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In the waning days of session lawmakers are making a final dash to pass new privacy protections for Floridians.

The bill sponsors say the legislation is aimed at giving Floridians more say in how their data is used, but opponents say the bill would be much further reaching.

The Florida Privacy Protection Act would require companies that handle the data of 100,000 or more people and make 50 percent or more of their profits from selling or sharing that data to let consumers know what data is being collected and sold and give them the option of opting out entirely.

According to House sponsor Fiona McFarland, companies couldn’t deny you service if you opt to not share your data.

That means companies would have to find another way to make up the lost revenue, likely by offering paid subscriptions.

“If your streaming music service has decided that the value of your data is worth $5 a month to them, and by you opting out of them using your data, they can then charge you that $5 per month,” said McFarland.

The obvious targets are big tech companies, but State Senator Jeff Brandes told us he’s worried they wouldn’t be the only ones impacted.

“You’re going to catch businesses like Publix and Walt Disney,” said Brandes.

He said a similar law in California is estimated to have cost businesses $65 billion.

“We can’t be piecemealing, like a patchwork quilt, privacy laws around this country and expecting businesses to try to comply,” said Brandes.

But the McFarland argues the cost of doing nothing outweighs the risks.

“Our right to liberty, to make the decisions for ourselves as informed consumers, is just not happening when it comes to how our data is treated online,” said McFarland.

The House and Senate still have to agree on a final product.

The House version allows individuals to sue companies if their privacy rights are violated, while the Senate version leaves compliance enforcement to the Attorney General.

The Senate amended the bill Wednesday, which means both chambers still have to vote on a final product before session ends Friday.

Lawmakers in the State Capitol continue bouncing an insurance bill back and forth between the House and Senate as homeowners across the state face double digit increases.

Key provisions on roof replacements and attorneys fees continue to be sticking points.

The legislation sets limits on roof replacements.

The older the roof, the less the policy will pay, unless you opt for more expensive coverage.

“Ultimately, you are paying for your neighbors roof through higher premiums,” said State Senator Jeff Brandes.

The exact formula is still being worked out, but both chambers are working with a sense of urgency.

“There’s a problem with insurance rates rising at 25 to 35 percent a year,” said Representative Bob Rommel.

Lawsuits must be filed with in two years of the damage instead of the current three.

Lawmakers say the time frame allows unscrupulous contractors to make up claims, so it bans gift cards as incentives.

“Let me up on your roof. I’ll give you five hundred bucks. I’ll get you a free roof and you won’t even have to pay your deductible,” said Rommel.

But opponents argued there’s no guarantee any savings will be passed on to homeowners.

“This chamber also rejected at least six point two percent rate saving per year,” said Representative Emily Slosberg, referring to an amendment rejected offered and rejected Tuesday.

The legislation also allows Citizens Insurance, which is now growing at 5,000 homeowners a week, to raise its rates more than the current ten percent.

The bill would allow one percent more a year more until it reaches 15 percent.

“Why are we depriving property owners of vital protections, just when they need them most,” said Representative Yvonne Hisnon.

Senate Co-Sponsor Jeff Brandes calls the legislation the most important thing lawmakers must do this year.

“Rate increases of 30 or 40 percent a year are going to become common in the next two years if we do nothing,” said Brandes.

And if all the details can’t be worked out before the end of the week, Brandes and others said there will have to be a special session by the end of the summer.

Lawmakers are also negotiating a cap on attorneys fees, basing them on the percentage of their initial claim they are eventually awarded, if any, by a court.

Florida will have three weeks of sales tax free merchandise that includes hurricane and back to school supplies this year

There is also a third week of tax free sales on recreational supplies and entertainment tickets beginning July first.

Florida’s sales tax free holidays are bigger and better this year.

Under legislation expected to be approved Wednesday, hurricane supplies go tax free the Friday before Memorial Day.

Generators under $750 dollars, coolers, batteries, weather radios and more are tax exempt.

The state’s outgoing Director of Emergency Management Jared Moskowitz said the tax free days serve as a reminder.

“I think its very important that the government do everything we can to incentivize people being prepared and increasing their resiliency for hurricane season,” said Moskowitz.

In July there is a new tax free holiday called Freedom Week.

It includes camping fishing gear including tents, sleeping bags, camp stoves and more.

Even folding camping chairs costing less than $40 are on the list.

During the week you can also buy tickets to sporting events or movies tax free.

Tickets to music venues are also tax exempt during the July Freedom Week.

House sponsor Bobby Payne said the tickets will have to be used by the end of the year.

“We have an opportunity to turn some taxes back to consumers who have been shut in for a year, or six months, or whatever, and they want to get outside and enjoy the outdoors,” said Payne.

And finally, there is a tax free week of school supplies.

It includes clothing and shoes up to $60.

Backpacks are included and the big one, computers costing less than $1,000.

“It’s a shot in the arm that’s needed very much by the retail industry,” said Scott Shalley with the Florida Retail Federation.

Amid a host of other technical changes, the legislation also permanently removes the sales tax from independent living items including bed rails, grab bars and shower seats.

The legislation also allows tourism taxes to be used to mitigate flood risks.

A multi-year effort to close a loophole preventing churches with schools on their grounds from allowing firearms on their premises is headed to the Governor’s desk.

Republicans believe it will make the churches safer, while Democrats argue it will do just the opposite.

Places of worship can already allow guns on their property, but if they have a school on their grounds they can’t.

Senate sponsor Joe Gruters said all this legislation does is close that loophole.

“It’s not up to the individual. The religious institution can still determine time, place, where, when, how, who,” said Gruters.

But Democrats argued more guns equals more danger.

“I believe there are other ways to make those institutions safe, and we all know basically nowhere is safe, and that’s because there’s just too many guns in America,” said Senator Tina Polsky.

The legislation only applies to concealed carry permit holders, which according to a 2016 report conducted by the Crime Prevention Research Center are the most law abiding demographic in the Country.

Gruters also pointed to a case in 2019, where a gunman was stopped by an armed churchgoer at the West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas.

“Six seconds it took them to secure that location,” said Gruters. “This gives schools the needed safety they need, it gives churches the additional security that they need.”

Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer expressed concerns that if a church doesn’t allow firearms the legislation could open them up to lawsuits.

“We’ve seen that the NRA is voracious in their ability and their willingness to go to court and try to block any kind of common sense gun safety precaution,” said Farmer.

But Gruters rejected that suggestion, arguing the institution has the option of allowing or not allowing guns.

He also pushed back against an argument made by opponents who suggested if a church is on leased property, the property owner would have no say as to whether firearms are allowed.

“Property owners ultimately still have the ultimate control. They get to decide. If the leases are silent, I would say that this is a change of terms of the agreement and they can go back and address that,” said Gruters.

The legislation will take effect upon the Governor’s signature.

Chances of a veto are slim to none.

The Florida Senate passed legislation requiring social media companies to publish standards for use and abide by them when it comes to de-platforming users Monday.

The legislation carries heavy fines and the threat of lawsuits.

Big Tech platforms would face $100,000 a day fines if they de-platform a statewide candidates and $10,000 a day for other candidates.

In 2018, Matt Caldwell, the losing candidate for Florida Agriculture Commissioner was de-platformed for his pro NRA ad which YouTube removed for almost a day.

“They were able to take a whole segment of free press away, saying we don’t want to hear those words; we don’t want top hear that speech. And we’re going to de-platform you. This bill fixes that,” said Senator Kelli Stargel.

The Senate version allows the state or individuals to sue.

Democrats voted no.

“We’re not going to allow social media platforms to block offensive, hate mongering, insurrection supporting messaging,” said Senator Gary Farmer.

The minority was joined by St. Petersburg Republican Jeff Brandes.

“This is a bill we could see in countries we don’t want to talk about,” said Senator Brandes. “We can’t have 50 different states with 50 different laws on what you can post. It isn’t going to work.”

But in the end, the sponsor said the bill is about one thing.

“The bill requires the companies to define the behavior that will lead to you being de-platformed. And that’s it,” said Senator Ray Rodrigues.

Under the legislation, companies could only change their terms of service every 30 days.

The House isn’t likely to accept the bill passed by the Senate as-is, but what changes the House wants isn’t clear.

The Sponsor is playing his cards close to the vest.

“You know, we may make some edits to it and send it back to the Senate. I think that’s the plan right now,” said Representative Blaise Ingoglia.

There’s little doubt the legislation will pass in some form, but the question is how strong will it be as lawmakers enter the final week of the session.

Under the legislation, companies could only change their terms of service every 30 days.

The Florida Senate approved its election reform bill Monday.

While some of the more controversial aspects of the legislation didn’t make it in the final product, Democrats still expressed opposition.

Drop boxes would still be allowed, current mail ballot requests would still be honored and electronic signatures could still be used to validate mail ballots under the amended election reform bill.

“In Florida it is hard not to vote and I don’t believe that this bill takes that away,” said Senator Danny Burgess.

But future mail ballot requests would be limited to one election cycle instead of the current two and drop boxes would be limited to early voting hours.

Democrat Senator Janet Cruz said the result will be voter suppression.

“This is disingenuous. This is all about voter suppression. This is about making it harder for people, hard working folks, to get their butts to the polls,” said Cruz.

One thing both sides agree on is that Florida’s election was the gold standard in 2020.

Democrats said it shows there’s no need for the changes.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Senator Gary Farmer.

But Republicans argued there’s always room for improvement.

“It’s all about continuous improvement to make sure that we have a system that is going to work well to ensure that we have that safe, secure, transparent and fair election cycle,” said Senator Joe Gruters.

The legislation also closes a loophole that allowed candidates to run as an independent without holding the affiliation for at least a year before qualifying and codifies the Governor’s executive order in 2020, which allowed election supervisors to start counting mail ballots 35 to 40 days before an election instead of the current 22.

Whether the House will take up the Senate’s bill as-is is up in the air.

House sponsor Blaise Ingoglia indicated changes may be coming.

“There are some concerns I have with some of the language, some of the things that are in there, some of the things that are not in there,” said Ingoglia.

And the Senate sponsor was non-committal when asked if the changes made last week would stay in the final product.

Florida Senators were joined on the chamber floor by Tampa Bay Lightning leadership and the Stanley Cup Monday.

Lawmakers honored the team for its victory over the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup finals last year.

Tampa State Senator Janet Cruz recognized the team’s sacrifices throughout the pandemic and their contribution to the people of Tampa Bay.

“The Tampa Bay Lightning brought unparalleled joy and an outlet honestly to the people of Tampa Bay during what some of us saw as the peak of the pandemic,” said Cruz.

This is the second trophy to pass through the State Capitol this year.

Earlier in the session lawmakers also hosted the Lombardi Trophy and paid homage to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Florida House today pushed through a ban on so called ‘disability abortions’.

If signed into law, doctors would face a felony charge for carrying out an abortion that is solely due to a fetus being diagnosed with a physical or mental disability.

Representatives spent two hours debating the disability abortion ban.

Supporters call the policy a way of combating what they see as modern day eugenics.

“The Nazis has a phrase for this. They called it life unworthy of life,” said Representative Tyler Sirois.

Opponents claim the bill is flatly unconstitutional.

“This government has no business in a physician patient relationship,” said Representative Geraldine Thompson.

Democrats shared personal stories of being faced with pregnancy complications.

“If this law passed I may have not been able to make that decision. That was my decision!” Said Representative Robin Bartleman.

Republicans countered with personal testimony of what can happen when a pregnancy is carried to term.

“I was one of the first babies to survive the surgery. Thereby allowing for many more children with the same or similar deformities to survive as I had,” said Representative Elizabeth Fetterhoff.

The House bill faces a brick wall in the Senate, which hasn’t even scheduled it for a single hearing.

Representative Fentrice Driskell is hopeful the legislation is dead for the year.

“It’s my understanding that there hasn’t been much an appetite for this bill over in the Senate. So I don’t think we will see this one on the Governor’s desk. I also just think that it’s so out of touch with the reality of so many Floridians,” said Driskell.

But proposals like this have a habit of sticking around.

The parental consent bill was passed by the House multiple years in a row before finally making it through the Senate.

The parental consent law was also called unconstitutional by Democrats, although since the Governor signed it into law last year no legal challenges have been brought forward.

The state has a new, 30 year gaming compact with the Seminole tribe.

Under the deal, the tribe will pay the state $2.5 billion over the next five years.

The deal will likely be challenged the moment it is ratified.

The occasion was called historic.

The 30 year deal comes after five years of failed negotiations.

“The money that we generate from our casino’s is life changing from an education and health standpoint,” said Seminole Tribal Chief Marcellus W. Osceola Jr.

Under the deal the tribe will add Craps, Roulette, and remote sports betting.

The tribe can contract with parimutuel tracks for sports betting, taking 40 percent of any profits.

The tribe can also contract with the major players in the industry.

The deal is worth billions to the state.

“To have an agreement like this, which is going to provide the state with a minimum of $500 million a year, that’s something I think is really important,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.

Questions remain over whether this deal violates a 2018 voter approved constitutional amendment that requires voter approval before any gambling expansion.

Organizer John Sowinski argues it does.

“The federal law deals with the state and the Tribe entering into compacts for those forms of gambling that are already legal within the state. Sports betting is not already legal. It is subject to voter approval if its going to be on the reservation or anywhere else,” said Sowinski.

But the Governor and Chief believe the deal with withstand legal scrutiny.

“I think we’ve created a model that these wagers are being processed on Tribal land. I think it will pass muster,” said DeSantis.

Before any lawsuit, the deal must be ratified by state lawmakers.

A May 17th date has already been set for a Special legislative session.

As the Tribe’s revenue grows the state’s share will increase.

It is expected to produce over $6 billion for the state by the end of the decade.

Florida may soon have its first $100 billion budget, a nearly $8 billion increase over the current year.

An open economy and billions from the Federal Government have made the increase possible, but there is almost a problem of having too much cash.

Florida’s Capitol is awash in money.

More than $20 billion coming from the Federal Government.

The cash has eliminated the need for the major across the board cuts once contemplated.

“We still have a tremendous amount of issues we need to pay for, but at the end of the day, the federal money is very helpful,” said House Appropriations Chair Jay Trumbull.

But it is almost a problem of having more money than can be spent.

The House Education budget has $2.8 billion in federal money to help remediate students who fell behind during the pandemic.

“Schools districts have no idea how they are going to spend the $2.8 billion that we got in December. That speaks to the insanity of what Democrats did in Washington,” said House Education Appropriations Chair Randy Fine.

On top of $2.8 billion that arrived in December, Florida is getting another $7 billion to help schools reopen.

But as Fine points out, Florida schools have been open since fall.

“And by the way, the fact that our schools are open proves that all of these blue states abused their children by not being open that whole time,” said Fine.

Senator Doug Broxson is in charge of education funding in the Senate.

“A boatload of money dumped on us,” said Broxson. “And spending money recklessly is not what we should be looking at.”

The House wants to use $3.5 billion of the Federal money to refurbish state buildings, universities and local schools, but the spending plan is still in flux.

Among the things still to be worked out are $1,000 teacher and principle bonuses the Governor wants.

Lawmakers must agree on the spending plan by the end of Tuesday if they want to go home on time by the end of next week.

Legislation making it easier for parents to understand their legal rights when it comes to their children is headed to the Governor’s desk.

While there was no debate on the floor, the vote came down largely along party lines.

Senate sponsor Ray Rodrigues told us ultimately, the bill doesn’t really change anything.

“Currently parental rights are spread throughout the Florida statute, which is literally tens of thousands of pages. If you’re not an expert and know how to navigate that it can be difficult to find exactly all of the rights that are enumerated to parents. We fixed that now. We have one section where they’re easily found,” said Rodrigues.

Those rights span from the realm of education to healthcare.

“We’ve taken case law in the area of healthcare, which has long held that parents need to consent to healthcare for their children, and we’ve put it in statute. So we’ve codified that so it’s clear,” said Rodrigues.

But there is opposition to the legislation.

LGBTQ advocates fear the bill will require school guidance counselors to ‘out’ children to their parents.

“And young people who are struggling with their self identity will know there is no safe adult in their schools,” said Reverend Russell Meyer with the Florida Council of Churches.

But Rodrigues said that’s not the case, arguing the rights over a child’s healthcare don’t carry over to guidance councilors.

“A school guidance counselor is not a healthcare practitioner. Any child at any school can go see their school guidance counselor without specific prior authorization,” said Rodrigues.

And if you’re a parent and don’t want to hit the statue books, part of the bill will require schools to inform you about your rights.

If the Governor signs the bill it will take effect on July 1st.

The Senate watered down its election reform bill Thursday.

An amendment added on would now allow election supervisors the option of video streaming their ballot duplication process to candidates, instead of requiring them to allow rooms full of observers.

Another change removed a requirement that would have only allowed supervisors to validate mail in ballots with a wet signature on file, not an electronic one.

Whether the changes will make it into the final product is yet to be seen.

“What ideas will prevail, what things we’ll run into on the way there, I don’t know and it’s part of the exciting mystery of a great democratic republic,” said Senate sponsor Dennis Baxley.

The House has not yet taken up its version of the election reform bill.

The two chambers have only eight days remaining to get their two proposals aligned.

The Florida House gave tentative approval for nursing homes to substitute a new class of employees known a Personal Care Attendants for some of the duties of Certified Nursing Assistants Wednesday.

AARP and others argue the homes want to get by on the cheap to fill required hours of care, but the homes have said without PCA’s, meeting requirements for care will be almost impossible.

Before COVID, nursing homes were already facing staffing shortages.

“We have a workforce crisis. We need to bring more people into our buildings,” said Kristen Knapp with the Florida Health Care Association.

To help fill the vacancies, the state approved the use of personal care attendants by emergency order.

Representative Sam Garrison is sponsoring legislation to make the PCA’s permanent.

“Hopefully, we want to see more CNA positions that are vacant now, filled. We want to see more and more people in these positions,” said Garrison.

Right now, there are about 7,000 vacancies statewide.

Certified Nursing Assistants are required by law to provide an average of two and a half hours care a day to each resident.

They must have 40 hours of overall training.

“That’s what we ask for. Why not require 40 hours for personal care attendants? Our issue, though is the risk that we are putting on residents,” said Zayne Smith with the AARP of Florida.

While AARP supports the concept, it is worried about PCA’s having only two days of classroom instruction before going to work.

“You know, they got the liability protection. Now they are wanting to use lesser paid, lesser qualified staff in the facilities. Let’s not forget if they have a negligent act, they’re not going to be able to be sued,” said Smith.

Nursing homes disagree.

“Look, these are individuals, who I don’t think less qualified is a fair statement. These individuals go through a training. They have to demonstrate they are competent,” said Knapp.

The industry describes Personal Care Attendants as paid interns that will free certified nursing assistants to provide more hands on resident services.

In the end, the nursing homes argue without the attendants, care for aging baby boomers be hard to find and more costly.

The Florida House has approved legislation that would revamp and improve the state’s unemployment system, but the two chambers are still far apart on increasing benefits for the unemployed.

The issue will be hotly debated in the days ahead.

The House’s unemployment reform bill focuses only on improving the efficiency and capacity of the failed state’s unemployment system.

“So right, wrong or indifferent, the amount and the duration of benefits is not what this very good infrastructure bill is about. This bill fixes a broken system,” said House sponsor Representative Chip LaMarca.

Democrats had hoped it would go further.

“Our benefits are too low. You can’t get them for long enough,” said Representative Omari Hardy.

Florida’s unemployment benefits rank among the lowest in the nation, with only three state’s offering a smaller maximum weekly payment.

Across the Capitol, the Senate is pushing a proposal to increase max weekly benefits from $275 to $375.

They also want to add two additional weeks of payments for recipients.

“Well the last time we addressed this issue was probably 20 years ago and since then we’ve seen the cost of homes and the cost of living and the cost of really everything rise,” said Representative Jason Brodeur.

Negotiations between the two chambers are still ongoing, but the House sponsor told us his legislation and increasing benefits are two separate issues.

“I think there’s a fair amount of folks I can speak for, a fair amount of Republicans that have talked about it and if it comes over here I’m sure we’ll have that conversation. This just was not the vehicle for it,” said LaMarca.

The Senate sponsor is hopeful a deal can be worked out, even if it doesn’t go as far as he would like.

“That’s either the amount of money you get or the length of time that you get it and there’s some real discussion going on about what those calculations look like, how you do them and what is fair,” said Brodeur.

Even if the chambers come to an agreement on benefits, the Governor has said he doesn’t support the idea and would rather focus on getting Floridians back to work.

Retiring FSU President John Thrasher is being honored today by the Florida Legislature where he served in both chambers before becoming FSU’s 15 President.

Lawmakers took notice that under his leadership, FSU has made significant gains in state and national rankings, rising from number 43 to number 19 in the US News and World Report Best Colleges Guide for 2021.

The university also has the best four-year graduation rate in the state and has made great strides in closing the gap between the general public and underserved students.

FSU retained 95 percent of its freshmen in 2019, well above the national average.

“Graduate school enrollment, a hallmark of any great research university, is also at an all-time high. Enrollment in graduate programs increased by 23 percent in the fall 2020 semester. A rate far surpassing the university’s goal of three percent annual growth. President Thrasher helped advance the school’s academic and research mission and welcomed the best and brightest students in the school’s history,” said Representative and FSU alumni Demi Buscatta Cabrera.

The search for Thrasher’s replacement comes as lawmakers are considering taking records of applicants out of the public eye until finalists are selected.