Staff Reports
Sixty Days — A prime-time look at the 2019 Legislative Session:
The Last 24
Monday featured just one committee hearing, but it was a big one. The House Public Integrity & Ethics Committee spent hours grilling former board members at the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which is being investigated for financial mismanagement, including paying its former CEO, Tiffany Carr, $7.5 million in compensation over three years. There were lots of “I don’t recalls,” but former FDAVC board chair Melody Keeth attributed Carr’s exorbitant pay to a “typo” that conflated hours of paid leave with full days. Here’s your nightly rundown.
Vacation rentals. A statewide regulatory framework for vacation rentals has been moving through the Legislature, but Gov. Ron DeSantis says he thinks rental rules should be handled at the local level.
Power grab. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and CFO Jimmy Patronis say a proposal to create the Florida Digital Service and put it under the Governor’s control would erode their ability to do their jobs.
FACCE time. Fried announced a commission of “energy and climate professionals,” the Florida Advisory Council on Climate & Energy.
Accountability. First Lady Casey DeSantis called attention to a bill by Senate President-designate Wilton Simpson that would increase accountability at the Department of Children and Families.
Quote of the Day
Rep. Tom Leek: “How in the world can someone use 465 days of PTO in a 365-day year, use it or lose it policy or not?”
Melody Keeth: “I understand what you’re saying. That obviously was a typo. It was a problem. We miscalculated.”
Rep. Randy Fine: “That may be the understatement of this hearing.”
Your Metz Husband Daughton-sponsored question of the day is: This small town is known for being the Fern Capital of the World.
As always, click here to tweet your answer to @MHDFirm. The first person with the correct answer will get a shoutout in tomorrow’s 60 Days!
Last time, we asked: Ironically, a Florida man wearing these shoes was bitten by an alligator after breaking into a gator farm.
Answer: Crocs (jacksonville.com).
Congrats to Trey Price (@TreyFLA), who was the first to tweet the correct answer!
Thanks to everyone for participating — remember, the more you play, the better your chances of winning!
Bill Day’s Latest
3 Questions
Sofia Lombardi worked on Rep. Margaret Good’s campaign team and interned in the Florida Legislature last year. So even though she’s a first-year New College of Florida student, she’s become a point person lobbying lawmakers about a proposed merger. She will lead a half dozen students, along with one professor and one alumna, to push against efforts to rapidly strip the school of its independence.
Florida Politics: What’s been the overall student sentiment on campus the last two weeks as this merger proposal emerged?
Lombardi: The most important thing to most students is really retaining our autonomy through this entire process. Most students are not particularly against a merger if they knew what was going to happen post-merger, but there are no details on how this will impact New College. Will education be kept the same way? Will our rights be kept the same way? Will we expand to the point where students don’t want to come here? A lot of students came because this is a small liberal arts college, and it has a nontraditional system. We have no grades and have managed evaluations. Personally, I believe that instead of preserving a low student-to-faculty ratio and what makes New College really unique, the Legislature would focus on making education into a business. We are here to learn because we love learning, not to push out a degree as fast as we can. But there have been a lot of different opinions on campus. A lot of people are still educating themselves on the bill. What I feel good about is that we had 150 students at a rally we held last week, and morale was high then. Everyone is realizing we don’t want this, and we can do everything we can to stop it, or at least delay it. People are upset about the issue, but have come together more than I have ever seen before to try and put a stop to it.
FP: New College has a reputation for having a very liberal student body. Is there a feeling that’s motivating the actions of the GOP-controlled Legislature?
Lombardi: I would think no. This seems more of a political game, more that than a direct attack on New College. Maybe they have that in the back of their brains, but nobody is pushing back on that locally. That’s a very complicated question because a lot [of people] believe this is actually directed at New College because we haven’t gotten student body numbers up, and we haven’t been able to really thrive post-USF. So the Legislature is telling us we need to get it together. But personally, I don’t feel this is an attack; it’s just the GOP Legislature’s game, and we are a pawn. Applications rates went up 30% to 40% this year. Everybody is doing the best they can to get it up. But this has happened so fast; nobody really knows the true reasoning behind this bill.
FP: This started as a proposal to merge New College into Florida State University, then the proposal shifted Friday to put it under the University of Florida umbrella. How do you feel about that change?
Lombardi: I think it shows the Legislators really haven’t thought this out at all. That is just sort of making decisions about this as they go along. This is not a process involving every school that is supposed to be involved in this merger. Now we are hearing a switch from FSU to UF based on proximity, and that seems a quick and thoughtless change. A lot of students probably prefer merging into UF over FSU, just because of its academic reputation, but the large majority of students would prefer not to merge at all.
Lobby Up
Peer-to-peer (P2P) car-sharing companies such as Avail use technology to help connect owners of underutilized vehicles with drivers in need of one.
P2P car sharing offers benefits on both sides of the transaction, allowing everyday people to earn extra money and offset the cost of vehicle ownership while providing a new mobility option for many in the state who cannot afford their own vehicle.
Florida lawmakers are considering bills (HB 377 and SB 478) that would impose a sales tax and a $2-a-day rental car surcharge on car sharing transactions.
Avail is fighting back against the bills with the help of Floridian Partners.
In some ways, rental car transactions and P2P car sharing are similar — someone pays to use a car they do not own for noncommercial use.
Floridian Partners lobbyist George Feijoo notes that no other state has passed legislation to tax P2P car sharing transactions in the same manner as rentals, and in the states that have imposed taxes, they are at a much lower rate.
Those states include Maryland and Indiana, which both passed legislation which addressing car sharing taxes. The P2P companies operating in those states are collecting sales tax and other surcharges. Additionally, the revenue departments in Colorado, Wisconsin and Hawaii have issued opinions claiming P2P arrangements are fully taxable.
Avail is pushing for an alternative bill, HB 723, that would define car sharing in a way that recognizes what he says are differences from car rentals while setting up insurance requirements and consumer protections for the industry without standing in the way of growth.
“When seeking to create a regulatory and tax framework that is truly fair, one must take a holistic view of the situation and consider all the inputs and outputs that go into each model. This is why a new term is necessary to differentiate the models under Florida law,” Feijoo said.
Breakthrough Insights
The Next 24
Sen. Manny Diaz, Jr., Sen. Annette Taddeo and Rep. Bryan Avila will hold a press conference regarding Palmetto Expressway improvements meant to directly mitigate the growing congestion problems on Florida State Road 826. It begins at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Senate chamber on the 4th floor of the Capitol.
Sen. Jeff Brandes and Veterans Cannabis Project will hold a press conference addressing veterans’ health care needs and in opposition of across-the-board THC restrictions or caps in Florida. It starts at 12:15 p.m. in the 4th-floor Rotunda of the Capitol.
Also, the following committees will meet.
— The Senate Agriculture, Environment and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee meets at 9 a.m. in Room 110 of the Senate Office Building.
— The Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee meets at 9 a.m. in Room 37 of the Senate Office Building.
— The Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee will take up a bill that would expand the Family Empowerment Scholarship program and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program when it meets at 9 a.m. in Room 412 of the Knott Building.
— The House Ways & Means Committee meets at 10 a.m. in Morris Hall in the House Office Building.
— The House Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee meets at 10 a.m. in Room 12 of the House Office Building.
— The Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee will consider a proposal that would allow pharmacists to diagnose and treat the flu and strep throat when it meets at 1 p.m. in Room 412 of the Knott Building.
— The Senate Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee meets at 1 p.m. in Room 110 of the Senate Office Building.
— The House Select Committee on the Integrity of Research Institutions meets at 1 p.m. in Room 404 of the House Office Building.
— The House Appropriations Committee will consider a bill that would fold New College of Florida and Florida Polytechnic University into FSU and UF when it meets at 3:30 p.m. in Room 212 of the Knott Building.
Full committee agendas, including bills to be considered, are available on the House and Senate websites.
