Staff Reports
Sixty Days — A prime-time look at the 2021 Legislative Session:
The Last 24
The Nation’s Oldest City wants lawmakers to greenlight the Resilient Florida plan to tackle flooding and sea-level rise. St. Augustine Mayor Tracy Upchurch sent a letter to House Speaker Chris Sprowls endorsing the plan and said local commissioners will pass a proclamation to offering their support as well. For St. Augustine, the stakes are as high as the floodwaters can get. “The City of St. Augustine is keenly aware of the challenges posed by climate change and as a low-lying coastal community especially sensitive to the effects of future sea-level rise,” Upchurch wrote. Here’s your nightly rundown.
Big Tech crackdown. A bill (HB 7013) penalizing social media companies for so-called conservative censorship and “de-platforming” users cleared the House Appropriations Committee with a near-party-line vote.
High watermark. The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved a bill (SB 1954) setting up a grant program to help cities and counties address nuisance flooding and sea-level rise.
Re-CONNECT. A bill (SB 1948) revamping the Department of Economic Opportunity in the wake of the CONNECT crash took its first step forward in the Senate.
Torrent of support. Bills (HJR 1377/HB 1379) to provide tax breaks to homeowners who voluntarily elevate their properties cleared their first committee unanimously.
Half-staff. Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Tuesday in honor of a Tampa Police officer who was killed last week in the line of duty.
A series of tubes. Committees in both chambers voted to advance legislation (SB 1590, SB 2004) to improve Florida’s broadband infrastructure by building on federal initiatives.
Clean and clear. A Senate panel OK’d a measure (SB 1482) to establish a Biscayne Bay Commission, which would help manage and coordinate improvement projects in the area.
Coronavirus numbers
Positive cases:
— 1,943,135 FL residents (+2,755 since Sunday)
— 36,499 Non-FL residents (+71 since Sunday)
Origin:
— 15,401 Travel related
— 758,300 Contact with a confirmed case
— 20,956 Both
— 1,148,478 Under investigation
Hospitalizations:
— 82,307 in FL
Deaths:
— 32,959 in FL
Vaccinations:
— 6,531,896 Doses administered
— 4,252,250 Total people vaccinated
— 1,882,052 First dose
— 90,552 Completed one-dose series (+13,812 since Sunday)
— 2,279,646 Completed two-dose series (+33,020 since Sunday)
Quote of the Day
“Today we take the first step to make sure this never happens again.” — Sen. Aaron Bean, as his DEO revamp bill (SB 1948) cleared its first committee.
Your Metz Husband Daughton-sponsored question of the day is: Florida Man robs GameStop store while wearing what unsuccessful disguise?
As always, click here to tweet your answer with cc:@MHDFirm. The first person with the correct answer will get a shoutout in 60 Days!
Last time, we asked: What movie starring Jim Carrey was mostly filmed in Seaside, Florida?
Answer: The Truman Show
Congrats to Larry Williams Consulting (@LarryWmsConsult), the first person to tweet the correct answer!
Today’s toon
3 Questions
Democratic Rep. Allison Tant is new to the Legislature, but she’s representing the district everyone calls home for two months of the year, House District 9 in Tallahassee. We talked to her about her history in Florida politics and the legislation she hopes to move this Session.
Florida Politics: You might be a freshman Representative, but you are no stranger to Florida politics, having been the former chair of the Florida Democratic Party. How does that affect your goals as a lawmaker?
Allison Tant: It is not really being Chair of the party that has given me any context for my work. It was my 18 years in the process prior to retiring to be home with my twins, and then my daughter, who was born a little later. I was an advocate in the legislative process for a good number of business and health care clients. My twins were born in 1998, and one of them has a condition called Williams Syndrome, which required 5 early intervention therapies 3 times a week, being present to help him educationally, and then, of course, being a mom to my other two! Jeremy had open-heart surgery to address a heart condition that children with Williams Syndrome often have, at the age of 23 months. I stopped working in the legislative arena the Session following that surgery and became a volunteer child and disability advocate in the legislative arena when I needed to be. I have spent the last 20 years focused on that work.
Florida Politics: Can you tell us a bit about your bill that deals with disability?
Allison Tant: I have walked the walk that many a parent of a child with disability walks, with little to no guidance of what to do that is best for my child. So, it’s that life experience I bring to the process, with the complete understanding that I don’t know everything. House Bill 117, dealing with a road map that should be provided to families like mine who have a loved one with a disability, was taken up in committee [March 8]. I found myself very emotional when my colleagues voted for the bill. I am grateful to my Republican and Democratic friends for the compassion and support colleagues gave me with that bill.
Florida Politics: District 9 includes downtown Tallahassee. Any unique challenges with representing the district where all these legislators gather for Session?
Allison Tant: I love this community, and I love showing it off. I am proud of our businesses, our citizens and our colleges. When committees first started, I asked my fellow members to consider our then shortage of ICU beds due to COVID and to be mindful of the fact that we were having a surge back in January. We are all being very careful with masking and testing. I walked with a few new colleagues this weekend and showed them some of the history of Tallahassee and the beautiful park in Cascades.
Lobby Up
Bills that would give consumers the right to control how their personal data is shared and sold are moving through the Legislature.
HB 969 by Sarasota Rep. Fiona McFarland and SB 1734 by St. Petersburg Sen. Jeff Brandes would require businesses to publish a privacy policy and, if asked, tell users what data they have on them, how they got it, and how they use it. Consumers could request to have that information deleted or corrected.
With strong support from House Speaker Sprowls and Gov. DeSantis, passage is virtually assured. But there are some vagaries over what kinds of data consumers can clear from tech company caches, and what information is truly private.
Most would agree that credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and health records are private. Likewise, most would agree that arrests, court judgments, and occupational licensure are public, and the bills do carve out Information collected from federal, state, or local governmental records.
But what about public social media posts, wish lists, or profile info?
PeopleFinders, MyLife, BeenVerified, Truthfinder, and PeopleConnect all provide background checks, fraud detection, and other people search services by collecting data from publicly available information by organizing the data into usable products, such as reports.
They also trawl non-governmental sources for relevant additions. Their archives aren’t filled with private posts and DM logs, but publicly accessible data — if anyone on a browser or app can scroll through your Facebook and Twitter feeds, they can too.
Their services are widely used and highly valued by various public and private entities and individuals, including law enforcement agencies and financial service providers.
To ensure the data privacy bills do not impede access to publicly available information, the companies — some of which are otherwise competitors — have signed lobbying agreements with the team at Capital City Consulting, including Nick Iarossi, Ron LaFace, Dean Izzo, Ashley Kalifeh, Andrew Ketchel and Christopher Schoonover, who is taking point on the issue.
Breakthrough Insights
The Next 24
The Senate Community Affairs Committee will hear a bill (SB 1128) to preempt local ordinances limiting what fuels utilities can use to produce energy when it meets at 9 a.m. in Room of the 37 Senate Office Building.
The House Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee will consider a bill (HB 1177) to improve water quality in Biscayne Bay. It meets at 9:30 a.m. in Reed Hall in the House Office Building.
The House Early Learning & Elementary Education Subcommittee will take up a bill (HB 51) to allow state universities and colleges to sponsor charter schools. It meets at 9:30 a.m. in Morris Hall in the House Office Building.
A bill (HB 337) to add restrictions to local impact fees will go before the House Local Administration & Veterans Affairs Subcommittee when it meets at 9:30 a.m. in Room 404 of the House Office Building.
The House Professions & Public Health Subcommittee will take up a bill (HB 239) that would open the door to local ordinances banning smoking at parks and beaches. The committee meets at 9:30 a.m. in Room 212 of the Knott Building.
The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee will hear a bill (SB 1574) to make several at Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The committee meets at 9:30 a.m. in Room 412 of the Knott Building.
A bill (SB 676) creating a state parks specialty license plate will go before the Senate Transportation Committee when it meets at 9:30 a.m. in Room 110 of the Senate Office Building.
The Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee will consider a bill (SB 224) to make items such as bed rails, grab bars, and shower seats exempt from sales tax. The committee meets at 12:30 p.m. in Room 37 of the Senate Office Building.
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee will take up a bill (SB 1608) to increase penalties for schemes related to vaccines for COVID-19 or a future virus. The committee meets at 12:30 p.m. in Room 110 of the Senate Office Building.
A bill (SB 86) changing the Bright Futures scholarship program to prioritize certain degree programs will be heard in the Senate Education Committee when it meets at 12:30 p.m. in Room 412 of the Knott Building.
The House Criminal Justice & Public Safety Subcommittee will consider a bill (HB 523) to help human trafficking victims. The committee meets at 1 p.m. in Morris Hall in the House Office Building.
The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee will consider a bill (SB 1488) to exempt lawmaker addresses and telephone numbers from public records requests. The committee meets at 3:30 p.m. in Room 110 of the Senate Office Building.
Bills that would require the Florida Division of Emergency Management to maintain a stockpile of PPE that health care providers could purchase during an emergency will be heard in both chambers. SB 1760 goes before the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Space and Domestic Security Committee at 3:30 p.m. in Room 37 of the Senate Office Building. The House Pandemics & Public Emergencies Committee will take up HB 1353 at 3:45 p.m. in Room 404 of the House Office Building.
The Senate Regulated Industries Committee will consider a bill proposal (SB 268) to preempt local governments’ ordinances related to occupational licensing. The committee meets at 3:30 p.m. in Room 412 of the Knott Building.
The House Commerce Committee will take up a proposal (HB 6073) that would allow wine to be sold in containers larger than one gallon when it meets at 3:45 p.m. in Room 212 of the Knott Building.
Also, the following committees will meet.
— The House Post-Secondary Education & Lifelong Learning Subcommittee meets at 1 p.m. in Room 212 of the Knott Building.
— The House Tourism, Infrastructure & Energy Subcommittee meets at 1 p.m. in Room 404 of the House Office Building.
Full committee agendas, including bills to be considered, are available on the House and Senate websites.
