Budget Update
Lawmakers moved closer this week to crafting a FY 2021-22 State
Budget. Senate and House full budget committees met this week
to pass their respective spending plans (SB 2500 and HB 5001) teeing them
up for debate, possible amendments, and passage on the full floor
of the chambers. Budget conference will be called subsequently to
hammer out remaining differences, including spending on education,
health care and the environment.
Currently the House spends $97.1 billion, while the Senate is
at $95 billion. Both chambers are proposing putting aside $5
billion for reserves. Although, COVID has taken a toll on budget
revenues over the last year, actual revenues have been consistently
higher than the predicted forecasts and the latest windfall of $10
billion federal dollars, has put the state in a good position
financially. State economists will meet next week to provide budget
writers the latest revenue estimates which will be used to craft
the final budget.
Bill Action Update
Transportation
HB 605 Bicycle and
Pedestrian Safety addresses issues relating to bicycle and
pedestrian safety. In summary, the bill:
- Defines the terms "bicycle lane" and "separated bicycle lane."
- Provides requirements for a vehicle overtaking a bicycle or other nonmotorized vehicle, an electric bicycle, or a pedestrian occupying the same travel lane.
- Requires the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) to annually provide an awareness and safety campaign regarding vehicles overtaking a bicycle, other nonmotorized vehicle, an electric bicycle, or a pedestrian.
- Provides that no-passing zones do not apply to drivers who safely and briefly drive to the left of center of the roadway to overtake a bicycle, other nonmotorized vehicle, an electric bicycle, or a pedestrian.
- Requires a vehicle making a right turn while overtaking and passing a bicycle proceeding in the same direction, to do so only if the bicycle is at least 20 feet from the intersection. Provides guidelines for riding a bicycle in a substandard-width lane and authorizes riders to ride two abreast if certain conditions exit.
- Authorizes bicyclists riding in groups, after coming to a full stop, to go through an intersection in groups of 10 or fewer.
- Requires at least 25 questions in the test bank for the driver license test to address bicycle and pedestrian safety.
HB 605 passed the House Infrastructure & Tourism
Appropriations Subcommittee and has one more committee
reference remaining.
HB 1049 Use of
Drones by a Government Agency expands the exceptions to the
prohibition on drone surveillance to permit the use of a drone:
- To provide a law enforcement agency with an aerial perspective of a crowd of 50 people or more, but only if: The law enforcement agency establishes policies and procedures, including guidelines:
- For the agency's use of a drone;
- For the proper storage, retention, and release of images or video captured by the drone; and
- Addressing the personal safety and constitutional protections of the people being observed.
- To assist a law enforcement agency with traffic management, except that a drone may not be used to issue a traffic infraction citation based on images or video captured by the drone.
- To facilitate a law enforcement agency's collection of evidence at a crime scene or traffic crash scene.
- By a state agency or political subdivision: To assess damage due to a flood, wildfire, or natural disaster; or for vegetation or wildlife management on publicly owned land or water.
- By certified fire department personnel to perform tasks within the scope and practice of their certification.
The bill also requires any governmental agency authorized to use
a drone to take specified protective measures to secure the data
collected by the drone and to ensure that any information gathered
in the operation and management of the drone, including all
associated software, hardware, and data, remains within the borders
of the United States. HB 1049 passed the House State
Affairs Committee with two more stops remaining.
HB 1113 Traffic and
Pedestrian Safety requires a traffic engineering study
conducted by a Florida licensed professional engineer prior to
installing a new mid-block crosswalk (MBC). MBCs installed on
public roads must conform to certain provisions of the latest
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and other
applicable DOT standards, manuals, and specifications, and must
include a pedestrian-facing sign containing language stating duties
applicable to a pedestrian.
The bill requires, by October 1, 2024, that the entity with
jurisdiction over a public highway, street, or road with a MBC must
ensure that such crosswalk is controlled by the required
coordinated traffic control signal devices and pedestrian control
signals. Alternatively, the entity may remove the crosswalk.
Additionally, by October 1, 2022, the bill requires DOT to seek
approval from the federal government to allow the use of red RRFB
(in place of yellow RRFBs. If approved, all entities with
jurisdiction over MBCs must replace existing yellow RRFBs
(rectangular rapid flash beacon) with red RRFBs within 12 months of
federal authorization. If the request is denied, all entities with
jurisdiction over MBCs must remove all yellow RRFBs or retrofit
MBCs with legally acceptable equipment as required in the bill.
HB 1113 passed the House Infrastructure & Tourism
Appropriations Subcommittee and has one more committee
reference remaining.
HB 1289 Autonomous
Vehicles defines the term "low-speed autonomous delivery
vehicle" as a fully autonomous vehicle that meets the current
federal definition. The bill authorizes such vehicles to operate
only on streets or roads where the posted speed limit is 35 miles
per hour or less but are not prohibited from crossing a road or
street at an intersection where the road or street has a posted
speed limit of more than 35 miles per hour. A low-speed autonomous
delivery vehicle may operate on a street or road with a posted
speed limit of more than 35 miles per hour, but no more than 45
miles per hour, under certain conditions.
The bill sets out equipment requirements for such vehicles and
provides that the new provisions are superseded by any conflicting
federal regulations. The bill was amended establishing insurance
coverage requirements for such vehicles and a provision was also
amended on to require seatbelts if vehicles carry human drivers or
passengers. HB 1289 passed the House Tourism,
Infrastructure & Energy Subcommittee and has one
more committee stop.
SB 2502 Implementing the
2021-2022 General Appropriations Act provides the
statutory authority necessary to implement and execute the General
Appropriation Act for Fiscal Year 2021-2022. Statutory changes
are temporary and expire on July 1, 2022. The bill was amended this
week to include a one year waiver of local participation match
dollars for eligible public transit operating costs. This provision
will assist local transit agencies in drawing down federal dollars
without a local match due to the financial hardships incurred
because of the pandemic. SB 2502 passed Senate Appropriations
and is available for floor action.
Higher Education
HB 5601 Higher
Education conforms applicable statutes to the appropriations
provided in the House proposed General Appropriations Act for
fiscal year 2021-22. The bill:
- Specifies that all funds appropriated for Preeminent State Research Universities must be distributed equally;
- Eliminates the State University Professional and Graduate Degree Excellence Program; · Provides minimum performance standards for institutions to be eligible to participate in the Effective Access to Student Education tuition assistance program;
- Eliminates the Access to Better Learning and Education tuition assistance program; Expands the existing faculty salary cap from state university administrative employees to include all university faculty, excluding those in specified high-demand fields; and
- Creates the Florida Integrated Library System to provide funding for critical library services, a distance learning catalog, and transient student applications.
HB 5601 Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee passed
the House and is available for floor action.
SB 7070 Impact of
COVID-19 on Educational Institutions creates liability
protections for educational institutions for actions related to the
COVID19 pandemic and creates accountability and prekindergarten
provisions in recognition of the public health emergency caused by
COVID-19. Specifically, the bill:
- Creates specified liability protections for an educational institution that has taken reasonably necessary actions to diminish the impact or the spread of COVID-19 and provides immunity from any civil damages, equitable relief, or other remedies relating to such actions.
- Establishes that these liability protections apply retroactively to causes of actions accruing on or after the date of the declaration of the COVID-19 public health emergency by the State Surgeon General, and must apply prospectively to causes of action that accrue before the end of the academic term during which the emergency declaration expires or is terminated.
- Creates waivers from accountability requirements relating to the use of school grades, school improvement ratings, and student performance results from the statewide, standardized assessments for the 2020-2021 school year.
- Authorizes a parent or guardian to request that his or her grade three public school student be retained.
- Waives the provision that requires a summer prekindergarten program delivered by a public school or private prekindergarten provider to consist of at least 300 hours and waives the school readiness program requirement that no more than 22 percent of funds provided to an early learning coalition to implement its approved school readiness program to be used for administrative costs, quality activities, and non-direct services.
- Authorizes a parent or guardian to submit a written request to retain his or her K-5 student, for academic reasons, for the 2021-2022 school year in the grade level to which the student was assigned at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.
- Provides an additional year of probationary status for an approved nursing program that has not achieved the required passage rate on the national nursing licensing examination in the 2020 calendar year. The Board of Nursing must grant that extension at a regularly scheduled meeting in 2021.
SB 7070 was voted favorably by the Senate Education
Committee.
Regulatory
HB 833 Unlawful
Use of DNA creates the "Protecting DNA Privacy Act."
The bill changes the level of consent currently required for a
lawful analysis of a person's DNA and disclosure of the results
of such analysis by requiring his or her express consent, which
means authorization from a person or his or legal guardian or
representative, evidenced by an affirmative act demonstrating his
or her intentional decision, after receiving a clear and prominent
disclosure regarding the specified purpose for the collection, use,
retention, maintenance, or disclosure of the DNA sample or analysis
thereof. The bill also requires express consent for collecting,
retaining, or submitting for analysis another person's DNA.
HB 833 passed the full House 114-0.
SB 1760 Personal
Protective Equipment requires the Division of Emergency
Management to ensure that doctors, nurses, and other health care
practitioners will be able to purchase personal protective
equipment in the event of a declared emergency caused by an
infectious or communicable disease. Examples of personal protective
equipment include respirators, gloves, gowns, and masks. In order
to ensure the availability of these items, the division must
complete an inventory of the personal protective equipment
"held in reserve." In light of this inventory, the
division must procure additional equipment or arrange by contract
for it to be sold to health care workers in the event of a health
emergency. The equipment must be available for purchase by the
health care practitioners or their employers at the cost for which
it was procured, and the equipment may not be resold at a higher
price. SB 1760 passed the Senate Governmental Oversight
and Accountability Committee and has one reference
remaining.
Taxes
HB 15 Taxation
requires marketplace providers and out-of-state retailers with no
physical presence in Florida to collect Florida's sales tax on
sales of taxable items delivered to purchasers in Florida if the
marketplace provider or out-of-state retailer makes a substantial
number of sales into Florida. A substantial number of remote sales
means conducting any number of taxable retail sales in an amount
exceeding $100,000 during the previous calendar year. The bill
makes conforming changes to ensure consistent administration of the
new provisions.
The bill also requires marketplace providers to collect and remit
three fees related to the sales tax (the waste tire fee, lead-acid
battery fee, and E911 prepaid wireless fee), beginning April 1,
2022, and provides a safe harbor for businesses who failed to
collect the sales tax prior to July 1, 2021, as long as they
register with the Department of Revenue prior to October 1,
2021.
The bill removes the requirement that dealers use a bracket system
to calculate the applicable sales tax on transactions, and replaces
it with a rounding system.
The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) estimated that the sales
tax collection provisions of the bill will have a positive revenue
impact in FY 2021-22 totaling $1,203.4 million ($1,337.0 million
recurring) of which $973.6 million ($1,079.7 million recurring) is
on General Revenue, $0.3 million ($3.6 million recurring) is on
state trust fund revenues, and $229.5 million ($253.7 million
recurring) is on local government revenues. HB 15 passed the
House Commerce Committee and is now available for floor
action.
*Summaries provided by House and Senate bill
analyses
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