Jacob Ogles
Most of the Rural Renaissance package prioritized by Senate President Ben Albritton will be discussed in an extended Legislative Session.
A House resolution calling for Session to be extended to June 6 called for 16 bills to remain under consideration. That includes the Rural Renaissance bill (SB 110), which had been passed in the Senate in March but carved and divvied among multiple pieces of legislation in the House afterward.
Only one of those bills made it through both chambers before the schedule end of Session. The House and Senate debated changes into Friday evening on that legislation (HB 1427) as it bounced between the chambers multiple times. In the end, the bill focused more significantly on nursing education.
Final engrossed legislation still contained key portions of the Rural Renaissance bill passed early in the Senate. It incentivized emergency room physicians to practice medicine in smaller counties, for example. It also revised eligibility requirements for the Florida Reimbursement Assistance for Medical Education (FRAME) program, creating rural access to a Primary and Preventive Care Grant program.
However, two other train bills that hosted pieces of the Rural Renaissance cleared the House but ran into resistance in the Senate.
The House last week attached a number of economic development incentives in rural counties to another bill (HB 991) that also would eliminate all community redevelopment agencies in the state. After representatives approved that bill on a 69-42 vote, it was offered as a replacement to the Senate’s Rural Renaissance package
Sen. Corey Simon, a Tallahassee Republican who shepherded the original package through the upper chamber, said on the floor the House had “bastardized” the bill, and sent it back calling the House to recede from its action.
The bill has a chance to continue to evolve in the extended Session. But another bill appears dead.
Education portions of the Rural Renaissance legislation, including a Rural Incentive for Professional Educators program, landed on education bill in the House (HB 1267) that also touched on civics curricula. The House passed that bill 86-27, but the Senate companion bill never made it to a Senate Rules Committee agenda, and thus was never be heard on the floor of the upper chamber.
Since it wasn’t included in the joint resolution extending Session, that bill is now dead. Of course, with the original Rural Renaissance legislation included, a vehicle remains for much of the contained policy.
The Senate President’s office made clear that with the Rural Renaissance bill included in the extension of Session, provisions can all still be considered in coming weeks.
The one bill that did pass ended up touching on broader areas of health care policy.
Late Friday, the House added contents to the health care legislation with language from another bill on nursing education that had been championed by Rep, Toby Overdorf, a Palm City Republican. “This is a great bill that will set us up to allow for nursing education to be No. 1 in the state of Florida, whereas now we are No. 50,” Overdorf said.
The bill earlier in the week had four components of the Rural Renaissance bill, along with a wide range of other health care policies. Amendments saw a disposal of controversial language about the scope of practice for dental hygienists that had proven controversial in both chambers.
The Senate debated the level of liability befalling school directors, enough concern to draw votes against it from four Democrats and one Republican, but the Chamber ultimately passed the bill.
