BILLS THAT FAILED THE 2016 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
To date, Governor Rick Scott has signed sixty bills. We have outlined a few items of interest that failed this year.
EDUCATION Many education priorities did not make it onto the train. These provisions included: adding 100 minutes per week of recess for elementary school children; a proposed constitutional amendment that would break up school districts; allowing alternative testing to the FSA; giving high school students the option to take computer-coding courses to satisfy two credits of foreign-language requirements; adding a financial literacy course as a high school graduation requirement; improving elementary school reading instruction; guaranteeing a minimum salary of $50,000 for teachers; establishing a statewide charter school authorizer; and altering class size rules.
LEGISLATIVE TERM LIMITS Bills which would have proposed a revision to the State Constitution to increase the number of years that state legislators may serve did not receive the necessary support by the Legislature and will not appear on the 2016 ballot.
MUNICIPAL ELECTION DATES The House passed a measure which would have required local governments to hold their elections on certain dates. The Senate did not concur and the bill died in committee. The bill would have streamlined the elections by having them on the November ballot or have all municipalities within a county vote on the same day.
RED LIGHT CAMERAS An effort to repeal the 2010 legislation authorizing the use of red-light cameras to catch traffic violators failed.
DUI INTERLOCK DEVICES A bill which would have mandated automobile ignition interlock devices for first- time DUI offenders died in committee. Twenty-three states currently have such a program.
RIDE SHARING As one of the last bills to be considered this session, ride-sharing company Uber pulled out all the stops to pass this legislation with television ads targeting Senate President Andy Gardiner and the delivery of more than 32,500 petitions from supporters. They were unsuccessful for the second year in a row because the Senate and House disagreed on how to regulate the industry.
LOTTERY SALES The Senate killed a measure that would have allowed point of sale lottery tickets. Floridians would have been able to purchase such tickets at terminals such as gas pumps would it have passed.
PUBLIC RECORDS ENFORCEMENT Contentious legislation which would have given judges leeway in the awarding of legal fees in public records cases was approved by the Senate after being amended to address opponents’ concerns. However, the House did not act on the measure.
ASSIGNMENT OF BENEFITS FOR INSURANCE Both chambers rejected an attempt to prohibit the assignment of benefits for insurance. In cases where flooding occurs in a home, the remediation company would still be assigned the insurance proceeds from such events.
INMATE TIME SERVED Legislation which would have reduced the requirement that all inmates serve 85 percent of their sentence time failed. The bill would have reduced the amount of time in prison to 65 percent.