Legislative Update #4

April 1, 2019 House and Senate Appropriations Bills Update Senate and House Appropriations Committees have passed out their respective budgets, inclusive of higher education budget proposals for 2019-20. Which is best? The Senate. Which is adequate? Neither. Please send your representative and senator the message that higher education budgets are not adequate. Tell representatives not to punish faculty for administrative misconduct. You might want to thank senators for a good starting point, but their funding… Continue reading

Legislative Update #3

March 21, 2019 House and Senate Higher Education Chair Budget Proposals This week Senate Education Appropriations Chair Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland) and House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay) released the first salvo of budget proposals this week. Highlights gleaned from these proposals are as follows. Florida College System The 2019-20 House budget proposal for colleges is basically flat with no real increase in funding and continues the performance funding of $60 million,… Continue reading

Legislative Update #2

Legislative Update #2 March 13, 2019 An Abbreviated Report Due to the NEA Higher Education Conference later this week and a light committee agenda, this will be a brief report on today’s action on CS/HB 839 and more specifically the “objective, nonpartisan, and statistically valid survey that enables comparisons among universities on the intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at each institution.” The UFF Senate Position As you may recall, the UFF Senate voted unanimously for… Continue reading

Legislative Update #1

Legislative Update #1 March 8, 2019 Legislative Session Begins – Fund Our Future On March 4th, the day before session began, FEA and UFF members were involved in many events statewide to support the FEA campaign #FundOurFutureFL. One example was members from the Leon Classroom TeachersAssociation and all five Tallahassee UFF chapters rallying and waving signs in front of the Old Capitol building. They were joined by FEA President Fed Ingram, FEA VP Andrew Spar,… Continue reading

Budget News

  Legislative Update House and Senate budget conferees met throughout the weekend after agreement was reached on allocations to the various budget entities. This Legislative Update was delayed to report on those activities as it relates to higher education. Unfortunately, some of the compromises made are potentially harmful to UFF members. Note: The final 2017 Legislative Update will probably be on May 8th should session end on time. Check the progress of the following: Details… Continue reading

Florida Legislature, Update 7

  Legislative Update – Session Update #7 May 1, 2017 Legislature Poised to End May 5th House and Senate budget conferees met throughout the weekend after agreement was reached on allocations to the various budget entities. This Legislative Update was delayed to report on those activities as it relates to higher education. Unfortunately, some of the compromises made are potentially harmful to UFF members. Note: The final 2017 Legislative Update will probably be on May… Continue reading

Florida Legislature, Update 5

  Legislative Update – Session Update #5 April 13, 2017 House and Senate Adopt 2017-18 Budget Proposals Both House and Senate passed their versions of the 2017-18 state budget this week. This paves the way for joint meetings of the House and Senate members appointed to the various conference committees to meet in the coming weeks with hopes of an agreement to be reached by May 2nd. This allows for the 72-hour waiting period where… Continue reading

Health Insurance

Health Insurance HB 7007 – University Employees Health Insurance – Filed by Health and Human Services Committee. Passed all committees, ready for floor vote. Provides for a tiered system of benefits HB 7007 is on the floor of the Florida House of Representatives tomorrow afternoon, March 22nd, for consideration. The normal process is adding amendments, if any, on second reading and final vote on the next day of session. In this case, that would probably be… Continue reading

Florida Legislature, Update 2

  Legislative Update Pre-Session #2 February 24, 2017 Who Says Public Employee Unions Do Not Have Power? Representative Scott Plakon (R-Seminole) obviously thinks UFF and other public employee unions are not good for Florida as he has filed HB 11 which establishes a decertification process for those public sector unions having less than 50% membership. This union busting tactic is not new for Plakon as he filed a similar bill in 2011. That bill never… Continue reading

Florida Legislature, Opening Session

  Legislative Update February 10, 2017 Higher Education was at center stage this week in Senate interim committee meetings. The Legislature officially convenes the 2017 Legislative Session on Tuesday, March 7th. On Monday, February 6, the Senate Education Committee passed SB 374 which has been dubbed the “College Competitiveness Act” by Senate leaders. According to Senate President Joe Negron’s press release, “Senate Bill 374 reinstates a statewide coordinating board for the Florida Community College System,… Continue reading