Week 1 Summary - COVID-19 Liability Shield approved by the

Florida TaxWatch Top Priorities

The Legislature completed Week 1 of the 2021 Session and some of Florida TaxWatch’s top priorities advanced. The COVID-19 Liability Shield to protect businesses that take proper precautions against the virus against frivolous lawsuits was approved by the full House (HB 7). The Senate version (SB 72) and separate bills providing COVID-19 liability protection for health care providers (SB 74 and HB 7005) all passed committees this week.

Legislation to make sure legally owed sales taxes are collected from on-line remote sellers (SB 50) passed its last committee stop and is now ready for a floor vote.

Other Bills Advancing in Week 1

SB 100 would repeal the M-CORES program created by the 2019 Legislature to build three major toll roads. The bill would replace it with a scaled-back, less prescriptive program. The bill addresses several of the concerns raised by the Florida TaxWatch report The Suncoast Connector: What We Still Need to Know.

SB 48 would consolidate and streamline Florida’s school choice scholarship programs and significantly increase the number of available scholarships.

Other bills of interest to Florida TaxWatch that passed committees include ones that: promote civics education (HB 5); prevent companies that fail the taxpayers from bidding on future state contracts (SB 788); promote reading (HB 3 and HB 7011); allow flexibility in sentencing (SB 662); and enhance juvenile justice education programs (SB 486).

Budget Development

In budget news, actual General Revenue collections in January topped estimates by $246.7 million. This means that for the first two months after the latest forecast, collections have exceeded estimates by $583 million. Look for a boost in the new estimates later this month.