Each week during Florida’s interim committee weeks and the annual legislative session, FJA provides our members with an overview of the most up-to-date important legislative action and activities in Tallahassee.
However, the legislative process is very fluid, and things can change at a moment’s notice as new bills are filed, meetings are noticed late, amendments are created and noticed late. Your FJA legislative team works to track these activities and alert our legislative committee chairs and committees as things happen in real time. If information changes after our weekly email update, we notify the appropriate committee and practice groups and provide updates on this page.
Legislative Session Week 9: The hanky has dropped and the Florida Legislature has officially adjourned the 2021 session, sine die. This means the regular session is over and all bills that have not cleared the committee process and passed both chambers are dead. A special session has been announced for the week of May 17 to address gaming and the newly signed Seminole Compact. READ MORE >
Legislative Session Week 8: As the eighth week of session comes to a close, there is only one week left in the 2021 regular session – however, a special session has been announced for the week of May 17th to address gaming and the newly signed Seminole Compact. This means all bills that have cleared the committee process and the budget will be up for final passage next week. Bills that don’t pass next week are effectively dead. While the special session is expected to only include gaming, we remain vigilant since the call could be expanded at any time. READ MORE >
Legislative Session Week 7: As we close out the seventh week of the 2021 legislative session, we can report some significant action taken on FJA priority legislation. The biggest positive development was that CS/SB 54 by Sen. Danny Burgess, which had been retained on the Senate Special Order Calendar for several weeks, finally saw historic movement this week when it passed the Senate on Wednesday evening by a 38-1 vote. READ MORE >
Legislative Session Week 6: This week started a bit slower with the no committee meetings on Monday following the Easter and Passover holidays. On Tuesday, lawmakers were back in Tallahassee for committee meetings and House and Senate floor sessions later in the week where several key bills were considered. Now that we have finished Week six of the Legislative session, we are starting to see the final committees of reference for many bills before they head to the House and Senate floor for debate and final passage. READ MORE >
Legislative Session Week 5: Week five of the 2021 legislative session concluded with progress on some key bills, as well as some delays and expected developments next week. While we anticipated this week would be THE week for various proactive and defensive bills that we have been working on to move forward, many of these bills remained in committee or were put on hold. READ MORE >
Legislative Session Week 4: Week four of the 2021 Legislative session included many developments. This week, the first few bills were passed by both chambers and sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature. The COVID-19 Liability Immunity proposals (SB 72), was given approval by the House on Friday and now awaits the governor’s signature to become law. READ MORE >
Legislative Session Week 3: Leadership There are 45 days remaining in the 2021 legislative session. During these first few weeks of the annual session, we have seen bills moving. The COVID-19 liability bills have been merged into one bill in the Senate, SB 72, and was approved by the Senate by a 24-15 vote on Thursday. READ MORE >
Legislative Session Week 2: It is clear leadership in both the House and the Senate have priority bills they are moving quickly and want sent to the Governor for his signature early in session. Week 2 of the legislative session didn’t slow down for FJA as we continued to work to advance our proactive agenda and defend against some of the most egregious anti-consumer legislation we have seen in recent years. READ MORE >
Legislative Session Week 1: The 2021 Legislative Session has officially begun. While lawmakers have been in Tallahassee throughout January and February for legislative committee weeks, Tuesday, March 2, marked the start of the 60-day legislative session. READ MORE >
Interim Committee Week 5: This week concluded five weeks of legislative committee weeks in Tallahassee that are used to prepare for the annual legislative session. They were a busy few weeks, and this week was especially packed with committee meetings and bills being fast tracked as lawmakers set their sights on the official start of the 2021 legislative session which begins March 2. READ MORE >
Interim Committee Week 4: While this week was an intense one, with the Senate COVID health care liability reform and many individual meetings educating lawmakers, next week will be even more hectic. During the upcoming week, we will see every corner of the civil justice system impacted, with medical malpractice, nursing home (relative to COVID claims), auto insurance, bad faith, premises liability/nuisance claims and construction defects litigation all being considered by committees across the two legislative chambers. READ MORE >
Interim Committee Week 3: This week bills to limit medical damages were filed in both chambers. And of course, bills to give businesses blanket immunity from COVID-19 related claims are on a fast track in both chambers. READ MORE >
Interim Committee Week 2: This week we had several members up in Tallahassee testifying and lending their support and expertise. Thank you to President Eric Romano, President-elect Tiffany Faddis, Treasurer Curry Pajcic, Secretary Steve Cain, Executive Committee Member Richard Chait, Past President Jimmy Gustafson and Board member Greg Yaffa for your time and testimony this week. READ MORE >