Note: After reviewing the bills again, I missed a bill that Andrade had passed by both chambers and the laid on the table was done to replace it with the Senate version that passed. The correct record is 10-24.
The 2024 Session wasn’t kind to our local delegation when it came to the bills they filed. Representatives Michelle Salzman, Alex Andrade and Joel Rudman sponsored 34 bills, and only 10 passed.
District 1: Michele Salzman (R-Cantonment)
She filed 10 bills, and three passed. The two bills concerned compensation for the Dozier School survivors. Another bill allowed motor vehicle registrations to include information about a diagnosis of certain disabilities or disorders of the applicant or a legal guardian’s child or ward.
Bills on county commission term limits, gaming control and Health Care Provider Accountability died on the second hearing calendar.
Bills regarding state recognition for the Santa Rosa Band of the Lower Muscogee, a Florida Veterans History Program, adding filters on children’s tablets and smartphones, and compensation for advising or assisting in veteran’s benefits died in various committees.
District 2: Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola)
Five of his bills passed both chambers—three concerned the Midway, Pace and Avalon Beach fire districts, and the other two dealt with towing and storage of vehicles and vessels and providers of cardiovascular services.
His bill providing exemptions from public records and meeting requirements for specified health-related compact commissions and committees was laid on the table because the House took up the Senate version. We consider that win, too.
He sponsored some of the session’s most controversial bills. Five bills died in committee. They covered:
- allowing municipalities to ask for schools to be converted to charter schools,
- prohibition of live venues from selling tickets through just one company and arenas and concert halls from selling or transferring passes at prices higher than originally listed,
- restrictions on panhandlers asking for cash,
- prohibition of selling, delivering, bartering, furnishing, or giving kratom products to individuals under 21 years of age, and
- revising the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.
His defamation bill and another to compensate Marcus Button for harms and losses due to the negligence of a Pasco County School Board employee died on second reading.
A bill prohibiting officials from soliciting or accepting anything of value from foreign countries of concern died on the third reading.
District 3: Joel Rudman (R-Navarre)
He won passage of Cassie Carli Law,” requiring a court to designate authorized locations for child custody exchanges “unless otherwise agreed to by both parents in writing.” Rudman named the bill after Carli who was allegedly kidnapped during a custody exchange and later found dead two years ago.
His other nine bills didn’t fare as well. Eight bills died in committee. They covered:
- invalid restrictive covenants with physicians,
- prohibition of an entertainment venue from canceling a contract because of the performer’s use of social media or political affiliation,
- allowing the mandatory waiting period for gun purchase to expire,
- mandating businesses accept cash payments,
- disallowing vaccines to be included as treatment during a public health emergency,
- establishing a Florida State Psychiatric Hospital,
- requiring research facilities to offer dogs and cats for adoption before euthanizing them,
- and the creation of North Santa Rosa County Utilities Authority.
A bill providing exemptions from public records requirements for identification and location information of certain current and former military personnel, their spouses and dependents was laid on the table.
Featured Photo by vuk burgic on Unsplash
