Legislative Session closed May 8, and against all odds, NFIB/Florida delivered some big victories to our members.
Early in the 60-day session, it became apparent that the pro-trial lawyer climate in the Florida Capitol would be our foremost challenge. Pro-business bills that would customarily sail through a conservative legislature became uphill battles. We also found ourselves fighting bad bills left and right – bills that would have raised your liability insurance costs and increased your chances of falling victim to lawsuit abuse.
Despite the anti-business fog, we helped pass a number of bills that will lower the taxes your business pays. After years of compelling lawmakers to lower your business rent tax, relief is finally set to be implemented, and we rallied to limit your commercial property tax hikes by passing an amendment for the 2018 ballot.
Unfortunately, fixing the workers’ compensation system – the biggest fight of all between the business community and the trial bar – ended without agreement in the final hours of session. But we won’t stop there; we’ll be turning up the heat on legislators all Summer to ensure they understand the ramifications of out-of-control workers’ comp rates.
This is where the small business agenda stands:
Victories
Renewing the 10% Cap on Commercial Property Tax Hikes
House Bill 21 – This bill will place a referendum on the 2018 ballot that would allow voters to approve the permanent extension of the 10% cap on commercial property taxes that is scheduled to sunset in 2018. This tax cap limits your county tax assessor from increasing your taxable value by more than 10% per year on your commercial property. PASSED
Reducing the Business Rent Tax
House Bill 7109 – This bill would permanently reduce the business rent tax from 6% to 5.8%. While we hoped to get a bigger cut, this is the first real effort by the legislature to start chipping away at this tax and is a good starting point to get this tax fully repealed. PASSED
Workers’ Compensation Public Records Exemption
House Bill 1107 – This workers’ compensation public records exemption will help to shield injured employees’ personal information from trial lawyers who are trolling for clients. PASSED
Prejudgment Interest
House Bill 469/Senate Bill 334 – This bill would have increased litigation costs for personal injury suits and raised general liability insurance rates. DEFEATED
Allowing Local Governments to Ban Disposable Plastic Bags
House Bill 93/Senate Bill 162 – This bill did not get a hearing in the House. DEFEATED
Prohibiting Employers from Inquiring about an Applicant’s Criminal History
House Bill 31 – This bill was not heard in the House or Senate. DEFEATED
Increasing the Minimum Wage
House Bill 945/Senate Bill 160 – This bill was not heard in the House or Senate. DEFEATED
Unfinished Business
Workers’ Compensation Reform
House Bill 7085 – This bill would have added an attorneys’ fee cap of $150/hour among other fixes that could result in a savings of more than 10% toward your workers’ compensation premiums. This bill died after being “bounced” back and forth between the House and Senate on the 60th days of session. We had the votes to pass this bill but it became clear that the Senate President would not give us a fair up or down vote on the bill. FAILED
Direct Primary Care
House Bill 161 – This bill has passed the full House was heard on the Senate floor but was amended with language that the House found unacceptable. This caused the bill to stall on 3rd reading. FAILED
Repealing a Provision Requiring Healthcare Facilities to get State Permission to Expand Business
House Bill 7/Senate Bill 676 – This bill passed the House but was never heard in the Senate. FAILED
Requiring Labor Organization to Recertify Membership Every Year
House Bill 11/Senate Bill 1292 – This bill passed the House but was never heard in the Senate. FAILED
Accuracy in Medical Damages
House Bill 537/Senate Bill 384– Unfortunately, this bill was not heard in the House or Senate. FAILED
