Legislative Action Report - 2021 Legislative Session

[Legislative]

Hello all,

The 2021 Florida Legislative Session began on March 2nd and concluded on April 30th this year. There were 1062 bills submitted, of which the LAC tracked a good number. Many pertaining to firearms, small businesses, election reform, and COVID were on the docket. Of the 1062 filed, 275 were enrolled, or passed through both the House and Senate. DeSantis is still in the process of signing bills, but for those which passed in both the House and the Sena here is a list of the Good, the Bad, and the Maybe (those which may not be within the LPF's interest to follow or might be divisive among our members). I am bolding those bills which we have confirmed DeSantis signed into law.

Those of you wishing to follow Governor DeSantis' progress on signing the legislature's bills may do so here:
https://legiscan.com/FL/legislation?status=passed

Good:
SB 60 – County and Municipal Code Enforcement: Prohibits code inspectors designated by county commissioners from initiating investigations of violations of codes and ordinance by ways of anonymous complaints
SB 148 – Beverage Law: Restaurants can now sell or deliver alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption. Consumers can bring partially consumed bottles of wine off-premises of a restaurant
HB 241 – Parent’s Bill of Rights: allows for more freedom regarding homeschooling, religious education, and bodily autonomy of children, such as the right of schools and governments to see the records of a child or take a child’s DNA or providing medical care in the absence of an emergency
HB 259 – Safety of Religious Institutions: allows for concealed carry on the property of a church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious institution
SB 262 – Dispensing Medicinal Drugs: allowing for more room in providing patients with medicinal drugs and allowing for a greater supply of drugs in areas following a state of emergency
HB 337 – Impact fees: requires more transparency by local governments and special districts regarding often nebulous “impact fees” and provides limitations on fee increases
HB 353 – Making elliptical bicycles legal in Florida (not a joke - there was a requirement that all bicycles in Florida had to have a seat)
HB 363 – Privileged Communications Made to Crime Stoppers Organizations: Prohibits “Crime Stopper” organizations from knowingly and willfully attempting to obtain privileged or protected information.
HB 403 – Home based businesses: Prohibiting local governments from taking certain actions against home-based businesses and authorizing home-based businesses in the state to operate in areas zone for residential use
SB 400 – Public Records: Ends the practice of allowing state agencies to sue people who make public-records requests
HB 483 – Electronic Legal Documents: allowing for online notaries
HB 663 – Cottage Food Operations: Increases gross sale limitation for cottage food operations and allows for sale and delivery of cottage food products by mail, prohibits local governments from prohibiting cottage food operations
HB 883 – Unlawful use of DNA: Prohibits DNA analysis and disclose of DNA results without explicit consent. Prohibits the collection or retention of DNA samples of another person without consent
HB 855 – Barber Services: allows for barbers to work in places other than registered barbershops
HB 1289 – Autonomous Vehicles: Authorizes autonomous vehicle delivery systems on streets and roads
SB 1884 – Preemption of Firearms and Ammunition Regulation: Prohibiting local jurisdictions from enforcing “unwritten” policies regarding regulations on guns and ammunition
HB 6095 – Scheduling of Drug Products Containing Cannabidiol: Removes provisions concerning scheduling of certain drug products containing cannbidoil
HB 7017 – Foreign Influence: Requiring any state agency or political subdivision to disclose gifts or grants received from any foreign source

Bad:
HB 1 – Combating Public Disorder:  Makes it difficult for local governments to reduce law enforcement budgets. Local governments can be sued for liability damages if a riot is not stopped. Creates a second degree felony called “aggravated riot” when there are more than 25 participants in a crime or when more than $5000 in damage is caused. Blocking a street without a permit is now defined as a riot.
SB 44 – Use of drones by government agencies: Increases police use of drones allowing them to survey crowds of 50 people or more (eg: beaches and traffic)
SB 46 – Craft Distilleries: imposes draconian restrictions on craft distilleries, with requirements like how close they have to be to public transport, requiring that a minimum percentage be distilled in the state, requiring that Florida agricultural products are used, after a specific date, for each product
SB 50 – Taxation: Places an online sales tax (6%), to go into effect July 1st, on all products sold in Florida
SB 54 – Motor Vehicle Insurance: Removes no-fault insurance in the state but requires every driver in Florida carry a minimum of $25,000 for bodily injury protection – forecasting a 20% hike on insurance for the poorest drivers.
SJR 204 – Abolishing the Constitution Revision Commission: Proposes amendments to abolish the Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years to review and propose changes to our state’s constitution
HB 1055 - Public Requests and Trade Secrets: Providing an exemption from public records requirements for a trade secret held by a state agency

Maybe:
HB 371 – False Reports of Crimes: Enhances penalties on those who report false crimes
SB 1046- Arrest Booking Photographs: Prohibiting the republishing or redissemination of arrest booking photographs
SB 1890 – Campaign Financing: Puts a $3,000 cap on political committee donations for committees backing proposed constitutional amendments, but also prohibits a candidate from donating surplus funds to an organization which employs them
SB 7072 – Social Media Platforms: Prohibiting a social media platform from willfully deplatforming a candidate

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2022 Ballot Measures:
Of the 275 bills passed, two must now go to ballot measures in 2022, which will require 60% popular approval by Florida's voters:
SJR 204: Abolishing the Constitution Revision Commission
HJR 1377: Prohibit Flood Resistance Improvements in Determining a Property’s Assessed Value

I will personally recommend a "Nay" vote on both of these amendments for the LAC and LPF EC in the future. Additionally, several citizens' initiatives are in the signature collection phase in Florida. The one with the most number of signatures currently is CICA #16-02: Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol. The initiative, led by Sensible Florida, Inc. currently has 29,180 signatures out of 891,589 required. I will suggest the LPF EC, through the LAC, get in touch with this group to assist them in collecting signatures for their petition.
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2021 LPF Vision Deck Progress:
The vision deck for the Legislative Action Committee contained seven goals:
1. Continue creating ballot guides for voters on the back of the successful 2018 and 2020 ballot guides
2. Make connections with politicians in Tallahassee to lobby for Libertarian policy
3. Bill tracking pertinent legislation
4. Work with elected Libertarians to share legislation with other incumbents
5. Be the election watchdogs by working on election integrity, including helping the EC designate ballot watchers
6. Connect with Ranked Choice Florida PAC and other Third Party’s to lobby for Ranked Choice Voting in Florida
7. Track emergency orders Statewide (i.e. Covid19)

Of these goals, I believe we have over-performed on goals 1 and 6; have been successfully meeting the benchmarks of goals 3 and 7; under-performed on goals 2 and 4; and need to begin work on goal 5. Barriers to success on goal 2 includes the COVID lockdowns in Tallahassee and difficulty of physically lobbying due to the capitol's restrictions - nonetheless we were able to form a few connections and identify potential legislative allies including Gunowners of America and NORML. The committee was similarly stretched extremely thin working on ranked choice issues in the state, which maintained a priority for the vision deck following the 2020 election. On the flip side, LPF member Chris Rose III, although not a member of the committee, successfully met with politicians and lobbied on behalf of the LPF by appearing twice in the legislature, for which he should be highly commended. For goal 4, the LAC did not actively seek out elected Libertarians in the state, but received several emails from members and feedback during the EC meetings on specific legislative issues including members of the EC; the Libertarian Party of Osceola County, which took to task their board of county commissioners regarding HB 343 on legal cannabis - urging them to incentivize growers in the county; and the Libertarian Party of Santa Rosa County, which successfully worked with LAC member Julia Hall to remove red light cameras from Milton, Florida (this work is continuing to remove red light cameras from the county).
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Committee Health:
The Legislative Action Committee has been somewhat dormant since March or so, as many members migrated from legislative tracking to assisting with the creation and maintenance of Better Ballot Florida, an initiative with The Green Party of Florida and Rank the Vote which has gained a lot of momentum. On that front, the Better Ballot organization may be looking to merge with Rank My Vote, Florida. All of these organizations are designed to raise awareness, lobby for, and eventually create a ballot measure for ranked choice voting in Florida. I will personally be moving to California in August and am currently looking to reinvigorate the committee by finding a replacement. A next update will have a guide for the next leader including 1) how to track bills, 2) important dates in the legislature, and 3) contacts in the Tallahassee area to ensure future committee success.

With best regards,
Cody Moser
Chair, Legislative Action Committee
Libertarian Party of Florida