The first committee week has come to an end. There will be 4
more committee
weeks preceding the 2021 Session, which begins March 2nd.
This week the House
Civil Justice and Property Rights Subcommittee passed the
closely-watched measure
(HB 7) seeking to limit lawsuits arising out of the COVID
pandemic. The committee
passed HB 7 with 11 Yeas and 6 Nays, no amendments to the
bill were approved.
The bill is a priority for House Speaker Chris Sprowls. HB 7
will be next heard in the
Pandemics & Public Emergencies Committee.
In Wednesday’s House Appropriations meeting, Chair Jay
Trumbull said "We will be
squeezing blood out of turnips. We have to systematically
change the way we build
this budget." The state is predicting a revenue
shortfall of $2.75 billion in the
coming budget, and deficits for two years thereafter. Budget
cuts will be a shadow
over everything as we move through session.
Key Bills:
HB 7, SB 72 - Civil Liability for Damages Relating to
COVID-19
HB 7: 01/13/21, Favorable by Civil Justice &
Property Rights
Subcommittee; 11
Yeas, 6 Nays
These bills provides several COVID-19-related liability
protections for businesses,
educational institutions, government entities, religious
organizations, and other
entities. Under the bill, a covered entity that makes a good
faith effort to
substantially comply with applicable COVID-19 guidance is
immune from civil
liability from a COVID-19-related civil action. The bill
also provides that for any
COVID-19-related civil action against a covered entity, a
plaintiff must:
·Plead his or her complaint with particularity.
·Submit, at the time of filing suit, a physician's affidavit
confirming the
physician's belief that the plaintiff's COVID-19-related
injury occurred
because of the defendant's conduct.
·Prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the defendant
was at least
grossly negligent.
The bill's liability protections do not apply to a health
care provider, such as a
hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility, or other
health care-related entity.
The bill provides a one-year statute of limitations for
COVID19-related claims. For a
plaintiff whose cause of action has already accrued, the
one-year period does not
begin to run until the bill becomes effective.
SB 124 -
Residential Swimming Pool Safety
No movement
Requiring that new residential swimming pools meet 2 safety
requirements, rather
than just 1, in order to pass final inspection and receive a
certificate of completion.
Prohibiting a property owner from transferring ownership of
a parcel that includes a
swimming pool unless certain the new requirements are met.
SB 332 -
Unlicensed Contracting
No movement
Revising the criminal penalties for persons who engage in
contracting or advertise
themselves as contractors without proper registration or
certification.
SB 338 -
Specialty Contracting Services
No movement
Allows swimming pool contractors to use individuals who will
work under the
supervision and scope of the contractor’s license. Similar
to the Jim Walters
exemption, safety, and quality will be ensured by requiring
oversight of these
individuals by a licensed swimming pool contractor.
SB 344 -
Legislative Review of Occupational Regulations
No movement
Establishing a schedule for the systematic review of
occupational regulatory
programs.
SB 358 - Water
Safety
No movement
Requiring district school boards and the governing
authorities of private schools to
require children going into kindergarten to present a water
safety and swimming
certificate beginning in a certain school year. Providing an
exemption from certain
water safety and swimming certifications for a child whose
parent follows a
specified procedure. Takes effect beginning with the
2022-2023 school year.
SB 366 -
Apprenticeship and Pre Apprenticeship Training
No movement
Revising the general duties of the Department of Education
with regard to
apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs; revising the
membership of the
State Apprenticeship Advisory Council; providing that
apprenticeship or pre
apprenticeship program sponsors are responsible for the
selection and training of
certain personnel, as approved by the department.
SB 378 - Payment
for Construction Services
No movement
Increasing the interest rate for certain payments for
purchases of construction
services; specifying that a person, firm, or corporation who
fails to make certain
payments relating to public projects commits a
misapplication of constructions
funds and is subject to criminal penalties; increasing the
interest rate for overdue
payments for the purchase of construction services.
The House and
Senate are taking precautions to limit the possibility
of COVID spread:
Senate: (from
President Simpson's memo)
Committee Blocks
As we have previously discussed, you will notice that
committee blocks have been
reduced so no more than three committees are meeting at one
time. This schedule
will allow us to utilize the committee rooms with the
largest seating area for
Senators, 412 Knott, 110 SB, and 37 SB, to accommodate
appropriate social
distancing.
Required Testing
The Senate will utilize the same COVID-19 testing procedure
for interim committee
weeks that we had for the Organization Session. Senators and
all Senate
Professional Staff, as well as district staff based in or
traveling to Tallahassee, will
test prior to each interim committee week.
Remote Committee Viewing/Public Testimony
Input from various stakeholders and members of the public is
critical to the
legislative process and the Senate will work diligently to
ensure Floridians have
access to their elected officials as we consider important
legislation for our state.
The Senate worked in partnership with Florida State
University to reserve three
remote viewing rooms at the Leon County Civic Center, which
will provide the
opportunity for members of the public to view meetings
and virtually address
Senate committees in a safe, socially distant manner.
Committee Viewing
In-person committee viewing will be limited to those invited
to present information
before the committee as well as members of the media. As
determined by the
Committee Chair, in advance of each meeting, committee staff
will contact those
with subject matter expertise (for example, agency staff),
who would typically
attend a committee meeting within their jurisdiction, to
determine whether based
on the specific agenda, they should attend the meeting in
person in order to answer
questions that may arise.
Virtual Meetings
For the month of January, Senators are asked to avoid in
person meetings and to
utilize available platforms to schedule meetings virtually.
Likewise, when feasible,
committees are asked to facilitate remote presentations.
Senators and staff who
require assistance in facilitating remote meetings or
committee meeting
presentations should contact Senate IT. We will monitor the
status of the COVID-19
Pandemic and adjust this policy as appropriate for our
February Committee Weeks.
As a reminder, I asked the Secretary of the Senate and
Senate Administration to
temporarily postpone bringing on board any Senate pages,
Senate interns, or
Senate volunteers for work at the Capitol during the 2021
Regular Session.
House: (from
Speaker Sprowl's memo)
Our goal has been to tailor our protocols to match the
specific circumstances of the
moment. I am pleased to share with you an outline of Phase
II of our safety
protocols, which will apply to the January and February
committee weeks.
Any changes to the public health guidelines that result from
the progress of the
vaccination efforts will be considered in the development of
protocols for Phase III.
In late February, we will share our protocols for the
regular legislative session that
begins on March 2, 2021.
Protocol #1: Alternating Schedule / Shorter Committee Week
The intensity of activity in and around committee weeks
creates challenges for
guarding against the spread of the novel coronavirus. The
House will mitigate that
risk by splitting our committee blocks in two and
implementing an alternating
meeting schedule, which will result in a more condensed
committee schedule by
reducing the number of days Members will need to be in
Tallahassee.
During the January 11 committee week, half the committees
and subcommittees
will meet over two days (rather than all the committees
meeting over the traditional
four days). During the January 25 committee week, the
remaining committees and
subcommittees will meet for two days. For the week of
February 1, the committees
and subcommittees that met during the January 11 committee
week will meet
again, and so on through February.
Protocol #2: Room Sanitation
We will have one-hour breaks between committee meetings to
clean and disinfect
the meeting rooms, and replace microphone shields. Medical
grade HEPA filters will
be running in all committee rooms.
Protocol #3: Smart Space Management
The House will limit committee meetings to Webster Hall,
Morris Hall, Reed Hall and
Sumner Hall. All committee meetings will be live-streamed on https://thefloridachannel.org/.
Audience seating in committee rooms will be socially
distanced and limited to
meetings where committees are discussing bills or potential
legislation. The House
will use an online registration system for the public
(including lobbyists and
advocates) wishing to provide substantive testimony and for
the press. Seating will
be available on a first-come, first-served basis. There will
also be an opportunity for
the public to provide written testimony to committee members
should they not be
able to provide testimony in person. On certain issues of
great public significance
and when scheduling allows, we will also have expanded
seating capacity for on-site
virtual testimony. More details will be available on the
House website the week of
January 4.
Protocol #4: Responsible Access to House Spaces
Visitors, including lobbyists, are required to observe
social distancing and wear a
face-covering when in the company of another person.
Visitors exhibiting COVID-19
symptoms, who are in quarantine, or who were recently
diagnosed with COVID-19
may not enter House spaces and should reschedule their visit
to a different time.
Members and House employees are encouraged to use conference
calls or virtual
meetings as alternatives to in-person meetings. If in-person
meetings are
necessary, every effort should be made to limit the maximum
number of guests
who can safely socially distance. As a reference, standard
Member offices generally
accommodate two (2) guests and standard employee offices
generally
accommodate no more than one (1) guest. In-person meetings
should be by
appointment only with sufficient time in between
appointments to avoid crowding in
common areas.
Protocol #5: Precautions for Members
No Member of the House wishes to put themselves, their
colleagues or our staff at
risk. Therefore we are asking that you take full advantage
of the available safety
precautions.
The same COVID-19 molecular diagnostic testing offered
during the Organization
Session will be available on-site to Members and legislative
employees. Members
and district legislative assistants should plan to arrive to
Tallahassee the day before
their first commitment at the Capitol to allow for testing
and delivery of results. A
negative COVID-19 test from the on-site testing service will
be a prerequisite for
access to House spaces. Testing information will be emailed
on Tuesday, January 5,
2021.
We would also ask you to wear a mask when around other
Members, legislative
employees, and visitors. Some exceptions may apply based on
individual
circumstances.
Protocol #6: Precautions for Staff
District legislative assistants are authorized to travel to
Tallahassee for the January
and February committee weeks and will be the only staff approved
to work in each
Member’s Capitol office. Members are not authorized to hire
OPS staff or to recruit
volunteers to share the space with their district
legislative assistant in their Capitol
office.
District legislative assistants diagnosed with COVID-19, who
are exhibiting COVID-
19 symptoms or who are in quarantine are not authorized to
travel to Tallahassee.
District staff must return to their district immediately if
they are not cleared with a
negative COVID-19 diagnostic test from our on-site testing
service.
Public-facing desks in committees and administrative offices
will be retrofitted with
plexiglass. Members may request to have their district
legislative assistant's desk in
the Capitol retrofitted with plexiglass by emailing COVIDQuestions@myfloridahouse.gov.
All House employees will be required to wear a mask when
interacting with others in
the legislative process as well as undergo testing at the
on-site testing center.