Governmental Relations

HB 1115- High School Graduation Requirements in Personal Finance, by Representative Demi Busatta Cabrera (R- Coral Gables), establishes statewide financial literacy standards and requires that beginning with students entering grade 9 in the 2022-2023 school year, students must earn one-half credit in personal financial literacy and money management in order to receive a standard high school diploma. The bill adjusts the number of elective credits from eight to seven and one-half and maintains the total number of credits at 24, which students must successfully complete to earn a standard high school diploma. The bill is on the agenda for its first committee stop, the House Secondary Education & Career Development Subcommittee, today. A similar bill in the Senate, SB 1054 by Senator Travis Hutson (R- Palm Coast), will be heard tomorrow in its first committee of reference, the Senate Education committee.

HB 7061- Elections, by the House Public Integrity & Elections Committee, adds new election security provisions, reforms voter registration list maintenance activities, and, beginning in 2024, requires a voter to include an identification number to validate vote by mail ballots. Some of the main provisions of the bill include:

• Imposing criminal penalties on persons with access to certain information during election canvassing who release votes cast or other election results early;
• Requiring greater effort, annually, to confirm residential addresses of all voters;
• Extending a nonprofit organization donation prohibition to include litigation costs of election office; and
• Creating a new law to prohibit ranked-choice voting.
• The bill was introduced last week in the House Public Integrity & Elections Committee. There is currently no companion bill in the Senate.

HB 5201- Higher Education, by the House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, creates grant programs addressing the nursing shortage in Florida, creates a grant program for the purpose of increasing access to educational resources and textbook affordability, expands existing programs to incentivize desired, in-demand majors, and establishes minimum performance for tuition assistance funds for private post-secondary institutions. Specially, the bill:

• Creates two grant programs related to nursing. The first, Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) fund provides matching funds for every dollar contributed by a health care partner. The second, Prepping Institutions, Programs, Employers, and Learners through Incentives for Nursing Education (PIPELINE) fund, provides funds to reward nursing programs based on performance.
• Creates the Student Open Access Resources (SOAR) Grant Program and Repository to provide funding for public postsecondary institution open education resources to expand textbook affordability for students;
• Increases the “Buy One, Get One Free” program in the state university system from 8 eligible programs to 10, and expands the program criteria to include a critical workforce gap category;
• Creates minimum performance standards for private, non-profit institutions to be eligible to participate in the Effective Access to Student Education tuition assistance program and establishes a tiered award amount structure based on standards achieved; and
• The bill was successfully introduced last week and has been referred to the House Appropriations Committee. As a conforming bill, this bill is tied to the budget and will be negotiated as part of the budget conference between the House and Senate. Unlike the budget, which is law for one fiscal year, policy passed in a conforming bill is permanent.

HB 7051- Postsecondary Education, by the House Post-Secondary Education & Lifelong Learning Subcommittee, contains provisions related to postsecondary fee increases, textbook and instructional material transparency, articulation of credit, and accreditation. Specifically, the bill:

• Requires that any Florida College System institution or state university proposal to increase a fee may only pass by an extraordinary vote and that the proposal must also be enclosed in an email to all enrolled students;
• Requires list of required and recommended textbooks and instructional materials to be posted at least 45 days before the first day of class for each term;
• Requires public postsecondary institutions to accept and apply general education courses and credit as first satisfying general education core credit requirements before applying the course credit as elective credit;
• Prohibits public state institutions from being accredited by the same accrediting agency or association for consecutive accreditation cycles and requires these institutions to seek and obtain accreditation from another association other than their current accrediting agency.

This bill was successfully introduced last week and is waiting to be referred to committees. A similar bill the Senate, SB 7044- Postsecondary Education, by the Senate Education Committee, is on the agenda to be introduced tomorrow, February 8th.

SB 2524- Education, by the Senate Appropriations Committee, contains various education related provisions including revising the maximum number of students for whom scholarships are established under the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, requiring the Department of Education to provide incentives to school readiness personnel and prekindergarten instructors who meet specified requirements, revising requirements for materials assigned for use within dual enrollment course, and creating the Inclusive Transition and Employment Management Program. Specifically, the bill:

• Increases the student cap in the Family Empowerment Scholarship from 20,000 students to 26,500;
• Subject to appropriation by the Legislature, provide incentives to school readiness personnel and prekindergarten instructors who possess a reading certification or endorsement or an early literacy micro-credential and strengthens and provides greater flexibility for the use of the Evidence-based Reading Instruction Allocation;
• Specifies that instructional materials required for dual-enrollment courses are eligible for reimbursement from the Dual Enrollment Scholarship Program including materials for students who are homeschooled or at private schools, and that a private school is only responsible to pay for dual enrollment courses taken by their students during the scheduled school hours;
• Creates the Inclusive Transition and Employment Management Program for the purpose of providing young adults with disabilities who are age 16-28, with transitional skills, education, and on-the-job experience to allow them to acquire and retain permanent employment; and
• Creates the Seal of Excellence in Advancing Literacy, to provide financial awards to public schools which meet the specified criteria that demonstrates growth in early literacy.

This bill is on the agenda for the Senate Appropriations committee this Wednesday, February 9th. As a conforming bill, this bill is tied to the budget and will be negotiated as part of the budget conference between the House and Senate. Unlike the budget, which is law for one fiscal year, policy passed in a conforming bill is permanent.