It’s crunch time for Florida Legislature. Here’s what should pass — and what needs to die | Editorial

This last week of the Florida legislative session, ending on April 30, is that final stretch when deals are cut and some bills make it into law while others languish.

That means there’s still time for lawmakers to tackle the Herald Editorial Board’s list of proposals it wants the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass and others that belong in the dumpster.

Police reform

Considered “nothing short of a miracle” by one of its negotiators, police reform could become reality in Florida thanks to a compromise between House Republicans, the Legislative Black Caucus and law enforcement. House Bill 7051 would set standards for use-of-force training, limit the use of choke holds and require officers to intervene if another officer uses excessive force. The House is expected to vote on it Monday. The Senate was advancing its own bill with stricter standards on choke holds and a requirement that officers go through implicit-bias training. But senators decided to go with the House version to avoid a back and forth so late in the session. The Senate version was better, but passing any police reform in this conservative Legislature is considered a feat. Derek Chauvin’s conviction has created momentum for this legislation, and waiting until next year to resume negotiations would be a mistake.

Unemployment

This should be a no-brainer. Florida’s unemployment benefits, currently capped at $275 a week for up to 12 weeks, are among the lowest in the nation. The Senate voted to raise payments to $375 a week and boost the eligibility period to 14 weeks. That’s the least lawmakers could do after the COVID-19 pandemic showed how Florida treats people who have fallen on hard times. But the House is reluctant to pass SB 1906, and Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he’s against raising benefits and rather get people back to work. That’s just a cop-out to continue to deny benefits on which people can better survive.

Medicaid

Republicans won’t give us much-needed Medicaid expansion, but might give poor mothers some reprieve. Republican House Speaker Chris Sprowls wants to expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers from 60 days after birth to a full year. This is especially crucial for Black mothers, who die at nearly three times the rate as white ones. The Senate should agree to the $240 million needed for this.

Toll-road repeal

The Senate approved rescinding more than 300 miles of proposed toll roads across rural parts of Florida. The Legislature approved the projects in 2019 by bypassing the state’s process for new road construction, which requires demonstrating a need for it. This boondoggle would have lined the pockets of a few developers while cutting through panther habitat and wasting taxpayer dollars. SB 100 effectively ends the “Heartland Parkway” to connect Polk and Collier counties and modifies two other proposed routes. The House votes on it Monday.

NICA

A Miami Herald and ProPublica investigation revealed that the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, an obscure state program that pays families of children brain-damaged at birth, was spending more money on lawyers and investment managers while it nickel-and-dimed parents. The Senate passed a bill that raises the payment to families from $100,000 to $250,000 and adds a parent and an advocate for children with special needs to NICA’s governing board. The House version has yet to be taken up. This is a great first step, but even the bill sponsor says the reforms don’t go far enough. Lawmakers must address this issue again next year.

Student literacy

With 43 percent of third graders in Florida reading below grade level, it’s imperative the Senate pass literacy bills that have cleared the House. HB 3, would deliver free books to the homes of struggling readers through sixth grade. HB 7011, filed by Miami Republican Rep. Vance Aloupis, creates the Reading Achievement Initiative For Scholastic Excellence.

Elections

Florida’s efficient handling of mail ballots set an example for the rest of the country in 2020, but Republicans, who once dominated vote-by-mail until Democrats surpassed them last year, insist we have to fix what ain’t broke. SB 90, which restricts voter access, isn’t as bad as previous versions but it’s still unnecessary and an unveiled attempt to benefit Republicans in the 2022 elections. The legislation would require voters to request a mail ballot every election cycle instead of every two cycles, as allowed under current law. It would also limit the availability of ballot dropboxes and empower partisan observers during the ballot-tabulating process. You know this is a bad idea when the best justification sponsor Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, could provide for his bill is that “things could happen.”

Gambling

The Legislature has scheduled a special session for May 17 to decide whether to ratify a $500 million gaming agreement with the Seminole Tribe signed by DeSantis on Friday. The compact would create an expansion of gambling that lines the pockets of a few, but that Florida doesn’t need — our tourism and hospitality industries have been doing pretty well without it. We might end up with a casino in Miami Beach because the agreement would allow real-estate mogul Jeffrey Soffer to transfer his casino permit to the Fontainebleau Hotel, though lawmakers also would have to pass legislation to allow the transfer and preempt local zoning laws for that to happen. There’s also language to allow the transfer of slot-machine licenses within Miami-Dade and Broward, which could allow former President Trump to have slot machine at his Doral resort, the Herald’s Mary Ellen Klas has reported. The agreement is bound for the courts because opponents say it violates a constitutional amendment that gives voters the exclusive right to expand gambling via ballot measures. This push for casinos is a bad idea all around.

Big Sugar gift

The passage of SB 88 by the House and Senate with little opposition shows the power of the sugar industry within both parties in Tallahassee. The industry spent more than $11 million on Florida campaigns in the 2020 cycle. The bill was filed on the heels of a federal class action lawsuit filed by residents of the Glades, the area south of Lake Okeechobee known for its sugar cane fields, alleging that the industry’s pre-harvesting burning causes long-term respiratory problems and hurts property values. SB 88 adds “particle emissions” (aka smoke) to the list of farming activities for which farmers cannot get sued, and only those living within half a mile from an agricultural operation could bring a claim. “Black snow,” as sugar cane smoke is known, travels miles. It’s up to DeSantis to decide whether he will veto this bill. He has stood up to the sugar industry before. We hope he does it again.

Public records

Lawmakers say they have to pass a bill to shield the identity of candidates applying to be president of public universities and colleges because too much transparency prevents the state from attracting high-caliber applicants. Baloney. HB 997, approved by the House, would create a records exemption for candidates’ “personal identifying information.” Only the names of finalists would be made public. This bill keeps taxpayers, who help fund colleges, in the dark and feels like a self-serving move. It’s common for influential people, including lawmakers, to have the inside track for such posts.

Key West

Last year, Key West voters approved three referendums to limit passengers and the size of cruise ships at the city’s port — the only one in Florida within a designated “area of critical state concern” — because it’s in an environmentally sensitive area. The cruise industry wasn’t happy, so it did what special interests do when they cannot get get their way locally: It went to the Legislature. The Senate passed SB 426 to overturn those referendums, and the House will vote on it Monday. We’re going to have to hope DeSantis saves the day by vetoing this bad idea that usurps local control.

This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 6:00 AM.