LOOKING BACK: A SAMPLER OF 2011 SESSION SUCCESSES

Business Regulation

• Immigration Reform/E-Verify Mandates: Successfully defeated comprehensive immigration reform that would mandate the use of a flawed and error-prone federal E-Verify system on Florida’s employers.
• Open-Carry of Firearms: Successfully defeated legislation that would permit “open-carry” of firearms in Florida. As a result, Florida’s business owners will not be exposed to liability concerns or a new duty of care related to having knowledge of a potentially dangerous instrument on an employer’s premises.

Economic Development

• Consolidation of Government Agencies: Aided this year in the reorganization of economic development agencies that will go a long way in making it easier for businesses to invest in Florida and apply for state incentives.
• Telecommunications Deregulation:  Aided in passing legislation that completes the deregulation of land-line telecommunications services while maintaining the Public Service Commission’s oversight of inter-company disputes.
• Research & Development Tax Credits: Aided in passing legislation that will increase funding for film industry incentives from $38 million to $42 million, implement a single sales factor for apportioning corporate income taxes, and provide spaceflight businesses with much needed tax relief.

Environmental

• Contamination Notification:  Successfully defeated legislation that would change the notice process for contaminated sites and result in egregious lawsuits and cause an unnecessary decrease in property values.

Education

• Student Success Act:  Aided in passing legislation that will reform teacher evaluation, teacher pay and professional service contracts in a manner that focuses on student learning as the most important factor in these decisions.

Growth Management

• Reform to Florida’s Growth Management Laws: Aided in passing comprehensive growth management legislation that will allow local governments to regain power over their planning efforts, streamline processes and remove unworkable provisions that delay economic development.

Health Care

• Medicaid Reform: Aided in passing legislation that will simplify the state's Medicaid program in effort to implement efficiencies and accountability to enable the state to have budget predictability with this program moving forward. 
• Health Care Mandates: Successfully defeated the addition of new health care provider or benefit mandates that will drive up the overall cost of coverage and result in higher premiums for employers and their employees.
• Medical Malpractice: Aided in passing legislation that will create an “expert witness certificate” that must be obtained by an expert witness who is licensed in another jurisdiction before testifying in a medical negligence case.

Insurance

• Property Insurance Reform: Aided in passing legislation that reduces the time frame to file hurricane claims from 5 years to 3 years following a hurricane, increases solvency requirements for insurance companies and eliminates public adjusters’ abuses.
• Commercial Insurance Deregulation: Aided in passing legislation that allows five new types of commercial insurance to be exempt from the Office of Insurance Regulation’s (OIR) rate filing and approval process which results in an exemption for over 80% of commercial rates.  

Legal & Judicial

• Crashworthiness: Aided in passing legislation that will allow the introduction of ANY evidence relating to the driver’s condition at the time of an automobile crash when that driver was suing an auto manufacturer over the “crashworthiness” of the vehicle.
• Emergency Management: Aided in passing legislation that provides civil immunity to any person who gratuitously provides housing, shelter, food or certain other provisions to first responders in the wake of a declared disaster.
  

Seaports

• Seaport Security: Aided in passing legislation that removes expensive and duplicative security background screening procedures and aligns Florida’s security measures with the federal standards administered through the Department of Homeland Security.

Space

• Liability of Spaceflight Entities: Aided in passing legislation that will remove the sunset provision in Florida’s current law providing immunity to spaceflight companies for injuries or death resulting from the normal risks associated with spaceflight activity.  

Taxation & Budget

• Local Business Taxes: Aided in passing legislation that provides that an individual who engages in or manages a business, profession, or occupation as an employee of another person is not required to pay a local business tax, obtain a local business tax receipt, or apply for an exemption from a local business tax.
• Florida Pension Reform: Aided in passing legislation that will include a mandatory 3% employee contribution to state pension plans, as well as modification of the Deferred Retirement Option Program and calculation of benefits that will yield about $1.1 billion in savings to the state.

Unemployment Compensation

• Unemployment Compensation: Aided in passing a comprehensive unemployment compensation reform proposal that updates and revises the claims process of the unemployment system to guarantee that only people who truly qualify for benefits are receiving payments.