Sixty Days for 4.12.21 — A prime-time look at the 2021 Legislative Session

Sixty Days — A first-rate-time have a look at the 2021 Legislative Session:

The Final 24

The NCAA on Monday stated they might reconsider holding championship occasions in states that ban transgender ladies from competing in sports activities. The warning shot comes a day earlier than the Home is scheduled to take up a controversial invoice (HB 1475) that may do exactly that. Beneath the invoice, sponsored by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, transgender student-athletes can be required to compete on groups aligned with their organic intercourse. Historical past signifies the NCAA isn’t bluffing. In 2017, the group banned North Carolina from holding championship occasions in response to the state’s transgender rest room invoice. The ban value the state an estimated $3.76 billion. Right here’s your nightly rundown.

Mum’s the phrase. Gov. Ron DeSantis has nothing to say about his scandal-plagued buddy, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Thoughts your enterprise. DeSantis slammed Company America’s response to Georgia’s controversial election regulation invoice, as Florida considers comparable laws (SB90/HB 7041).

It’s not over but. Rep. Sam Garrison is the current favorite to be Home Speaker in 2026, however a few different first-term lawmakers are nonetheless placing up a combat.

‘Ironic, proper?’ Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried’s political committee sent out a fundraising appeal hitting the THC caps invoice (HB 1455), and poking at sponsor Rep. Spencer Roach.

Meet your finalists. Rep. Scott Plakon and Gabriella Passidomo, the daughter of Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, are amongst 4 finalists for an open seat on the Public Service Fee.

Dues drama. The Florida Training Affiliation launched another ad hammering payments (SB 1014/HB 835) that may block unions from deducting dues from lecturers’ paychecks.

Troubling pattern. A brand new report from the state’s Workplace of Insurance coverage Regulation discovered Florida accounted for over 76% of all householders’ litigation in the USA in 2019.

Able to launch? There’s hypothesis Sen. Shevrin Jones might run for an open seat in Congress, and a new website registration is including gasoline to the rumors.

In loving reminiscence. A mountain biking path in Lake Kissimmee State Park has been dedicated to the late Rep. Kristin Jacobs.

Coronavirus numbers

Optimistic circumstances:

— 2,085,745 FL residents (+1,572 since Sunday)

— 40,101 Non-FL residents (+41 since Sunday)

Origin:

— 16,716 Journey associated

— 824,397 Contact with a confirmed case

— 22,888 Each

— 1,221,744 Beneath investigation

Hospitalizations:

— 87,024 in FL

Deaths:

— 34,720 in FL

Vaccinations:

— 11,265,969 Doses administered

— 7,291,420 Whole individuals vaccinated

— 2,843,455 First dose

— 473,416 Accomplished one-dose sequence (+21,154 since Sunday)

— 3,974,549 Accomplished two-dose sequence (+26,645 since Sunday)

Quote of the Day

“I don’t have something to say.” — Gov. Ron DeSantis, when requested about U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Your Metz Husband Daughton-sponsored query of the day is: Bayshore Boulevard on this metropolis is the longest steady sidewalk on this planet.

As at all times, click here to tweet your reply with cc: @MHDFirm. The primary particular person with the right reply will get a shoutout in 60 Days!

Final time, we requested: Florida man attacked by what woodland creature after taking a selfie with it.

Reply: Squirrel.

Congrats to Rusty Rollings (@rufkutdiamnd), the primary particular person to tweet the right reply!

Invoice Day’s Newest

3 Questions

Leaks within the Piney Level reservoir burst into this yr’s Session, hijacking $200 million of coronavirus aid funding and worrying the state’s legislators, particularly these in districts close to the Manatee County web site. Sen. Janet Cruz visited the positioning final week. We caught up with the Tampa native concerning the Piney Level go to, plus a well being care invoice years within the making. 

Florida Politics: You visited Piney Level in particular person final Tuesday; what was that like?

Cruz: For those who see the breach, and also you see these gypsum stacks or reservoirs — I felt like I used to be taking a look at a nook of Lake Tahoe. These are gigantic stacks. We took a daily automotive there, and we needed to get out and get right into a four-wheel-drive truck, since you go up a hill to get to the height of those reservoirs. So, they’re gigantic, and I used to be a bit of heartbroken once I noticed them at first as a result of I assumed, what are we doing right here? I’m trying round in any respect these swimming pools, and I believe, shouldn’t somebody be liable for returning the land to the best way that you simply discovered it? And I do know there’s a system, and I’ve to dig in and perceive extra about this, however this has been there for a minimum of since 2003 and perhaps longer. However it’s very unhappy to see that we couldn’t work out a solution to fill this in and make this land obtainable for parks, redevelopment of some type. It’s only a wasteland to me. That’s what I felt like I used to be seeing. Now we have to cope with these reservoirs, of which there are various, and they’re the dimensions of massive lakes. It’s overwhelming to face on the ledge of one among these and see how a lot soil and land has been excavated. For those who have a look at aerial views, and also you see the place the runoff goes now, or the place it was going, it’s proper into Tampa Bay.

Florida Politics: Have been you frightened about your district while you first heard concerning the leak?

Cruz: I used to be scared. You realize, initially, I heard that there was radioactivity and there was plenty of point out concerning the risks of all of that. And so I wasn’t positive if we’d find yourself with a Tampa Bay that glowed at evening. I nonetheless assume that we’ll have algae blooms. I believe that the grasses that manatees feed off of that can in all probability die off too. I fear about that. We’ll have algae blooms. It is going to kill the grasses. It is going to kill the manatees. We had been speaking (Wednesday) about placing manatees again on the endangered species record, as a result of we’re shedding them at report numbers. We haven’t actually been in a position to clarify precisely why. They’re ravenous as a result of the grasses are dying. Feeding them just isn’t the reply, as a result of then they turn into dependent. So, we now have to determine what’s occurring in our ecosystem, and this doesn’t assist. That is fairly worrisome. 

Florida Politics: Discuss concerning the $200 million that’s budgeted to wash up Piney Level. 

Cruz: That is privately owned property. It’s owned by an organization who bought this, after which mainly has walked away from it and is claiming that they’re bancrupt. We query that as as to whether they are surely, however that’s the narrative that they’re placing out, is that they don’t have the cash. Within the meantime, we are able to’t anticipate a lawsuit for his or her {dollars} to return to repair this mess. So, we as a state are going to step in. It is going to be on the expense of the taxpayer, as a result of that is the American Rescue cash that the Biden administration has despatched right down to the states. So, we are able to thank the Biden administration for this cash that they’re sending down. In the event that they hadn’t despatched this down, I’m not fairly positive as a state what we’d do given our funds and the bills of the COVID pandemic. However now we’ll take $200 million, and we are going to use that to restore and patch the leak, however that doesn’t handle all the pieces that’s there. Now we have to cope with these reservoirs.

Florida Politics: You’ve a invoice (SB 786) that may cap the value of insulin for individuals who want that drug to stay. Are you able to discuss that? 

Cruz: Insulin is a drug that’s been round for 100 years. It ought to be as low-cost as antibiotics that Publix offers away. Insulin is a drug that individuals should have to stay on. The scientist that patented insulin patented it for $1, as a result of he wished everybody that wanted insulin to have it. However sadly, within the final 10 years, we see value gouging. Producers have found out a solution to elevate this value. And the true challenge is that this; when you’re on Medicaid, you’re sometimes coated as a result of Medicaid — which is usually youngsters and a few adults — you’re coated to your value of insulin. However these working of us which can be uninsured or underinsured are those that may’t afford the insulin. The price of insulin within the final 10 years has tripled. Within the final 30 years, it’s gone up 1,200%. I used to be speaking to a girl who’s a Realtor. Her husband is paying $2,000 a month for his insulin as a result of she is a small-business proprietor. And she or he’s fortunate. They’ll afford it. However different individuals that may’t afford it, they’ll go with out their insulin, or they’ll ration their insulin. They usually find yourself within the emergency room in what we name a diabetic coma, which is ketoacidosis. And it occurs each single evening, a number of instances an evening. The emergency doctor who heads up the emergency room at Tampa Normal, he’ll let you know simply how prevalent it’s because individuals can not afford their insulin. So, my invoice is easy. It simply says, we’re going to cap the price of insulin at $100 a month whatever the quantity of insulin you want. The aim of that is to let huge enterprise duke this out. Allow them to combat about this. Let the insurance coverage corporations and the drug producers combat over what they’re prepared to pay, and take the poor affected person who has no choice right here, out of this equation. It’s unfair {that a} drug that’s 100 years previous is unaffordable to Floridians and everybody throughout the nation. There are a number of states which have handed this already, and it’s working nicely. 

Florida Politics: Is it going to go right here?

Cruz: Now within the Home, they’re doing a workshop on insulin prices and caps. So, they’re paying consideration. Now we have to attempt to work this out. This isn’t going away, and Florida should act. There are in all probability 6000 individuals a yr that die from underdosing their insulin yearly within the state of Florida. So, we now have to handle this. I imply, these are of us that they simply don’t have a alternative. 

Florida Politics: If this isn’t the yr that it passes, do you assume subsequent yr?

Cruz: Perhaps subsequent yr. I need to do some roundtables of my very own with the pharmaceutical corporations and the insurers to see how we are able to come collectively on this. Now we have to we now have to vary this equation. That is simply incorrect. 

Foyer Up

It wouldn’t be Session with no second-half push for gaming laws.

This yr’s gaming payments debuted immediately within the Senate Regulated Industries Committee. The primary piece of the trouble (SPB 7076/7078) would arrange a state Gaming Management Fee inside the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace.

The second (SPB 7080) would take away necessities that parimutuels host races, or jai alai matches to function card rooms, also referred to as decoupling.

The payments don’t deal with sports activities betting, and Senate President Wilton Simpson has stated the laws is tailor-made to not impression the continuing negotiations with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Nonetheless, many parimutuels have a stake within the payments, particularly these impacted by the 2018 constitutional modification banning greyhound racing. Every has a crew of lobbyists within the Capitol.

The Sarasota Kennel Membership, Washington County Kennel Membership and St. Petersburg-based Derby Lane are represented by Andrew Rutledge, Gary Rutledge, Corinne Mixon, Jessica Janasiewicz and Richard Lindstrom of Rutledge Ecenia.

In the meantime, Nick Iarossi, Ron LaFace, Andrew Ketchel, Scott Ross and Christopher Schoonover of Capital Metropolis Consulting symbolize bestbet and the Melbourne Kennel Membership in addition to Ocala Gainesville Poker and Jai Alai. Tracy Mayernick, Frank Mayernick and Rob Johnson of The Mayernick Group additionally symbolize bestbet.

Different gamers embrace Magic Metropolis On line casino and Gulfstream Park Racing Affiliation.

The previous has Michael Cantens of Flagler Methods and Tim Meenan and Karl Rasmussen of Meenan PA on its facet, whereas the latter has Joanna Bonfanti, Kevin Cleary, Ronald Brise, Julie Fess, Sha’Ron James and Larry Williams of Gunster Yoakley & Stewart.

Breakthrough Insights

The Subsequent 24

The Home will maintain a flooring Session at 2 p.m. On the agenda are payments that may ban transgender ladies from collaborating in ladies’s sports activities (HB 1475) and permit excessive colleges to broadcast prayers over the PA system earlier than sports activities occasions (HB 1027).

The Senate Agriculture, Atmosphere and Normal Authorities Appropriations Subcommittee will hear a invoice (SB 390) that may change rules governing pharmacy profit managers. The committee meets at 2 p.m. in Room 110 of the Senate Workplace Constructing.

The Senate Felony and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee will think about a invoice (SB 402) to take away a requirement that native governments publish authorized notices in print newspapers. The committee meets at 2 p.m. in Room 37 of the Senate Workplace Constructing.

The Senate Training Appropriations Subcommittee will take up a invoice (SB 1672) to permit veterans, energetic responsibility army members and others to take on-line programs at state schools and universities without cost. The committee meets at 2 p.m. in Room 412 of the Knott Constructing.

Full committee agendas, together with payments to be thought-about, can be found on the House and Senate web sites.

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