April is National Donate Life Month, raising awareness for life-saving organ donations. And just in time, the group Donate Life Florida is announcing Florida’s first-ever statewide organ donor registration initiative, which could help the more than 5,000 Floridians awaiting life-saving transplants.

The campaign seeks to measurably boost the number of Sunshine State residents who become registered donors of organs, tissues and eyes.

The campaign will target a diverse audience, including those in historically under-registered groups. Fewer than 2 in 5 Florida drivers have elected to become organ donors when they receive or renew a driver’s license.

“Life is such a precious gift, and organ, tissue, and eye donation are such a selfless way to share that gift to extend and enhance the lives of others,” Donate Life Florida Chair Patricia Darrigan said. “Too many Floridians are dying while waiting for a transplant. Signing up takes just a moment — but that one moment can change so many lives and extend the legacy of every donor.”

One person could save up to eight lives through organ donation while healing dozens more, according to Donate Life. What’s more, tissue donors can enhance the lives of more than 75 people. Corneal transplants from eye donors, meanwhile, can restore the gift of sight.

“I literally would not be here today if not for the generous organ donation of a young woman whose life ended far too soon,” said Kris Vanni of the Brevard County community of Scottsmoor, who received a new liver when Tallahassee resident Aimee Sachs died following a massive stroke on May 31, 2023.

“If not for Aimee’s incredible gift, my husband would be raising our sons by himself, and I would not be able to watch them grow. That’s the difference organ donation can make — giving life to others and saving families, too.”

Vanni is one of three individuals whose lives were extended and enhanced by receiving organs from Aimee Sachs. Her dad, lobbyist Ron Sachs, said his daughter’s final act of kindness was the bravest thing his family had ever witnessed.

Ron Sachs and his family have given a private donation to endow the campaign’s launch, and he is urging others to also contribute.

Aimee Sachs, a journalist who was just 38 years old when she died, is featured in a moving public service announcement for Donate Life Florida. It shows her alive and vibrant in the hospital following a stroke, singing passionately along to Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror.

But as the video reminds, Aimee Sachs suffered a massive stroke just days later, leaving her completely paralyzed with no ability to communicate other than to blink her eyes. Still conscious, she made the choice to donate life.

“The greatest gift any of us can give is to make that personal commitment to be a donor, and the best way to enhance your own life’s legacy is to donate life to others,” said Ron Sachs, Chair Emeritus of Sachs Media in Tallahassee. “We hope Aimee’s inspiring story, and those of so many other donors and recipients, will widen the universe of people who choose to leave a gift of life.”

It’s free to become an organ donor, and becoming one won’t affect medical care or funeral arrangements. Donate Florida, a nonprofit organization, is authorized by the state to manage the Joshua Abbott Organ and Tissue Donor Registry as the state’s official organ, tissue and eye donor registry.

The group reminds anyone who may be on the fence about becoming an organ donor that it is a way to help a neighbor. Most organs have a limited period of viability, meaning recipients are likely to be in close geographic proximity. And it’s easy to register, with an online option at www.DonateLifeFlorida.org, or when applying for or renewing a driver’s license, auto tag or state identification card.

“Florida simply doesn’t have enough registered organ donors to keep up with the need,” Darrigan said. “We’re not just talking about numbers — we are talking about sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, neighbors, friends, and colleagues whose lives hang in the balance.”

The issue hits home for many, including former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, whose husband, John, was an organ donor.

“John was so meaningful to everyone who knew him. He was the love of my life. He was a guiding light for our girls. He was a transformational leader for our community. And in the end, his tragedy gave life to others,” Passidomo said.

John Passidomo passed away last April after a fall while hiking with his wife in Utah.

Currently, fewer than 40% of Floridians have signed on as organ donors when obtaining or renewing their driver’s license at a Tax Collector’s Office last year. That means a staggering more than 60% of Floridians, on average last year, missed the opportunity to save a life should tragedy befall them.

“My life today is full of things I once feared I’d never experience again: time with my family, laughter with friends, simple moments that now feel extraordinary. All of that is possible because one person said yes,” said Tyrone Brisby of Jacksonville, who received a new heart from 14-year-old Tennessee donor Kyle Rodger in 2014.

“The goal of this campaign is to get registrations up to at least 50%, so more people will get to enjoy a second chance, the way I did.”

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Miami-Dade’s top economic engine could get a fast-tracked makeover, courtesy of a no-bid deal with its tenants.

County Commissioners are scheduled to vote Tuesday on a resolution by Danielle Cohen Higgins and Kevin Marino Cabrera authorizing a no-bid deal with concessionaires at Miami International Airport (MIA).

The deal, which requires two-thirds approval from the dais, would keep the existing restaurants and retailers at the hub for 12 years, with one three-year renewal option. In exchange, they would agree to yearly rent increases, among other things, and invest up to $332 million to renovate their spaces.

Concessionaires that opt into the three-year renewal would have to commit to “approximately an additional $65 million of investment,” MIA Director Ralph Cutié said, adding that Miami-Dade altogether would see “almost $1.1 billion” in revenue from the deal.

Other aspects of the agreement would see concessionaires pay 0.5% of their gross revenues to cover a customer experience fee MIA would use to improve areas adjacent to their spaces; a 0.5% marketing fee to pay for advertising and a new secret shopper program; and a 0.25% infrastructure repair and maintenance fee restaurants that use grease traps would have to pay.

Two-thirds of the $332 million would cover improvements to the spaces, Cutié said, with most of the remainder going toward upgrading equipment.

“One of the most important things that the item does is it resets the ratio of food and beverage to retail, which currently is at 46% food and beverage and about 54% retail. The industry-recognized optimum standard is … about 65% (to) 35%,” he said. “As part of this agreement, the … concessionaires will turn that ratio to the more optimum 65%, 35% … food and beverage to retail.”

The deal comes amid a confluence of headwinds for Miami-Dade. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has called for spending cuts as pandemic funds dry out. At the same time, the county is investing $9 billion to improve and expand MIA after years of criticism about its dilapidated escalators, walkways and long-out-of-commission Skytrain.

Cohen Higgins told Florida Politics that while some concessionaires aren’t fully onboard with the deal, “the vast majority” are. She said taking a “piecemeal approach” of negotiating with each of the businesses and outside companies hoping to replace them would delay the much-needed improvements and limit the plan’s impact.

“These businesses are doing well, knock on wood,” she said. “We want to incentivize a full-spectrum renovation.”

Cabrera, who is likely to soon leave County Hall for a job as U.S. Ambassador to Panama, said the no-bid deal also makes sense because the concessionaires the county has contracts with now are doing good jobs.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said. “If we were (to) go out to bid … I think it would take another decade … because we know what happens. It gets slowed down. People are going to do bid protests and we’ll be here forever and ever before we actually get there.”

He said that the deal includes safeguards that weren’t there in past contracts, including a provision allowing for a tenant to be evicted if they violate parts of the agreement.

Commissioners will also consider a separate but related resolution soliciting bids for concessionaires interested in filling 10 vacant spaces in MIA’s North Terminal, out of which American Airlines operates. The item also seeks competitive procurement for tenants for the Central Terminal and the hub’s to-be-built Terminal K.

Cohen Higgins pointed to that separate resolution in response to concerns Commissioner Keon Hardemon raised during a March 12 committee meeting about how the larger no-bid deal denies Black-owned businesses an opportunity to compete.

Hardemon noted that it’s been nearly 20 years since the county held an airport-wide round of competitive bidding for concessionaire spaces and that contract extensions for them are traditionally for four years.

“There’s no way that we should let this moment pass without doing something more significant for the people that we believe should be there,” he said. “In order for us to move forward with this significant of a step, there’s some unbundling that needs to be done.”

Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, the immediate past Chair of the County Commission, said he was sympathetic to Hardemon’s concern and appreciated Cabrera’s sentiment about not fixing unbroken things.

“But ‘broke’ and ‘fix’ is relative to your position,” he said. “For people who don’t necessarily have the opportunity, they would think, ‘Yeah, someone else is doing well there, but I could do well there (too).’”

MIA has nearly 280,000 square feet of concession space across its North, Central and South terminals. The airport’s website says its concession tenants “are selected through a competitive selection process.”

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One lawmaker’s proposal to study how schools can ban cell phones during the school day cleared the first committee stop Monday.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Danny Burgess, a Zephyrhills Republican, would create a pilot program to help the state understand how best to eradicate cell phones from schools.

“We all know that cell phones are a distraction, that they take us away from the academics of school,” Burgess said as the Education Pre K-12 Committee voted 9-0 for SB 1296.

He compared cell phones to an addictive drug for kids.

In 2023, the Legislature passed a law requiring school districts to prohibit cell phone usage during instructional time in the classroom. But Burgess’ bill aims to take it further and explore how to ban phones during the entire school day, including on school grounds and during school-sponsored activities off school property but still during the school day. The report would also explore how the policy affects students’ behavior and academics.

Under his bill, six school districts — two small ones, two medium-sized ones and two large ones — would be part of a pilot program to report back to the Senate President and House Speaker by Dec. 1, 2026 about the situation. Burgess’ bill does not specify which school districts would participate.

“Hopefully we’re approaching this right by making sure that we’re surveying districts that may already have this implemented and then getting that feedback and determining if there’s a better, more comprehensive approach from that,” Burgess said.

Some of the questions lawmakers want to understand are the exceptions to a full ban, such as how do the schools allow phones for native English speakers to access curriculum or when students ride the school buses and during emergencies when parents need to reach their kids.

“The report must also include a model policy that school districts and charter schools may adopt,” the bill said. “The report must also include student code of conduct provisions for violations of the policy restricting the use of cell phones and other electronic devices.”

Burgess cited a National Library of Medicine study that found students who used phones in class took fewer notes and got worse grades compared to students who put their phones away.

His bill is headed next for the Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee.

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