What our state legislators are up to

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In Session
March 7 – May 5, 2017

My last post, titled “Whose priorities ARE they?,” described my attempt to compare the bills filed for Florida’s 2017 legislative session by Collier County’s State Senator Kathleen Passidomo and State Representatives Byron Donalds, Bob Rommel and Carlos Trujillo to the legislative priorities and funding requests of the Collier County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) and Collier County School District (CCPS). Those are the two elected bodies I follow, and I wanted to know if the people we elected put forward bills to address their requests.

While our representatives had filed a total of 23 bills through the date of my post, I’d taken on the task too early. They still had a month to go to file bills.

Now that the deadline has passed, I took another look at the bills they introduced. In this post, I’ll share what I learned.

Senator Kathleen Passidomo

Kathleen Passidomo’s bills

Senator Passidomo introduced 34 bills and co-sponsored seven. A list with bill titles and links so you can read the ones you’re interested in is on her Florida Senate web page.  Here’s how I categorized them by topic (cs = “co-sponsor”); click a bill number to go directly to its web page:

Only one of Passidomo’s bills addresses the issues of major importance to the BCC: SB 408 Highway Safety, which deals with bicycle and pedestrian safety. And none addresses any of the CCPS priorities.

However, she did co-sponsor SB 78 Public School Recess, requiring each district school board to provide students in certain grades with a minimum number of minutes of free-play recess per week and a minimum number of consecutive minutes of free-play recess per day. Collier School Board member Kelly Lichter has advocated for mandatory recess at Board meetings in the past.

Rep. Byron Donalds

Bryon Donalds’ bills

Representative Donalds filed 19 bills and co-sponsored nine. A list with links is on his Florida House web page. Here’s how I categorized them:

  • Children; families; guardians; public safety – 2173
  • Education, preK–12 – 119 (withdrawn), 303 (cs), 591 (cs), 757, 773 (cs), 989, 2187 (cs)
  • Health and medical care – 429 (cs), 2581, 2585
  • Infrastructure – 2171, 2175, 2383, 3313, 3315, 3515, 3517, 4099
  • Law enforcement; self-defense immunity – 245 (cs)
  • Legal system; regulated industries – 2583
  • Objecting to U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 (Israeli settlements) – 281 (cs)
  • Public records exemptions; public meetings – 351 (cs), 843 (with Rommel)
  • Real estate; construction; development – 483
  • Taxation – 139 (cs), 289, 965

Two of Donalds’ Infrastructure bills would fund specific BCC appropriation requests:

  • HB 3313 would provide $1 million to replace eleven “functionally obsolete bridges” east of State Road 29. According to the Gator Canal Bridge Replacement Appropriations Project Request, the bridges are “heavily utilized for agriculture and other commercial traffic, and provide direct and timely access to local residents for first responders.”
  • HB 3315 would provide $950,000 for the repair or replacement of the Golden Gate City storm water outfall system. According to the Appropriations Project Request, the system is 35 to 45 years old and at the end of its useful life.

His other Infrastructure bills are appropriations requested by other entities in his District: the Hendry County BCC (HB 2171 and HB 4099), Florida SouthWestern State College (HB 2175), UF/IFAS (HB 2383) and the City of LaBelle (HB 3515).

The titles of Donalds’ bills related to preK–12 education which are of particular interest to me are:

  • HB 119 Interscholastic Extracurricular Activities (withdrawn prior to introduction)
  • HB 303 Religious Expression in Public Schools
  • HB 591 Maximum Class Size
  • HB 757 Voluntary Prekindergarten Education
  • HB 773 K–12 Student Assessments
  • HB 989 Instructional Materials for K–12 Public Education

Two CCPS priority areas – providing flexibility regarding state-mandated testing, and maintaining the flexibility in current law for schools of choice (i.e. charter schools) under the Class Size Amendment – appear to be the subjects of HB 773 and HB 591, respectively. But after reading the bills, my impression is that neither really aligns with what the District asked for.

Also of interest is Donalds’ HB 843 Public Meetings and Records/Meetings Between Two Members of Board or Commission, which he jointly introduced with Representative Rommel. See the Naples Daily News editorial “Donalds’ bad bill turns Sunshine into shade,” with which I agree, for more on this bill.

Rep. Bob Rommel

Bob Rommel’s bills

Representative Rommel filed 12 bills and co-sponsored seven. A list with links is here. Here’s how I categorized them:

  • Health and medical care – 537
  • Infrastructure – 3321, 3323, 3325, 3327
  • Law enforcement, self-defense immunity – 245 (cs), 249, 305 (cs), 697 (cs)
  • Legal system, regulated industries, real estate – 583 (cs), 927, 977, 6021
  • Objecting to U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334 (Israeli settlements) – 281 (cs)
  • Public records exemptions; public meetings – 243 (cs), 351, 843 (with Donalds), 1079
  • Taxation – 263 (cs) 

Two of Rommel’ Infrastructure bills would fund specific BCC appropriation requests:

  • HB 3325 would provide $500,000 to reconstruct and raise the elevation of Goodland Drive (CR 92A) to reduce the frequency and duration of impassibility which occurs due to flooding. According to the Appropriations Request, this is the only land access to the Goodland community.
  • HB 3327 would provide $750,000 to replace and upgrade the 40+ year-old Bayshore Gateway Triangle CRA Water Delivery System. According to the Appropriations Request, asbestos cement, cast iron, and ductile pipes will be removed and replaced, and added fire hydrants and increased water pressure will assist the Fire District in protecting residents.

Rommel’s two other infrastructure bills (HBs 3321 and 3323) would provide funding for projects requested by the City of Marco Island.

None of Rommel’s other bills address other Collier County or CCPS priorities.

Rep. Carlos Trujillo

Carlos Trujillo’s bills

Representative Trujillo holds key leadership positions in the House in his final term (due to term limits). He is Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and Alternative Chairman of the Joint Legislative Budget Commission. So I’m not surprised that he hasn’t introduced many bills. I am, though, curious about the one bill he DID sponsor: HB 885 Transactions with Foreign Financial Institutions.

This bill requires state-chartered financial institutions that do business with a foreign financial institution owned by a country under U.S. sanctions to, within 5 business days, identify and report the source of every transaction that passes through it to the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and to certify that the source does not involve any confiscated property “as defined in the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996.” That law, also known as the Helms-Burton Act, strengthens and continues the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

Whose priority is THAT?

Next steps

I’d like to find out if bills have been introduced by other elected officials that address the Collier County and CCPS priorities. I’d also like to look into the special interest groups that have contributed to our legislators’ campaigns to try to learn whose priorities their bills might be advancing. And I plan to look at what’s been happening in the House Committees and Senate Committees that will be considering bills related to preK–12 education. They began meeting months before Session began, and it will be interesting to see what presentations they’ve heard and what actions they’ve taken.

Meanwhile, I hope you will read some of the bills introduced by Collier County’s representatives and share your thoughts with them:

  • Senator Kathleen Passidomo – click here or call (850) 487–5028 and/or (239) 417–6205
  • Representative Byron Donalds – click here or call (850) 717–5080 and/or (239) 417–6270
  • Representative Bob Rommel – click here or call (850) 717–5106 and/or (239) 417–6200
  • Representative Carlos Trujillo – click here or call (850) 717–5105 and/or (305) 470–5070

Help me reach more Collier County voters by sharing this post with your friends. You and they can subscribe to Sparker’s Soapbox by email at www.sparkers-soapbox.blogspot.com, “like” me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sparkers.soapbox or follow me on Twitter @SparkersSoapbox.

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