The Florida Catholic Conference | 2005 Legislative Memorandum

LIFE AND DEATH

Women's Health and Safety Act

HB 1041 (Bean), which revises requirements for rules of the agency for Health Care administration relating to abortion clinics performing abortions after its first trimester of pregnancy, passed out of the House Wednesday with an 89-27 vote after much debate. We urge you to thank legislators for supporting this important bill, particularly the Democrats who joined Republicans in this vote. Click here to view the House vote on HB 1041.

HEALTH

Pregnancy/Loss/Negligence of Another - CS HB 839 (Llorente) & SB 1974 (Posey)

HB 839 codifies existing case law regarding evidence that can be prevented when seeking pain and suffering of parents for death of an unborn child as a result of medical negligence. The bill does not extend new rights to the unborn, and may inadvertently further the notion that the lives of some unborn are of greater value than others as higher pain and suffering damages are sought based on characteristics of fetuses. Existing Florida case law allows for allusions to a fetus as a "son" or "daughter" or by the chosen name in these cases. The bill does not create a new course of legal action not otherwise recognized by law. The Senate is expected to take up the House language.

HB 839 is in the Justice Council; SB 1974 is in Judiciary.

Florida KidCare Program - CS HB 569 (Garcia) & CS SB 1324 (Rich)

The legislation makes for year round enrollment in KidCare subject to available funds, improving state policies that prompted a 100,000 child decrease in program participation by restricting enrollment periods to up to two month-long periods per year. No waiting list will be kept, and enrollment is subject to available funding. We anticipate that this policy shift - if it becomes law - will benefit over 100,000 children from primarily working Florida families. We extend special thanks to St. Vincent's Health System in Jacksonville for communicating support for this legislation to key legislators as the House version advanced.

HB 569 is in the Health & Families Council; SB 1324 is on the Senate Calendar

Hospices - SB 1622 (Atwater) & HB 1633 (Jennings, Jr.)

Redefines the term "hospice" by removing the requirement that newly established hospices have a not-for-profit status. SB 1622 was found favorable as a Committee Substitute by Senate Health Care, and is now in Health and Human Services; HB 1633 was found favorable as a Committee Substitute by Elder & Long Term Care, and is now in Health Care Appropriations.

EDUCATION
School Health Services

HB 1401 (Roberson), SB 1248 (Wilson) -- This legislation would establish school health clinics for public school students without parental involvement to receive reproductive health services, including health education, pelvic examinations, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, and contraceptive prescriptions. SB 1248 has been referred to the Senate Education Committee; HB 1401 has been referred to the Health General Committee. The Conference is opposed to these bills.

Universal Pre-K
A Florida Department of Education program interpretation will allow school districts that may not be in compliance with class-size requirements during the 2005-2006 school year and beyond to participate this fall in the Universal Pre-K Program. Initially, school districts were precluded from participation in UPK if they would be in violation of the class-size provision for the following school year. After the FDOE announcement, the Florida Catholic Conference notified the Governor, Senate President, House Speaker and Education Commissioner that the single greatest impediment to Catholic program participation stems from the late adopted change in the UPK law requiring a 1-10 teacher-pupil ratio with an 18 student cap on private sector providers. Almost all Catholic programs exceed these caps and participation for these programs would necessitate turning families away.

Reading Florida Compact Program
SB 2480 -- The Reading Compact Program, Sen Lynn -- This legislation, which received favorable passage from the Senate Education Committee earlier in the week, provides public school students who have not successfully passed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test for three consecutive years to obtain scholarship to a attend a private school. Because the F-CAT is first administered to third graders, students would not be eligible for a Reading Compact Scholarship until they were the age equivalent of a sixth grader. The Florida Catholic Conference is neither supporting, nor opposing this legislation at this time, but is closely monitoring it.

SOCIAL CONCERNS
Farm Labor Vehicles
A committee substitute for SB 1874 (Alexander) was unanimously (7-0) passed in Senate Transportation but still has two committee stops - Commerce and Consumer Services (on 4/19) and General Government Appropriations. The bill requires any farm labor vehicle with a gross weight of 10,000 lbs. or less to be equipped with a seat belt at each passenger position. The bill also requires these vehicles to display a Department of Transportation sticker showing authorization to transport farm workers.

In-State Tuition
HB 119 (Zapata), which provides for determination of resident status for tuition purposes; classifies as residents for tuition purposes certain employees of international multilateral organizations and provides eligibility criteria for certain students who are not permanent residents of U.S. for exemption from payment of nonresident tuition passed unanimously in Education Appropriations, 13-0. Testimony was given by a young lady whose family status affected her immigration status and a USF student who spoke about working with teenagers who would be unable to attend college because they are undocumented. A letter was read by Brigita Gahr, Educational Program Specialist for the Florida Migrant Interstate Program, from an academically talented senior who will be denied in-state tuition because of her undocumented status.

Affordable Housing
SB 1110 (Atwater), which includes criteria for distributing doc stamp tax collections to the State Housing Trust Fund and local government housing Trust Fund for affordable housing, passed the Senate Government Efficiency Appropriations, 5-1. Senator Posey spoke against the attempt to cap the housing trust fund at $193 million.