Jacob Ogles
A “Rural Renaissance” bill touted as a top priority of Senate President Ben Albritton has been parsed into multiple bills in the House. That means legislation passed with unanimous support in the Senate needs to navigate a number of legislative trains without crashing in the House.
The Senate approved its version of the bill (SB 110) in a 39-0 vote more than a month ago. But a companion bill moved through the lower chamber at a slower pace. On Tuesday, the House Health and Human Services Committee took up a companion bill (HB 1427), but substituted new language and classified it as a health care bill.
Rep. Griff Griffitts, a Panama City Beach Republican, acknowledged in his closing argument the shift in the nature of the legislation, but still counted it as an improvement of medical resources in rural Florida.
“There are 30 rural counties in this state, so a little less than half the state does need more help than we’ve ever given it before,” Griffitts said. “While this is not the entire package for the rural communities, it is a very, very good start in the health care sector, and I would appreciate all your support.”
He didn’t get it. Six Democrats in the committee voted against the bill, with many questioning portions of the bill impacting dentistry regulations that had little directly to do with revitalizing rural Florida in particular.
“Can you talk to me why all those combinations were added to your bill? Because I feel like I was up on your bill until you added extra stuff to your bill,” said Rep. Daryl Campbell, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat.
The changes were also opposed by the Florida Dental Association, including the scope of practice for dental hygienists.
Rep. Josie Tomkow, a Polk City Republican who chaired the committee hearing, defended the change in nature of the bill, and the inclusion of language that could make more dental services available in underserved communities.
“We all have been around. We know that this happens at the end of Session,” Tomkow said. “We know that there’s a greater good that we’re trying to accomplish here, and what we’re trying to accomplish is making sure that patients have access to any and all services and needs.”
Campbell questioned at one point if the bill now violates a rule that pieces of legislation must be single-subject. But while the substitute language included new items about dentistry, it in another sense was more narrow than the legislation carried to passage in the Senate.
Sen. Corey Simon’s bill included expansions to modernized education, health care and commerce in 31 rural counties.
The new language for the bill also cut its length. The original filed version of HB 1427 ran 150 pages, while the language shipped out of committee runs just 92 pages. That bill now heads to the House floor.
But House sources told Florida Politics the rest of the Rural Renaissance legislation didn’t just vanish in the soils of Session. A spokesperson said every portion of the package will be presented on the House floor, but in different pieces of legislation.
A community and economic development bill (HB 991) cleared the House Commerce Committee with substitute language expanding community investment in rural counties. But it drew eight dissenting votes, including two from Republican lawmakers.
Education portions of the bill will also find a home in other legislation.
So far, legislation still saw strong support in committees, and Republicans enjoy a supermajority in the House so leadership can likely pass all the bills it needs. But parsing legislation into different bills means the Senate will need to hear the legislation again and bring language in line before anything can be sent to the Governor’s Office to be signed into law.
___
Peter Schorsch contributed to this report.
