Legislation to ask voters next year whether they want to amend the Florida Constitution and set eight-year term limits for all County Commissioners and School Board members survived its second House stop, but not without taking some dings.

By the time members of the House Education Administration Subcommittee voted on the measure (HJR 679), more than three dozen people had spoken against it or signaled opposition, including several members of the panel.

The bill’s sponsor, Escambia County Republican Rep. Michelle Salzman, was visibly frustrated and said as much during her closing statements. Last year, she said, she sponsored a similar proposal that would have made the change through legislative approval, but people urged her to instead put the issue on the ballot.

“I brought it back and I’m putting it on the ballot, and now that’s not enough,” she said. “Now that’s not the right way.”

Lawmakers established 12-year term limits for School Board members in 2022. But by the following year, Spring Hills Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia — who is now carrying a Senate twin (SJR 802) to Salzman’s bill — began pushing for a more restrictive eight-year limit that also applied to County Commissioners.

Gov. Ron DeSantis supported the change, though it’s proven unsuccessful so far.

Salzman said an overwhelming share of voters want term limits at all levels of government and that without them, incumbents often amass power that can prove prohibitive to smart, well-intentioned people hoping to unseat them.

“Public service is not a career. We’re not supposed to be here serving the people for 20 years. We’re supposed to come here fresh and ready to serve, energized and ready to work for the people,” she said. “And it’s certainly not easy for people with fresh minds and ideas to have an opportunity to serve their community as a public servant if you have the inability to get somebody to move out of office.”

Salzman added that she plans to file an amendment to allow for County Commission and School Board members to serve again after they’ve left office for a while and “taken a break.”

Democratic Reps. Jose Alvarez of Kissimmee, LaVon Bracy Davis of Ocoee, Angie Nixon of Jacksonville and Marie Woodson of Hollywood complained about state overreach, arguing a one-size-fits-all approach to local governance could cause problems.

Nixon noted that at a time when there’s a push among Republicans at the federal level to send authority back to states, “it almost seems disingenuous with this now to impose the state’s choices on a local area.”

Islamorada Republican Rep. Jim Mooney expressed similar concerns, noting that what is appropriate for Holmes County may not benefit Duval County “and vice versa.” But he said he’d vote for the bill Wednesday with the expectation that it will be improved as it advances.

Miami Beach Republican Rep. Fabián Basabe defended the proposal. He said he used to think elections worked as de facto term limits, since voters had the opportunity to oust officials they disapproved of, but being a state lawmaker changed his perspective.

“We represent a voice in what controls such a massive economy, and locally those (County) Commissions and School Boards … are arguably equally as powerful of an economy,” he said. “I worry about the concentration of power not ever leaving room for new voices and accountability. And on top of that, I’m really interested in hearing from the voters on this.”

One person from the public signaled support for HJR 679. Thirty-seven opposed it, including numerous locally elected officials and representatives from the Florida Association of Counties and the Small County Coalition.

Rich Templin of the Florida AFL-CIO said the idea of blanket term limits for all state officials “has been floating around for about a decade” in Florida, but it’s failed repeatedly because imposing them would “change the fundamental structure of local community government without asking the local community.”

“The problem that we have here is that you are asking all of the voters in the entire state of Florida to make decisions that are going to impact individual communities that are far different than where those voters reside,” he said.

“There are currently four counties in the state right now who could vote, and if they all come out and vote, they could put this in the constitution. … But what about the smaller counties? What about the rural counties? I think you’ll hear from them later.”

That proved true. Ralph Thomas, a Commissioner in Wakulla, Florida’s smallest and newest county, said the right to home rule — local self-governance — was enshrined in the Florida Constitution in 1968 to allow local governments to impose term limits as they saw fit, among other things.

Today, 47 of Florida’s 67 counties have not adopted home rule charters and 20 have. Of those, 11 have term limits and nine don’t.

“There’s great diversity across our state with this opinion,” he said. “(HJR 679) gives the people nothing they don’t already possess. This just strips away the ability to choose who’s on the ballot.”

HJR 679, which advanced on an 11-6 vote Wednesday, will next go to the House State Affairs Committee before reaching a floor vote.

SB 802 advanced through its first of three stops on a 6-2 vote last month.

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A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics contributed to this report.

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Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

Florida’s push to remove books from school libraries has made national headlines in recent years, and now Democrats fear a new bill could remove some of the defenses that School Boards have to fight back.

Rep. Doug Bankson’s bill (HB 1539) would prohibit School Boards from considering a book’s serious literary, artistic, political and scientific value when deciding if the material can remain on shelves.

If a parent or a county resident who doesn’t have kids at the school complains, the school must remove the books within five school days.

The state could threaten to withhold state money until school districts obeyed under the Apopka Republican’s bill.

Bankson’s legislation comes as Republicans and conservative advocates expressed outrage about the content appearing in school libraries.

Bankson’s bill was heard and approved by a vote of 13 to 4 in front of the House Education Administration Subcommittee. However, the Senate companion bill (SB 1692) has been temporarily postponed.

“The power of the state to control the conduct of children reaches beyond the scope of its authority over adults,” Senate staff analysis said, discussing recent court rulings on the issue.

But the staff report also added, “Despite the Court’s clear ruling that a state may regulate material harmful to minors, but not obscene for adults, some statutes have been found unconstitutionally overbroad and criminalized constitutionally protected speech.”

Democrats pounced and called Bankson’s and McClain’s bills unconstitutional. 

Read more on Florida Politics.

Evening Reads

—”Democrats show a pulse: Six takeaways from Tuesday’s elections” via Reid J. Epstein, Julie Bosman and Emily Cochrane of The New York Times

—”I’ve NEVER seen this in my 34 years in Florida politics!” via Dave Trotter of Voting Trend

—”Elon Musk setback in Wisconsin raises questions about his future role” via Naftali Bendavid and Patrick Marley of The Washington Post

—”Donald Trump and GOP confront Musk quandary after Wisconsin defeat” via John McCormick, Anthony DeBarros and Lindsay Wise of The Wall Street Journal

—”How ‘groceries’ explains Trump’s detachment from working Americans” via Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone

—”The Supreme Court struggles with whether to wound Medicaid to spite Planned Parenthood” via Ian Millhiser of Vox

—”Trump tries to limit GOP defections on tariff vote” via Siobhan Hughes, Gavin Bade and Lindsay Wise of The Wall Street Journal

—“Ron DeSantis says he tried to install Randy Fine at FAU because state lawmakers wanted to get rid of him” via Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

—”How Florida troopers are getting around red tape limiting immigration enforcement” via Ana Ceballos of the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times

—”Critic’s appreciation: Val Kilmer, an unclassifiable heartthrob who always had an edge” via Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter

Quote of the Day

“We put a down payment on our future, and we’re going to make Republicans pay for it in the long run.”

— FDP Chair Nikki Fried, on Democrats’ overperformance in Tuesday’s congressional elections.

Put it on the Tab

Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.

Florida Democrats closed the gap in yesterday’s congressional elections, but they spent a lot of money doing it, earning them a Burnt Citrus.

Small-scale beer manufacturers can crack open one of their own brews to celebrate HB 499’s victory in the House State Administration Budget Subcommittee.

Democrats are worried that a new bill could remove some of the defenses that School Boards have to fight book bans. Help them chill out with a Fahrenheit 151.

Breakthrough Insights

Tune In

Heat in final playoff push

With seven games left in the regular season, the Heat travels to Boston to face the Celtics as Miami tries to climb the NBA’s Eastern Conference standings.

Miami (34-41) is ninth in the conference, half a game ahead of the Chicago Bulls, who hold the final postseason spot in the conference. The Heat have clinched a postseason spot, but how the playoff path will look remains to be determined.

Winners of five straight games, the Heat could finish as high as sixth, earning an automatic spot in the playoffs. However, the more likely scenario finds Miami in the four-team play-in tournament. Teams seeded seventh through 10th have the chance to play into the main playoff bracket. The ninth seed hosts the 10th seed in the first stage, while the seventh seed hosts the eighth seed to open the play-in tourney. Two of the four teams will advance. 

Boston (56-19) is second in the Eastern Conference standings, four games behind Cleveland. The Celtics have won nine straight games and mathematically have a chance to catch the Cavaliers for the top seed in the playoffs. 

Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo have powered Miami’s recent hot streak. Herro averaged 28.4 points per game in the winning streak, while Adebayo added 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game over the last five contests.

The Heat returns home on Thursday to face the Memphis Grizzlies, followed by home games against the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers.

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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.

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The Senate Appropriations Committee has OK’d a bill that could give lawmakers new insight into how seniors feel at nursing homes in order to better protect them.

“This bill strengthens the voice of our nursing home residents and their family members to ensure they can age with the dignity and care they deserve,” said Senate President Ben Albritton in a statement.

If SB 170 passes this Session, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) would create biennial customer satisfaction surveys for residents and their families at nursing homes. The survey would be available at all facilities, including ones operated by nonprofits and for-profit companies, for short-term and long-term residents.

Nursing home employees would be prohibited from trying to influence the responses, although seniors’ families could help them complete the surveys, the bill outlines.

“The beauty of this survey is we will be able to use it in a multitude of ways,” said Sen. Colleen Burton, a Lakeland Republican, during Wednesday’s hearing.

Lawmakers would be able to understand if the state’s programs are improving seniors’ quality of care and plan to study how Florida compares to other states, Burton said.

The survey results will also be available to the public in the AHCA Nursing Home Guide website.

“Following the survey results, nursing homes must develop and submit an internal action plan for improvement to AHCA. This feedback is essential to help Florida families make a clear and informed decision when selecting a nursing home,” the Senate press release said.

Staff analysis of the bill warned about costs ahead. “AHCA estimates a cost of $356,500 to implement the Nursing Home Patient Satisfaction Survey and the Nursing Home Patient Safety Culture Survey required in this bill,” the staff report said.

“The agency will also require $140,500 annually to maintain, enhance, and secure endorsements for these surveys. The comprehensive study of nursing home quality incentive plans will require an estimated $1.5 million to complete.”

What could help lower the state’s cost are new $10,000 fines the bill is proposing on nursing homes that refuse to submit audited financial information to the state as required by law.

The bill also includes a provision to require nursing home medical directors to obtain an American Medical Directors Association certification or hold a similar credential approved by AHCA.

“Floridians should feel confident when selecting a nursing home for themselves or a loved one. This legislation will elevate the quality of care and safety standards of nursing home facilities statewide,” Burton said in a statement.

“Enhanced transparency and feedback from nursing home residents and their family members will better inform Floridians and safeguard the quality of care for seniors and individuals with disabilities.”

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