WHAT THEY
DIDN’T
DO
In order to spend their time throwing red meat to the GOP/QAnon base, the Legislature ignored thousands of other bills. Here’s a partial list of what Florida lawmakers skipped during their 60 days of work BY ANNA WILDER AND MELISSA HERNANDEZ DE LA CRUZ, FRESH TAKE FLORIDA
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ov. Ron DeSantis continued this week to sign into law some of the measures Florida’s Republicanled Legislature passed this session, but thousands of bills died in Tallahassee and never made it to the governor, including some on notable issues. In the House and Senate, lawmakers proposed 3,685 pieces of legislation, but only about 285 passed in both chambers, slightly higher than the number since at least 2016, according to legislative records. Lawmakers passed a $112 billion state budget, as the session ended after votes on controversial legislation aimed at cultural issues unsettled between conservatives and progressives. DeSantis signed a bill Thursday banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Other new Florida laws ban instruction or conversations about sexual orientation or gender identity in some elementary grades, and allow parents to sue public schools if students were made to feel uncomfortable over lessons about historical events because of their sex or race. Here’s a partial list of what lawmakers didn’t do during their 60 days of work. X Didn’t reform property insurance Lawmakers didn’t tackle reforms over property insurance for homeowners, who have seen premiums surge ahead of hurricane season. Some insurance companies have pulled out of Florida, putting upward pressure on prices. Some policies have doubled in cost. Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, and other lawmakers have formally asked that the Legislature consider the subject when it reconvenes next week for a special session to consider new congressional maps for Florida. Nothing has been set to happen yet. X Didn’t increase building safety Months after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in June killed 98 people in South Florida, lawmakers couldn’t agree on any new laws requiring mandatory inspections of such buildings — or how homeowners could be compelled to pay for necessary repairs — to prevent another disaster. One bill died when the sponsors of the respective Senate and House bills, Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Orange Park, and Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami-Dade, could not agree on terms.
That bill would have established mandatory building inspections for all multi-family residential buildings three or more stories in height. The inspections would be performed once the building reaches 30 years old and then every 10 years. For buildings within three miles of the coast, the milestone inspection would be performed once the building reaches 20 years and then every seven years. The bill also tried to compel building associations to establish reserves to fund critical maintenance. Negotiations between the bill sponsors broke down when they couldn’t come to agreement over when reserves needed to be established for critical structural repairs. DeSantis said this week that if lawmakers were able to reach agreement, he would include the bill in the upcoming special legislative session. “If they can do it, they can do it absolutely, but they have to agree on something,” DeSantis said. “The minute they tell me that that is something they can get across, we can add it absolutely.”
Also this week, Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz urged DeSantis to get involved to help get the bill passed. “I ask the governor and state lawmakers to find common ground to stop the next Surfside tragedy from ever happening,” Wasserman Schultz said. “We owe that much to the victims.” X Didn’t look at legalizing recreational marijuana Bills aimed at fast-tracking the legalization of recreational marijuana us for adults died. Democrats withdrew a doomed bill that would have laid the groundwork for how legal recreational marijuana could work in Florida. It would have mimicked tobacco usage legislation already in place. “Just a really constant pattern of demonizing cannabis usage when a majority of Floridians don’t share that sentiment,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando. She said she intended to file the bill again next year, if she wins re-election [continued on page 15]
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APRIL 27-MAY 3, 2022 ● ORLANDO WEEKLY
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