The Final Stretch
Florida’s Legislative Session is racing to the finish line, and the corruption is no longer hidden, it’s being exposed in broad daylight.
Hi Friends,
This week, we uncovered a bill that would gut protections against what is essentially modern day indentured servitude, targeting formerly incarcerated Floridians and opening the door for corporations to exploit them for cheap labor. And this isn’t happening in a vacuum. It’s part of a clear, coordinated war on working people.
This session alone, we’ve seen bills to:
Gut child labor protections, so corporations can force kids to fill the labor gaps caused by their anti-immigrant policies;
Carve out exemptions allowing companies to pay employees less than Florida’s constitutionally mandated minimum wage;
And make our unemployment system even more impossible to access, despite Florida already having the worst unemployment system in the country.
Florida lawmakers are trying to turn our state into the most hostile place in the nation for working people. After decimating the agricultural and construction industries with bigoted, xenophobic laws, targeting workers who are navigating our immigration system and driving our economy- they’re now scrambling to replace that labor. Their solution? Force children and formerly incarcerated people to fill in the gap. It's cartoon villain-level policymaking, and we won’t let them get away with it.
Meanwhile, an explosive new investigation just dropped: Governor DeSantis funneled millions of taxpayer dollars through his wife’s so-called “charity” to try to defeat Amendments 3 and 4, citizen-led efforts to legalize recreational marijuana and restore abortion rights. And now, the Governor and his cronies are using a bogus, self-serving political “report” to push legislation that would kill the citizen-led ballot initiative process entirely.
It’s all on the table now, anti-worker bills, attacks on democracy, and backroom deals. As session winds down, legislators are cutting last minute deals with the Governor to protect their pet projects from the veto pen. The corruption is bold. The stakes are high. And the time to act is right now.
Let’s get into it.
📡 On Our Radar
What Moved 💨
HB 6033 / SB 1672 - Labor Pool Act by Rep. Shane Abbott and Sen. Keith L. Truenow
This is one of the most brazen anti-worker bills of the session: HB 6033 / SB 1672 would repeal the Labor Pool Act, Florida’s only law providing basic protections for nearly one million temp workers and day laborers.
This isn’t some fringe bill. It’s being pushed by Ron Book, the most powerful lobbyist in Florida, who has been hired by Pacesetters Personnel Services, a temp agency infamous for exploiting formerly incarcerated workers. Ron Book has made a career out of lobbying for whoever can cut the biggest check, from for-profit prisons to now the very companies looking to trap vulnerable Floridians in low-wage, dead end jobs. Folks, this thing has legs.
The opposition’s excuse? That the Labor Pool Act is duplicative of federal law and that the cause of action established in the law "isn’t used enough." First of all, there are dozens of protections in the Labor Pool Act that don’t exist in federal law, like limits on predatory fees, required access to restrooms and water, and protections against coercive job placements. And let’s be real: since when does this legislature care about federal labor standards? Federal law is a floor, not a ceiling for workers' rights.
As for the claim that we should repeal these protections because the cause of action isn't used often enough? That’s like saying the fire department hasn’t been showing up, so let’s just burn the house down.
They have no real justification for this bill. The truth is simple: they want to strip away what little protections these workers have so that corporate temp agencies can squeeze even more profit from people with the least power to fight back.
Take action now: Fill out our action alert to tell lawmakers to VOTE NO on HB 6033 / SB 1672 and stand up for Florida’s workers, not the companies exploiting them.
HB 1205 / SB 7016 - “Initiative Petitions for Constitutional Amendments” aka Pay to Have a Say Constitutional Amendment Attack by Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka and Sen. Grall & Gaetz
This week, SB 7016, the Governor backed bill to gut Florida’s citizen-led ballot initiative process, cleared its final committee stop in the Senate. In the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, bill sponsors Sen. Erin Grall and Sen. Don Gaetz spent the entire hearing dodging questions and falling back on a flimsy, discredited “report” that’s now at the center of a lawsuit.
That report? It wasn’t from some independent, nonpartisan agency. It came straight from the Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS), a politically weaponized unit hand picked by Governor DeSantis and housed under the DeSantis appointed head of the Department of State. AKA the election police. As NBC Miami revealed in their investigation, the report used to attack Amendment 4 (which would restore abortion access in Florida) was riddled with methodological flaws and made up numbers. Experts described the math as “bogus,” calling out the absurd claim that the amendment would somehow cost the state over $300 million, without offering any real data to back it up.
In other words, this whole thing is built on lies. Lies from a political office created to intimidate voters, are now being used to destroy citizens’ ability to change the constitution. And it gets worse.
A scandal blew up this week showing that DeSantis secretly funneled millions of taxpayer dollars through a so-called “charity” run by his wife, Casey DeSantis. That money was routed to “Hope Florida,” which then turned around and funded opposition campaigns to Amendment 3, a grassroots ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana.
Taxpayer money. Laundered through a fake charity. To crush the will of the voters.
And now, in the final weeks of session, those same politicians are trying to make it nearly impossible for voters to pass amendments ever again.
HB 1205 and SB 7016 would:
Impose criminal penalties for minor paperwork mistakes,
Shorten the timeline to qualify,
And ban many volunteers from helping collect signatures, effectively turning the process into a pay-to-play scheme reserved only for the ultra-wealthy.
The Senate is expected to vote on the bill this Wednesday, April 16th. That means it could be rushed to the Governor’s desk and signed the same night. There are still differences between the House and Senate versions, and tensions between DeSantis and legislative leaders are running high, especially after this week’s scandal. So there’s a tiny window where this could falter.
We’re not saying it’s likely. But we are saying it’s possible. And when the stakes are this high, even a sliver of hope is worth fighting for.
HB 7031- Sales Tax Rate Reductions by Ways & Means Committee and Duggan
For once, we get to celebrate a real win in Tallahassee!
This week, HB 7031 passed the Florida House floor unanimously, with support from both Democrats and Republicans. That’s right, in a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, the House actually did something to help working Floridians by moving to reduce Florida’s regressive sales tax, which hits low income families the hardest. The bill would lower the statewide sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, giving some much needed relief to people who are struggling to make ends meet in the most unaffordable state in the country.
This is a historic shift. For decades, Florida has relied on one of the most upside-down tax structures in the nation, we’re ranked #1 most regressive, meaning the poorer you are, the more of your income you pay in taxes. It’s a system built by design to protect the rich and punish the rest of us.
HB 7031 marks a first step toward correcting that injustice. But here’s the deal: sales tax cuts cost money. And unless we pair this reform with real revenue solutions, we risk undermining public schools, housing programs, health care, and everything else working families rely on.
That’s why we’re pushing hard for Combined Reporting, a proven policy that closes corporate tax loopholes and forces multinational corporations to pay their fair share. If we finally pass it, Florida could recoup $2.4 billion a year in lost revenue, money that’s currently being siphoned off by companies like Amazon, Disney, Target, United Health, and Chevron, who use shady accounting tricks to dodge state taxes and stick the rest of us with the bill.
If lawmakers are serious about tax fairness, they must pair sales tax cuts with corporate accountability. Unfortunately, Governor DeSantis has already signaled that he doesn’t support combined reporting. Instead, he’s pushing for even more regressive property tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefit wealthy landowners and corporate developers, not working families.
That’s why this coming week is so critical.
We’re releasing our 2025 Cost of Corporate Giveaways report, exposing just how much revenue Florida is losing every year, and how much corporate freeloaders are stealing from our communities. On Tuesday, we’ll be standing alongside our revenue justice champs, Rep. Anna V. Eskamani and Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, to demand bold action and real reform.
This is our moment. The Legislature has taken a step in the right direction, now we need to push them to finish the job.
Keep an eye on our Instagram, sign up for updates at floridaforall.vote/sign-up, and stay tuned for the report drop and how to take action!
HB 1517 / SB 1284 - Criminalizing Healthcare by Rep. Sam Greco and Sen. Erin Grall
This bill is one step away from the Senate floor, and it’s one of the most dangerous anti-abortion bills moving this session.
Filed by Sen. Erin Grall, the bill allows lawsuits for the "wrongful death of an unborn child,” a legal framework used in other states to criminalize abortion, target providers, and punish people seeking care. It’s a backdoor push for fetal personhood, plain and simple.
It also puts survivors of domestic violence at risk. Abusers could weaponize this law to file lawsuits as a form of control or retaliation.
Florida law already provides justice for people who lose a wanted pregnancy due to someone else’s actions. This bill isn’t about justice, it’s about setting the stage to ban abortion, restrict IVF, and criminalize health care decisions.
We’re running out of time to stop it. The final committee stop is next, and a floor vote could come quickly after. Take action here and contact your legislators.
HB 955 - E-Verify Crack Down by Reps. Jacques & Michael
This week, HB 955 continued moving through the House even though it has no Senate companion. The bill expands Florida’s mandatory E-Verify requirement to all private employers, no matter how small.
This isn’t about improving our workforce, it’s about doubling down on anti-immigrant fearmongering at the expense of our economy. The consequences of Florida’s existing E-Verify mandate are already devastating. Since SB 1718 passed last year, immigrant workers have fled the state, leaving behind a massive labor shortage, especially in agriculture, construction, and hospitality. Even GOP lawmakers who voted for the bill were caught on camera begging workers to stay so their farms wouldn't collapse.
Now, instead of fixing the mess they made, lawmakers are pushing kids and incarcerated people into the gap, gutting labor protections while expanding a system that doesn’t even work. Studies show E-Verify is riddled with errors and widely ignored, and it imposes huge costs on small businesses, all for the sake of political theater.
Bottom line: this bill will make it harder to rebuild after storms, harder to build affordable housing, and harder for working people to survive. It’s bad for immigrants, bad for business, and bad for Florida.
🦩 SPECIAL MENTION: BIRD WATCH
The flamingo is finally getting the respect it deserves.
This week, the Senate took up the bill (again!) to officially crown the American Flamingo as Florida’s state bird and to name the Florida Scrub Jay our official state songbird. The vote? Unanimous bipartisan support. A rare and beautiful thing in Tallahassee.
Our very own Legislative Director was on hand to drop some cold, hard ornithological truth when Sen. Burton suggested the flamingo could double as a songbird. “Actually,” he corrected, “the flamingo has more of a goose-like honk.” Consider that your fact of the week.
While the Senate is moving forward with grace and elegance (much like a flamingo), the House is still dragging its feet. No hearings yet, but hey, we’re holding out hope for a miracle.
🤡 Clown of the Week
This week’s Clown of the Week is none other than Rep. Shane Abbott, the DeFuniak Springs pharmacist turned lawmaker who’s made it his mission to punch down on working Floridians.
Abbott is the sponsor of HB 6033, a bill that would repeal Florida’s Labor Pool Act, a law that’s been on the books since 1995 to protect temp workers from abuse, wage theft, and unsafe transportation. The law requires things like written job terms, timely payment, and basic safety. You know, the bare minimum.
So what’s his reasoning? This week, while defending his bill, Abbott repeatedly cited Florida’s supposed “state OSHA” as the reason worker protections are no longer needed. One problem: there is no state OSHA. None. It doesn’t exist.
That’s right, Abbott is out here pushing a bill that guts worker protections, and he can’t even be bothered to Google what agencies Florida actually has. These half baked, corporate backed bills are being pushed by lawmakers who clearly haven’t done the homework. It’s not just cruel, it’s lazy.
And let’s not forget, this isn’t the only anti-worker bill with Abbott’s name on it. He’s also behind HB 1157, which would make it even harder for unemployed Floridians to access benefits, even though we already have the worst unemployment system in the country.
So while Abbott puts on his folksy charm and talks about "accountability," what he’s really doing is twisting the knife in the backs of working people, all while protecting business owners like himself from having to treat workers fairly.
Congrats, Rep. Abbott, your mix of ignorance, corporate pandering, and half-assed lawmaking has earned you a well-deserved Clown of the Week crown.
🎬 Actions!
Tell Florida’s Lawmakers: Protect Our Kids, Not Corporate Profits! The child labor bill has another hearing in the House THIS Tuesday. This bill puts the most vulnerable kids at risk, forcing them into exhausting jobs that take priority over their education. Fill out our online action to tell committee members that we won’t stand for this. Vote NO on HB 1225 / SB 918!
Tell Florida’s State Lawmakers: Protect Our Health and Environment, Not Toxic Corporations! Industrial giant Mosaic has been poisoning our land and water for years- and just so happened to cut Sen. Danny Burgess a $10,000 check four days before he filed a bill that protects toxic polluters from lawsuits. Fill our online action for a quick and easy way to tell your elected officials to vote NO on HB 585 / SB 832 !
Tell Florida’s Lawmakers: Protect Citizen-Led Amendments, Not The Corporate Elite! Corporate-funded politicians want to rig the rules and make it harder for everyday Floridians to pass policies about the issues we care about most. Use this online action to tell your elected officials to vote NO on SB 7016 / HB 1205 and any bills that further restrict the ability of Floridians to participate in the citizen-led amendment process.
We’re heading into the final stretch of Florida’s legislative session, and this is do or die time. From attacks on workers’ rights to efforts to dismantle our democracy itself, the next two weeks will determine whether some of the worst bills we’ve seen all year become law,
This week, a massive anti-voting rights bill is likely to move. This is the moment when shady backroom deals get cut, when power players start horse-trading our rights away. But it’s also when we’ve historically made some of our biggest impacts, when public pressure, testimony, and outrage can still sway votes or stop bad bills from reaching the Governor’s desk.
There’s still time. We still have power. And there’s still hope.
Keep tuning in. Keep taking action. And remember that when we organize, we win.
Onwards and upwards,
Your Friends at Florida For All
