What state passed
Nine of the most impactful things approved by the 2021 Florida Legislature.
Here are some of the biggest issues addressed during the regular session of the Florida Legislature, which ended Friday.
BUDGET: Buoyed by billions of dollars in federal stimulus money and rebounding state tax revenues, lawmakers passed a record $101.5 billion budget for the upcoming year. The budget includes such things as bonuses for first responders, providing services to more people with developmental and intellectual disabilities and addressing the rise of sea levels.
COVID-19: Lawmakers passed a measure aimed at shielding businesses and health care providers from lawsuits related to people getting sick or dying from COVID-19. Also, they approved making permanent a ban on COVID-19 vaccine “passports.”
EDUCATION: Lawmakers passed an overhaul of school-voucher programs that would increase an income threshold so that a family of four making nearly $100,000 a year could qualify.
ELECTIONS: Despite fierce opposition from Democrats, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a wide-ranging elections bill that includes placing new restrictions on voting by mail. Supporters said the bill is needed to ensure election security and integrity. But Democrats contended that it is designed to place barriers to voting and likened it to measures aimed at Black voters in the Jim Crow era.
INSURANCE: After years of debating the issue, lawmakers approved ending Florida’s no-fault auto insurance system. Under the bill, motorists would no longer be required to carry personal-injury protection, or PIP, coverage. They would have to carry bodily injury coverage. Also, lawmakers approved changes in the property insurance system, including allowing larger annual rate increases for customers of the statebacked Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
PROTESTS: DeSantis quickly signed a controversial bill sparked by nationwide protests last year after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The law creates a new crime of “mob intimidation,” enhances riot-related penalties and makes it harder for local officials to reduce spending on law enforcement. But opponents said the measure is rooted in racism and would give police too much leeway to arrest peaceful protesters.
SOCIAL MEDIA: After former President Donald Trump was blocked from Twitter and Facebook early this year, Republican lawmakers passed a plan to crack down on social-media companies. The plan, a priority of DeSantis, includes barring social-media companies from removing political candidates from the companies’ platforms and threatens hefty fines. Critics questioned the bill’s constitutionality.
TAXES: Lawmakers passed a plan that will require out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases made by Floridians. The roughly $1 billion a year generated by the change will be used to replenish a depleted unemployment trust fund and offset a cut in a commercial rent tax. Democrats decried it as a tax on consumers to provide business tax cuts.
TRANSGENDER ATHLETES: Lawmakers in the final days of the session passed a bill that would ban transgender female athletes from competing on highschool girls’ and college women’s sports teams. Supporters said transgender female athletes could have a physical advantage; opponents said the bill targets youths already at risk for suicide, ostracism and bullying.