerment Scholarship
program that would pay for low-income families to enroll their kids in private schools.
The House
PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee
approved
H 5101
that expands the existing
Schools of Hope
program, which could lead to charter schools serving students who have been in low-performing traditional public schools.
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District Cost Differential –
H 1031
by
Rep Aloupis
was assigned next to the
PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee
and
S 1284
by
Sen Diaz
was assigned to the
Education Committee
(
Sen David Simmons
–member). These bills would reopen the state education funding plan and how State DoE dollars are sent back to each School District.
The Daytona Regional Chamber is carefully watching both bills because the Volusia School District is receiving ONLY $ 0.964. Since FY 2004, Volusia has lost more than $115 million and is losing more than $10 million each year because of the current formula. In other words, a 1% teacher pay increase is approximately $3 million. We like the idea of revising the formula but NOT if it means Volusia receives less than .964 cents
.
Please call members of our Volusia delegation and tell them to watch for these two bills.
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Communications Services
S 1000
by
Sen Travis Hutson
would reduce the state tax on general communications services from 4.92 % to 3.92%, and on direct-to-home satellite services from 9.02 % to 8.07 %. It would also
specify limitations and prohibitions on cities and counties relating to registrations and renewals of communications services providers.
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Prescription Drug Importation Programs
H 19
by
Rep Tom Leek
would
establish a program for the importation of safe and effective prescription drugs from Canada that have the highest potential for cost savings to the state (a priority of
Staff Analysis - US spends $3.5 trillion on health care annually with approximately $333.4 billion spent on retail prescription drugs and $46.7 billion is paid out-of pocket by
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consumers. Thus, overall spending is 30 to 190% more on prescription drugs than other developed countries.
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Tourism / Vacation Rental Units
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Private Property Rights of Homeowners
S 824
by
Sen Diaz
would shift to the State the regulation of vacation rentals; says any ordinances (noise, parking, trash, etc) must apply to
all residential properties
, regardless of how the property is being used including short term rentals;
Local governments cannot prohibit rentals, impose occupancy limits on rental properties, or require inspections or licensing of rentals.
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Assignment of Benefits
(AOB)
S 122
by Sen Broxson
seeks to reduce lawsuits by removing “one-way” attorney fees in AOB disputes (
property and auto
) and capping AOBs in emergency circumstances at $3,000 (or 1% of a homeowner’s coverage limit, when AOBs are used for emergency repairs).
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It requires policy-holders to notify their insurance carrier within three days of signing an AOB agreement, gives policy-holders 14 days to rescind the agreement and requires contractors provide “full details of work performed.”
S 122
requires AOB lawsuits “be pursued under prevailing party statute” which means the loser pays attorney fees rather than insurers paying attorney fees, win or lose.
It was approved by the
Judiciary Committee
(
Sens David Simmons,
Travis Hutson
voted
YES
) and should soon go before the full Senate (the first time in years that an AOB bill has reached the Senate floor).
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Half-Cent Sales Tax Referendum for Infrastructure
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Sales Tax Referendum
s -
S 336
by
Sen Brandes
provides that a referendum to adopt or amend a local option discretionary sales surtax must be held at a general election. This will limit the timing/frequency of any referendum to even-year November elections (next being November 2020).
No further action on the House version
H 5
by
Rep DiCeglie
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The Daytona Beach News-Journal in conjunction with the Daytona Regional Chamber will host a town hall meeting to acquaint residents with details surrounding the proposed half-cent sales tax increase that would be used to fund road and water quality projects.
Wednesday, March 27, 6 pm
Daytona State College’s Advanced Technology Center 1770 Technology Blvd, Daytona Beach
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Florida Legislature Regular Session
2019 Statistics Report
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Click
Subject Index
- A list of all House and Senate bills, in alphabetical order by subject.
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Chamber's 2019 Legislative Priorities
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Click
2019 Legislative Priorities
to see the Chamber's recommendations for the Session. Compiled by our Legislative Action Committee -
Phil Maroney, Chair (Root Company
).
These recommendations will be tracked throughout the session and reported each week in the Chamber's Legislative Status Report.
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Contact Your House and Senate Members
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Click her
e
to see Volusia's House/Senate contact information
as well as new committee assignment.
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The Chamber would like to thank
Charter-Spectrum
for sponsoring our Government Relations E-Newsletters.
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Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce
126 E. Orange Avenue, Daytona Beach, FL 32114
386.255.0981 | info@daytonachamber.com
DaytonaChamber.com
Your Chamber of Influence
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