2006 Legislative Report (2)
March 3, 2006

The 2006 Florida Legislature will be in regular session from March 7 – May 5, 2006.  This report contains a summary of the major bills the Conference is following.  Subsequent Legislative Reports will contain new bills filed and legislative action on these proposals.  Additional information on legislation and the Conference's public policy advocacy may be accessed from the 2006 Legislative Page.
 

For additional information and the complete bill text of any bill listed on this report, please visit the websites of The Florida Senate or The Florida House of Representatives.

Certificate of Birth/Stillbirth – HB 439 (Planas) & SB 746 (Wise): Makes “Certificates of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth” available to parents whose children reach 20 weeks of gestation; furthers developing legislation enacted in the last few years. [HB 439 was reported favorably with committee substitute by Health Care Regulation; also referred to Governmental Operations; Health Care Appropriations; Health & Families Council. SB 746 was reported favorably with 2 amendments by Health Care; Now in Judiciary; also referred to Health and Human Services Appropriations.]

Unanimous Jury Recommendation – HB 663 (Seiler) & SB 1130 (Villalobos): Capital felonies sentencing; requires that advisory sentence of death be made by unanimous recommendation of jury following defendant's conviction or adjudication of guilt for capital felony or capital drug trafficking felony; requires that court enter sentence notwithstanding unanimous recommendation of jury. [HB 663 was referred to Criminal Justice; Criminal Justice Appropriations; Governmental Operations; Justice Council. SB 1130 was referred to Criminal Justice; Judiciary.]

Physician Orders for Life-sustaining Treatments – HB 1017 (Homan): Would direct DOH to create another avenue of advanced healthcare decision-making with informed consent. Florida Catholic Conference is working to address possible negative consequences. [HB 1017 was referred to Health Care Regulation; Health Care Appropriations; Health & Families Council.]

Research

Biomedical Research – HB 233 (Sands) & SB 468 (Klein): Requires use of state funds for biomedical research and establishing a new structure for administration of funds for stem cell research. Florida Catholic Conference supports most forms of stem cell research, but opposes experiments for those that entail destruction of live human embryos. By funding destructive embryo research, the people of Florida become complicit in the activity, and the state diverts funds from the only currently productive forms of stem cell research. The current bill contains a cloning prohibition, which does not actually prohibit the process of creating a cloned human embryo. Florida ought to fund adult and umbilical cord stem cell research, as there is much agreement as to its efficacy and no ethical objection in principle. [HB 233 was temporarily postponed by Health Care Regulation; also referred to Criminal Justice; Governmental Operations; Health Care Appropriations; Health & Families Council. SB 468 was referred to Health Care; Commerce and Consumer Services; Criminal Justice; Governmental Oversight and Productivity; Health and Human Services Appropriations; Justice Appropriations.]

Stem Cell Research – SB 778 (Geller):  Florida Catholic Conference opposes this bill in its current form, which provides $10M for experiments which entail destruction of human subjects at the embryonic stage of development.  [SB 778 was referred to Health Care; Governmental Oversight and Productivity; Health and Human Services Appropriations; Ways and Means.] 

Florida Gulf Coast University/Stem Cells - HB 751 (Kreegel) & SB 1352 (Aronberg):  Provides $32M to establish Florida Gulf Coast University Institute for Stem Cell Biology.  The bill directs that only human adult stem cell, human umbilical cord stem cell and animal stem cell research will be conducted at the institute. Florida Catholic Conference supports this research. [HB 751 was referred to Colleges & Universities; Health Care General; Education Appropriations; Education Council.  SB 1352 was referred to Health Care; Education; Education Appropriations; Ways and Means.] 

Biomedical Research – HB 1027 (Hasner) & SB 1826  (Saunders): Revises method for appointing members to groups that direct state biomedical research funding and establishes William G. "Bill" Bankhead, Jr., and David Coley Cancer Research Program within DOH. [HB 1027 has been filed. SB 1826 was referred to Health Care; Education; Government Efficiency Appropriations; Health and Human Services Appropriations.]

SOCIAL CONCERNS

Adoption

Homosexual Adoption – HB 123 (McInvale) & SB 172 (Rich): Provides that person who is homosexual is eligible to be adoptive parent under certain enumerated circumstances; requires that eligibility criteria be met by clear and convincing evidence.  [HB 123 was referred to Future of Florida's Families; Civil Justice; Judiciary Appropriations; Health & Families Council. SB 172 was temporarily postponed by Children and Families; also referred to Judiciary.] 

Adoption – SB 408 (Campbell): Requires adoption entity to diligently search for person whose consent is required for adoption; provides that judgment of adoption is voidable under certain circumstances if court finds that person whose consent is required gave false information; provides grandparent's right to notice; provides that court in this state retains jurisdiction until adoption is finalized in this state or in another state.  [SB 408 was reported favorably with amendments by Children and Families; now in Judiciary.]

Criminal Justice

Postsentence DNA Testing – HB 61 (Quinones) & SB 186 (Villalobos): Revises circumstances under which person who has been sentenced for committing felony may petition court for postsentence testing of DNA evidence; abolishes certain time limitations imposed upon such testing; authorizes governmental entity to dispose of physical evidence if sentence imposed has expired and another law or rule does not require that evidence be retained; provides for retroactive application.  [HB 61 was reported favorably with committee substitute by Governmental Operations and Criminal Justice; Now in Criminal Justice Appropriations; also referred to State Administration Council. SB 186 was reported favorably by Criminal Justice and Judiciary; Now in Justice Appropriations.]

Felon's Right To Vote/Restoration - SB 1082 (Dawson): Constitutional amendment to authorize Legislature to provide conditions under which convicted felon's right to register or vote may be restored by statute, and removes inoperative provisions re term limits for members of Congress and U.S. Senators, which provisions have been determined by U.S. Supreme Court to violate U.S. Constitution.  [SB 1082 was referred to Ethics and Elections; Criminal Justice; Judiciary; Rules and Calendar.] 

Farmworkers

Farm Labor Vehicles – HB 255 (Troutman) & SB 258 (Alexander): Farm Labor Vehicles; repeals provision re transportation of migrant farm workers; requires owners and operators of farm labor vehicles to conform such vehicles to certain standards; requires seat belts at each passenger position in certain vehicles; requires certain operators to display prescribed stickers on their vehicles; requires certain sign to be displayed in such vehicles.  [HB 255 was reported favorably with committee substitute by Agriculture; Now in Transportation; also referred to State Resources Council. SB 258 was reported favorably by Transportation; Commerce and Consumer Services; Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations; Placed on Calendar, on second reading.]

 Postsecondary Tuition/Resident – HB 119 (Zapata) & SB 366 (Wilson): Provides exemption from payment of nonresident tuition at community colleges and state universities for certain students meeting eligibility criteria; amends provision re general requirements for eligibility for state financial aid; specifies procedures for determining resident status for purposes of receiving such awards.  [HB 119 was referred to Colleges & Universities; Education Appropriations; Education Council. SB 366 is on Education committee agenda; also referred to Domestic Security; Education Appropriations.]

Affordable Housing 

Affordable Housing – HB 401 (Coley) & SB 1048 (Sebesta): Revises definition of "farmworker" under Fla. Housing Finance Corp. Act; increases population thresholds used in determining distribution of program funds under State Apartment Incentive Loan Program; revises income limitation applicable to buyers of certain units under Fla. Homeownership Assistance Program; revises methods for calculating sales price of certain housing.  [HB 401 was referred to Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations; Local Government Council; State Infrastructure Council; Fiscal Council. SB 1048 was reported favorably by Community Affairs; now in Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations.]

Affordable Housing – SB 132; 136 (Bennett): Affordable Housing; expresses legislative intent to revise laws re affordable housing.  [SB 132 & 136 were referred to Community Affairs; Governmental Oversight and Productivity; Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations; Ways and Means; Rules and Calendar.]

 Affordable Housing for Elderly – HB 451 (Machek) & SB 1032 (Margolis): Decreases match for certain loan amounts required by sponsors of housing for elderly.  [HB 451 was reported favorably by Elder & Long-Term Care; Now in Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations; also referred to Local Government Council; State Infrastructure Council.  SB 1032 was reported favorably by Community Affairs; Now in Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations.]

Minimum Wage

Florida Minimum Wage Act – HB 7001 (Judiciary, Simmons): Provides periods of limitations on actions for violations of Florida Minimum Wage Act; creates said act; requires employers to pay certain employees minimum wage for all hours worked in Fla.; requires minimum wage to be adjusted annually; requires Agency for Workforce Innovation and Department of Revenue to annually publish amount of adjusted minimum wage; authorizes Attorney General to bring civil action and seek injunctive relief.  [HB 7001 was referred to Justice Council.]

State Minimum Wage/Notification – HB 1211 (Fields) & SB 786 (Hill): Provides definitions; requires employer to display posters at worksites to provide employees notice about said wage; requires Agency for Workforce Innovation to make available updated poster each year; provides for size and contents of posters. [HB 1211 has been filed. SB 786 was referred to Commerce and Consumer Services; Judiciary; Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations.]

Environment

Brownfields/Redevelopment – SB 1092 (Constantine): Increases amount and percentage of credit which may be applied against intangible personal property tax and corporate income tax for cost of voluntary cleanup of contaminated site; increases amount that may be received by taxpayer as incentive to complete cleanup in final year; increases total amount of credits that may be granted in any year; requires Enterprise Florida, Inc., to aggressively market brownfields. [SB 1092 was reported favorably by Environmental Preservation; Now in Commerce and Consumer Services; also referred to Government Efficiency Appropriations; General Government Appropriations.

Other

Human Trafficking – HB 469 (Gannon) & SB 250 (Margolis): Redefines term "forced labor or services" to include labor coerced from person when person's identification documents are destroyed, concealed, or withheld by another; directs Fla. Court Educational Council to establish standards for instructing circuit and county court judges on matters re victims of said trafficking; redefines term "racketeering activity" to include offense of human trafficking for purposes of Fla. RICO Act.  [HB 469 was reported favorably with committee substitute by Criminal Justice; Now in Future of Florida's Families; also referred to Criminal Justice Appropriations; Justice Council. SB 250 was reported favorably by Criminal Justice; Now in Judiciary; also referred to Justice Appropriations.]

Domestic Partner Benefits Prohibition - HB 581 (Cretul) & SB 1796 (Baker): Prohibits funding for benefits granted under program from being used to provide benefits for any individuals other than enrollees and spouses and dependent children of enrollees; prohibits community college and university boards of trustees from establishing benefits programs that use state funding to provide benefits for any individuals other than enrollees and spouses and dependent children of enrollees.  [HB 581 was referred to Governmental Operations; Fiscal Council; State Administration Council. SB 1796 was referred to Education; Banking and Insurance; Governmental Oversight and Productivity; Ways and Means.]

Florida Faith-based Advisory Board - HB 599 (Cannon) & SB 1232 (Wise): Provides legislative findings and intent; creates Fla. Faith-based and Community-based Advisory Board within Executive Office of Governor for certain purposes; provides for board membership and terms of members; provides for successor appointments; specifies required activities of board; specifies restricted activities; requires report to Governor and Legislature; provides for future repeal and abolition of board.  [HB 599 was reported favorably by Future of Florida's Families; Now in Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations; also referred to Health & Families Council. SB 1232 was reported favorably with committee substitute by Governmental Oversight and Productivity; Now in Judiciary; also referred to Ways and Means.]

EDUCATION

Student Instruction

Students/Computers & Internet Access – HB 765 (Jennings): Creates program to offer discounted computers and Internet access to public school students and students in home education programs in grades 5 through 12; requires DOE to negotiate terms with computer manufacturers, certain nonprofit corporations, and broadband Internet access providers; requires Digital Divide Council to implement pilot project to assist low-income students with purchasing said computers and Internet access services. [HB 765 was reported favorably by Choice & Innovation; Now in Education Appropriations; also referred to Education Council.]