SOCIAL CONCERNS

BILLS PASSED – ENROLLED – SENT TO GOVERNOR

Child Welfare/Adoption - HB 7151 (Mahon): Establishes circumstances and procedures under which a male may disestablish paternity or terminate child support if not the biological father of the child; requiring copy of petition to terminate parental rights be sent to Office of Vital Statistics; persons entitled to notice of adoption must have direct, financial and immediate interest and must show gain or loss that would result as an effect of the judgment.

Postsentencing Testing/DNA Evidence - HB 61 (Quinones): Revises circumstances under which a person who has been sentenced for committing a 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; abolishes deadline for testing. 

Farm Labor Vehicles - SB 258 (Alexander): Requires vehicles used to transport nine or more migrant or seasonal workers, with certain exclusions for family, common carriers or carpools, to have seats and seat belts, a sticker displayed showing authorization to transport said farm workers and standardized instructions requiring passengers to fasten their seat belts.  It also describes penalties for violations of the provisions.  This legislation was actively supported by the Conference the last two years.

Affordable Housing - HB 1363 (Davis): As the omnibus housing bill created by including ideas from several housing bills filed at the beginning of session, this bill includes sections related to disposition of county and state property for affordable housing; creates the Community Workforce Housing Innovation Pilot Program; revises provisions related to extremely low income and farmworkers; expands powers of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) and revises maximum appropriation FHFC can request. Includes close to $439 million in trust fund appropriations, approximately $83 million in federal  funds and $250 million from general revenue, leaving over $512 million in the housing trust fund not appropriated. The Florida Catholic Conference is a member of the Sadowski Coalition and advocated for scrapping the cap on the affordable housing trust funds scheduled to go into effect next year. 

State Minimum Wage/Notification - SB 786 (Hill): Requires employers to display posters at worksites that tell employees what the minimum wage is; requires Agency for Workforce Innovation to make available an updated poster with information each year in English and Spanish at least 8.5” x 11” in size.

Relating to Energy - SB 888 (Constantine): This 161 page bill creates the "Florida Renewable Energy Technologies & Energy Efficiency Act"; authorizes Florida Public Service Commission to adopt rules to encourage use of renewable energy sources; gives Dept. of Environmental Protection powers related to Florida Electrical Power Plant Siting Act; creates Renewable Energy Technologies Grant program.

Brownfields/Redevelopment - HB 7131 (Needelman): 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 sites; increases amount that may be received by taxpayers as incentive to complete cleanup in final year; increases total amount of credits that may be granted in any year; creates additional tax credit for construction of affordable housing on site; requires Enterprise Florida, Inc., to aggressively market brownfields as an investment, thus creating economic opportunities.

Human Trafficking - 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; provides that a person injured as a result of sex trafficking has a civil cause of action and includes the offense of human trafficking in the Florida RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act; directs Florida Court Educational Council to establish standards for instructing circuit and county court judges on matters concerning victims of said trafficking.

Florida Faith-Based Advisory Board - HB 599 (Cannon): Creates Florida Faith-based and Community-based Advisory Board within Executive Office of Governor; provides for board membership and terms of members; provides for successor appointments; specifies required and restricted activities of board; requires report to Governor and Legislature; provides for future repeal and abolition of board.  (Approved by Governor; Chapter No. 2006-9)

Restoration of Civil Rights - HB 55 (Smith): Persons convicted of a felony in a county detention center must be provided an application from the Parole Commission to begin restoration of civil rights, but does not apply to persons who are discharged to custody of the Dept. of Corrections

BILLS THAT DIED

Homosexual Adoption - HB 123 (McInvale) & SB 172 (Rich): Bills sponsors were notified by letter of the Conference’s opposition to this bill that would have allowed a person who is homosexual to be an adoptive parent under certain enumerated circumstances. 

Postsecondary Tuition/Resident - HB 119 (Zapata) & SB 366 (Wilson): Despite efforts to keep discussion focused on helping children and away from the issue of illegal immigrants, these bills did not pass for the fourth year in a row.  An amendment was added to HB 795 (Flores) to include language allowing students who resided with a parent, attended three years of high school to earn a diploma and applied to college within 12 months of graduation to apply for exemption from out-of-state tuition fees.  This language was deleted from HB 795 in order for the original language of the bill to pass.  Any efforts for next year will more than likely depend on the outcome of federal legislation.

Domestic Partner Benefits Prohibition - HB 581 (Cretul) & SB 1796 (Baker): Prohibits funding for benefits granted under state funded programs, including community college and university boards of trustees, from being used to provide benefits for any individuals other than enrollees and spouses and dependent children of enrollees.   

Title Loan Lenders - HB 1109 (Smith) & SB 1634 (Baker): Revises maximum interest rates chargeable on title loans; provides alternative requirements for title loans made to certain military personnel; prohibits said lenders from engaging in certain business activities. The Conference was part of a coalition that advocated for a law passed in 2001 regulating payday advances.

EDUCATION

BILLS PASSED – ENROLLED – SENT TO GOVERNOR

Scholarship Accountability - SB 256 (King, Jr.): This legislation contains many of the requirements  that the Florida Catholic Conference recommended and advocated over the past three years: nationally norm referenced testing of corporate tax scholarship students, level 2 federal criminal background checks for teachers and teacher assistants who instruct scholarship students, various reporting provisions and compliance checks, and random site visits at participating private schools to verify physical location at the schools. The legislation also contains a provision for Opportunity Scholarships students who qualify for free and/or reduced lunch under the National School Lunch Act to be eligible for a corporate tax scholarship.

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 Department of Education (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 in public, private and home-education programs with purchasing said computers and Internet access services. The Florida Catholic Conference is working with the bill sponsor to propose language for the pilot program and to include low-income nonpublic school children in proposed legislation for the 2007 session.  

Florida Prepaid College Program - HB 263 (Mealor): Deletes restriction on types of postsecondary educational institutions in which a qualified beneficiary may use his or her benefits under said program; expands Florida Prepaid Tuition Scholarship Program to provide scholarships to students with disabilities and students approved by Florida Prepaid College Board and said foundation board.

Student Athlete Recruiting - HB 7119 (Arza): Requires Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) to hold certain bylaws in abeyance; provides for creation of task force to review student athlete recruiting issues; provides for task force membership and duties; requires recommendations to governor and legislature; requires Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) to conduct review of recruiting violations by Florida High School Athletic Association member schools. The Florida Catholic Conference, which represents 36 of the Catholic high schools that are FHSAA members, is preparing to nominate a Catholic high school designee to serve on the task force.

Youth/Young Adults with Disabilities - HB 1623 (Bean): Creates Interagency Services Committee for Youth and Young Adults with Disabilities; provides that committee be staffed by member agencies of committee and provides for membership; provides duties and responsibilities for committee; requires committee to submit report to governor and legislature. 

Swimming Instructors/Certification - HB 1319 (Goldstein): Requires additional certification of swimming instructors for people who have developmental disabilities; provides remedy for certification violations.  

A++ Plan/Opening Dates for School Year - HB 7087 (Arza): This legislation specifies the mission of the state’s K-20 education system to provide learning opportunities for students. Requires that school districts can’t begin the 2007-2008 school year until 14 days before Labor Day. 

BILLS THAT DIED

Anti-Bullying - HB 87 (Bogdanoff) & SB 384 (Baker): Allows school districts to define categories of bullying, including anti-gay harassment.  This legislation received favorable passage in the House, but died in the Senate.  

Inappropriate Corporal Discipline - HB 1239 (Detert) & SB 2266 (Rich): This legislation would have prohibited parents, legal custodians and caregivers from inflicting inappropriate or excessively harsh corporate discipline. HB 1239 received favorable passage in the House, but died in the Senate.

Early Learning Advisory Council – HB 1233 (Ausley) & SB 2376 (Rich):  Requires study to examine early learning quality incentives and rating systems; requires OPPAGA to study administration and regulation of child care services and, in cooperation with said council, to study effectiveness of Child Care Executive Partnership Act; requires recommendations to governor and legislature.  

Proposed Constitutional Amendment - HB 1573 (Rubio) & SB 2170 (Judiciary): Constitutional amendment to provide that every child deserves equal opportunity to receive quality education regardless of his or her family's income, religion, or race and that funding for quality education through classroom instruction is paramount; and to require legislature to ensure that funding provided for public schools shall primarily be used for classroom instruction rather than administrative expenditures.   

Steroid Testing - SB 1928 (Peaden, Jr.): Requires FHSAA to facilitate 3-year drug testing program to randomly test for anabolic steroids in students in grades 9 through 12 who participate in interscholastic athletics in its member schools; provides that finding of drug test shall be separate from student's educational records; provides penalties for students selected for testing who fail to provide specimen.  

Independent Collegiate Assistance - HB 387 (Patterson) & SB 1016 (Wise): Provides legislative intent; creates Florida Independent Collegiate Assistance Grant Program to provide grants to certain students who attend nonpublic institutions of higher education and are enrolled in programs leading to specified occupations; requires DOE to administer program; provides requirements for criteria and priorities for funding.   

HEALTH

BILLS PASSED – ENROLLED – SENT TO GOVERNOR 

Florida KidCare Program - HB 241 (Vana):  Allows ineligible families to participate in MediKids if willing to pay the full premium cost for their children ages 1-5.   

Hospices - HB 1417 (Sansom):  Removes the requirement that Florida hospices have non-profit status and requires hospice ads and materials to indicate the year they came to Florida.  OPPAGA will report by 2010 on for-profit hospice influence on end-of-life care and hospices in particular.  The bill also extends the current certificate-of-need moratorium until 2012.   

Low Income Pool Payments Under Reformed Medicaid:  Florida’s Catholic hospitals stand poised to receive over $30M for combined care provided to Medicaid beneficiaries through the formula adopted by the legislature for reformed Medicaid.  This is a significant increase for Catholic health care, which continues to provide high quality, compassionate care to all patients.

BILLS THAT DIED

Florida Healthy Kids Corporation Act - HB 1365 (Davis (M) & SB 2050 (Peaden, Jr.):  Reinstates coverage for immigrant children; and smoothes transitions between Florida’s children’s health plans.  

Full Funding for KidCare:  The Conference sought full funding for the KidCare program, which has seen a significant drop in participation since legislative changes re: enrollment that seem to have created confusion as to its availability.  The legislature has budgeted for some growth.  The Conference is grateful for assurances from legislative leadership that no eligible family who applies will be denied because of insufficient funding.  The biggest program component requires the state to provide 22% of the program costs in order to draw a federal match of 78%, for children from predominantly low-income working families.   

Prevention First Act - HB 1073 (Roberson): The Conference offered changes deemed essential to the bill prior to its workshop in the House Health Care General Committee. The bill directs the Department of Health to post family planning information on the web, requires school boards to develop family planning curricula and provides direction to healthcare providers in treating sexual assault victims.   

Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) - HB 1017 (Homan) & SB 2572 (Crist):  Creates a new form to direct end-of-life decisions.  There were some serious technical difficulties with the bill that brought about concerns to the Conference.  The House sponsor plans to bring the bill back next year, amending a different section of the law, that involving Do-Not Resuscitate Orders.   

School Health Services Program - SB 1722 (Wilson): The Conference discussed concerns and mutual interests in this bill, with the sponsor, which defines “school-based health center”.  There is mutual concern over teen sexual activity and risks, but some difference in how best to address the concern.   

Advance Directive Indicator on Drivers Licenses - HB 1011 (Homan): The House Transportation Committee voted down a measure to allow Floridians to indicate whether or not they have advance directives on driver’s licenses or ID cards.  The Conference viewed the bill as unnecessary, as all health care providers must ask patients about advance directives upon every admission.  What is important is not whether people have directives, but what the directives say (kinds of care desired, name of surrogate designated, etc.). The possible benefit would have been raising awareness re: advance healthcare planning.   

Long Term Care Medicaid Reform:  The legislature did not waive requirements for legislative review of the Florida Senior Care Waiver prior to its implementation. Such oversight is necessary to ensure proper protections for vulnerable program participants.