Flying on private jets OK — but not for free — under proposed new Florida House rules

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 3/8/24-Rep. Sam Garrison, R-Fleming Island, left, talks with Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami, Friday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. COLIN HACKLEY PHOTO

Less than a week after shaking up the Florida House’s committee apparatus, incoming Speaker Daniel Perez is laying out new rules and procedures he believes will tighten the chamber’s operations while affording its members more flexibility.

Among the changes: allowing House members to fly on private planes, even if they’re owned by lobbyists or companies seeking legislative action, as is allowed today for Florida Senate members.

House members today are under a “blanket prohibition” barring flights on private planes if the aircraft is owned by a company with business before the Legislature. The same ban doesn’t apply to Senate members, which Perez said is an unfair, unnecessary impediment to lower-chamber lawmakers for whom traveling to and from Tallahassee can already be burdensome.

Perez said that’ll be fixed through a pending measure (HR 1-O) from Fleming Island Republican Rep. Sam Garrison, whom Perez recently named as the new Chair of the Rules & Ethics Committee.

Under HR 1-O, House members would be able to travel on private jets — regardless of who owns them — at the cost of the private flight, divided by its number of occupied seats. That’s pricier than for Senators, who can fly privately while paying what a coach ticket would cost for a similar trip on a commercial airline.

“We believe this new rule will provide some additional flexibility without allowing House members to receive a disproportionate benefit from a lobbyist or principal,” he said.

Two other proposed changes would also affect lobbying. The first would close a procedural loophole that now allows unofficial lobbying to take place in House chambers. House rules today prohibit former members who are registered as lobbyists from entering and speaking with current members.

However, former House members who are on the payroll of those same entities but are not registered as lobbyists themselves are allowed to enter and speak with lawmakers.

That’s going to change, according to Perez.

“Going forward, former members who are employed by a registered principal will be treated in the same manner as former members who are registered lobbyists,” he said.

Disclosure procedures are also getting an overhaul. HR 1-O would require House staff to confirm that a lobbyist has filed a disclosure detailing which bills, appropriations or issues they are lobbying for before a meeting on them can be scheduled.

Lobbyists who fail to conform to this new standard would face hearings and possible financial sanctions by the Rules & Ethics Committee.

“The House has a zero-tolerance policy for any attempt to avoid, manipulate, or undermine the lobbyist disclosure system,” Perez wrote.

To better tamp down on any breaches by House members of policy, protocol and decorum, the responsibility of addressing such violations would be fully returned to the Rules & Ethics Committee. In recent years, Perez said, that responsibility has increasingly been delegated to staff.

“I find this practice to be inappropriate,” he said. “Whenever possible, members will be given an opportunity to cure the problem or deficiency. However, if a member fails to do so, the potential violation can be brought before the Rules & Ethics Committee for public discussion.”

The committee could then reprimand the member and/or recommend further action by the Speaker and House.

“This process will be separate from the formal complaint process, and the Rules & Ethics Chair will have discretion on what matters to bring before the committee,” Perez added. “As members we — not staff — are responsible for governing our behavior, for determining the lines between acceptable and unacceptable conduct, and for holding one another accountable.”

Several other changes are coming and focus on House processes and rules enforcement. They include:

— Requiring members to submit in writing requests of committee Chairs to place their bills on agenda. The requests must include information on each bill’s anticipated Senate companion. While the request is a procedural prerequisite to a bill being heard, Perez noted that members are still “expected to work their bills and fully engage not only with the Chairs but with the members of the committee.”

— Requiring House members to only notify the Speaker’s Office that they plan to miss all or part of a scheduled floor session, rather than the current rule in which members must seek permission to do so. Failure to notify the Speaker’s Office of a planned absence will prevent them from voting after a roll call. “While I place the utmost importance on members being present and engaged on the floor,” Perez said, “I also believe in treating you with the respect you deserve as constitutional officers.”

— Discontinuing multiple drafting submissions and bill filing deadlines. Instead, there will be one bill drafting submission deadline, Jan. 24 this year, and a single bill filing deadline, this year at 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. That latter deadline is moving from the first day of Session to the Friday before the start of Regular Session.

— Making House memorial bills count toward members’ seven-bill limit. Each member will also be given a single repealer bill slot that won’t take up one of the seven regular bill slots, and all members will be allowed 21 draft requests each.

— The addition of combined workgroups to the legislative process, which Perez described as new and unique features of the House that will serve as forums for “intensive examinations of a single issue across multiple subject matter jurisdictions.” House committee and subcommittee Chairs will form the groups, which would meet for up to two weeks or so to examine issues and make recommendations in the form of motions during open committee meetings that could then serve as the basis for potential committee bills.

— A uniform 5 p.m. deadline for committee notices and amendment deadlines.

The 2025 Session begins March 4.