Legislative Session Review: Florida

Florida adjourned its 2018 legislative session sine die on March 11, and Governor Rick Scott (R) finished acting on the bills sent to his desk on April 10. The focus at the start of the session was sexual misconduct allegations involving state lawmakers, including the powerful Senate Appropriations Chair and gubernatorial candidate Jack Latvala (R), who resigned in December. That issue was abruptly pushed aside, however, following the tragic school shooting on Valentine’s Day in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed. The session was turned on its head from that point forward, as the previously staunchly pro-gun Republican majorities in the House and Senate passed a raft of gun control measures aimed at preventing another massacre.

Legislative Highlights

• Lawmakers adopted an $88.7 billion budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year on the final day of session. The new budget, the largest in state history, represented a 7.6 percent increase ($6.3 billion) over the 2017-18 spending plan.
• Lawmakers passed major gun control measures in response to the Parkland shooting. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act (FL SB 7026) raises the age to purchase a rifle from 18 to 21; imposes a three-day waiting period for most gun sales; bans bump stocks; and prevents people with mental illnesses from purchasing firearms.
• Legislators also responded to the tragic deaths of 12 patients at a Hollywood, Florida, nursing home that lost electricity during Hurricane Irma last September. Newly enacted measures require all nursing homes and assisted living facilities to install generators with enough fuel to keep air conditioning running for three days.

Election Preview

Florida voters will go to the voting booths on November 6 to choose a new governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. The battle to replace term-limited Rick Scott in the governor’s mansion will be a high profile race. State Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, and state House Speaker Richard Corcoran are expected to duke it out in the Republican party primary. Former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, and current Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum are vying for the Democratic nomination. Primary elections for governor and every other race will be held August 28.

All 120 state House seats are on the ballot this year, as well as 20 of the state Senate’s 40 seats. Voters will also be tasked with sorting through a baker’s dozen of ballot initiatives, including eight certified on April 16 by the Florida Constitutional Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years to suggest changes to the state’s foundational document.