Seventh Week of the Florida Legislative Session

The Regular Session of the Florida Legislature officially began on Tuesday, January 9. The annual session is scheduled to run for sixty days and conclude on Friday, March 8. Florida Catholic Advocacy Network subscribers will receive end-of-week summaries for the 9-week session. All summaries are also available on the FCCB website.

Legislature Passes "Live Healthy" Initiative Expanding Access to Health Care

On Thursday, the Florida House of Representatives passed (117-1) SB 7016, known as "Live Healthy" - a priority for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples). Since the Senate passed this bill unanimously (39-0) last month, the Legislature will now send it to Governor Ron DeSantis for his signature.

Most Floridians already face long wait times or must travel long distances to receive health care services, and this limited access will only deteriorate further as the state’s population grows to over 25 million people in ten years, leading to a shortfall of nearly 18,000 doctors and 59,000 nurses by 2035. As a result, Live Healthy seeks to expand access to care by growing Florida’s health care workforce and by increasing the availability of free clinics and primary, behavioral health, and crisis intervention services. Live Healthy provides over $700 million in new funding to achieve these goals, including $134 million to increase payments to obstetricians and pediatricians serving low income families, $10 million to provide free health care screenings, and $23 million to expand the state’s telehealth minority maternity care program.

Health care is a basic right that protects human dignity. The FCCB supports expanding access to high-quality health care for all Floridians. 

Click below to thank your Florida lawmakers for passing Live Healthy.

Final House Committee Clears Civil Action for Wrongful Death of a Preborn Child

HB 651 was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday by a 15-7 vote, its final committee of reference. The bill would allow parents to file a lawsuit under Florida's wrongful death statute with the purpose of recovering damages for the wrongful or negligent death of their unborn child. "We are talking about the human experience, the experience of parents who have suffered a real loss," said the bill's sponsor, Representative Jenna Persons-Mulicka. "And we are saying they have a right to seek recovery." FCCB staff expressed support for the bill during the committee meeting. 

This bill utilizes a definition elsewhere in Florida law that considers an "unborn child" as a human being "at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb" when establishing a new cause of civil action. This definition excludes embryos that are stored for in vitro fertilization (IVF), which was the subject of a ruling this week by the Alabama Supreme Court. Learn about the Church's teaching on reproductive technology.

HB 651 is now available to be taken up by the full House, while Senate companion SB 476 (Grall) is on the Senate Rules Committee agenda for Monday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m. 

Click below to urge your Florida lawmakers to support HB 651/SB 476.

House Committee Approves Bill Regulating Health Insurance for Sex-Reassignment

On Thursday, FCCB expressed support for HB 1639 (Bankson) which was approved by the Infrastructure Strategies Committee by a 15-9 vote. The bill requires that any health insurance policy that provides coverage for sex-reassignment related services also provides coverage for those seeking de-transition treatment. If insurance companies offer coverage for sex-reassignment procedures or prescriptions, the bill requires that the insurance provider also offer a policy option that does not cover those services. The bill forbids insurers from prohibiting coverage of mental health or therapeutic services to treat gender dysphoria by affirming the insured’s sex at birth. There is no companion bill in the Senate. 

Legislature Passes Bill to Protect Minors from Harms of Online Activity

On Thursday, HB 1 (Sirois) received final passage by a 108-7 vote in the Florida House. The legislation prohibits anyone under the age of 16 from having accounts on social media platforms that meet certain criteria, including the use of addictive technologies. The bill was previously amended to include the substance of HB 3, a bill supported by the FCCB that requires pornography websites to conduct age verification to ensure that users are at least 18 years old.

Research has shown significant mental health harms and increased rates of depression among minors who use social media platforms that are designed to be addictive. Mainstream internet use and mobile technology has also increased the accessibility of pornography, lowering the average age that a young person is exposed to this harmful content.

The bill will go to Governor DeSantis, who has lamented the infringement on parental rights by the social media provisions of the bill. 

Pro-Life Leaders Create Coalition to Stop Extreme Florida Abortion Amendment 

A grassroots team has come together to stop the extreme abortion amendment pushing for placement on the 2024 ballot. The initiative campaign for the deceptively-titled "Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion" has collected enough petitions to qualify for the ballot, and Florida's Supreme Court heard oral arguments on February 7 to determine whether the language of the proposed amendment is clear and covers only a single subject. 

If the court approves this amendment for placement on the ballot, your help will be needed to spread the truth: this amendment doesn't limit abortion regulation; it prohibits abortion regulation. The amendment does not define "viability," "health care provider," or "patient's health" and the ballot summary fails to communicate to voters the chief purpose of the amendment - legalizing abortion until the moment of birth. 

Florida Voters Against Extremism, organized by the collaborative effort of pro-life leaders in the state, has put in place the structure necessary to run a statewide campaign. A website has been created to tell Florida voters that this deceptive amendment is not what it seems. You can find more information, sign-up for emails, or make a donation to stop this extreme abortion amendment at TooExtremeforFL.com.