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Legislative Status Report
March 29, 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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House & Senate Budget Proposals About to Come Forth
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House, Senate finalizing proposed budgets
- this past week, House and Senate Appropriations committees approved their FY 2019-20 budget plans which should go to the House and Senate floor next week.
While
Gov DeSantis
proposed a
$91.3 billion
budget, the House’ proposal is
$89.9 billion
with the Senate proposing
a $90.3 billion
budget. The current State budget is
$88.7 billion
budget.
Click
S 2500
for the proposed Senate budget and
H 5001
for the proposed House budget.
Key areas of disagreement are how much to allocate for Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida. House leadership is seeking to cut Visit Florida’s $76 million in state funding to $19 million — and eliminate it completely by October and the Senate’s plan is to fund Visit Florida at $50 million.
Gov DeSantis
also wants the agency to play a central role in tourism promotion and has recommended $76 million for the agency.
Both House and Senate subcommittees have zeroed out the Job Growth Grant Fund which is used for economic development projects while
Gov DeSantis
is recommending $85 million for the Job Growth Grant Fund.
As for education, House, Senate and
Gov DeSantis.
all want to revamp the “Best and Brightest” teacher-bonus program.
The Senate’s proposed budget increases K-12 education funding by $1.1 billion (4.7% increase per student), while the House’ is proposing a $560 million increase (2.7% increase per student).
As for environmental projects,
Gov DeSantis
is proposing
$625 million to address septic tanks along waterways, plan for an Everglades basin, address occurrences of red tide and blue-green algae, and protect Florida's natural springs.
The House is proposing $607 million while the Senate is proposing to invest
$656 million in water quality.
The proposals are an initial step in a process that will lead to legislative leaders negotiating a final budget.
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Tourism Promotion
-
S 178
by
Sen Gruters
would remove any repeal date and make Visit Florida permanent.
S 178
is on the Senate calendar awaiting a vote of the full Senate.
At a Volusia Days event last week,
Sen David Simmons
quoted the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, “for every $1 the state invests in Visit Florida, $2.15 in tax revenue is generated”.
Keeping Visit Florida fully funded is important to the Chamber because the hospitality and tourism industry employs 1.4 million workers in Florida (est 32,000 in Volusia County).
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Education Issues - District Cost Differential (DCD)
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District Cost Differential -
H 5101
(Education Budget)
includes $100,000 to hire a consulting firm to conduct a study to overhaul the DCD education funding formula that distributes money to school districts.
State Education overall funding will total more than $21 billion this year via the
Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP)
and the
DCD
is a
price-level index
that takes into account numerous factors in
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distributing money.
H 1031 by Rep Aloupis
and
S 1284 by Sen Diaz
would change the formula to a
wage-level index
– which could mean a big swing. Question is how will it affect Volusia which is currently receiving 96 cents back for every dollar it sends to Tallahassee.
The Senate
Education Committee
approved a similar bill
S 1284
by
Sen Diaz
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Hearing the degree of concern,
Chairman Diaz
promised to “pause” it until numbers could be run to determine the effects on school districts.
“
We don’t know how this is going to affect each district right now” but he also was unclear how the changes would affect mid-sized counties (Volusia).
Sen David Simmons
voted
YES
but stated,
“
I don
’
t think any district should be getting 96 cents or less. I
’
d really like to see EVERY district get back a minimum $1.00
”
These bills are on the Chamber’s high-priority watch list. We’re urging our own delegation members to seek greater parity for Volusia in this formula.
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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%, 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.
A similar House version
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Florida TaxWatch
reported that the State’s Communications Services Tax is “very high… burdensome and highly regressive tax on consumers” and that it’s a “tax on consumers, not communications services providers; and the proposed reductions in the CST rate would save consumers and businesses $128 million annually.”
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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.
It was approved by the
Health & Human Services Committee
and now goes to the House floor.
A similar Senate version
Canadian Prescription Drug Importation Program
CS/S1528
by Sen
Bean
would pertain
only to certain
prescription drugs
. Pain control drugs, cough suppression, hormone replacement, any type of biological or injected products, would not be included.
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S 1528
was approved by the
Health Policy Committee
and now goes to the
Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.
Upon approval of the legislature, the program will need approval from the US Dept of Health/Human Services.
A recent Fla Atlantic University poll showed that 75% citizens support bringing Canadian drugs to the State vs 12% opposed.
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Health Insurance Savings Programs
H 1113
by
Rep Paul Renner
would allow health insurers to create a
voluntary shared savings incentive program
to encourage insured individuals to shop for high quality, lower cost health care services and share any savings realized as a result of the insured’s choice; it directs health insurers who choose to offer this program to develop a website outlining the range of shoppable health care services available to insureds;
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H 1113
Staff Analysis stated “health insurers must include specific information on their website allowing an insured to research cost/quality information associated with health care providers, such as the average price for a shoppable health care services”. Implementation of this program may be associated with increased costs to insurers. Health insurers are required to share any savings realized as a result of the treatment options chosen by their insureds for shoppable health care services (this may result in financial benefits to insurers and insureds).
A similar Senate version
S 524
by
Sen Diaz
was approved by the
Governmental Oversight/Accountability Committee
and now goes to the
Appropriations Committee
(
Sens David Simmons,
Travis Hutson
-
members).
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Tourism / Vacation Rental Units
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Vacation Rentals
H 987
by
It would preempt to the state the regulation of vacation rentals, including, but not limited to, inspection, licensing, and occupancy limits. It would allow local ordinances/regulations (fire, parking,
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garbage, noise) to apply to vacation rentals as long as they apply uniformly to all residential properties; local government would no
longer be able to regulate occupancy limits, inspect, and license these units;
It also requires owners of vacation rentals to register and receive a license from the state and provide contact information if any complaints are filed.
Another bill that addresses short term rentals (STRs)
Vacation Rentals
S 812
by
Sen David Simmons
is before that same committee.
Bottom line, the Chamber realizes that Vacation Rental Units (VRU’s) are here to stay but we want VRUs regulated to the SAME standards as hotels..noise, health regulations, zoning, ADA (especially) and taxes (sales and bed)…in other words, a level playing field...
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(AOB)
-
CS/H 7065
by
Rep Rommel
addresses post-loss AOBs for residential or commercial property insurance claims, or motor vehicle glass claims under motor vehicle comprehensive or combined additional coverage.
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Some of the provisions of
H 7065
are that it -
- clearly defines an “assignment agreement”
- establishes the requirements for such an agreement;
- prohibits certain fees and altering policy provisions related to managed repairs in an assignment agreement;
- transfers certain pre-lawsuit duties under the insurance contract to the assignee and shifts the burden to the assignee to prove that any failure to carry out such duties has not limited the insurer’s ability to perform under the contract;
- limits an assignee’s ability to recover certain costs from the insured.
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State CFO Jimmy Patronis
stated reasons for supporting this legislation, “In 2006, we had 400 AOB lawsuits in Florida. This year, it’ll be more than 30,000."
"The Office of Insurance Regulation reports since 2013, AOB lawsuits rose by 26%. When insurance companies are forced to pay more for each claim, they ultimately get that money back by raising insurance rates".
CS/H 7065
would allow attorney’s fees to be granted based on a sliding scale of any settlement.
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It was approved by the Judiciary Committee (
Rep Paul Renner
voted
YES
) and is now en route to the House floor.
A similar Senate bill,
S 122
by
Sen Broxson
which also addresses “one-way” attorney fees in AOB disputes (
property and auto
) is on the Senate Calendar.
The Chamber supports AOB legislation as a means to curb increasing insurance rates (auto and property).
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Insurance -
H 301
- Insurance
by
Rep David Santiago
– addresses several areas related to insurance including Civil Remedies Against Insurers; Surplus Lines Export Eligibility; Unfair Insurance Trade Practices; revises circumstances under which certain insurance premium discounts are authorized; revises periods of time when property insurers must notify policyholders of certain mediation programs.
Staff Analysis says "Depending on circumstances, it could have both positive (possible reduction of insurance costs) and
negative impacts on the private sector.
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Next stop – House floor.
A similar Senate version
S 714
by
Sen Brandes
goes to the
Judiciary Committee
on Monday, April 1 (
Sen David Simmons
– Chair;
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Half-Cent Sales Tax Referendum for Infrastructure
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Sales Tax Referendum
s - an AMENDED
S 336
by
Sen Brandes
which would move local discretionary sales surtax referendums to November election dates (even number years),
was approved by the
Finance & Tax Committee
but it states,
“the bill takes effect July 1, 2019”
. It now goes to the Senate floor.
A similar
CS/H 5
-- by Rep DeCeglie
was approved by the
State Affairs Committee
. It would also require a 66% majority for any such tax measure to be approved.
Rep DeCeglie
stated that he will not agree to any such amendment regarding July 1. Next stop – House floor.
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Impact Fees
S 144
by Sen Gruters
prohibits local governments from requiring the payment of impact fees prior to issuing a property’s building permit. It also stipulates that an impact fee must have a reasonable connection, between :
1) the proposed new development and the need and the impact of additional capital facilities,
2) the expenditure of funds and the benefits accruing to the proposed new development.
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It also requires an impact fee ordinance earmark impact fee funds for capital facilities that benefit new residents and prohibits the use of impact fee revenues to pay existing debt; provides that certain impact fees do not apply to water and sewer connection fees.
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Construction Bonds
H
1247
by Rep Perez
would provides that a notice of nonpayment must be made under oath and must include:
- nature of the labor or services performed or to be performed;
- materials furnished or to be furnished;
- amount paid on the account or the amount to become due.
It provides that a subcontractor, laborer, or material supplier who files a fraudulent notice of nonpayment loses their rights under the bond but clarifies that a minor mistake in the notice or a good faith dispute as to the amount due is not fraudulent.
The Staff Analysis says that the new provisions required in
H 1247
may make it more difficult for a subcontractor to file a notice of non-payment. Other provisions may make it easier for a prevailing contractor to collect attorney fees in a claim against the surety insurer.
It was approved by the
Civil Justice Subcommittee
and now goes before the
Commerce Committee
(
Rep David Santiago
– member).
A similar Senate version goes before the
Community Affairs Committee
on April 2 (
Sen David Simmons -
member).
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News Journal and Chamber Hosts Forum Regarding the Proposed Half-Cent Sales Tax for Infrastructure
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County Manager George Recktenwald, County Chair Ed Kelley,
Daytona Beach City Commissioner
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On March 27, the Daytona Beach News-Journal in conjunction with the Daytona Regional Chamber hosted 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.
Look for more information from the Chamber regarding the proposed Half-Cent Sales Tax Referendum for Infrastructure.
The Chamber is on record in support of the Half-Cent Sales Tax.
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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
DaytonaChamber.com
Your Chamber of Influence
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