What A Session
Here's what you need to know about Florida's 2024 Legislative Session.
Hi Friends,
We made it. The 2024 Florida Legislative Session is officially over!
Legislators have scattered back to their home districts, and we at Florida For All are feeling grateful for all those who fought against corporate greed and self-serving policymakers to protect Floridians’ freedoms.
As it stands today, the Florida Legislature favors corporate interests over the people it’s meant to serve. Right-wing lawmakers have let corporate CEOs and wealthy elites rig the rules, neglecting the true spirit of Florida rooted in radical inclusion, interdependence, and an authentic democracy for all. We took on giants when we walked the halls this session, and try as they might, our opponents will never buy what we are building.
This session passed some of the most corporate and twisted legislation we’ve seen without addressing real issues like lowering costs, raising wages, and tackling the property insurance crisis. At the same time, we claimed numerous victories that protected Floridians from harm. Last session bills were rubber-stamped from the beginning and destined for the Governor’s desk no matter what advocates did. This year, our collective opposition blocked dozens of corporate, racist, and transphobic bills from crossing the finish line.
But listen- we must remain vigilant as many of these terrible bills are likely to be revived. So as we gear up for this year’s elections and look towards the next session (yikes), it’s up to all of us to talk to our friends and neighbors about which legislators are actually serving the working people they were elected to represent. We are determined, defiant, and will not be deterred because together, we will build a Florida where we all have the freedom to thrive.
In this recap (Part 1), we’ll cover some of the bills that died and those awaiting the Governor’s approval. This is not an exhaustive list, so stay tuned for more updates. Let's get into it.
THE DEAD BILLS 💀
HB 651 / SB 476 - Fetal Personhood Bill by Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulika (R) and Sen. Erin Grall (R)
Initially targeting both mothers and healthcare providers, this bill sought to allow parents of an “unborn child” to seek civil damages for wrongful death against medical professionals who provide reproductive healthcare and the women who often require it.
This bill was pulled from its final committee stop and died after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that a similar law passed there would ban IVF treatments.
HB 1289 / SB 1260 Attacks on Unemployment Benefits by Rep. Shane Abbott (R) Sen. Jay Trumbull (R)
This bill would have made it harder for working Floridians to access unemployment benefits. The original bill would have reinstated a mandatory online "skills assessment" for workers to receive their unemployment benefits. It would have also forced workers to complete at least one job application each week in person, on top of the already existing extreme work-search requirements and stop someone from receiving their unemployment benefits if they miss 3 job interviews for any reason, and would require someone to accept any job offer, or risk losing their unemployment benefits, regardless of how low the pay or how dangerous the job may be.
The only reason that you pass a bill like this is to pay out less unemployment claims and have corporations pay less taxes. Former Governor Rick Scott was open about that being his reasoning.
During a public hearing for this bill, the sponsor publicly confirmed that he had been working with notorious anti-worker group the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), to no one’s surprise.
Sponsored by Sen. Jay Trumbull, a Clown of the Week alumni, this bill never made it to the floor in the Senate.
HB 1641 / SB 1126 - Preemption of Plastics Regulations by Rep. Brad Yeager (R) and Sen. Jonathan Martin (R)
Rep. Yeager and Sen. Martin decided that there isn’t enough plastic pollution in Florida. Their brilliant idea was to further preempt municipal governments and state agencies in their ability to regulate “auxiliary containers.” Meaning local governments can’t regulate plastic packaging such as plastic wrapping and takeout containers, which is a great idea in Florida because marine pollution is definitely not an issue here, right? The best thing about this bill is that it isn’t about saving the planet; it’s about saving corporate interests!
Well, Sen. Martin couldn’t get enough support from his fellow Republicans in the Senate and the bill was pulled off of the Community Affairs agenda and placed in the trash where it belongs. Let’s just hope they don’t recycle this one for next session.
HB 901 / SB 1120 - Banning Pride Flags in Government Buildings by Rep. David Borrero (R), Rep. Randy Fine (R) and Sen. Jonathan Martin (R)
This session, Rep. Borrero and Sen. Martin decided that pride flags are one of the biggest dangers facing our society today. The Pride Flag Ban Bill would have banned any public building from raising flags that represent a “political viewpoint.” This not only infringes on Floridian’s right to free speech but also strips away a sense of community for anyone who might identify as LGBTQ.
This profoundly stupid bill died in its last committee stop in the Senate after Sen. Martin repeatedly failed to get it done in time due to strong public opposition.
HB 1639- Transgender Erasure by Rep. Doug Bankson (R)
The Trans Erasure bill sponsored by Rep. Doug Bankson (R) was part of an attack on the rights and dignity of Floridians who are transgender that seeks to further disenfranchise the community. The legislation would have required every private health insurance plan to cover “conversion therapy”, and also require healthcare companies to provide plans that don’t cover gender-affirming care. The bill proposed rewriting laws to define sex exclusively based on assigned sex at birth, preventing transgender individuals from obtaining accurate state-issued identity documents and grants the DMV the authority to revoke licenses or IDs aligning with transgender individual's gender identity.
This bill never had a Senate companion and really didn’t stand a chance of passing. This didn’t stop the House from wasting everyone’s time with their transphobic distractions, moving this bill through all three committees and a floor vote. Remember, culture wars are harmful, but they are almost always an attempt to distract from bad corporate policies that they don’t want folks to pay attention to. Here’s a great article explaining why every culture war is a class war:
ON THE GOVERNOR’S DESK ✍🏻
HB 433 / SB 1492 - Attack Working Families and Local Freedoms by Rep. Tiffany Esposito (R) Sen. Jay Trumbull (R)
In the will they or won’t they rom-com that no one was asking for, the House and the Senate flirted back and forth with each other over which version of this bill they would pass. Would they just ban local governments' ability to ensure access to drinking water and shade for employees working outdoors in extreme heat? or would they also spice things up and slash the wages of working families?
Ultimately HB 433 and the child labor bill ended up being the last two bills they passed this session. The final version of HB 433 includes the preemption on living wage ordinances with an effective date of 2026, the preemption on heat stress ordinances, and a preemption on predictive scheduling. As inflation continues to soar in Florida and decrease throughout the rest of the country, this bill will cut the living wages of tens of thousands of workers across the state. This is a nightmare bill for working Floridians that no one should stop talking about from now through November.
Governor DeSantis still has the power to veto this bill, but given his propensity to give the Florida Chamber of Commerce literally anything and everything they ask for, he will likely sign this bill into law. We will keep you updated, and make sure you’re caught up on the corporate influence behind controversial bills like this one:
@flforallvote#greenscreenvideo Curious about government corruption in florida? Watch our video about thr FGA and its deep ties to the Republican Party. Learn more and stay updated by subscribing to our substack at floridaforall.substack.com #FundOurFutures #FreedomForAll #FloridaForAll #WhatAWeek #Florida #Tallahassee #floridapolitics #Corruption #RonDeSantis #FloridaLegislature #government #governmentcorruption #leftist #leftisttiktok
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HB 49 / SB 1596 - Let Children Work by Rep. Linda Chaney (R) and Sen. Danny Burgess (R)
This bill, written by the infamous Foundation for Government Accountability, directly targets working families by rolling back decades of child labor protections.
As we mentioned, this bill was one of the very last to pass this session. Notably, the House passed their version of the bill back on February 1st, and the Senate STILL waited until the very last minute to pass their version. Thankfully, the Senate took out many of the harmful aspects of the bill. This is a testament to all of the hard work of advocates this session to raise awareness about the corporate influence behind this legislation and the dangers this poses to working families. While the bill is absolutely still bad, we can absolutely celebrate some wins along the way. Check out the Florida Policy Institute’s analysis of the final version:
HB 1291 - Stop Woke for Teachers by Education & Employment Committee; Rep. John Snyder (R) and Rep. Berny Jacques (R)
In another iteration of the “anti-woke” agenda, Republicans are attempting to censor educators in the name of freedom! Building upon DeSantis’ stop WOKE or “Individual Freedom” Act, which is currently tied up in the courts, this bill would prohibit teachers from discussing “identity politics” or anything about systemic or institutionalized oppression. However, what is considered identity politics isn’t defined in the legislation.
This could prevent teachers from being prepared on how to teach about the history of Jim Crow, the 3/5ths Compromise, or even Brown v. Board of Education… The bill now awaits the Governor’s approval which he will undoubtedly sign.
HB 1365 / SB 1530 - Hide the Unhoused in Camps Act by Rep. Sam Garrison (R) and Sen. Jonathan Martin (R)
This bill directly attacks people experiencing homelessness and prohibits public sleeping or camping on public property without a permit and allows individuals to sue local governments for violating this bill. This bill would effectively criminalize the existence of homelessness. The camps where homeless people would be required to sleep do not currently exist and the cost barrier required to create them is too high for any local government to actually meet. Nothing in this bill actually addresses the root causes of homelessness. Addressing homelessness requires a comprehensive strategy that tackles systemic issues of racism in our housing and economic systems. This bill does not contribute to reducing homelessness and only perpetuates existing inequalities.
This bill is being pushed by the Cicero Institute, a far right think tank funded by one of Gov. DeSantis’s biggest donors. Gov. DeSantis has previously expressed his support for this bill and will likely sign it soon. Watch Florida For All’s Tik Tok explainer of the corporate influence behind this bill:
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HB 917 / SB 460 - Child Labor in Construction by Rep. John Snyder (R) and Sen. Cory Simon (R)
Amongst the numerous activities available for children to participate in here in the beautiful state of Florida, Republicans in their infinite wisdom have decided that working in construction, one of the most dangerous industries, is one of them. Who needs school, extracurricular activities, and hanging out with friends when you can build roofs and play with scaffolding?
Thanks to this legislation, 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to participate in one of the most dangerous industries to fill in the labor shortage caused by SB 1718, which restricted the rights of undocumented immigrants to work.
This bill originally would have allowed kids to work on rooftops and scaffolding but has now been watered down due to strong opposition from advocates. The bill now awaits the Governor’s approval.
HB 705 / SB 742 - “Public Works Project” aka Undermine Fair Labor Practices and Community Control by Rep. Jason Shoaf (R) and Sen. Erin Grall (R)
This bill introduced by Representative Shoaf imposes a “one-size-fits-all" approach and takes away the power of local communities to set construction standards, wages, and apprenticeship programs. This would slash the wages for thousands of individuals in Florida and make it clear that corporate profit is more important to the legislature than people's lives. It broadens the definition of "public works" to include projects funded with ANY state or public dollars and puts local hire preferences at risk, impacting communities' ability to prioritize local workers.
The state legislature has returned time and time again to chip away at local governments’ ability to ensure their citizens are paid a livable wage, so that they can feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. This session it seems that they have decided to just go all out and ban ANY ability local governments could have to improve the lives of their citizens. This bill now awaits the Governor’s approval.
HB 621 / SB 888 - Evicting Tenants Without Just Cause by Rep. Kevin Steele(R) and Sen. Keith Perry (R)
This bill originally started out with language that would allow an abusive landlord to evict a tenant without just cause unless they have a notarized lease. Not only are written leases rare, but notarized leases are even rarer, with many legal services attorneys reporting that they have never seen a notarized lease provided by a landlord in the hundreds of cases they each represent.
The bill was amended to keep tenants safer from abusive landlords but it still added new criminal penalties for “squatters” which could lead to excessive criminal punishments for small infractions. If not for the hard work of advocates on the ground in Tallahassee, this bill would have been a disaster for working renters in the state. It now awaits the Governor’s approval.
HB 601 / SB 576 - End civilian oversight of police departments by Rep. Wyman Duggan (R) and Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R)
Introduced by Rep. Wyman Duggan, this legislation would prohibit independent review boards from investigating police misconduct. Because of this, 21 civilian review boards currently face elimination. This would result in a reduction of transparency and accountability for law enforcement.
With major support from Police Unions who want to be held less accountable for their actions, this bill now awaits the Governor’s approval.
HB 1451 / SB 1174 - Banning Recognition of Community ID’s by Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R) and Rep. Kyan Michael (R)
Seems like Senator Ingoglia can’t help but try and find ways to rescind the rights of Floridians everywhere. This legislation bans counties and municipalities from recognizing community IDs that come from programs that provide IDs to people navigating our complicated systems. These programs are instrumental in providing government identification to vulnerable groups such as low-income residents, immigrants, and the homeless. These groups often rely on community IDs to receive medication, safety during natural disasters, and access to community benefits.
It is important to understand that because of the vagueness of this bill, it is likely that most places will not accept ANY community IDs, regardless if the entity that provided it also provides them to Floridians who are undocumented. Just like the bills banning books passed last session, the vagueness of this law will cause far-reaching unintended consequences.
Governor DeSantis signed this racist and xenophobic legislation into law on Friday morning.
Friends, we know that was a lot, and we’ll be sharing more on what you need to know about Florida’s 2024 Legislative Session in the coming weeks. Just remember that together we protected the freedoms of Floridians by stopping harmful legislation that would have put public safety at risk, attacked our LGBTQ+ and local communities, and lowered wages for workers.
All Floridians deserve the freedom to be healthy, prosperous, and safe, and while Governor Ron DeSantis and Republican leadership neglected the needs of their constituents this session, our community leaders stepped up to the fight.
We are the heroes we’ve been waiting for!
Onwards and upwards,
Your Friends at Florida For All
