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SB 718 (Stargel) and HB 231 (Workman) were a pair of bills that would, essentially, reduce alimony benefits for divorcees. This legislation would have changed family law in Florida to include statutory time limits on how long alimony can be received to – in most cases – half the length of the marriage, set caps on awards as a percentage of the paying partner’s gross income, and shift the burden of proof to the party seeking alimony. The Senate version made it to Governor Scott’s desk where he vetoed it citing concerns that the bill, which could have applied retroactively to settlements reached years ago, would be disruptive to the affairs of divorced women and their families. OUR POSITION WAS NO.

SB 7083, known by its supporters as the “Timely Justice Act,” would curtail the appeals process for inmates convicted of capital crimes and speed up the process from conviction to execution. If signed, Governor Scott would have to take action on the delayed executions of 13 prisoners this June; it is all but certain that they would be hurtled toward an accelerated death at the hands of the state. Florida has the largest backlog of capital convicts in the U.S. of any state besides California. In the past, 24 Floridians have been exonerated of their crimes while sitting on death row. OUR POSITION WAS NO.

SB 862 was the Senate version of a law to be entitled the “Parent Empowerment Act,” or what opponents called the parent trigger bill. The bill provided for a petition process by which 50% plus one of the parents of a school receiving a grade of “F” from the Department of Education two years in a row could initiate the conversion of said school into a for-profit charter school. Though parent trigger passed the House, it was stopped for a second year in a row in the Senate by a coalition of independent Republicans and a unified Democratic Caucus. OUR POSITION WAS NO. THIS VOTE WAS COUNTED TWICE

HB 7007, which contains Governor Scott’s vaunted manufacturing tax credit, is another that we did not support. As we’ve written before, these tax incentives rarely lead to more jobs and always lead to holes in the budget. OUR POSITION WAS NO.

HB 7011 (sponsored by Rep. Jason Brodeur) and SB 1392 (Sen. Wilton Simpson) were bills aimed at “overhauling” the Florida Retirement System (FRS) by essentially legislating it out of existence. Though Senator Simpson’s bill was less coercive, allowing rank and file state workers to remain within the system, both were aimed directly at the throats of Florida workers and pensioners. The FRS is one of the strongest pension plans in the nation, currently able to fund 87% of its future obligations – there is no crisis in our state pension program. Therefore, we believe that an attempt to do away with it is ideological rather than practical in nature, making it a great litmus test of who stands with labor and who is legislating on behalf of the large donors and owners. OUR POSITION WAS NO. THIS VOTE WAS DOUBLE SCORED

HB 655 is a bill that prohibits county and local governments from requiring businesses to provide medical or “sick” leave and other related benefits. Its sponsors claim that the bill is aimed at creating a “level playing field” across counties and increase accounting efficiencies for employers, but there’s no question who is affected most by these proposed changes: middle- and low-income workers, mainly at Florida mega-employers like Disney, who has lobbied vigorously in favor of the measure; Rep. Steve Precourt, the bill’s sponsor, represents Orange County.

We also scored votes final passage votes on HB 87 related to Foreclosure,  HB 7029 related to Digital Learning. We opposed both bills.