2018 State Legislative Session Recap

Sanctuary Cities Ban – HB 9/SB 308

This bill died in committee in the Senate after passing the House on a 71-35 vote. 

Anti-Union Decertification – HB 25/SB 1036 & HB7055

The full union decert bill died in committee in the Senate after passing the House on a 65-41. HB 7055 which contained the education/teacher decert language passed and has already been signed into law by the Governor. We worked very hard with FEA to try and stop HB7055 but were unsuccessful. We are now working close with FEA and their general counsel to understand the implementation and legal options. We have held a post session conference call with our School Board Presidents to go over the details of the bill and will hold a follow up call next month.

Resign-To-Run – HB 105/SB 186

This bill passed the Senate on a vote of 27-7 and the House on a vote of 87-27. It has not yet been sent to the Governor but is expected to be sent to him any day for his signature. This legislation is expected to be challenged in court by City of Miami Beach Commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and if it is upheld, will see major ripples throughout the state, but especially surrounding Congressional District 27 with four local seats immediately coming into play when those electeds are forced to resign to run for this seat. 

Local Procurement Task Force – HB 111/SB 368

This bill died in committee in both the House and the Senate. 

This legislation would create a Local Procurement Task Force to study local government procurement policies across the state and make recommendations to the legislature on potential changes. While this sounds harmless, this is a preemption vehicle where the Task Force could make recommendations to preempt local hire, wage and other policies that vary across the state and are not seen as uniform. 

Employees Disaster Evacuation – HB 225/SB 1828

This bill died in committee in both the House and the Senate. Interestingly, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Heyman has filed a similar ordinance that would have the same effect at the local level and I would expect that we could see more of these popping up throughout the state as well as this legislation being filed again next session. 

This legislation would prohibit an employer from taking retaliatory personnel action against employee for evacuating under emergency evacuation order with some exceptions for those emergency personnel that are needed for vital services, working in nursing homes/hospices or if they are essential personnel and the employer provides emergency shelter for them. In the wake of Hurricane Irma with some municipalities terminating employees who evacuated, this legislation seeks to remedy that problem.  

Restoration of Felon Rights – HB 903/SB 1654

This bill died in committee in both the Senate and the House. The upside is that this will be placed on the ballot with the petitions that were gathered. 

Supermajority Vote to Increase Taxes or Fees – HB 7001/ SB 1742

In the final days of the legislative session, this bill passed both the House and the Senate which (if passed by the voters later this year) will require a 2/3 vote of future legislatures to raise taxes and address tax exemptions in law. 

State Administered Retirement System – SB 7014/APC4

This bill has been sent to the Governor for his approval along with the other budget bills. The legislation addresses the contribution rate for various classifications into the FRS and will have a major impact on local budgets throughout the state. 

Mental Health State Facility Reclassification – HB494/SB1758

The Senate version made it unanimously through two committees but didn’t advance on to appropriations. The House bill wasn’t heard due to the critique of the fiscal impact. We will file the bill again next year and use it as an organizing opportunity in the interim.

Police Service Aide Reclassification – SB1518

The bill died before it could reach committee as its fiscal impact was deemed too high.