Capitol Connection
2021 LEGISLATIVE SESSION: WEEK 1
The 2021 Florida Legislative Session is officially underway. The next eight weeks will move quickly in Tallahassee, and we appreciate your interest in monitoring issues that may impact Florida’s children and families. The Florida Children’s Council hopes that the content provided in this digest and the subsequent issues will help inform your advocacy efforts until session ends (sine die) on April 30th. 
 
Each week the Capitol Connection will provide a brief summary of relative events from the executive and legislative branches. The update will also include information on legislation that has moved that week and provide updates on presentations, press conferences and conversations that may be of interest. Since Week 1 of regular session just concluded, below is an exhaustive list of bills that we are currently monitoring. Moving forward, we will only include bills that were considered and/or acted upon during that week.
 
The first column lists the bill number, name and sponsor and provides a hyperlink to the bill's text and history. The numbered circles represent the number of committees of reference for each bill, and the final column provides a brief description of the bill(s). Here is a key to help guide you in your review of where each bill is:
We are excited to continue to work alongside our communities, stakeholders, and elected leaders to ensure effective policy is passed that best support our children and families. As always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

The Florida Children’s Council
Picture of Governor Ron DeSantis speaking to the legislature at the beginning of the 2021 Legislative Session.
Opening Day & State of the State Address
The 2021, 60-day legislative session opened on Tuesday, March 2. House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, and Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, spoke to both chambers followed by the State of the State address by Governor Ron DeSantis.

Speaker Sprowls called for civility and House members coming together to find common ground. The Speaker’s priorities include early literacy, environmental protection, and addressing Florida’s workforce system. Senate President Simpson led with remarks about investing in skills based employment, child welfare, school choice, preservation of natural resources, and protection against COVID-19 litigation for businesses and health care providers.

Governor DeSantis focused his remarks on Florida’s response to COVID-19. He memorialized those lost due to the virus and thanked our first responders and medical personnel. He shared that Florida’s current fiscal outlook is significantly improved compared to last spring’s COVID-19 related financial forecasts. Florida’s economy has remained strong through the pandemic, and the governor touted the state’s efforts to keep schools and business open as contributing factors. The governor also spoke on the reduction of COVID-19 cases resulting from prioritizing vaccines for Florida residents over age 65. Governor DeSantis’s priorities are policy aimed at maintaining our State’s fiscal health, continuing to strengthen our K-12 education system, protecting our natural resources, bolstering our traditional and vocational education programs, limiting big tech, enforcing law and order, and election security. Additionally, he supports the COVID liability bills for business and health care, cracking down on foreign influence, reforms to improve the state’s legal climate, reform of emergency powers of local government, and infrastructure projects. He ended his remarks with a quote from Benjamin Franklin that speaks to the sun rising on a new dawn of freedom. The governor stated that such a sun is rising here in Florida, and our state will soon reach new horizons. 
Economic Self-Sufficiency
Economic Self-Sufficiency
Early Learning
Early Learning
Out of School
Out-Of-School Time Programs
Healthy Development
Healthy Development
Children With Disabilities
Children With Disabilities
Child Protection
Child Protection
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Justice
Equity
Equity
K-12 Education
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For more information, contact: Jenny Foltz - jfoltz@floridacsc.org