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Flying on private jets OK — but not for free — under proposed new Florida House rules

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Less than a week after shaking up the Florida House’s committee apparatus, incoming Speaker Daniel Perez is laying out new rules and procedures he believes will tighten the chamber’s operations while affording its members more flexibility.

Among the changes: allowing House members to fly on private planes, even if they’re owned by lobbyists or companies seeking legislative action, as is allowed today for Florida Senate members.

House members today are under a “blanket prohibition” barring flights on private planes if the aircraft is owned by a company with business before the Legislature. The same ban doesn’t apply to Senate members, which Perez said is an unfair, unnecessary impediment to lower-chamber lawmakers for whom traveling to and from Tallahassee can already be burdensome.

Perez said that’ll be fixed through a pending measure (HR 1-O) from Fleming Island Republican Rep. Sam Garrison, whom Perez recently named as the new Chair of the Rules & Ethics Committee.

Under HR 1-O, House members would be able to travel on private jets — regardless of who owns them — at the cost of the private flight, divided by its number of occupied seats. That’s pricier than for Senators, who can fly privately while paying what a coach ticket would cost for a similar trip on a commercial airline.

“We believe this new rule will provide some additional flexibility without allowing House members to receive a disproportionate benefit from a lobbyist or principal,” he said.

Two other proposed changes would also affect lobbying. The first would close a procedural loophole that now allows unofficial lobbying to take place in House chambers. House rules today prohibit former members who are registered as lobbyists from entering and speaking with current members.

However, former House members who are on the payroll of those same entities but are not registered as lobbyists themselves are allowed to enter and speak with lawmakers.

That’s going to change, according to Perez.

“Going forward, former members who are employed by a registered principal will be treated in the same manner as former members who are registered lobbyists,” he said.

Disclosure procedures are also getting an overhaul. HR 1-O would require House staff to confirm that a lobbyist has filed a disclosure detailing which bills, appropriations or issues they are lobbying for before a meeting on them can be scheduled.

Lobbyists who fail to conform to this new standard would face hearings and possible financial sanctions by the Rules & Ethics Committee.

“The House has a zero-tolerance policy for any attempt to avoid, manipulate, or undermine the lobbyist disclosure system,” Perez wrote.

To better tamp down on any breaches by House members of policy, protocol and decorum, the responsibility of addressing such violations would be fully returned to the Rules & Ethics Committee. In recent years, Perez said, that responsibility has increasingly been delegated to staff.

“I find this practice to be inappropriate,” he said. “Whenever possible, members will be given an opportunity to cure the problem or deficiency. However, if a member fails to do so, the potential violation can be brought before the Rules & Ethics Committee for public discussion.”

The committee could then reprimand the member and/or recommend further action by the Speaker and House.

“This process will be separate from the formal complaint process, and the Rules & Ethics Chair will have discretion on what matters to bring before the committee,” Perez added. “As members we — not staff — are responsible for governing our behavior, for determining the lines between acceptable and unacceptable conduct, and for holding one another accountable.”

Several other changes are coming and focus on House processes and rules enforcement. They include:

— Requiring members to submit in writing requests of committee Chairs to place their bills on agenda. The requests must include information on each bill’s anticipated Senate companion. While the request is a procedural prerequisite to a bill being heard, Perez noted that members are still “expected to work their bills and fully engage not only with the Chairs but with the members of the committee.”

— Requiring House members to only notify the Speaker’s Office that they plan to miss all or part of a scheduled floor session, rather than the current rule in which members must seek permission to do so. Failure to notify the Speaker’s Office of a planned absence will prevent them from voting after a roll call. “While I place the utmost importance on members being present and engaged on the floor,” Perez said, “I also believe in treating you with the respect you deserve as constitutional officers.”

— Discontinuing multiple drafting submissions and bill filing deadlines. Instead, there will be one bill drafting submission deadline, Jan. 24 this year, and a single bill filing deadline, this year at 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. That latter deadline is moving from the first day of Session to the Friday before the start of Regular Session.

— Making House memorial bills count toward members’ seven-bill limit. Each member will also be given a single repealer bill slot that won’t take up one of the seven regular bill slots, and all members will be allowed 21 draft requests each.

— The addition of combined workgroups to the legislative process, which Perez described as new and unique features of the House that will serve as forums for “intensive examinations of a single issue across multiple subject matter jurisdictions.” House committee and subcommittee Chairs will form the groups, which would meet for up to two weeks or so to examine issues and make recommendations in the form of motions during open committee meetings that could then serve as the basis for potential committee bills.

— A uniform 5 p.m. deadline for committee notices and amendment deadlines.

The 2025 Session begins March 4.


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Friedrich Merz claims victory for German conservatives and the far right heads for strongest postwar result

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The projections, based on exit polls and partial counting, put support for Merz’s Union bloc at just under 29% and Alternative for Germany, or AfD, about 20% — roughly double its result from 2021.

They put support for Scholz’s Social Democrats at just over 16%, far lower than in the last election and below their previous all-time low of 20.5% from 2017. The environmentalist Greens, their remaining partners in the outgoing government, were on 12-13%.

Out of three smaller parties, one — the hard-left Left Party — strengthened its position, winning up to 9% of the vote after a remarkable comeback during the campaign. Two other parties, the pro-business Free Democrats and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, hovered around the threshold of the 5% support needed to win seats.

Whether Merz will have a majority to form a coalition with Scholz’s Social Democrats or need a second partner as well will depend on how many parties get into parliament. The conservative leader said that “the most important thing is to re-establish a viable government in Germany as quickly as possible.”

“I am aware of the responsibility,” Merz said. “I am also aware of the scale of the task that now lies ahead of us. I approach it with the utmost respect, and I know that it will not be easy.”

“The world out there isn’t waiting for us, and it isn’t waiting for long-drawn-out coalition talks and negotiations,” he told cheering supporters. “We must now become capable of acting quickly again.”

The Greens’ candidate for chancellor, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, said that Merz would do well to moderate his tone after a sometimes hard-fought election campaign.

“We have seen the center is weakened overall, and everyone should look at themselves and ask whether they didn’t contribute to that,” said Habeck. “Now he must see that he acts like a chancellor.”

The Greens were the party that suffered least from participating in Scholz’s unpopular government. The Social Democrats’ general secretary, Matthias Miersch, suggested that their defeat was no surprise — “this election wasn’t lost in the last eight weeks.”

AfD’s candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, said that “we have become the second-strongest force.” The party’s strongest previous showing was 12.6% in 2017, when it first entered the national parliament.

She said that her party is “open for coalition negotiations” with Merz’s party, and that “otherwise, no change of policy is possible in Germany.” But Merz has repeatedly and categorically ruled out working with AfD, as have other mainstream parties.

AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla told cheering supporters that “we have achieved something historic today.”

“We have gained 100%,” he said. “We are now the political center and we have left the fringes behind us.”

Scholz decried AfD’s success. He said that “that must never be something that we will accept. I will not accept it and never will.”

The head of Germany’s main Jewish organization, Josef Schuster, told daily newspaper Die Welt: “It must concern us all that a fifth of German voters are giving their vote to a party that is at least partly right-wing extremist, that openly seeks linguistic and ideological links to right-wing radicalism and neo-Nazism, that plays on people’s fears and only offers them ostensible solutions.”

More than 59 million people in the nation of 84 million were eligible to elect the 630 members of the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, who will take their seats under the glass dome of Berlin’s landmark Reichstag building.

___

Republished with permission of The Associated Press.



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Improving health care in Florida’s rural communities

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The Florida Senate aims to deliver much-needed relief to the state’s rural communities through Senate President Ben Albritton’sRural Renaissance” legislative proposal. These communities have historically faced significant challenges in accessing essential services.

The Florida Hospital Association (FHA) strongly supports the initiative.

Senate Bill 110, filed by Sen. Corey Simon and championed by President Albritton, is strategically designed to bolster health care, education, infrastructure, and environmental enhancements in these smaller, often fiscally constrained communities. These areas frequently grapple with limited resources, making it difficult to attract a medically-trained workforce and sustain essential health services.

According to FHA President and CEO Mary Mayhew, this legislation precisely addresses the needs of rural Florida communities to thrive.

“Senate President Albritton’s vision for a Rural Renaissance aims to meet the greatest needs of Floridians – keeping hospitals open, instituting cutting-edge technologies, and ensuring that Floridians can receive the right care as soon as possible for the best possible outcome,” Mayhew said. “The central goal here is to ensure that rural residents will not have to drive tens or even hundreds of miles to access high-quality care.”

The Florida Hospital Association’s ongoing collaboration with lawmakers to tackle the health care challenges confronting the state’s rural communities has culminated in this proposed bill. Proximity to care is a primary concern, as many residents must travel across multiple counties to receive critical medical services.

SB 110 proposes allocating nearly $70 million to address critical needs within these communities. These investments include:

— $25 million in nonrecurring funds and $10 million in recurring funds to expand the Rural Hospital Capital Improvement Grant Program, encompassing mobile units to provide primary care, behavioral health, and obstetric and gynecologic services. The program also includes telemedicine kiosks to facilitate remote urgent care services.

— $25 million to establish the Rural Access to Primary and Preventive Care Grant Program, designed to help establish or expand preventive and primary care offices, potentially improving quality of life and reducing health care costs for rural Florida families.

— $5 million to create the Stroke, Cardiac and Obstetric Response and Education (SCORE) Grant Program, aimed at training rural EMTs and paramedics to enhance stroke, cardiac, and obstetric response, ultimately improving patient outcomes in smaller communities with limited access to advanced treatments.

— $6.3 million in state and $8.2 million in federal funds to increase existing Florida Medicaid reimbursements for rural hospitals not classified as critical access hospitals.

Albritton shared in a memorandum regarding Florida’s Rural Renaissance: “In addition to employment opportunities, currently, our rural quality of life can be limited by access to education and health care. I believe we can combine enhancements to the traditional infrastructure for schools and hospitals with innovations that expand and strengthen access to these public services.”

SB 110 offers a pathway for Florida’s rural communities to ensure access to high-quality care close to home, making rural Florida a better and healthier place to live. The FHA is eager to collaborate with lawmakers and stakeholders to strengthen the health care infrastructure in Florida’s smaller communities.


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Tasha Carter appointed to Board of Directors for Florida Insurance Guaranty Association

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Carter served as the Consumer Advocate for Florida since 2019.

A seasoned insurance advocate for Florida has been appointed to be a member of the Board of Directors for the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA).

Tasha Carter was named to the Board of the nonprofit corporation that services pending insurance claims by policyholders in the state. The member insurance companies with policyholders are either becoming insolvent or are ordered liquidated.

Florida Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Patronis made the appointment of Carter to the Board this month. FIGA was created by the Florida Legislature to handle the claims in 1970. The agency is charged with settling the claims in a timely manner.

Carter has been Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate since Patronis initially appointed her to that position in August 2019. She’s been in the insurance business and agencies for 22 years. She’s been a leader in professional responsibility, regulation, education and public outreach.

“During her tenure as Insurance Consumer Advocate, Carter’s post-storm response in coordination with the Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services proved essential to consumers with losses in the aftermath of Hurricanes Michael, Ian, Idalia, Debby, Helene, and Milton. Additionally, Carter spearheaded the CFO’s education and outreach initiatives to promote financial literacy for all Floridians,” said a news release from the office of Patronis.

FIGA is composed of members who are licensed direct writers of property and casualty insurance groups in Florida. The property and casualty insurers are licensed under the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) and are qualified for membership in FIGA.

The association works in helping Florida residents with policies when their company is declared as insolvent. That’s when the agency steps in and resolves the claims as soon as possible.

“FIGA’s personnel are trained and developed to deliver fast, fair and professional claim service. The operation is directed towards early recognition and payment of those covered claims which must be resolved to avoid hardship or financial difficulties to the insureds or claimants involved,” the FIGA website said.


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