A fast peek at some excellent points headed into final week of Session

The Legislature this Session has handed payments addressing weapons, abortion, the loss of life penalty, lawsuit limitations, and reasonably priced housing. Headed into the final week of the 2023 Session, some precedence payments are nonetheless not aligned.

Right here’s a fast have a look at some unresolved points:

— A ban on gender-affirming care: Each the Home and Senate have handed controversial payments prohibiting docs from providing gender-affirming care to minors, which might embody puberty blockers and, in restricted situations, surgical procedures for minors. The payments, nonetheless, should not aligned as a result of the Home invoice (HB 1421) features a provision that bans insurance coverage non-public insurance coverage firms from together with protection for any gender-affirming care within the insurance policies they write in Florida. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo mentioned she disagrees with the ban. One other distinction within the payments is the Home proposal bans minors from taking hormones for gender-affirming care after Dec. 31, 2023. The Senate invoice (SB 254) permits the state’s medical boards to develop insurance policies for minors who’ve already began taking the hormones.

— Tax bundle: The 2 chambers have drawn up tax minimize proposals that mirror one another however have just a few main variations. The Home, in its proposal (HB 7063), needs to chop the state tax on business leases from 5.5% to 4.5% in July of this 12 months. Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t suggest the tax minimize, and it isn’t at the moment included within the Senate bundle (SB 7062). The Home and Senate tax payments are additionally not aligned on the overall price. The Senate invoice reduces tax income by $1.14 billion, whereas the Home invoice is almost $1.38 billion.

— Information privateness: DeSantis earlier this 12 months known as for legislators to go a “digital invoice of rights” that will give Floridians extra management over their information and would impose new rules on tech firms equivalent to Google. Earlier makes an attempt to go a knowledge privateness invoice have floundered over whether or not the laws would come with a proper to sue. The Senate on Friday handed its newest model (SB 262), however crucial variations stay with a Home invoice (HB 1547) that has but to be heard on the Home flooring.

— Eyeball wars once more: Passidomo is the driving power behind laws that spells out in statutes which might be known as a doctor. SB 230 basically bans anybody however medical docs and osteopathic physicians, chiropractors, dentists and podiatrists from physicians. The Home counterpart (HB 583) does the identical but additionally permits optometrists to make use of the phrases “optometric doctor” and “physician of optometry.” Home Well being and Human Providers Committee Chairman Rep. Randy Nice tried to derail Passidomo’s precedence invoice earlier this month by supporting an modification to the Home invoice that will have deepened the divide between the 2 proposals by including acupuncturists to the listing of pros who might describe themselves as physicians and docs.

— Native issues: Two substantial native points should be resolved within the ultimate week. Final Thursday, the Home handed a neighborhood invoice (HB 1645) that will switch management of Gainesville Regional Utilities from metropolis officers to a brand new board appointed by the governor. Home Democrats largely opposed the measure, nevertheless it’s unclear how a lot opposition there can be within the Senate. One other main native subject is the ultimate decision on how you can refund transportation taxes paid by Hillsborough County residents. The tax was struck down by the Florida Supreme Courtroom in 2021. The Home has included a gross sales tax vacation for Hillsborough residents in its tax minimize bundle, HB 7063. However the Senate included in its funds implementing invoice, SB 2502authorization for the Division of Income to refund cash to county residents.

Florida Politics reporter Grey Rohrer contributed to this report.

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