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Victory Report: Week 9 of 9 of Legislative Session

Admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 22:52:00 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

VICTORY REPORT:

Week 9 of 9 – March 11, 2022

Dear Friend,

The final week of the Florida legislative session is finished for the year and what a year it was! The 2022 Florida Legislative Session was one of the most productive and victory-filled sessions in Florida Family Policy Council’s history.

Here is the final report on the 2022 session!

Monday afternoon, the Parental Rights in Education Act, (aka the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill ) (HB 1557) was heard on the full Senate floor. After nearly two hours of amendments filed by Democrat senators meant to undermine the bill, (all defeated by the other senators), bill sponsor Sen. Dennis Baxley began his defense of a parent’s right to be informed and involved in their children’s education. Baxley tag-teamed with Sen. Manny Diaz and Sen. Danny Burgess to respond to the fiery questions and attacks on how the bill would be applied to education policy. The three senators did a powerful job countering objects and laying out the case for school districts to be transparent with parents. They stressed parental involvement when official policy changes occur in the treatment of children within those districts. They also mentioned the importance of establishing standards for official instruction on sexual issues with K-3 students.

Tuesday morning, the Senate again took up HB 1557 for final debate and a final vote. Opponents strongly criticized the bill as an attack on LGBT identifying youth, completely ignoring the actual text of the bill. Senators standing firm in debate for parental rights included Sens. Ileana Garcia, Danny Burgess, Ray Rodrigues, Manny Diaz, and Debbie Mayfield. Bill sponsor Dennis Baxley closed out the debate with a final call to empower parents by giving them the tools to protect and educate their children as they know best.

The bill passed in the Senate 22-17 with all of the Democrat Senators voted no in opposition to parental rights. Two Republican senators, Sen. Jennifer Bradley and Jeff Brandes, voted against the bill as well. During the process, both senators stated that their opposition to the bill was based on the negative public perception (founded on inaccurate media narratives). In summary, they opposed the bill based on what opponents perceived was in the bill, rather than voting based on what was clearly laid out in the bill text.

I personally did several media interviews on this bill and “flipped” the false “Don’t Say Gay” narrative by saying the bill should really be called a “Don’t turn my son into a daughter” bill. This cut so deep to the heart of the debate two different pro-gay, pro-trans legislators referred to my argument on two separate occasions to criticize it. You can see one of these TV interviews here: VIDEO: John Stemberger Talks about Disney’s CEO Condemning the Parental Rights in Education Bill.

LGBTQ activists did everything they could to try to stop this commonsense bill, but they all failed. They staged massive protests at the capital. They had a school “walk out” over the bill. They even ran TV ads across Florida asking people to call DISNEY WORLD because the Disney Corporation had not spoken out against the bill. See that ad here: VIDEO: Commercial Urging Disney to Oppose Parental Rights in Education Bill.

Disney finally responded by bowing down to the golden calf, saying they would recommit themselves to LGBTQ issues but ironically never actually came out against the bill.

Finally, in responding to a snarky reporter, Governor DeSantis did a full-blown WWE “Dusty Rhodes” smack down when defending the parents rights bill. The powerful clip went viral and exploded on social media.Check it out here: VIDEO: Gov. Ron DeSantis Lights Disney on Fire After Its Outrage Over Parental Rights Bill.

Wednesday afternoon, HB 7, the Individual Freedom Act, the bill restricting the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools and other places, was heard on the full Senate floor. Sen. Manny Diaz, the bill sponsor, skillfully defended the bill for nearly four hours, deflecting attacks on the bill, answering opponents’ hypotheticals, and defending the principles within the bill, aided in great part by Sen. Danny Burgess.

The bill, up for debate the following morning, passed on a party line 24-15 vote. Opponents argued that the bill would forbid the teaching of key portions of American history on slavery, segregation, and other evils from American history, which was not true and blatantly in contradiction to the intent and text of the bill.

Highlights in support of the bill include Sen. Kelli Stargel, who asserted that historical revisionism showing only one side of history to push political agenda clouds the complete truth of history being shared. She shared the story of her grandfather, a former sheriff, who stood against lynch mobs to ensure that a young African American man received a fair trial, even though it cost him greatly politically. She affirmed that she and her family could be proud of her grandfather’s stand, contrary to politically driven false stereotypes painted by historical revisionists. With passion, she declared that attempting to make children today feel guilty and personally responsible for the sins of others in the past belonging to their ‘race’ was exactly the kind of harmful teaching the bill sought to prohibit.

Bill sponsor Sen. Manny Diaz gave a powerful close, sharing the story of his family fleeing from Cuba and its authoritarian government. As highlighted by Diaz, there was no free of thought or debate, and education was really government indoctrination telling students what to think, not how to think, a concern that seems to be creeping into America as well. America may have serious faults, Diaz acknowledged, but still is the greatest nation of opportunity and freedom in the world. The bill passed on a party line vote immediately after, 24-15.

Florida Family Policy Council would like to take this opportunity to strongly commend Florida Senate and House leadership for addressing some very challenging issues that had to be addressed, despite inaccurate media narratives and fierce opposition from leftist special interest groups. Because of the controversy surrounding these bills, serious time must be allotted for questions, amendments and debate that takes tremendous time from other agenda items – the legislature literally spent days if not weeks just to pass our five priority bills over the course of the session. This does not count the hours upon hours spent in committee.

By passing the priority bills listed below in this report below, Senate leadership under President Wilton Simpson and President Designate Kathleen Passidomo and House leadership under Speaker Chris Sprowls and Speaker Designate Paul Renner have established Florida as a nationwide leader on protecting unborn children, preserving religious freedom, and defending parental rights, among other victories!

Below is a full list of the exciting wins from this session, with both the several good bills that were passed, and all the bad bills were defeated. We also included a brief overview of several good bills that didn’t make it this session, but that we made great progress on and hope to see introduced in future sessions.

Finally, Aaron DiPietro, our legislative director, did a remarkable job in his first year in Tallahassee. He was a winsome and formable advocate for our causes, and because of this, he quickly won the respect of legislators, our allies, and legislative staff. Aaron is quickly becoming a reliable authority in Tallahassee on all things related to life, family, and liberty issues.

Thank you for your financial support, engagement, and your prayers that enable our team to be the advocates for life, family, religious freedom, and liberty in Tallahassee. We could not be able to engage this intensely without your support!

Thank you all and God bless!

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

2022 Session Victories!

GOOD BILLS PASSED

VICTORY 1!

HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

Description: The act, based in part on the Mississippi law recently heard by the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case set to potentially undermine and/or reverse Roe v. Wade, prohibits abortions after 15 weeks; if enacted, it would be the strongest protection for the unborn post-Roe. In addition, the bill mandates stricter reporting requirements on abortion clinics, providing needed data on chemical abortions in the state.

Status: HB 5 passed the full House and Senate side and is awaiting the governor’s signature, which he has stated he will give!

VICTORY 2!

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

Description: The Religious Institutions Bill attempts to stop discriminatory government mandates against religious organizations in times of emergency. This issue came to the forefront during the COVID pandemic when governors from across the nation placed churches and houses of worship under unique restrictions than harsher than those of businesses and other organizations. (For example, in several states, governors allowed most businesses to operate at 50% occupancy, while only allowing 10 or 50 people in a church service, regardless of the size of the church, creating a double standard that discriminated against religious organizations.) Thankfully, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not pushed such policies, but future administrations could reverse course. This bill proactively protects religious institutions by requiring equal treatment under the law under during state emergencies.

Status: The House passed SB 254, 88-29 and the Senate passed the bill 31-3. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk!

VICTORY 3!

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

Description: This proposal would ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory in Florida public schools and provide standards for enforcement and guidelines for education policy. It also would prohibit corporations doing business in Florida from mandating CRT training for their employees.

Status: HB 7 passed off the Senate floor 24-15 and passed the House 74-41. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk!

VICTORY 4!

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Description: This proposal seeks to further build on the education provisions of the state’s Parent’s Bill of Rights by allowing greater parental access to school information on their minor children; forbidding school districts from withholding information on children from their parents; prohibiting school districts from encouraging discussions of sexuality and gender identity for younger students; and laying out ground rules for how school districts are to respect parental rights.

Status: HB 1557 passed the full House floor 69-47, while the Senate passed HB 1557, 22-17 before the full floor. It now heads to Governor DeSantis, who has strongly voiced support for the bill and heavily criticized opponents for spreading false narratives about the bill. Florida Family Policy Council was strategically and deeply involved in advocating for 1557 on Capitol Hill through the entire process.

VICTORY 5!

HB 1467/SB 1300 Education Act (Rep. Garrison/Sen. Gruters)

Description: This proposal adds term limits in state law for school board members for a max of 12 consecutive years (municipalities are allowed to enact tighter term limits). The bill streamlines the process for parents and concerned citizens to petition school districts on removing inappropriate materials from public school libraries. It also adds extra procedures for approving and reviewing materials that come into the library and extra reporting requirements to the state on materials removed by various schools across the state to increase transparency for school districts and accountability to parents and taxpayers.

Status: HB 1557 passed the full House floor 79-41, while the Senate passed HB, 24-15 before the full floor. It now heads to Governor DeSantis!

BAD BILLS DEFEATED

OPPOSE 1

HB 6023/SB 628 Abortion Clinic Regulations Act (Rep. Eskamani/Sen. Book)

Description: This pair of bills sought to reverse many key and recently passed protections for unborn children and their mothers: repealing the 24 hour waiting period law, which requires mothers preparing for an abortion to wait one day from their initial visit to an abortion clinic before having an abortion to have time to reflect and think over the decision; allowing state tax payer dollars to directly to abortions (it is currently not allowed); and removing safety protocols currently in place regarding abortion clinics.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

OPPOSE 2

HB 0205/SB 0374 Gay and Transgender Panic Legal Defenses Act (Rep. Smith (C)/Sen. Book)

Description: This act sought to add sexual orientation and gender identity as recognized categories in criminal defense law. Although there are some direct concerns about specific applications in real life, the main issue is the attempt of this bill to slide the subjective, undefinable, and legally fluid categories sexual orientation and gender identity into state law, despite being repeatedly rejected by the Florida legislature in other areas of law.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

OPPOSE 3

HB 0249/SB 0456 Driver License and Identification Card Gender Designation Act (Rep. Arrington/Sen. Torres, Jr.)

Description: The proposal sought to add the category of non-binary on ID and Driver’s License State-issued cards. This action would begin the dismantling of government recognition of the biological realities of male and female and set precedent for further undermining sex-specific areas of public law.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

OPPOSE 4

HB 0813/SB 1074 Sexually Transmissible Diseases Act (Rep. Robinson (F)/Sen. Pizzo)

Description: Currently, under state law, to knowingly donate blood, organs, or other bodily items that are contaminated by an STD (sexually transmitted disease) or to knowingly participated in intercourse while infected with an STD without informing the partner, is a felony. This proposal would have sought to lower that criminal action to a mere misdemeanor.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

OPPOSE 5

HB 6015/SB 0168 Marriages Between Persons of the Same Sex Act (Rep. Rayner/Sen. Polsky)

Description: This provision aimed to eliminate the language in state statute recognizing marriage as between one man and one woman.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

OPPOSE 6

HB 6065/SB 0212 Unfairness in Women’s Sports Act (Rep. Arrington/Sen. Farmer, Jr.)

Description: This ordinance would have reversed current state law protecting women’s sports and force females to play women’s sports with biological males who subjectively identify as female.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

OPPOSE 7

HB 6077/SB 0810 Postsecondary Intellectual Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act (Rep. Hinson/Sen. Polsky)

Description: The proposal would have removed free speech protections for college students, as well as the ability of students to film lectures or presentations in class. It also eliminated free speech reviews conducted to ensure state colleges and universities are promoting an environment protecting and encouraging the free exchange of ideas.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

OPPOSE 8

HB 0549/SB 1884 Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Act (Rep. Omphroy/ Sen. Powell)

Description: This proposed statute would have legalized recreational marijuana in the state of Florida.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

OPPOSE 9

HB 6003/SB 1854 Legal Rights of the Natural Environment Act (Rep. Eskamani/ Sen. Farmer)

Description: The proposal would have granted human rights-status to the natural environment.

Status: The bill was never heard and died in committee.

GOOD BILLS THAT FELL SHORT THIS SESSION

SUPPORT

HB 167 Private Action Heartbeat Act (Rep. Barnaby) – No Senate Companion

Description: This bill sought to restrict abortion after a human heartbeat is detected. However, unlike most pro-life proposals in which the state government enforces the law to protect the unborn, this proposal prohibits the state government from enforcing the law. Instead, the proposal allows private citizens the right to sue abortion clinics and doctors for damages on abortions done after a detectable heartbeat, with the intent to financially weaken abortion clinics. The bill did not have a Senate companion, though, and is dead for this session.

Status: The bill died in committee due to no Senate companion bill; the focus in the legislature was on HB 5, a separate pro-life bill that passed into law.

SUPPORT

HB 0687/SB 1184 Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act (Rep. Drake/Sen. Broxson)

Description: This proposal provides protections to health care professionals from being penalized, reprimanded, or deprived of their licenses for exercising their freedom of speech on social media. In light of the censorship against pro-life and pro-family It also creates a high bar to penalize health care workers for their social media speech to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that their speech caused direct harm to one of their direct patients, and further provides serious penalties for false accusations against health care workers for speaking out on social media free speech.

Status: The Senate version passed two committees, but unfortunately wasn’t heard in the final stop; the House version also passed one committee, but failed to be heard in the final committee. We look forward to working on this bill in a future session.

SUPPORT

HB 0747/SB 1820 Medical Conscience Protection Act (Rep. Snyder/ Sen. Baxley)

Description: The bill would protect the rights of medical doctors, nurses, or other providers, as well as religious medical facilities, to practice their conscience convictions in their healthcare practices. Specifically, no medical professional or entity could be forced to recommend, participate in, and provide nonemergency medical procedures and actions that would violate their sincerely held convictions and beliefs. For example, no doctor would be forced to perform an abortion, and no nurse would be demanded to participate in a “sex-reassignment” surgery, among other actions that could violate their rights of conscience.

Status: The bill passed the first House committee, but unfortunately stalled due to lack of movement on the Senate. We strongly commended House sponsor Rep. John Snyder for his leadership and work on this crucial issue and look forward to working on this bill next session.

SUPPORT

HB 211 Youth and Sexual Identity Act (Rep. Sabatini) – No Senate companion

Description: The bill sought to bans anyone from subjecting minors to “sex change” hormone treatments or so-called gender reassignment surgeries. The bill did not have a Senate companion, though, and is dead for this session.

Status: The bill is dead for the session due to having no Senate companion bill.

SUPPORT

HB 0057/SB 0242 Racial and Sexual Discrimination Ban Act (Rep. Fine/Sen. Gruters)

Description: This bill would have prohibited state and municipalities from requiring Critical Race Theory (CRT) employee training. Specifically, “Race or sex scapegoating” based training would be banned; this “means assigning fault, blame, or bias to a race or sex, or to a member of a race or sex because of his or her race or sex. The term included any claim that, consciously or subconsciously, and by virtue of his or her race or sex, a member of any race is inherently racist or is inherently inclined to oppress others, or that a member of a sex is inherently sexist or is inherently inclined to oppress others.”

Status: The bill failed to advance in either house as a similar piece of legislation, HB 7, was the priority focus of leadership. HB 7 passed both houses and is heading to the governor’s desk.

SUPPORT

HB 1305/SB 1842 Sex Ed Materials Harmful to Minors Act (Rep. Borrero/Sen. Baxley)

Description: This bill aimed to crack down on graphic and sexually explicit Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) material in Florida public schools. It required schools to receive written parental consent before a child is allowed to participate in any reproductive health classes; allowed parents and citizens procedures to review such materials and call for their removal; and overall, increased transparency and public oversight over sex education.

Status: Due to many other high-profile bills listed above taking much of the time in the process, this bill did not move this session, but we strongly support making this a priority next session.

SUPPORT

HB 0405/SB 0936 Compulsive and Addictive Gambling Prevention Act (Rep. Plakon/Sen. Baxley)

Description: The ordinance intended to establish a Gambling Prevention Commission to study gaming addictions and provide solutions on how to counteract the problem.

Status: The bill failed to advance in either house and is dead for session.

SUPPORT

HB 0663/SB 1004 Recall of County Officers and Commissioners (Rep. Williamson/ Sen. Gruters)

Description: The joint resolution sought to place an amendment on the ballot in 2022 to amend the constitution to allow for the recall of all local county and municipal elected officials. This would provide an extra method of keeping locally elected officials accountable for their actions and policy decisions.

Status: The bill passed several committees in the House, but failed to advance in the Senate.

The post Victory Report: Week 9 of 9 of Legislative Session appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Week 8 of 9: Insider’s Report – Legislative Session

Admin — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:49:00 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

Week 8 of 9 – March 4, 2022

Dear Friend,

Week 8 is over and session is almost finished for the year! One more week to go. Here are some of the highlights from the week on our top priority bills!

Monday morning, the Parental Rights in Education Act was heard in the Appropriations Committee. Based on Senate rules and for efficiency, the Senate took up the House version HB 1557 and skipped the final committee assignment stop, making Appropriations the final stop. Bill sponsor Sen. Dennis Baxley defended the rights of parents to be informed and involved in their children’s educational progress, as well as the need for school districts to be transparent with parents when official policy changes occur in the care and treatment of the parents’ children within those districts. Baxley also discussed the importance of parents being involved in overseeing discussions of sexuality with elementary students and keeping school district policy focused on academics. Legislative Director Aaron DiPietro again called out the false messaging against the bill, by referencing the bill’s actual text. He also highlighted the focus of the bill on supporting parental involvement in a child’s educational success and adding tools to increase transparency in official school district policy. After testimony, he faced hostile questioning from critics of the bill. His testimony can be seen below. The bill passed 12-8, with Republican Senator Jeff Brandes siding with committee Democrats in opposing the bill.

Tuesday evening, HB 7 – The Individual Freedom Act, the bill restricting CRT in public schools and other places, was heard on the full House floor. Sen. Manny Diaz, the bill sponsor, defended the bill for over an hour, dodging attacks on the bill, answering opponents’ hypotheticals, and defending the principles within the bill.

View a video below of protests breaking out against this bill on Thursday.

Public testimony followed with FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro again testifying in favor. In testimony, he specifically quoted the ideas prohibited in the bill, from the text of the bill itself, asking if the opponents really wanted to teach the following bad ideas in public schools as they appear in the bill:

“Members of one race, color, sex, or national origin are morally superior to members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.
An individual’s moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.
Members of one race, color, sex, or national origin cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race, color, sex, or national origin.
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears responsibility for, or should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of, actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion.
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the individual played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.
Such virtues as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist, or were created by members of a particular race, color, sex, or national origin to oppress members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.”

The bill passed later, 12-5 on a party line vote.

Wednesday, the House floor heard HB 215 – the Religious Institutions Act, the bill seeking to place protections for churches and religious institutions from discriminatory government mandates during emergency declarations. Over very limited and even somewhat contradictory opposition in debate, Rep. Mike Beltran laid out the legal case for the law, pointing out that the bill simply was stating that churches are to be given equal treatment under the law. Bill sponsor Rep. Nick DiCegliegave a powerful close, listing cases of religious freedom violations in Florida, declaring that government orders targeting religious institutions are unconstitutional, and calling upon his colleagues to join him in defending religious freedom for all Floridians. The bill passed on a uniquely bipartisan vote, 88-29. The bill has passed the Senate, and thus will be heading to the governor’s desk.

Starting later Wednesday, the Senate took up HB 5, the late-term abortion ban protecting the unborn after 15 weeks in the state of Florida.

Members went straight into debating amendments, all of which were designed to undermine or eliminate key portions. Debate on just the amendments alone lasted for over 3 hours, with much of the effort spent trying to running out the clock by the opposition.

The next day, after a full day of proceedings, the Senate at last moved to final debate on HB 5. Surprisingly, debate began shortly before 8:30 pm and ended in less than 2 hours later. Though debate tone was passionate and intense, it remained calm and controlled. Opponents of the bill continually brought up the lack of exceptions for rape and incest and the threat of back alley abortions that would occur if the bill were passed.

A pro-life highlight from debate was when Sen. Ileana Garcia called out the hypocrisy of the death penalty argument. If people oppose the death penalty on the basis of defending human dignity and life, they cannot deny that same reasoning to the unborn. Additionally, Sen. Danny Burgess gave a dynamic defense of the unborn, arguing that conflating the language of abortion with that of reproductive justice only distorts the truth. He reasoned that if the dismemberment of a child in the womb of his mother was a form of justice, he shuttered to think of what injustice was. Unborn children have no voice and he must be that voice, declaring that he would rather lose his next election than be wrong on this issue.

Sen. Ed Hooper, in a rare moment of participating in debate, shared his personal experiences with abortion. First, as an operating room technician assigned to a hospital surgeon performing abortions, he described being assigned to remove the fetal remains and dispose of them, which he said were clearly not just clumps of cells. He then went on to share the story of his daughter, who upon becoming pregnant at age 16 refused his advice to get an abortion, to his great relief later on. He recounted his whole worldview on abortion changing once he was able to hold his new grandchild.

Sen. Jason Brodeur, challenging the accusation of voting in favor for political reasons, shared about his experience of being given up for adoption at birth in the shadow of the legalization of abortion. He then went on to share his hope that there would be a kid whose life would be saved as a result of the bill, and as he closed, he said, “I’m doing this because that kid was me.”

Bill sponsor Sen. Kelli Stargel again closed debate by calling on each of her fellow members to defend the lives of unborn babies. After 18 years in the legislature fighting for the unborn and their mothers, her emotion at the historic moment was clearly evident. She pointed to two of her daughters, both unplanned pregnancies, and her little granddaughter in the gallery as a testimony to life. “We are telling young women that they have to lay down their child’s life to succeed–I was told that,” she said. “I never dreamed I would be able to save the lives of babies past 15 weeks’ gestation.”

The bill passed 24-15 immediately after.

Below is an updated list of some of the top bills Florida Family Policy Council is tracking in this session, along with a summary of each and links to each bill’s text. The list has been updated based on the bills that are moving this session. You can always keep track of all of the good and bad bills on our website, which will be updated as new priorities arise.

We will continue to provide updates as session closes out next week.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

VIDEO: Aaron DiPietro Defends the Parental Rights in Education Act

VIDEO: Protesters Break Out Thursday Against Parental Rights in Education Bill

Now, for this week’s update on our core legislative agenda!

Abortion/Life Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

Status: HB 5 passed the full House floor. On the Senate side, HB 5 passed the full Senate floor Thursday 24-15 and now heads to the governor’s desk!

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Conscience

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

Status: Wednesday, the House passed SB 254 88-29 off the House floor;the Senate version passed the full Senate floor 31-3. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk!

Education/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SUPPORT 1.

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

Status: Tuesday, HB 7 passed the Senate Rules committee 12-5 and now heads to the full Senate floor. The House version (HB 7) previously passed the full House 74-41.

Education and Parental Rights

SUPPORT 1.

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Status: Previously, HB 1557 passed the full House floor. The Senate passed HB 1557 12-8 in Senate Appropriations and is headed to the full Senate floor to be heard Monday with a final vote as soon as Tuesday.

The post Week 8 of 9: Insider’s Report – Legislative Session appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Week 7 of 9: Insider’s Report – Legislative Session

Admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 20:28:00 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

Week 7 of 9 – February 25, 2022

Dear Friend,

Week 7 has come to a close and featured some incredible advances on several of our top priority bills even in the face of ugly and fierce opposition.

The week began Monday afternoon with HB 5, the late-term abortion ban protecting the unborn after 15 weeks, which passed the final Senate committee stop. The Senate, to help the bill proceed quickly, had tabled their version, and took up the House version that passed the full House floor last week. Pro-life champion and bill sponsor Sen. Kelli Stargel once again introduced the bill, listing the advances in science showing the development of a child between 15-24 weeks and mounting evidence showing the ability for the baby in utero to feel pain. Public testimony included a post-abortive woman who shared her emotional and mental trauma from her abortions and the importance of passing HB 5 to defend life. Another speaker shared the story of his mother, a victim of human trafficking, who was very close to being aborted. He emphasized the reality that all lives are precious, regardless of the circumstances of conception.

FFPC Legislative Director Aaron DiPietro testified in support of the bill, highlighting the issue of the late-term abortion problem in Florida and the bill’s concrete and immediate protections provided to the unborn. During the committee debate that followed, Sen. Kathleen Passidomo’s comments stood out vividly. She laid out the science and reasoning again for supporting HB 5. Sen Stargel also argued against adding exceptions in the bill for rape and incest and argued for defending the lives of all babies. The bill passed the committee immediately after and has one final vote at the Senate floor before the governor’s desk.

Tuesday afternoon, HB 7 – The Individual Freedom Act, which restricts CRT in public schools and other places, was heard on the full House floor. Rep. Bryan Avila, the bill sponsor, defended the bill for over an hour. He argued for setting clear standards on the teaching of history and keeping racist ideologies out of the classroom. Opponents on the floor accused Avila of seeking to revise history and grilled him on accusations of censorship. Avila passionately argued the opposite, that the bill was seeking to ensure true history was taught. The supporting legislators spent another hour or more defeating opposing amendments.

Immediately afterward, the House floor finally heard HB 1557 – TheParental Rights in Education Act, the now nationally infamous bill facing attacks all the way up to the White House. Under incredible pressure and facing very hostile questioning for nearly an hour, bill sponsor Rep. Joe Harding passionately defended parental rights and refuted opposition. Retaining stellar poise, he masterfully stayed focused on the text of the bill. He emphasized the need to empower parents, give them rights, and provide them tools to hold schools accountable. He advocated for parents to be informed on critical decisions regarding their children’s emotional, mental, and physical health and well-being.

The next hour, the representatives shot down a number of hostile amendments with one exception: a clarifying amendment brought by Rep. Harding. The amendment streamlined the timelines for school districts to notify parents on policy changes regarding their students and also added extra pathways for parents to pursue action against hostile school districts. The amendment passed.

Thursday afternoon, the full House floor took up both HB 7 and HB 1557 for final debate and final vote, with FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro again present. First up was HB 7. If faced two hours of contentious debate, mostly consisting of inaccurate accusations by opponents. Among the accusations was that the bill forces censorship of history, and supporters countered that the bill protects the teaching of history from political propaganda. Bill sponsor Rep. Bryan Avila and Rep. Randy Fine gave the strongest defenses of the bill by describing what the bill actually does, namely prohibiting the forced teaching of the following ideas:

Members of one race, color, sex, or national origin are morally superior to members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.
An individual’s moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.
Members of one race, color, sex, or national origin cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race, color, sex, or national origin.
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears responsibility for, or should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of, actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion.
An individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the individual played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.
Such virtues as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist, or were created by members of a particular race, color, sex, or national origin to oppress members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.

The bill passed shortly after, 74-41 on a party line vote.

Immediately following, the House took up HB 1557, the Parental Rights in Education Act, falsely labeled the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” which we in turn have named the “Don’t turn my son into a daughter” bill. Over the hour-and-a-half debate, bill opponents railed against the bill, saying a vote for the bill would be a direct attack on select children and make one an opponent of the LGBT-identifying groups. They also falsely claimed that the bill banned certain words through bureaucracy, based on fear rather than fact. Tensions were high, and sharp comments were directed at the bill sponsor, Rep. Joe Harding. Supporters, by contrast, continued to go back to the bill’s fundamental purpose outlined in the bill text: defending parental rights in education.

Highlights in debate in support of the bill included Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka appealing to parental love and care for their own children being one of the most powerful forces for good, a force that government had a duty to protect; Reps. Juan Fernandez-Barquin and Kaylee Tuck affirming that such issues over sexuality and identity did not belong in K-3rd grades and criticizing the war on parental rights being conducted against parental rights by Florida school districts; Rep. Erin Grall passionately listing specific examples of attacks on parental rights in Florida schools; and Rep. Randy Fine closing debate by calling on his fellow reps to protect parents from opposing school districts, rather than allowing school districts to “protect” children from their own loving parents to further the school’s agendas.

In closing, Rep. Joe Harding asked his fellow members to peel away the alternate reality of media hit pieces, click bait internet stories, and Twitter ramblings, and return in the real world centered on the actual text of the actual bill before them. Empowered and engaged parents, regardless of backgrounds and beliefs, lead to better education opportunities for their children and overall a better quality of life for all children, he asserted in closing.

The bill passed 69-47 on a mostly party line vote with several exceptions. Democrat Rep. James Bush joined with most Republicans in defense of parental rights, while 7 Republicans joined with the anti-parental rights Democrats in opposition to the bill. These opposition votes included Reps. Vance Aloupis, Demi Busatta Cabrera, Chip LaMarca, Amber Mariano, James Mooney, Rene “Coach P” Plasencia, and Will Robinson.

Florida Family Policy Council resoundingly praises House leadership for taking the lead on these critical issues and ignoring the misleading media narratives and vicious false attacks. By passing these bills, House leadership under Speaker Chris Sprowls, Speaker Designate Paul Renner, and Speaker Pro Tem Bryan Avila have established Florida as a leader on protecting children by empowering parents to be engaged in their children’s educations and holding school districts accountable to respect parental rights.

Also, below some of the bills is an Action Alert in Red, signifying upcoming bills that will be heard this week, providing opportunities for supporters to attend and show support for those bills.

We will continue to provide updates weekly throughout session.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

Rep. Joe Harding on the House floor debating HB 1557

Now, for this week’s update on our core legislative agenda!

Abortion/Life Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

Status: HB 5 passed the full House floor. On the Senate side, HB 5 passed the final Senate committee, Appropriations on Monday 13-6 and now heads to the Senate floor for a final vote, before heading to the governor’s desk.

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Conscience

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

Status: The House version (215) is now waiting for a final House floor vote; the Senate version passed the full Senate floor 31-3. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0687/SB 1184 Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act (Rep. Drake/Sen. Broxson)

Description: This proposal provides protections to health care professionals from being penalized, reprimanded, or deprived of their licenses for exercising their freedom of speech on social media. In light of recent pro-life and pro-family censorship against pro-life and pro-family, it requires anyone who attempts to accuse a health care worker of saying something incorrect on social media to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If anyone falsely accuses a health care worker for saying something incorrect on social media, that person will face serious penalties.

Status: The Senate version has one final committee stop, Appropriations; the House version has one final committee stop, Health and Human Services.

Education/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SUPPORT 1.

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

Status: SB 148 is in Rules committee as the last of 2 committee Senate stops. On Thursday, the House version (HB 7) passed the full House 74-41.

Education and Parental Rights

SUPPORT 1.

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Status: On Thursday, HB 1557 passed the full House floor 69-47. The Senate is taking up HB 1557, the House version, and sending it to one final Senate stop, the Appropriations Committee.

ACTION ALERT:

HB 1557 will be heard in its final Senate committee meeting, Appropriations, on Monday, February 28th (the committee begins at 10:30 am) in 412 K in the Knott Building.

The post Week 7 of 9: Insider’s Report – Legislative Session appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Week 6 of 9: Insider’s Report – Legislative Session

Admin — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 21:27:00 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

Week 6 of 9 – February 18, 2022

Dear Friend,

Week 6 has come and gone and session is over two-thirds complete! This week was filled with exciting advances on three of our top priority bills!

On Monday, Rep. Brad Drake presented HB 687, the Free Speech for Healthcare Practitioners Act, in its first House committee Professions and Public Health. Rep. Drake succinctly articulated the threat to free speech for physicians in Florida and the solutions provided in the bill. Multiple physicians testified, sharing their stories of threats against their free speech.

FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro also testified in support of the bill, once again maintaining that private medical certification boards given police powers over medical professionals have no right restrict the free speech of doctors under their oversight. He also reminded the committee that the free exchange of ideas and debate in medicine was crucial to the very advancement of science and medical progress. Watch the video below.The bill passed shortly thereafter.

Thursday evening, HB 1557, the Parental Rights in Education Act, the now nationally infamous bill facing attacks all the way up to the White House, was heard in the House Judiciary Committee. Bill sponsor Rep. Joe Harding answered opponent House reps’ questions on the text of the bill, highlighting the right of parents to be informed and involved in their children’s educations. Opponents in public testimony said the bill would silence students’ speech on sexual orientation and gender identity, despite absolutely no such language in the bill.

Proponents asserted that parental rights were fundamental and that the bill increased school district transparency. FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro emphasized the true nature and intent of the bill: to empower parents in engaging in their children’s educational success by increasing transparency in school district policy. He highlighted that contrary to critics’ claims, students were free to speak and discuss whatever they choose and organic discussion with teachers was not hindered. The bill only restricts official school districts from establishing planned instruction on sexuality issues in K-3rd grade. He emphasized the bill’s focus on protecting children by empowering parents to be engaged in their children’s lives and educations by increasing transparency in official school district policy, which was constantly ignored by the opponents. The video of his testimony can be viewed below.

As debate began, bill opponents on the committee criticized bill supporters’ testimony, leading to a public murmuring from the bill supporters in the audience which was promptly quieted by Chairwoman Erin Grall. Most of the debate against the bill by multiple representatives in opposition repeated talking points not at all related to the bill. Supporting reps, including Reps. Scott Plakon and Rep. Spencer Roach, brought attention back to the actual text and intent of the bill, emphasizing once again the crucial role of the state to protect parental rights. The bill passed immediately after debate concluded.

Finally, the highlight of the week centered around the full House’s passage of HB 5, the late term abortion ban protecting the unborn after 15 weeks in the state of Florida. Beginning Tuesday afternoon, pro-abortion representatives cross-examined bill sponsors Reps. Erin Gralland Jenna Persons-Mulicka for nearly 2 hours. Following the cross-examination, another 1 ½ hours was spent debating numerous amendments proposed by pro-abortion reps seeking to undermine the bill–all failed. The debate restarted the next evening around 7 pm; debate lasted an exhausting 6 hours, with the final vote occurring after midnight.

Highlights include some powerful pro-life testimony:

Rep. Dana Trabulsy shared the regret of her abortion and her desire to keep other women from the pain she endured; Rep. Michelle Salzman spoke of the horrors of personally experiencing both rape and incest, and yet affirming that as horrible as those situations are, none justify killing the innocent child. Reps. Mike Beltran and Cord Byrd addressed the legal and Constitutional issues at stake in defending life; Reps. Clay Yarborough and David Borrero passionately defended the humanity of the unborn; and Reps. Webster Barnaby, Melony Bell, and Scott Plakon shared personal stories of either they or their parents’ choosing life despite pressure to abort, with many other representatives that could be mentioned.

Bill sponsor Rep. Erin Grall, in spite of going through nearly 6 hours of debate, rose to the occasion, delivering an impassioned and heartfelt call for members to defend the children who could not defend or speak for themselves. Around midnight, as Rep. Grall was giving her closing statements, a crazy protest erupted in the gallery composed of proabortion activists, prominent among them, a group of primarily young men (ironically) chanting, “My body, my choice.” (Watch the video here or below.) The protestors actively resisted and fought the officers attempting to restore order, leading to the arrest of some. The bill passed off the floor 78-39, on an almost party line vote. The only Republican voting against the bill was Rep. Rene Plasencia. The only Democrat voting for the bill was Rep. James Bush; two other notable yes votes were Republicans Mike Caruso and Sam Killebrew who had previously voted against pro-life legislation in prior sessions.

Florida Family Policy Council commends House leadership for taking the lead and defending the lives of the unborn, in spite of the fierce opposition, extremely long debate hours, negative media attacks, and time taken away from voting on other issues.

Below is an updated list of some of the top bills Florida Family Policy Council is tracking in this session, along with a summary of each and links to each bill’s text. The list has been updated based on the bills that are moving this session. You can always keep track of all ofthe good and bad bills on our website, which will be updated as new priorities arise.

Also, below some of the bills is an Action Alert in Red, signifying upcoming bills that will be heard this week, providing opportunities for supporters to attend and show support for those bills. Next week is shaping up to be an action-packed week for some of our key, top priority bills!

We will provide updates weekly throughout session.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

VIDEO: Watch Aaron DiPietro testify in support of the Free Speech for Healthcare Practitioners Act

VIDEO: Watch Aaron DiPietro testify in support of the Parental Rights in Education Act

VIDEO: Protestors chanting in opposition during debate over pro-life bill

Now, for this week’s update on our core legislative agenda!

Abortion/Life Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

Status: HB 5 passed Wednesday, 78-39, off the full House floor. On the Senate side, SB 146 is going to a final hearing in its final Senate committee, Appropriations.

ACTION ALERT:

The Senate will take up HB 5, the House version for the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on Monday, February 21. The committee meets from 1-5 pm, with the hearing on HB 5 occurring most likely toward the end of the committee. The committee will meet in the Knott Building in Room 412K.

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Conscience

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

Status: The House version (215) is now waiting for a final House floor vote; the Senate version passed the full Senate floor 31-3 and has been sent to the House. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0687/SB 1184 Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act (Rep. Drake/Sen. Broxson)

Description: This proposal provides protections to health care professionals from being penalized, reprimanded, or deprived of their licenses for exercising their freedom of speech on social media. In light of recent pro-life and pro-family censorship against pro-life and pro-family, it requires anyone who attempts to accuse a health care worker of saying something incorrect on social media to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If anyone falsely accuses a health care worker for saying something incorrect on social media, that person will face serious penalties.

Status: The Senate version has one final committee stop, Appropriations; on Monday, the House version passed its first committee, Professions and Public Health, 12-5 and has one final committee stop, Health and Human Services.

Education/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SUPPORT 1.

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

Status: SB 148 is in Rules committee as the last of 2 committee Senate stops. The House version (HB 7) has passed all committees and been scheduled to be heard and possibly voted on by the full House on February 22nd.

Education and Parental Rights

SUPPORT 1.

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Status: HB 1557 has passed all its committees and is scheduled to be heard and possibly voted on by the full House floor on Tuesday, February 22nd. The Senate version, SB 1834, is in Senate Appropriations, the second of three stops.

The post Week 6 of 9: Insider’s Report – Legislative Session appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Week 5 of 9: Insider’s Report: Legislative Session

Admin — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 20:51:00 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

Week 5 of 9 – February 11, 2022

Dear Friend,

Week 5 has come to an end! If a bill has not yet been through at least some committees at this point, the odds that it will pass are rapidly shrinking. Subcommittees and some committees are beginning to wrap up as the focus turns to floor debate on the bills passed out of committees. As many good bills advance in the session, the intensity and frustration of the opposition has increased.

On Monday, Sen. Doug Broxson presented SB 1184, the Free Speech for Healthcare Practitioners Act, in its second committee, Judiciary. While addressing threats to freedom of speech for medical providers, Sen. Broxson answered opponents who justified government speech restrictions on doctors. He affirmed that a doctor does not forfeit his freedom of speech when he accepts his job. Sens. Dennis Baxley, Danny Burgess, and Ray Rodrigues all spoke in debate in favor of the bill, pointing out the Constitutional and scientific significance of medical free speech and calling it crucial to the advancement of medical progress. In addition to compelling physician testimony on the need for the bill, Legislative Director Aaron DiPietro also testified in support. He argued that, if private medical certification boards acted with police powers over medical professionals and restricted their speech, they would have no right to do that–even a governmental body would be forbidden to restrict the free speech of doctors. Aaron DiPietro was also briefly cross examined by bill opponent Sen. Audrey Gibson. The bill passed shortly thereafter.

Tuesday morning, SB 1834, the Parental Rights in Education Act, the now nationally infamous bill facing attacks all the way up to the White House, was heard in the Senate Education Committee. Bill sponsor Sen. Dennis Baxley defended the rights of parents to be involved in their children’s educational progress as well as the need for school districts to be transparent with parents when official policy changes. Baxley also discussed the importance of parents being involved in overseeing discussions of sexuality with elementary students and keeping school district policy focused on academics.

Public testimony in this committee was quite combative as opponents made the absurd claim that the bill would result in the deaths of LGBT-identifying youth across the state. People in favor of the bill argued that parental rights were fundamental and must be respected by the state, regardless of the political opinions of school district officials. Legislative Director Aaron DiPietro spoke about the critical nature of parental involvement in a child’s educational success and emphasized the bill’s focus on protecting “children by empowering parents to be engaged in their children’s lives and education by increasing transparency in official school district policy.” Though tensions were high, decorum was maintained until after the bill was passed. As the committee adjourned, opponents from the audience began to shout, “Shame on you,” and “Blood is on your hands!” Insults and attacks were even hurled at one mother who testified in support the bill, leading her to be escorted out the back of the committee room for safety precautions.

President Joe Biden Tuesday called this bill “a hateful bill” towards the LGBTQI+ community, and opposition nationwide has dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Watch me defend this bill on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins here at this link or on NTD News (The Epoch Times) at this link.

Later that evening, the Individual Freedom Act, the bill restricting CRT in public schools, among other places, was heard in the Education and Employment committee, presented once again by Rep. Bryan Avila, the bill sponsor. Opponents from both the public and the committee continued to accuse the sponsor of seeking to revise history, while Rep. Avila and Rep. Randy Fine, among others, passionately argued the opposite, that in fact, the bill was seeking to ensure true history was taught, apart from political bias. Legislative Director Aaron DiPietro spoke out in favor of the bill, once again urging the distinction between teaching historical facts and political philosophies of ideological interpretation. Despite heated debate from the opposition over a two hour period, the bill passed out of the committee.

Finally, on Thursday, HB 5 (the late-term abortion ban) was heard in the Health and Human Services Committee. The hearing kicked off with pro-abortion Rep. Michelle Rayner introducing an amendment to strip the pro-life protections from the bill; she was quickly rebuffed by Reps. Tyler Sirois and Will Robinson who argued her amendment undermined the bill. The amendment was quickly defeated. Bill sponsors Reps. Erin Grall and Jenna Persons-Mulicka then introduced the bill. Surprisingly, the bill opponents declined to cross examine Grall and Persons-Mulicka, choosing to allow public testimony to proceed. Committee Chair Colleen Burton and Ranking Member Tracie Davis then debated over time allotted to speakers. After the bill opponents agreed to forfeit closing debate, a compromise time was reached. Legislative Director Aaron DiPietro testified in support of the bill, emphasizing the humanity of the child. Other testimonies included a 25-year OB/GYN physician, a 19-week pregnant mother, and nurse all speaking in favor of life. Over one-hundred speaker cards were submitted including many opponents. Toward the end, a small commotion erupted as one speaker attempted to break up the meeting with chants but was quickly escorted out with the offending audience members. The bill passed, heading to the whole House floor next week.

Below is an updated list of some of the top bills we are tracking in this session, and some include an ACTION ALERT in Red, signifying upcoming bills that will be heard this week, providing opportunities for supporters to attend and show support for those bills. Next week is shaping up to be an action-packed week for some of our key, top priority bills!

Stay tuned for our weekly updates throughout the session.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

VIDEO: Watch John Stemberger defend the Parental Rights in Education Bill on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins here at this link.

VIDEO: Watch John defend the Parental Rights in Education Act on NTD News (The Epoch Times)

PHOTO ONLY: Aaron DiPietro’s Testimony in Favor of HB 1557/SB 1834, the Parental Rights in Education Act, on Miami News 7

Now, for this week’s update on our core legislative agenda!

Abortion/Life Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

Status: HB 5 passed its final committee stop, Health and Human Services, Thursday, 14-7. On the Senate side, SB 146 is awaiting a hearing in its final Senate committee, Appropriations.

ACTION ALERT: HB 1184 has been placed on the Special Order Calendar to go before the whole House Chamber on Tuesday.

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Conscience

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

Status: The House version (215) now heads to the House floor; the Senate version passed the full Senate floor 31-3 and has been sent to the House. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions.

The House version (215) has been placed on the Calendar for a full House vote. Once passed, the bill will head to Governor DeSantis’s desk.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0687/SB 1184 Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act (Rep. Drake/Sen. Broxson)

Description: This proposal provides protections to health care professionals from being penalized, reprimanded, or deprived of their licenses for exercising their freedom of speech on social media. In light of recent pro-life and pro-family censorship against pro-life and pro-family, it requires anyone who attempts to accuse a health care worker of saying something incorrect on social media to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If anyone falsely accuses a health care worker for saying something incorrect on social media, that person will face serious penalties.

Status: On Wednesday, the Senate version passed its second committee, Judiciary, 7-3, and has one final committee stop; the House version will have its first committee Monday.

ACTION ALERT: HB 687 will be heard in its first House committee meeting, Professions and Public Health, on Monday, February 14th (the committee meets from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm) in 212 K in the Knott Building.

SUPPORT 3.

HB 0747/SB 1820 Medical Conscience Protection Act (Rep. Snyder/ Sen. Baxley)

Description: The bill would protect the rights of medical doctors, nurses, or other providers, as well as religious medical facilities, to practice their conscience convictions in their healthcare practices. Specifically, no medical professional or entity could be forced to recommend, participate in, and provide non-emergency medical procedures and actions that would violate their sincerely held convictions and beliefs. For example, no doctor would be forced to perform an abortion, and no nurse would be demanded to participate in a “sex-reassignment” surgery, among other actions that could violate their rights of conscience.

Status: The bill has passed one committee, and awaits a hearing in Judiciary, the second of three stops. It has not moved in the Senate yet.

Education/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SUPPORT 1.

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

Status: SB 148 is in Rules committee as the last of 2 committee Senate stops. The House version (HB 7) passed its final committee, Education and Employment, 14-7, and now heads to the full House floor where it awaits a final vote.

Education and Parental Rights

SUPPORT 1.

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Status: HB 1557 has passed its first committee and now heads to its final House stop Judiciary. The Senate version, SB 1834, passed its first committee Education, 6-3, on Tuesday and moves on to Senate Appropriations, the second of three stops.

The post Week 5 of 9: Insider’s Report: Legislative Session appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Week 4 of 9: Insider’s Report: Legislative Session

Admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 20:32:00 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

Week 4 of 9 – February 4, 2022

Dear Friend,

The fourth week of session is finished. Though somewhat more tame than last week with its explosive outbreaks, week 4 was no less action- packed. Week 4 marked a critical juncture in the 2022 session. It separated the bills already moving and advancing through committees—many of which are well on their way to being made law—from those bills not moving at all. In short, bills not seeing any action by this week (and next week at the absolute latest), are most likely dead for this session.

Tuesday, HB 7, called the Individual Freedom Act, which restricts CRT in public schools, among other places, was heard in the State Affairs committee. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bryan Avila, once again presented it. Members in opposition to the bill maintained the bill limited the ability to teach true history, while supporters asserted that the bill was in fact designed to encourage the teaching of history, free of political ideology. FFPC Legislative Director Aaron DiPietro spoke out in favor of the bill, again encouraging the members to draw the line between teaching historical facts on the one hand and teaching concepts of systemic racism, white guilt, and “intersectionality” on the other, concepts which are ideological frameworks, not historical facts. The hearing, though impassioned, was distinctly less combative than the prior committee hearing, and the bill passed the committee.

Also on Tuesday, Rep. Nick DiCeglie gave testimony in House Judiciary in the final committee for HB 215, the Religious Institutions Act, raising the legal protections for churches and ensuring equal treatment under public emergencies under the legal standard of strict scrutiny. FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro spoke in favor of the bill, highlighting the bill as not giving government a blank check to restrict religious institutions in public emergencies, but instead placing strong limitations on state action by raising the standards of protections.

Finally, on Wednesday, Sen. Kelli Stargel, sponsor of the pro-life, 15-week, late-term abortion ban (SB 146), answered questions about her bill, making the case to defend the lives of the unborn. There was a strong turnout in support of the bill, greatly dwarfing the opponents’ numbers. I was there in person to testify and Legislative Affairs Director Aaron DiPietro also testified in support of the bill. I focused on the late-term abortion problem that would be addressed by this law, while Aaron focused on the dangers to mothers receiving those abortions. Aaron also spoke in a separate speaking slot against the attempt to allow abortion exceptions in the cases of rape and incest, arguing that while such actions were evil and deserved to be punished, the innocent child should never receive the death penalty for the crime of the father. You can watch our testimony at the hearing HERE. Many on both sides testified, including pregnancy care center volunteers, post-abortive mothers, and Planned Parenthood abortion doctors. The bill passed, heading to one more stop on the Senate side.

Below is an updated list of some of the top bills Florida Family Policy Council is tracking in this session, along with a summary of each and links to each bill’s text. The list has been updated based on the bills that are moving this session. You can always keep track of our legislative agenda on our website, which will be updated in the BLOG as new priorities arise.

Also, below some of the bills is an ACTION ALERT in Red, signifying upcoming bills that will be heard this week, providing opportunities for supporters to attend and show support for those bills. Next week is shaping up to be an action-packed week for some of our top-priority bills!

Our legislative affairs director Aaron DiPietro is doing a great job as our primary eyes and ears on the ground for us in Tallahassee. We’re excited to have him on our team.

We will provide updates weekly throughout session.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

John Stemberger testifying in support of HB 5/SB 146, the 15-week, pro-life, late-term abortion ban

Now, for this week’s update on our core legislative agenda!

Abortion/Life Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

Status: HB 5 is now awaiting a hearing in its final committee stop, Health and Human Services. On the Senate side, SB 146 passed its first committee, Health Policy, Wednesday 6-4 and heads to its final Senate committee, Appropriations.

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Conscience

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

Status: The House version (215) passed its final committee Tuesday 15-4; it now heads to the House floor; the Senate version passed the full Senate floor 31-3 and has been sent to the House. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions.

ACTION ALERT: The House version (215) has been placed on the Calendar for a full House vote. Once passed, the bill will head to Governor DeSantis’s desk.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0687/SB 1184 Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act (Rep. Drake/Sen. Broxson)

Description: This proposal provides protections to health care professionals from being penalized, reprimanded, or deprived of their licenses for exercising their freedom of speech on social media. In light of recent pro-life and pro-family censorship against pro-life and pro-family, it requires anyone who attempts to accuse a health care worker of saying something incorrect on social media to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If anyone falsely accuses a health care worker for saying something incorrect on social media, that person will face serious penalties.

Status: Wednesday, the Senate version passed its first committee, Health Policy, 6-3 and has two more committee stops; the House version has yet to be heard.

ACTION ALERT: SB 1184 will be heard in its second committee meeting, Judiciary, on Monday, February 7th (the committee meets from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm) in 412 K in the Knott Building.

SUPPORT 3.

HB 0747/SB 1820 Medical Conscience Protection Act (Rep. Snyder/ Sen. Baxley)

Description: The bill would protect the rights of medical doctors, nurses, or other providers, as well as religious medical facilities, to practice their conscience convictions in their healthcare practices. Specifically, no medical professional or entity could be forced to recommend, participate in, and provide non-emergency medical procedures and actions that would violate their sincerely held convictions and beliefs. For example, no doctor would be forced to perform an abortion, and no nurse would be demanded to participate in a “sex-reassignment” surgery, among other actions that could violate their rights of conscience.

Status: The bill passed its first committee Professions and Healthcare Tuesday 12-6; it now moves on to its second of three stops. It is awaiting movement in the Senate.

Education/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SUPPORT 1.

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

Status: SB 148 is in Rules committee as the last of 3 committee Senate stops. The House version (HB 7) passed its first two committees, Judiciary and most recently, State Affairs 16-8; it now is in its final committee, Education and Employment, before heading to the full House Floor.

ACTION ALERT: HB 7 will be heard in its final committee meeting, Education and Employment, on Tuesday, February 8th (the committee meets from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm) in 17 H in the House Office Building.

Education and Parental Rights

SUPPORT 1.

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Status: HB 1557 has passed its first committee,15-5 and now heads to its final House stop Judiciary.

ACTION ALERT: SB 1834, the Senate version will be heard in its first committee meeting, Education, on Tuesday, February 8th (the committee meets from 9 am to 11 pm) in 412 K in the Knott Building.

Other Related Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HJR 0663/SJR 1004 Recall of County Officers and Commissioners (Rep. Williamson/ Sen. Gruters)

Description: The joint resolution would seek to place an amendment on the ballot in 2022 to amend the constitution to allow for the recall of all local county and municipal elected officials. This provides an extra method of keeping locally elected officials accountable for their actions and policy decisions.

Status: The House version passed its first committee Local Administration and Veterans Affairs 14-0; the Senate version has not moved yet.

ACTION ALERT: HJR 663 will be heard in its second House committee meeting, Public Integrity and Elections, on Monday, February 7th (the committee meets from 11 am to 1 pm) in 404 H in the House Office Building.

The post Week 4 of 9: Insider’s Report: Legislative Session appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Insider’s Report: Legislative Session Week 3 of 9

Admin — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 07:04:28 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

Week 3 of 9 – January 28, 2022

Dear Friend,

The third week of the nine-week session is complete as we come to the end of January. With Pro-Life, Pro-Family Days occurring Monday and Tuesday, this was our most action-packed week with advocating for our bills and training allies on priority legislation. And legislative activity this week took the term “explosive” to a whole new level—complete chaos broke out in the committee during the hearing on the major pro-life bill. Read more on this and watch a video clip below.

This week saw over 150 pro-life, pro-family supporters gather in Tallahassee to be inspired, informed, and empowered to engage the Florida legislature; the theme was #LifeWins. FFPC Legislative DirectorAaron DiPietro and Communications Director Melissa Woodford, along with Florida Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Bill Bunkley, trained attendees on priority legislation, lobbying tactics, and updates on the state of the legislature.

Monday evening, Reps. Joe Harding and John Snyder shared their passion for engaging in the civic arena in Tallahassee, U.S. Congresswoman Kat Cammack shared her powerful pro-life testimony of how her mother chose life and her work to defend life in Washington, and former Planned Parenthood director-turned pro-life leader Abby Johnson shared her story and strategies on how to win the pro-life battle in Florida and across America.

Tuesday morning, Abby Johnson and Congresswoman Cammack joined Rep. Dana Trabulsy and Gov. Ron DeSantis in addressing the group before everyone headed out to lobby their representatives on Capitol Hill. The group was addressed later at the Capitol by House Speaker Chris Sprowls and at the Supreme Court by Justice Carlos Muñiz.

Attendees were also able to rally tremendous support in the first House committee hearing for the Medical Rights of Conscience Act. Rep. John Snyder, the bill sponsor, did an extraordinary job defending the bill and the reality that no health care provider should be forced to violate their sacred oath “to do no harm” by violating their conscience. FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro and Melissa Woodford testified, sharing testimonies of doctors supporting the legislation.

Wednesday started off with fireworks as the House Judiciary Committee debated HB 7, called the Individual Freedom Act, or the proposed ban on Critical Race Theory in public schools. Debate heated up as emotions ran high, with Chair Erin Grall stepping in to restore calm in the fierce conflict. The bill passed soon after.

In the other body, the Senate Health Policy Committee was having its own intense discussions as the members conducted the confirmation hearing for Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. Afterwards, it considered, debated, and passed the Free Speech for Medical Professionals Act, run by Senator Doug Broxson. FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro testified in support, maintaining that “freedom of speech is a constitutional right; medical providers are no exception….Diversity of thought and the free exchange of ideas is critical in preserving free speech and should absolutely apply to medical professionals.”

On Thursday, the heightened tensions erupted in the Health Appropriations Subcommittee during hearings over the pro-life, 15-week, late-term abortion ban that later passed. After leadership closed public comment due to time and debate constraints, pro-abortion advocates erupted in loud chants and protests (despite more than ample testimony from their side), forcing Capitol police to clear the entire chambers to restore order. Check out a video clip of this chaos here. FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro was present at the hearing. The Sergeant at Arms officers allowed some members of the public to reenter as the committee completed debate. Key highlights included debate from Reps. Dana Trabulsy and Michelle Salzman making the case to defend unborn babies through this law. The bill passed, in spite of the serious interruptions.

Below is an updated list of some of the top good and bad bills Florida Family Policy Council is tracking in this session, along with a summary of each and links to each bill’s text. You can always keep track of all of the good and bad bills on our website, which will be updated as new priorities arise.

This year, we’re being represented by our new Legislative Affairs Director Aaron DiPietro who is our eyes and ears on the ground for us in Tallahassee. We’re excited to have him on our team.

We will continue to provide updates weekly throughout session.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

John Stemberger hosts interview with Abby Johnson and Kat Cammack at Pro Family Days Event

Florida Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Bill Bunkley presenting on “How to Lobby: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”

Rep. John Snyder defends his bill, the Medical Rights of Conscience Act

Rep. John Snyder in committee presenting his bill

Legislative Affairs Director Aaron DiPietro testifies in support of HB 747, the Medical Rights of Conscience Act

Now, for this week’s update on our core legislative agenda!

Abortion/Life Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

Description: The act, based in part on the Mississippi law recently heard by the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case set to potentially undermine and/or reverse Roe v. Wade, prohibits abortions after 15 weeks; if enacted, it would be the strongest protection for the unborn post-Roe. In addition, the bill mandates stricter reporting requirements on abortion clinics, providing needed data on chemical abortions in the state.

Status: HB 5 passed it second House committee stop, Healthcare Appropriations Subcommittee, on Thursday 10-5; it now heads to its final committee stop, Health and Human Services. On the Senate side, SB 146 has two committees to pass.

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Conscience

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

Status: The House version (215) passed its second committee Wednesday 15-7; it now has 1 committee left; the Senate version passed the full Senate floor Thursday 31-3 and has been sent to the House. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0687/SB 1184 Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act (Rep. Drake/Sen. Broxson)

Description: This proposal provides protections to health care professionals from being penalized, reprimanded, or deprived of their licenses for exercising their freedom of speech on social media. In light of recent pro-life and pro-family censorship against pro-life and pro-family, it requires anyone who attempts to accuse a health care worker of saying something incorrect on social media to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If anyone falsely accuses a health care worker for saying something incorrect on social media, that person will face serious penalties.

Status: Wednesday, the Senate version passed its first committee, Health Policy, 6-3 and has two more committee stops; the House version has yet to be heard.

SUPPORT 3.

HB 0747/SB 1820 Medical Conscience Protection Act (Rep. Snyder/ Sen. Baxley)

Description: The bill would protect the rights of medical doctors, nurses, or other providers, as well as religious medical facilities, to practice their conscience convictions in their healthcare practices. Specifically, no medical professional or entity could be forced to recommend, participate in, and provide non-emergency medical procedures and actions that would violate their sincerely held convictions and beliefs. For example, no doctor would be forced to perform an abortion, and no nurse would be demanded to participate in a “sex-reassignment” surgery, among other actions that could violate their rights of conscience.

Status: The bill passed its first committee, Professions and Healthcare, Tuesday 12-6; it now moves on to its second of three committee stops.

Education/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SUPPORT 1.

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

Status: SB 148 is in Rules committee as the final Senate stop. The House version (HB 7) passed its first of 3 committees, Judiciary, 14-7; it now goes to State Affairs.

Education and Parental Rights

SUPPORT 1.

HB 1305/SB 1842 Sex Ed Materials Harmful to Minors Act (Rep. Borrero/Sen. Baxley)

Description: This bill aims to crack down on graphic and sexually explicit Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) material in Florida public schools. It requires schools to receive written parental consent before a child is allowed to participate in any reproductive health classes; allows parents and citizens procedures to review such materials and call for their removal; and overall, increase transparency and public oversight over sex education.

Status: No movement yet.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Status: HB 1557 has passed its first committee 15-5 and now heads to its final House stop, Judiciary. No movement has occurred on the Senate side yet.

Other Related Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0405/SB 0936 Compulsive and Addictive Gambling Prevention Act (Rep. Plakon/Sen. Baxley)

Description: The ordinance intends to establish a Gambling Prevention Commission to study gaming addictions and proving solutions on how to counteract the problem.

Status: No movement yet.

SUPPORT 2.

HJR 0663/SJR 1004 Recall of County Officers and Commissioners (Rep. Williamson/ Sen. Gruters)

Status: The House version passed its first committee, Local Administration and Veterans Affairs, 14-0; the Senate version has not moved yet.

The post Insider’s Report: Legislative Session Week 3 of 9 appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Legislative Insider’s Report Week 2 of 9

Admin — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 18:15:00 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

Week 2 of 9 – January 22, 2022

Dear Friend,

The second week of session has come to a close, with plenty of action and bill movement.

On Tuesday, the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools and in mandatory corporate training was up for debate, as Sen. Manny Diaz articulated his perspective that such ideologies had no place in public school classrooms or mandatory corporate training classes. Diaz’s bill, SB 148, passed the committee after intense back and forth with opponents. Florida Family Policy Council Legislative Affairs Director Aaron DiPietro spoke out in favor of the bill, noting the importance of separating the teaching of true history, good or bad, from political philosophies that have nothing to do with the teaching of history in the classroom. This was in contrast to the bill opponents, who sought to conflate teaching history and CRT political ideology as one and the same.

On Wednesday, the pro-life, late-term abortion 15 week ban passed its first House Committee after intense debate and cross examination of the legislations. Under tremendous fire from pro-abortion representatives, bill sponsors Reps. Erin Grall and Jenna Persons-Mulicka held their ground, calmly defending the legislation with poise. Over 90 speaker cards were submitted as supporters and opponents debated whether HB 5 should be made law. FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro testified in support of the bill, declaring in part, “Late term abortion is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has no place in civilized society.”

Earlier that day, Aaron also testified in favor of HB 215, which requires that religious institutions be treated on an equal level in cases of public emergencies. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Nick DiCegile, passed shortly thereafter.

On Thursday, The Parents Rights in Education bill (HB 1557) passed its first committee. Facing questions on multiple fronts, bill sponsor Rep. Joe Harding skillfully made the case for the bill, asserting that parental rights was foundational to protecting children. Speakers for the bill included January Littlejohn, a local mother, who shared her family’s story of their daughter’s school encouraging her daughter into identifying as a boy, and all the while concealing all of the information from January and her husband and going behind their backs. FFPC’s Aaron DiPietro also stood in defense of parental rights, affirming that protecting children is best accomplished by empowering parents to be informed and engaged in their children’s lives.

Below is a list of some of the top good and bad bills FFPC is tracking in this session, along with a summary of each and links to each bill’s text. You can always keep track of all of the good and bad bills on our website, which will be updated as new priorities arise.

This year, we’re being represented by our new Legislative Affairs Director Aaron DiPietro who is our eyes and ears on the ground for us in Tallahassee. We’re excited to have him on our team.

We will provide updates weekly throughout session.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

John Stemberger and Aaron DiPietro

Aaron DiPietro testifying in support of HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act

Now, for this week’s update on our core legislative agenda!

Abortion/Life Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 5/SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

Status: HB 5 passed it first House committee stop Professions and Public Health Subcommittee on Wednesday 12-6; it now heads to its second out of three stops, Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee. On the Senate side, SB 146 has two committees to pass.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 167 Private Action Heartbeat Act (Rep. Barnaby) – No Senate Companion

Description: This bill seeks to restrict abortion after a human heartbeat is detected. However, unlike most pro-life proposals in which the state government enforces the law to protect the unborn, this proposal prohibits the state government from enforcing the law. Instead, the proposal allows private citizens the right to sue abortion clinics and doctors for damages on abortions done after a detectable heartbeat with the intent to financially weaken abortion clinics. The bill does not have a Senate companion though and is dead for this session.

Status: The bill appears to be dead for this session because the sponsor was unable to find a Senate Companion.

OPPOSE 3.

HB 6023/SB 628 Abortion Clinic Regulations Act (Rep. Eskamani/Sen. Book)

Description: This pair of bills seeks to reverse many key and recently passed protections for unborn children and their mothers: repealing the 24-hour waiting period law, which requires mothers preparing for an abortion to wait one day from their initial visit to an abortion clinic before having an abortion to have time to reflect on the decision; allowing state tax payer dollars to directly to abortions (it is currently not allowed); and removing safety protocols currently in place regarding abortion clinics.

Status: No movement.

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Conscience

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

Status: The House version (215) passed its first committee Wednesday 14-3; it now has 2 committees to remaining; the Senate version has passed the first committee 6-0 and passed the second and final committee 14-2. It is headed to the full Senate floor for a vote that has yet to be scheduled. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0687/SB 1184 Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act (Rep. Drake/Sen. Broxson)

Description: This proposal provides protections to health care professionals from being penalized, reprimanded, or deprived of their licenses for exercising their freedom of speech on social media. In light of recent pro-life and pro-family censorship against pro-life and pro-family, it requires anyone who attempts to accuse a health care worker of saying something incorrect on social media to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If anyone falsely accuses a health care worker for saying something incorrect on social media, that person will face serious penalties.

ACTION ALERT: SB 1184, the Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act, has been put on the agenda for its first Senate committee, the Health Policy Committee, on Wednesday the 26th at 10am.

SUPPORT 3.

HB 0747/SB 1820 Medical Conscience Protection Act (Rep. Snyder/ Sen. Baxley)

Description: The bill would protect the rights of medical doctors, nurses, or other providers, as well as religious medical facilities, to practice their conscience convictions in their healthcare practices. Specifically, no medical professional or entity could be forced to recommend, participate in, and provide non-emergency medical procedures and actions that would violate their sincerely held convictions and beliefs. For example, no doctor would be forced to perform an abortion, and no nurse would be demanded to participate in a “sex-reassignment” surgery, among other actions that could violate their rights of conscience.

ACTION ALERT: HB 747, the Medical Conscience Protection Act, has been put on the agenda for its first House committee, the Professions and Public Health Committee, on Tuesday the 25th at 9am.

Sexuality/Gender Issues

OPPOSE 1.

HB 0205/SB 0374 Gay and Transgender Panic Legal Defenses Act (Rep. Smith (C)/Sen. Book)

Description: This act would seek to add sexual orientation and gender identity as recognized categories in criminal defense law. Although there are some direct concerns about specific applications in real life, the main issue is this bill attempts to slide the subjective, undefinable, and legally fluid categories of sexual orientation and gender identity into state law. This despite the fact that the Florida legislature has repeatedly rejected adding these categories in other areas of law.

Status: No movement.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 211 Youth and Sexual Identity (Rep. Sabatini) – No Senate companion

Description: The bill seeks to ban anyone from subjecting minors to “sex change” hormone treatments or so-called gender reassignment surgeries. The bill does not have a Senate companion though and is dead for this session.

Status: The bill appears to be dead for the session because of the lack of a Senate Sponsor.

OPPOSE 3.

HB 0249/SB 0456 Driver License and Identification Card Gender Designation (Rep. Arrington/Sen. Torres, Jr.)

Description: The proposal seeks to add the category of “non-binary” on ID and Driver’s License State-issued cards. This action would begin the dismantling of government recognition of the biological realities of male and female and set precedent for further undermining sex-specific areas of public law.

Status: No movement.

OPPOSE 4.

HB 0813/SB 1074 Sexually Transmissible Diseases Act (Rep. Robinson (F)/Sen. Pizzo)

Description: Currently, under state law, to knowingly donate blood, organs, or other bodily items that are contaminated by an STD (sexually transmitted disease) or to knowingly participate in intercourse while infected with an STD without informing the partner, is a felony. This proposal would seek to lower that criminal action to a mere misdemeanor.

Status: No movement.

OPPOSE 5.

HB 6015/SB 0168 Marriages Between Persons of the Same Sex Act (Rep. Rayner/Sen. Polsky)

Description: This provision aims to eliminate the language in state statute recognizing marriage as between one man and one woman.

Status: No movement.

Education/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SUPPORT 1.

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

Status: SB 148 passed the Education Committee Tuesday (6-3); it now heads to the Rules committee as the final Senate stop. The House version (HB 7) still has 3 committees to go through.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0057/SB 0242 Racial and Sexual Discrimination Ban Act (Rep. Fine/Sen. Gruters)

Description: This bill would prohibit state and municipalities from requiring Critical Race Theory (CRT) employee training. Specifically, “race- or sex scapegoating-” based training would be banned; this “means assigning fault, blame, or bias to a race or sex, or to a member of a race or sex because of his or her race or sex. The term includes any claim that, consciously or subconsciously, and by virtue of his or her race or sex, a member of any race is inherently racist or is inherently inclined to oppress others, or that a member of a sex is inherently sexist or is inherently inclined to oppress others.”

Status: No movement.

OPPOSE 3.

HB 6065/SB 0212 Unfairness in Women’s Sports Act (Rep. Arrington/Sen. Farmer, Jr.)

Description: This ordinance would reverse current state law protecting women’s sports and would force females to play women’s sports with biological males who subjectively identify as female.

Status: No movement.

OPPOSE 4.

HB 6077/SB 0810 Postsecondary Intellectual Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act (Rep. Hinson/Sen. Polsky)

Description: The proposal would remove free speech protections for college students as well as the ability of students to film lectures or presentations in class. It also eliminates state-mandated reviews of free speech to ensure state colleges and universities are promoting the free exchange of ideas.

Status: No movement.

Education and Parental Rights

SUPPORT 1.

HB 1305/SB 1842 Sex Ed Materials Harmful to Minors Act (Rep. Borrero/Sen. Baxley)

Status: No movement.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Status: HB 1557 has passed its first committee,15-5 and now heads to its final House stop Judiciary. No movement has occurred on the Senate side yet.

Other Related Issues

OPPOSE 1.

HB 0549/SB 1884 Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Act (Rep. Omphroy/Sen. Powell)

Description: This proposed statute would legalize recreational marijuana in the state of Florida.

Status: No movement.

OPPOSE 2.

HB 6003/SB 1854 Legal Rights of the Natural Environment Act (Rep. Eskamani/Sen. Farmer)

Description: The proposal would grant human rights status to the natural environment.

Status: No movement.

SUPPORT 3.

HB 0405/SB 0936 Compulsive and Addictive Gambling Prevention Act (Rep. Plakon/Sen. Baxley)

Description: The ordinance intends to establish a Gambling Prevention Commission to study gaming addictions and proving solutions on how to counteract the problem.

Status: No movement.

SUPPORT 4.

HJR 0663/SJR 1004 Recall of County Officers and Commissioners (Rep. Williamson/ Sen. Gruters)

ACTION ALERT: HJR 663, the Recall of County Officers and Commisioners, has been put on the agenda for its first House committee, the Local Administration and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, on Tuesday the 25th at 9am.

The post Legislative Insider’s Report Week 2 of 9 appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Legislative Insider’s Report Week 1 of 9

Admin — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 15:00:00 +0000

Florida Family Policy Council

Insider’s Report

Legislative Session

Week 1 of 9 – January 15, 2022

Dear Friend,

The New Year has just commenced and with it, the 2022 Florida Legislative Session is upon us. Opening Tuesday, January 11th, at 12 noon, the Capitol roared to life and is charging full steam ahead. Proceedings began with House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson welcoming and briefing their respective chambers, before all members from the House and Senate convened in the larger House Chamber to hear Governor Ron DeSantis deliver an impassioned State of the State speech. He passionately outlined the lead Florida has taken during the Covid pandemic in simultaneously protecting public health and the vulnerable and protecting and preserving freedom for all. From supporting additional funding to law enforcement, to providing gas tax relief to Floridians, to protecting Florida’s natural resources, DeSantis’ energy came through clearly and resonated in the chamber.

He made a brief passing reference to life and spoke of the need to provide for adoption and foster care. Other priorities he covered included prohibiting discriminatory Critical Race Theory philosophy from being taught in Florida’s public-school students, providing more school choice and educational freedom for Florida’s parents, and resisting additional big government COVID mandates for the sake of Florida’s small businesses and workers.

Florida Family Policy Council’s team is excited about the 2022 session and the many strong proposals that have been introduced, while remaining alert to possible threats from extremely bad proposals. Topping the list of our priorities is the just-introduced groundbreaking pro-life bill, that if enacted, would eliminate brutal late-term abortions in the state of Florida and provide the strongest protections for the unborn post Roe. In light of the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade and the strong support from both leadership and other members, we are very optimistic about moving this bill forward. Also high on our agenda is enshrining Medical Rights of Conscience in state law; banning the dangerous teaching of Critical Race Theory with all its harmful effects from public schools; further expanding the Parent’s Bill of Rights in the field of education; and protecting religious organizations from discriminatory mandates in public emergencies.

Below is a list of some of the top good and bad bills Florida Family Policy Council is tracking in this session, along with a summary of each and links to each bill’s text. You can always keep track of all of the good and bad bills on our website, which will be updated as new priorities arise.

This year, we’re being represented by our new Legislative Affairs Director Aaron DiPietro who is our eyes and ears on the ground for us in Tallahassee. We’re excited to have him on our team.

We will provide updates weekly throughout session.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

PS- Hope to see you on January 24-25 at our Pro-Life, Pro-Family Days in Tallahassee, an amazing citizen issue training and lobbying event. Tickets can be purchased here:

John Stemberger and Aaron DiPietro

Abortion/Life Issues

SUPPORT 1.

HB 5 / SB 146 Fetal and Infant Mortality Reduction Act (Rep. Grall/ Sen. Stargel)

ACTION ALERT: HB 5 has been placed on the agenda of the first House committee stop Professions and Public Heath Subcommittee on Wednesday, the 19th at 1:00pm.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 167 Private Action Heartbeat Act (Rep. Barnaby) – No Senate Companion

Action: The bill appears to be dead for this session because the sponsor was unable to find a Senate Companion.

OPPOSE 3.

HB 6023/SB 628 Abortion Clinic Regulations Act (Rep. Eskamani/Sen. Book)

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and Conscience

SUPPORT 1.

HB 0215/SB 254 Religious Institutions Protection Act (Rep. DiCeglie/Sen. Brodeur)

The House version (215) still has 3 committees to go through; the Senate version has passed the first committee 6-0 and passed the second and final committee 14-2. It is headed to the full Senate floor for a vote that has yet to be scheduled. Florida Family Policy Council was instrumental in suggesting additional language to further strengthen equal protections under the law for religious institutions.

ACTION ALERT: HB 215, the Religious Institutions Act has been put on the agenda for its first House committee Pandemics and Public Emergencies Committee Wednesday the 19th at 9am.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0687/SB 1184 Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act (Rep. Drake/Sen. Broxson)

Description: This proposal provides protections to health care professionals from being penalized, reprimanded, or deprived of their licenses for exercising their freedom of speech on social media. In light of recent pro-life and pro-family censorship, against pro-life and pro-family, it requires anyone who attempts to accuse a health care worker of saying something incorrect on social media to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If anyone falsely accuses a health care worker for saying something incorrect on social media, that person will face serious penalties.

SUPPORT 3.

HB 0747/SB 1820 Medical Conscience Protection Act (Rep. Snyder/ Sen. Baxley)

Description: The bill would protect the rights of medical doctors, nurses, or other providers, as well as religious medical facilities, to practice their conscience convictions in their healthcare practices. Specifically, no medical professional or entity could be forced to recommend, participate in, and provide non emergency medical procedures and actions that would violate their sincerely held convictions and beliefs. For example, no doctor would be forced to perform an abortion, and no nurse would be demanded to participate in a “sex-reassignment” surgery, among other actions that could violate their rights of conscience.

Action:

Sexuality/Gender Issues

OPPOSE 1.

HB 0205/SB 0374 Gay and Transgender Panic Legal Defenses Act (Rep. Smith (C)/Sen. Book)

Description: This act would seek to add sexual orientation and gender identity as recognized categories in criminal defense law. Although there are some direct concerns about specific applications in real life, the main issue is this bill attempts to slide the subjective, undefinable, and legally fluid categories of sexual orientation and gender identity into state law. This, despite the fact that the Florida legislature has repeatedly rejected adding these categories in other areas of law.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 211 Youth and Sexual Identity (Rep. Sabatini) – No Senate companion

Action: The bill appears to be dead for the session because of the lack of a Senate Sponsor.

OPPOSE 3.

HB 0249/SB 0456 Driver License and Identification Card Gender Designation (Rep. Arrington/Sen. Torres, Jr.)

OPPOSE 4.

HB 0813/SB 1074 Sexually Transmissible Diseases Act (Rep. Robinson (F)/Sen. Pizzo)

Description: Currently, under state law, to knowingly donate blood, organs, or other bodily items that are contaminated by an STD (sexually transmitted disease) or to knowingly participated in intercourse while infected with an STD without informing the partner, is a felony. This proposal would seek to lower that criminal action to a mere misdemeanor.

OPPOSE 5.

HB 6015/SB 0168 Marriages Between Persons of the Same Sex Act (Rep. Rayner/Sen. Polsky)

Description: This provision aims to eliminate the language in state statute recognizing marriage as between one man and one woman.

Education/Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

SUPPORT 1.

HB 7/SB 148 CRT Ban in Public Schools and Corporations Act (Rep. Avila/Sen. Diaz)

ACTION ALERT: SB 148 the CRT by Diaz has been place on the agenda for the first committee Education at 11 am.

SUPPORT 2.

HB 0057/SB 0242 Racial and Sexual Discrimination Ban Act (Rep. Fine/Sen. Gruters)

OPPOSE 3.

HB 6065/SB 0212 Unfairness in Women’s Sports Act (Rep. Arrington/Sen. Farmer, Jr.)

Description: This ordinance would reverse current state law protecting women’s sports and would force females to play women’s sports with biological males who subjectively identify as female.

OPPOSE 4.

HB 6077/SB 0810 Postsecondary Intellectual Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act (Rep. Hinson/Sen. Polsky)

Education and Parental Rights

SUPPORT 1.

HB 1305/SB 1842 Sex Ed Materials Harmful to Minors Act (Rep. Borrero/Sen. Baxley)

SUPPORT 2.

HB 1557/SB 1834 Parental Rights in Education Act (Rep. Harding/Sen. Baxley)

Other Related Issues

OPPOSE 1.

HB 0549/SB 1884 Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Act (Rep. Omphroy/Sen. Powell)

Description: This proposed statute would legalize recreational marijuana in the state of Florida.

OPPOSE 2.

HB 6003/SB 1854 Legal Rights of the Natural Environment Act (Rep. Eskamani/Sen. Farmer)

Description: The proposal would grant human rights status to the natural environment.

SUPPORT 3.

HB 0405/SB 0936 Compulsive and Addictive Gambling Prevention Act (Rep. Plakon/Sen. Baxley)

Description: The ordinance intends to establish a Gambling Prevention Commission to study gaming addictions and proving solutions on how to counteract the problem.

SUPPORT 4.

HB 75/SB 594 Discrimination on the Basis of COVID-19 Vaccination or Postinfection Recovery Status (Rep. Sabatini/Sen. Perry)

Description: The ordinance intends to establish a Gambling Prevention Commission to study gaming addictions and proving solutions on how to counteract the problem.

SUPPORT 5.

HJR 0663/SJR 1004 Recall of County Officers and Commissioners (Rep. Williamson/ Sen. Gruters)

The post Legislative Insider’s Report Week 1 of 9 appeared first on Florida Family Action.

EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT: Protect Student Free Speech

Admin — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 20:07:08 +0000

NEEDS YOUR IMMEDIATE RESPONSE:

Would you call Senate President Bill Galvano right now and ask him to have the Florida Senate up or down vote on H.B. 7103 which supports student free speech?

Respectfully call and email the Florida Senate President TODAY before close of business asking to allow an up or down vote on H.B. 7103!

CALL
(850) 487-5229

or

EMAIL
galvano.bill@flsenate.gov
galvano.bill.web@flsenate.gov
Collins.Carlecia@flsenate.gov

BACKGROUND: In 2015, the Cambridge Christian School football team won the right to play in the state championship football game. They, along with their opponents at University Christian School, asked the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) to continue the tradition of their schools by praying over the loudspeaker prior to kickoff.

The FHSAA said, “No,” claiming that because the game took place in what was then known as the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, the “separation of church and state” blocked the requested loudspeaker prayer. Cambridge disagreed and filed a federal lawsuit, challenging that decision.

Rather than allow a 30-second prayer over the loudspeaker in front of the fans from two Christian schools, the FHSAA has spent almost five years litigating the case.

But, on Monday night, the Florida House of Representatives passed HB 7103. Included in the bill is the following language that would solve the problem and encourage greater free speech at FHSAA events:

“The FHSAA shall adopt bylaws or policies that require, prior to the start of all athletic events conducted under the direction and supervision of the FHSAA, including but not limited to Florida High School State Championship Series events, that each participating school be provided 30 seconds for opening remarks over the public-address system. The FHSAA may not prohibit prayer or otherwise control, monitor, or review the content of the opening remarks, if any. Prior to the opening remarks, the public-address announcer shall announce that the content of any opening remarks by a participating school is not endorsed by and does not reflect the views and opinions of the FHSAA.”

Now, Senate President Bill Galvano seems to question the need for the bill, wondering if more years of litigation is preferable to decisive legislative action. Galvano has been a friend to us and needs some encouragement to do the right thing.

Would you call Senate President Bill Galvano right now and ask him to have the Florida Senate up or down vote on H.B. 7103?
His number is (850) 487-5229 or you can email him at galvano.bill@flsenate.gov and galvano.bill.web@flsenate.gov and
Collins.Carlecia@flsenate.gov

Former Florida Speaker of the House and current Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran believes the FHSAA should be more respectful of such requests. “Policies that are overbroad or restrictive may deny students their constitutional right to private religious expression.” HB 7103 solves that problem.

Former Acting Associate Attorney General of the United States, Jesse Panuccio noted recently that, “The Constitution protects the right to believe, exercise and express religious faith, even when this occurs on government property.”

Even College Football Hall of Fame Coach Bobby Bowden, and his son Tommy, wondered in an op/ed this week, “Why has the state’s agency charged with administering high school sports spent hundreds of thousands of its dollars paying attorneys to prevent a simple, 30-second prayer by two Christian schools?”

They support the legislative solution found in HB 7103, calling it “a reasonable, even creative, solution” concluding “No one should object to that.”

Please call—(850) 487-5229—or email Senate President Bill Galvano now galvano.bill@flsenate.gov and galvano.bill.web@flsenate.gov and Collins.Carlecia@flsenate.gov asking him to give an up or down vote on H.B. 7103 in the Florida Senate, protecting the free speech of Florida’s student athletes.

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