Florida Phoenix
Shortly after the Senate passed her bill (SB 1318) to ban individuals from hands-on cellphone use while driving, Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall acknowledged that the measure’s future was uncertain.
Its House companion had yet to receive a single hearing in the lower chamber of the Legislature.
“If there is the will, there’s always a way,” Grall told the Phoenix after the measure passed the Senate 29-7 on Wednesday. “At least it’s going to be with (the House) now, and we’ll see if any other solutions are proposed.”
Grall’s is one of several high-profile proposals in limbo at this point in the 2025 Legislative Session, having passed through one chamber going nowhere in the other.
And with two-thirds of the Regular Session now in the books, the outcome of some of these bills look cloudy at best. Yet those involved in the legislative process don’t dare say they are dead just yet.
“I would say there’s a lot of time left in the session,” Senate President Ben Albritton said this week when asked about the timeline for such bills and whether he might jumpstart their passage through the Senate.
“You’re asking me if I’m specifically open to the idea of referring a House bill that we receive it to say, Rules or Appropriations to have that bill heard and potentially move?” he said in repeating an inquiry with reporters on Wednesday. “The answer is yes.”
Guns
Among bills that the Senate President himself has been asked about on an almost weekly basis is HB 759, which would lower the age for individuals in Florida to purchase shotguns and rifles from 21 to 18. Three measures in the Senate include that provision, but none of them have had a committee hearing.
Albritton has refused to commit to whether he might consider it — unlike his predecessor, Kathleen Passidomo, who was explicit in rejecting that idea during the past two Sessions, when she was presiding officer.
“We’ve heard through back channels that there might be a bill to use as a bargaining chip with the House. Possibly for the budget or something else,” said Luis Valdes, Florida state Director of Gun Owners of America.
“If that’s the case, Gun Owners of America aren’t actually fond of that, because using Second Amendment rights as a bargaining chip for something else is wrong, especially when hundreds of thousands of Floridians have had their rights violated by this law.”
Second Amendment enthusiasts were hyped before the session that their long-awaited hope that Florida would join the overwhelming number of states that allow for open carry would finally be realized, but Albritton shut down that thought in November.
Education
Then there’s SB 166, the public school “deregulation” bill sponsored in the Senate by North Florida Republican Sen. Corey Simon. Under this legislation, Florida high schoolers would not need to pass algebra or English final exams to graduate. The bill looks to “level the playing field amid other school-choice options,” Albritton said in a news release.
There is no House companion for the proposal.
Hands-free distracted driving
A year ago, Tallahassee Democratic Rep. Allison Tant’s distracted-driving bill cleared all three of its committees before dying on the House floor. Its Senate companion, however, was blocked in committees and never received a hearing.
Flash forward to 2025 and the exact opposite is happening: Grall’s bill cleared all of its three committee assignments before passing in the Senate by a two-thirds majority this week, while its House equivalent has yet to be heard in either of its two assigned committees.
Yet advocates aren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet, noting that the bill has been sent to the House in messages, making it available for action there.
“We are extremely hopeful that Rep. (Daniel) Perez will bring this forth, since he represents Miami-Dade, one of 11 counties that have passed a hands-free resolution asking lawmakers to act,” said a spokesperson for the Anthony Phoenix Branca Foundation, a group led by Demetrius Branca, who visited lawmakers around the state earlier this year in hopes of getting them to pass the bill this year. A distracted driver killed Branca’s son in 2014.
Health care
The House has championed a number of scope-of-practice expansions this session but the Senate does not seem interested in doing the same. For instance, the House passed legislation allowing certified registered nurse anesthetists to work without having a written supervisory protocol with a physician.
The bill (HB 649) passed the House on April 3 on a 77-30 vote. Conversely, the Senate companion (SB 718) has been referred to three committees but has been heard by none.
On the precipice
Other bills that have soared through one chamber but are gaining no traction in the other, such as the “right to repair” legislation sponsored by Central Florida Republican Sen. Keith Truenow in the Senate (SB 1132).
The measure would require manufacturers to more freely provide access to tools, manuals, and parts needed to repair certain agriculture and portable wireless equipment. Its House companion, sponsored by Tampa Bay Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner (HB 235), hasn’t received a single hearing in any of the committees it was assigned to.
There’s the E-Verify measure (HB 955), which would require all Florida businesses to use the system to check the legal status of employees, which has cleared both of the committees that it was assigned to in the House. If approved, it would change existing law, which requires only businesses with 25 employees or more to employ the program.
However, E-Verify hasn’t moved at all in the Senate. Sarasota County Republican Sen. Joe Gruters told the Phoenix late Friday that the proposal is still viable in that chamber.
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Mitch Perry, Christine Sexton and Jay Waagmeester reporting. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected]
