2012 Florida Legislative Summation

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The 2012 legislative session is over and now it’s up to Governor Scott to sign all these bills into effect. Below is a partial breakdown of what was done this session and how it will affect us.

The good: Prison privatization, abortion restrictions, proposal to change the minimum wage for tipped workers, and charter school expansion where all blocked. This happened because moderate and independent republicans broke rank due to public pressure.

The bad: Tax cuts (over $800 million) budget cuts (almost 2 billion), drug testing state workers (being challenged in the courts), $300 million cut from universities and colleges, $1 billion cut from state worker pensions, spending cuts in prisons, health care and social services, and the elimination of 4,400 state jobs.

Although working families took a hit this session it was not nearly as bad as it could have been considering Republicans control the supermajority in the legislature. They could have pushed (and won) a much more regressive agenda and the only reason they didn’t is because of the fight back of unions, students, women, and working families all over the state. We’re coming out of the 2012 session larger and better organized than the start and are looking to hit the ground running in 2013.

A breakdown of the 2012 legislative session:

  • Higher education.
    • Community college students will see tuition increase 5%
    • Financial aid cut 4.4% ($487 million) and bright futures cut 5% and with new restrictions.
    • SB 1752/HB 7129 – UF and FSU will see “market rate” tuition above the maximum 15% increase allowed per year – passes.
    • SB 1752 – New 12th state university in Lakeland split off from USF – passes.
    • SJR 1508/HJR 931 – Student member of the Board of Governors appointed not elected – passes.
    • Breakdown of $300 million cuts by university:
      • Florida State University -$65,834,110
      • University of Central Florida -$52,613,031
      • USF Tampa -$36,905,544
      • USF St. Pete -$5,111,531
      • USF Sarasota Manatee -$2,993,867
      • USF Polytechnic -$5,231,911
      • University of Florida -$36,460,787
      • Florida Atlantic University -$24,790,484
      • Florida International University -$24,291,544
      • Florida A&M University -$19,850,901
      • University of West Florida -$11,944,722
      • University of North Florida -$7,191,189
      • Florida Gulf Coast University -$5,232,328
      • New College of Florida -$1,548,05
  • K-12
    • The $1 billion for students this year doesn’t make up the cuts from last year. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-education-round-up-legislature-20120310,0,3570021.story
      • Increased spending about $150 per student but last year cut $585 per student.
    • 100 lowest- performing elementary schools to be required 1 hour more of school a week.
    • SB 98 – Prayer in public schools (aka “inspirational messages) up to local school boards – passes.
    • SB 1116/HB 1051 -requirement that 6th graders get HPV vaccine – fails.
    • HB 5001 – requires 7th graders get the meningitis vaccine – passes.
    • HB 903 – tougher standards for charter schools – fails.
    • HB 7063 – expansion of online classes for highschool – passes.
    • SB 1718/ HB 1191 – backdoor privatization of public schools – fails.
    • SB 344/HB 19 – Adverts of public schools buses – fails.
  • Women’s rights.
    • SB 290/HB 277 – Requirement for women to wait 24 hours for abortion – fails. http://bit.ly/ws3rdX
  • Health care
  • Workers rights
    • FEA lawsuit comes back overturning last years forced 3% contribution to pension from state workers. Gov. Scott appealing ruling to State Supreme Court. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120306/ARTICLES/120309766/1002/news01?Title=Pension-ruling-puts-local-workers-in-limbo&tc=ar
    • SB 1416/HB 7027 – gives $800 million in tax relief for businesses and remains the program “reemployment assistance” – passes. This puts a lot of reliance on federal government and will come back to hurt our budget in the future.
    • SB 1358/HB 1205 – random drug testing of state workers – passes.  Federal lawsuit in the works.
    • State budget eliminated 4,400 state jobs.
    • SB 862/HB 213 – anti-wage theft bill – fails.
  • Miscellaneous
    • SB 212/HB 5 – restricting life sentences for juveniles in non homicidal cases –  fails.
    • SB 524 – ending the shackling of women giving birth in prison – passes.
    • SB 2038 – prison privatization – fails.
    • SB 1880/HB 7049 – harsher penalties for human trafficking (aka modern day slavery) – passes.
    • SB 1890/HB 213 -expedited foreclosures – fails
    • SB 268/HB 181 – selling of naming rights for some state tails – passes.
    • SB 632/HB 31 – banning protesting at funerals to 500 feed and within 1 hour – passes.
    • Scott’s Top Lawyer Resigns. http://bit.ly/yTrgd4
    • Cliff Stearns under investigation by FBI for trying to bribe opponent out of the race. http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/rep-cliff-stearns-accused-of-trying-to-bribe-rival/1219419
  • Immigrants rights.
    • SB 1638/HB 1315 – e-verify – fails.
    • SB 106 – in-state tuition for children of undocumented peoples – fails.
  • Tax cuts
    • One of the main things to come out of the 2012 session was a slew of bills amounting to $829.8 in tax cuts. http://bit.ly/zpPI7S
      • In total, about $750 million for business and the wealthy this year, and more than $2.5 billion over the next three years.
Bill No. Tax relief Amount/year (millions)
HB 7087 CORPORATE TAX – Increases corporate income tax exemption from $25,000 to $50,000 29.4
SB 1996 BIZ INCENTIVES – Provides Gov. Rick Scott funds to use for drawing companies to Florida. 100.9
HB 1127 UNEMPLOYMENT TAX – Reduces unemployment compensation taxes for businesses by at least $50 per employee 276.0
HB 7087 BIZ MACHINERY – Additional sales tax exemption for business machinery and equipment 56.4
HB 5505 INSURANCE TAX – Provides tax credits for insurers that pay their insurance premium taxes early 150.0
HB 1003 TANGIBLE PROPERTY – Doubles tax exemption for business property to $50,000 20.3
SB 962 SCHOOL DONATIONS – Provides additional tax relief for corporations that make donations to schools 76.3
HB 7087 TAX HOLIDAY – Provides three-day sales tax holiday for consumers in August. 31.8
HB 7087 PRIVATE PLANES – Eliminates sales taxes on repair and parts for small planes 12.3
HB 7087 FRUIT PACKINGHOUSE – Eliminates sales taxes on electricity used at fruit packinghouses 1.1
HB 7087 CATTLE RANCH – Eliminates sales taxes on electricity that will be used to power a new slaughterhouse near Ocala 1.2
SB 1060 COMMUNICATION SERVICES – Allows companies like AT&T to reduce taxes by bundling products 35.0
HB 7097 MARLINS STADIUM – Exempts the city of Miami from paying taxes on parking garages at Marlins stadium 1.2
SB 770 REAL ESTATE – Eliminates the local business tax on real estate broker’s associates 3.7
HB 95/HJR 169 PROPERTY – Reduces taxes for spouses of veterans killed in the line of duty and low income seniors 33.2
HB 7087 FIXED-BASE OPERATORS – Eliminates some taxes on aviation companies that operate at government-owned airports 0.9
HB 7097 SCHOOLS – Provides a tax break for certain schools, including a pricey Fisher Island private school 0.1
TOTAL 829.8

3-4-12 Florida Legislative Roundup

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