Seth Johnson
The Florida Legislature will start its 2024 session on Jan. 8, with over 1,000 bills already filed for consideration, including legislation by Alachua County representatives.
The House and Senate leaders have said healthcare and the energy sector could be major issues for the session. Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, said the members might also look at follow-up bills to amend past legislation.
Clemons, who also serves as speaker pro tempore, said Republican leaders were able to pass big-ticket items, like education reform, during their first terms in office, allowing time to analyze and modify those bills in the following sessions. He said state leaders can now wait and see what cleanup legislation might be needed.
With a leadership role, Clemons said his focus has shifted to helping House Speaker Paul Renner pass key legislation instead of filing and advocating for his own bills. Still, Clemons has filed two bills for the upcoming session.
The first would rename a portion of State Road A1A in memory of Jimmy Buffett. The second bill would encourage public-private partnerships as Florida experiences continued growth.
“The public-private partnership bill would enable public companies to bring projects to local governments and help expedite the expansion of some of those infrastructures,” Clemons said. “And this is a relatively new concept. We’ll see how it’s received in the legislature and, you know, at the local level, as well.”
Last session, a Gainesville-specific bill by Clemons dominated local headlines and led to the establishment of the GRU Authority, which took control of Gainesville Regional Utilities in October. No items of that import are on the radar for 2024.
Both state Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, and Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, D-Gainesville, have sponsored a local bill that asks the Florida Department of Transportation to rename a crosswalk on East University Avenue in honor of Dylan Roberts.
Roberts, 4, died in 2021 as he crossed the road heading home. The city of Gainesville recently dual named two streets in his memory, and the state has installed a new pedestrian crosswalk on the stretch. Because it’s on a state road, officials need to petition the department to name the crosswalk in Roberts’ memory.
The GRU Authority has discussed asking for a bill that clarifies the utility’s ability to issue bonds. However, the authority voted against asking for such a change.
Clemons said the authority needs to find stability before needing any cleanup legislation.
“Before a change in the law is warranted, the stability of the GRU authority must be established first,” Clemons said. “Then, any tweaks to the law would be submitted and changed accordingly.”
He said that includes finding a permanent general manager and legal counsel that reports to the authority.
Clemons added that filling the fifth and final member spot will also add stability. He said he expects Gov. Ron DeSantis will fill the vacancy in the first quarter of 2024.
Hinson has filed several bills for the coming session, including a repeat from last year.
Following several juvenile shooting deaths in her district, Hinson filed a bill that would require gun owners to keep weapons in vehicles locked. The bill follows strings of vehicular burglaries that local law enforcement has highlighted as a problem.
Another bill would begin a body camera pilot program at the Lowell Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Marion County. The program would require all officers at the institution to wear body cameras, and the legislation has a mirror bill filed in the senate.
A bill titled Academic Freedom would allow collective bargaining for higher education employees, charge the State Board of Education to ensure high education is free from undue political influence and also permit college boards to create diversity and inclusion programs as long as they further the institution’s goals and promote a holistic, competitive and diverse learning environment.
Perry has filed more than 20 bills for the coming session along with a handful of co-sponsored bills.
The bills touch on pedestrian safety, conditional release of first-time offenders, the regulation of construction liens and reducing the assessed value of properties under certain conditions.
Local representatives also vouch for state funding to local projects—allocations. In October, the Alachua County delegation heard from city officials and community groups, many asking for allocations.
Clemons said the 2023 session set a record for the number of allocation petitions, over $2 billion of funding requests. The competition for funding is immense, Clemons said, and the Legislature must cut allocations to balance the budget as required by law.
“I can tell you flat out that those requests are excessive, both in numbers and in the dollar amount, and they will be pared down accordingly,” Clemons said.
The 2024 session will be the final one for Clemons and Perry, both of whom are term limited.
Clemons said he’s proud of the work behind him. He highlighted several bills he’s pushed through, including the recent Rex and Brody Bill, consumer protections, environmental regulations to keep renewables out of landfills and increasing the consequences of retail theft.
He also highlighted two other recent bills—placing a referendum on last year’s ballot to create single-member county districts and creating the Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority.
“It’s going to change the makeup of the commission, I believe,” Clemons said of single-member districts. “But we’ll see. It’s up to the voters to decide. That’s the only poll that matters, I guess.”
The 2024 elections will be when the county commissioners decided by single-member districts following the referendum.