Your Official 2020 Legislative Update: Week 8
Dear Friend,
Happy International Women’s Day! This is a photo of our Mom and Grandmother in Iran, circa 1970. On International Women’s Day we celebrate the women and girls who have come before us, breaking barriers and overcoming odds to be where we are today. We still have a lot of work to do but we’re never alone in this fight.
We were proud to craft and sponsor a resolution marking International Women’s Day, and to introduce that resolution alongside the Women’s Legislative Caucus on the House Floor. You can read that full resolution here.
I am writing this email from a Tallahassee coffee shop as we have stayed in the State Capitol this weekend for budget meetings. Below you will find your Official 2020 Legislative Update from Week 8 along with upcoming events we invite you to join us for, too.
Missed a weekly update? Click on these respective links to catch up: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, and Week 7.
Keep in mind that our Weekly Updates our thorough but will never be all encompassing to what happens during the 2020 Legislative Session. Please consider keeping up to date with us in real time through our social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also watch Committee Meetings and Floor Sessions live on the Florida Channel.
We also want to remind our Winter Park constituents and Belle Isle constituents that there are local elections for city positions taking place this month! Click here to learn more about Winter Park Elections and here for Belle Isle.
UPCOMING EVENTS
We are excited to be participating in these upcoming community events and encourage you to learn more by clicking on their respective graphics. Soon we will announce our post Legislative Session Debriefs, too.
Now onto your Weekly Legislative Update…
FLORIDA CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
As of Sunday morning, 11 cases of Florida residents and one nonresident in the state have either been confirmed or deemed presumptive-positive of the coronavirus disease COVID-19, according to FloridaHealth.gov. In addition, five Florida residents outside of the state have also tested positive. Click here for updates from the Orlando Sentinel. There have been 20 deaths in the U.S. — 17 in Washington state and one in California, as well as the two in Florida. There are confirmed cases of the virus in 32 states and Washington D.C.
Last week Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration hosted a statewide call focused on coronavirus and our state response. We asked his team questions focused on worker benefits if employees had to stop working and/or were fired/laid off from their jobs because of coronavirus. At this point, we are still waiting for concrete answers to these questions and will keep you posted on what we hear. We also spoke to the Florida Department of Corrections about their preventative coronavirus plans, and they are taking extra precautions to prevent the spread of germs and are asking inmates to proactively seek medical care if they are feeling sick. Inmates initiating a healthcare visit with symptoms relating to a potential communicable disease, such as influenza, will have their copayment waived for the visit relating to the issue, too.
Remember that prevention is key — here is an article from NPR that reviews ways to prevent and prepare for coronavirus that we encourage you to review. It’s important for parents to talk to their children about the new coronavirus in a manner that is calm and informative and doesn’t cause fear and panic. Two Orlando doctors share their tips and advice on how to do that.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUNDS PROTECTED
We are proud to announce that Florida’s state budget will NOT sweep the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Funds. This is a big deal and has been one of our biggest legislative priorities. Of course, solving the affordable housing crisis requires more than just money, but these funds were meant for affordable housing and must STAY in affordable housing. Advocacy works!
OTHER FLORIDA STATE BUDGET UPDATE
This weekend we started Budget Conferencing, meaning that House and Senate leaders came together to begin negotiations between our two budgets. In addition to the agreement on affordable housing, there was also agreement on a 3% pay raise for all state employees, a $50 increase in base student allocation for schools, and $500 million to go towards increasing teacher pay. Details around what type of teachers would see salary increases has yet to be finalized. Arts and culture funding has remained at the 800% increase we secured last legislative session, Visit Florida will continue to be funded, Florida Forever will be funded at $100 million, and the House has backed away from plans to eliminate 500 positions from the Florida Department of Health, as the state prepares for the COVID-19 contagion.
We filed several local funding requests this session and though not all of our projects made it to this phase of the budget process, several did and are outlined below.
HB2265 Restoring Central Florida’s Urban Wetland Corridor with IDEAS for Us: $98,000
HB4277 The Center: Lgbt+Center Orlando — Mental Health Counseling: $40,000
HB2137 Adult Literacy League — Improving the Lives of Central Floridians through Literacy and Education: $25,000
HB9095 Heart of Florida United Way Orlando United Assistance Center (Heart of FL Pulse): $50,000
HB3615 Pulse National Memorial and Museum: $500,000
You can read more about the Budget Conferencing process here and at this link. You can also view all budget documents at this link.
KAIA ROLLE IN TALLAHASSEE
In fall 2019 a 6 year old named Kaia Rolle was arrested at her Orlando charter school for having a tantrum. Since then her grandmother has been a fierce advocate to reduce the rate of unnecessary childhood arrests and end the school-to-prison pipeline. We are proud to have filed HB949 for Florida to set statutory limitations on the arrest of minors and it was an honor to meet Kaia and her family this week.
We were glad to see an amendment attached to a larger education bill that requires law enforcement agencies to create and publicize their policies on arresting children, but continue to push for meaningful policy change that will help reduce the number of children who face unnecessary arrest.
LGBTQ INCLUSIVITY IN FLORIDA’S VOUCHER PROGRAM
The ongoing work to advocate for LGBTQ inclusivity in Florida’s private voucher school program continued, and came to the House Floor this week.
Major legislation to expand Florida’s private voucher school program was met with three amendments each filed by my colleague Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith. Each amendment provided different opportunities to build towards inclusivity — one included the requirement to research the issue of discrimination in all schools, another simply required greater transparency on student handbook policies, and the third would have led to non-discrimination policies being required in all schools within Florida.
Each failed, but not without a fight. You can watch my debate in favor of one of these amendments here, and read more at this link.
The voucher school expansion bill is set to be debated once more tomorrow, too.
MEETING WITH AHCA SECRETARY MAYHEW
Last week we met with Secretary Mary Mayhew to discuss Medicaid reimbursement rates and a new Medicaid pilot program launched in Orange County that focuses on housing stability for people with mental illness. While Medicaid can’t pay for rent, it can pay for housing services that will help keep mentally ill Floridians off the streets and encourage them to get treatment. You can learn more about that pilot program here.
Secretary Mayhew also shared that AHCA is building a dashboard for every plan in the Medicaid program to hold them more accountable for mental health treatment, outcomes, and follow up on hospital discharges after a crisis. This is good news, and we will be sure to share more as we learn more. Click here to read a recent article focused on AHCA, too.
FIGHTING FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
House Bill 1 is a bill that targets public workers and their ability to unionize. This includes police, fire fighters, teachers, and other public employees. As a daughter of working class immigrants I know how important unions have been to our nation’s history and to Florida’s economy.
I was proud to debate against this bill and though it did pass the Florida House we remain hopeful that the Senate will not agenda this bill. Many thanks to the incredible advocates who came to the Florida Capitol, too.
ADVOCATING FOR FLORIDA’S SPRINGS & FOR CLIMATE ACTION
This coming week the Suwannee River Water Management District will be voting on Nestle Waters’ proposed permit to pump 1.152 millions gallons per day from Ginnie Springs for bottled water. District staff have recommended to deny the permit, but your voice is needed to ensure the permit is denied.
Florida’s waterways are one of our greatest resources which demand oversight to ensure long-term protection and viability. Gilchrist County’s Ginnie Springs has had to recover from over-pumping in the past and without your voice it faces the potential to repeat history. Use this link to share comment with Suwannee River Management in advance of their vote on March 10th.
We were proud to see the Florida Senate pass Senate Bill 178, legislation that prohibits state-financed constructors from commencing construction of certain structures in coastal areas after a specified date without first taking certain steps regarding a sea level impact projection study. It also requires the Department of Environmental Protection to develop by rule a standard for such studies, providing that such rule operates prospectively on projects that have not yet commenced as of the finalization of the rule. We are expecting to vote on the House version soon.
FLORIDA COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE UPDATE
In late 2019 we submitted a letter to the Speaker of the House and Chair of the Public, Integrity, and Ethics (PIE) Committee about our concerns with the financial decisions of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (FCADV). Our concerns were taken seriously, and soon the PIE Committee would hold hearings of subpoenaed witnesses who were staff and board members of FCADV. You can read about those hearings at this link.
The Governor then signed into law legislation that removes FCADV from Florida Statute, leading to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to issue a termination of contract to take place within 60 days. This past week DCF began their transition and met with staff of FCADV while also maintaining communication with our local shelters.
We are actively working with all stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition from FCADV to another managing entity, with the goal of no funding or services being interrupted.
THC CAPS FOR MEDICAL CANNABIS
Last week the Florida House saw an amendment to an otherwise good bill that would set THC caps for medical cannabis into law. We supported an amendment by Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith that would remove that THC cap, but it ultimately did pass along with the main bill.
E-VERIFY UPDATE
Last week advocates from the business, faith, and health community continued to push back against the Governor’s request for legislation that would require e-verify. Legislation on this topic was heard on the Florida Senate floor and temporarily postponed in the Florida House.
HIGHER EDUCATION MERGERS
A legislative concept brought forth by Representative Randy Fine to merge New College and Polytechnic University into the University of Florida have failed — many thanks to students, faculty, and staff who traveled to Tallahassee and advocated against this idea.
FLORIDA’S TAX PACKAGE
The Florida House’s Tax Package made it to the House Floor where it was met with more than ten Democratic amendments focused on repealing corporate giveaways and re-allocating dollars lost to corporate tax refunds to instead go towards public needs like reducing the APD waitlist, funding affordable housing, preparing for coronavirus response, increasing teacher salaries, funding Florida Forever, and securing state salary increases.
I also filed two amendments on combined reporting, something that 23 states already do to prevent corporations from hiding their taxable state income. Though none of our amendments passed, it sent a clear message to leadership on what our legislative priorities should be, and resulted in one of the most robust debates on taxation we’ve seen in a long time.
We’ve continued to champion the Interstate Compact to End Corporate Giveaways too — though the legislation will not pass this year, it’s been exciting to hear positive feedback from incoming Republican leadership on the concept. More to come!
DEFENDING DIRECT DEMOCRACY
Legislation that would make citizen ballot initiatives even MORE difficult in Florida came to the House Floor this week. We debated both HB7037 and HJR7093, and filed an amendment on the latter to make it known what the bill is really about — making the process of constitutional ballot amendments so expensive, that only billionaires can afford it. You can read more about this bill at this link. Unfortunately HB7037 passed the House Floor and HJR7093 is set to pass tomorrow.
PUERTO RICAN DAY & NATIONAL GUARD DAY IN THE FLORIDA CAPITOL
It was wonderful to participate in both Puerto Rican Day at the Florida Capitol and National Guard Day at the Florida Capitol! We are proud of Florida’s diversity, and grateful to those who have served our country.
LOCAL NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS RECOGNIZE ANNA
The National Association of Social Workers of Florida’s (NASW-FL) Central Unit has selected us to be honored as their Elected Official of the Year! Thank you so much for this incredible recognition!
RUNNING START WITH THE FLORIDA CHANNEL
Last week I spent a few minutes with The Florida Channel to talk about legislative session — you can watch our interview at this link.
CULTURE CHAT WITH MIMI CHAN
It was wonderful to join Mimi Chan for her podcast Culture Chat when I was back home last Friday. Click here to listen to our full interview.
CELEBRATING OUR TALLAHASSEE INTERNS
We are lucky to have such incredible interns both in Tallahassee and Orlando. As the legislative session comes to a close, we took time to celebrate our Tallahassee-based interns with an appreciation dinner. Thank you for your incredible work!
It was wonderful to have Noah join us on the House Floor as a participant in the Page and Messenger Program! Thank you so much for being there with us!
With gratitude,
Representative Anna V. Eskamani
