There are 54 days until the first day of the first Interim Committee Week in advance of the 2018 legislative session that begins Sept. 12, 2017.
Following that week, the Florida Legislature is scheduled to return for another five weeks of Interim Committee Weeks in advance of the first official day of the 2018 regular session on Jan. 9, 2018. The 2018 legislative session is scheduled to conclude March 9, 2018.
The Interim Committee Week schedule is as follows:
- September 12-15, 2017
- October 9-13, 2017
- October 23-27, 2017
- November 6-9, 2017
- November 13-17, 2017
- December 4-8, 2017
During Interim Committee Weeks, the Legislature may perform all legislative activities except pass legislation.
Legislators are actively drafting, filing and advancing both substantive policy and budgetary issues through the respective House and Senate committees during these meeting weeks. Many bills are expected to soon be filed and amendments will undoubtedly start with the first committee hearings.
It is during this time, the next 54 days, that much of our planning, internal drafting, and initial outreach to primary sponsors occurs. It is also an important time to work with stakeholders, both proponents and opponents, as we develop and implement strategies for substantive proposals or funding requests. As with any legislative strategy, our proposals will change as legislators suggest issues and concepts, or ask for provisions to be tweaked. Now is the time to formulate the foundation that guides the path necessary to accomplish our goals by the conclusion of the 2018 legislative session.
Florida's new CFO
Following CFO Atwater’s planned resignation to accept a position at Florida Atlantic University, Gov. Rick Scott had the opportunity to appoint a replacement. While Florida has a new CFO, the familiar face of former state Representative and former Public Service Commissioner Jimmy Patronis was Gov. Scott’s choice. Patronis officially took the oath as Florida’s CFO on June 30 and will serve as a member of the cabinet. It is largely expected that Patronis, a longtime ally and frequent campaign surrogate of Gov. Scott’s, will run for the CFO post in 2018.
In order to accept the position, Patronis resigned his positions as a commissioner on Florida’s Public Service Commission (PSC) and Florida’s Constitutional Revision Commission (CRC). Patronis served as an appointee of Gov. Scott’s in both roles. Following CFO Patronis’ resignation from the CRC, Gov. Scott announced the appointment of Tom Grady of Naples to fill the open seat. Grady has served in many roles and a history of his public service and relationship with Gov. Scott can be found in this July 20 Florida Politics article.
The departure of Patronis from the PSC opened one additional seat for the PSC Nominating Council and Gov. Scott to fill. The PSC Nominating Council was in the process of fielding applications for two current commissioners whose terms are up, but have announced their desire to be reappointed. Both of those commissioners have reapplied and more information on those posts and the applicants can be found in this July 18 Florida Politics article.
Current events
During the summer, many legislators are available in their local areas. This is a great opportunity to meet with your individual legislators and thank them for their service, their past help, or to identify areas where they may be well-positioned to be helpful. Ideally, during this time, you are able to connect with your local Representative(s) or Senator(s) and begin educating them about any specific asks or requests for the 2018 legislative session.
While many legislators are currently back home, some legislative delegations have begun announcing their scheduled delegation meetings. Local delegation information can be found in this Florida House of Representatives 2017 Local Legislative Delegations list, including membership and contact information.
Please reach out to the appropriate delegation point of contact or to one of our team if you are interested in knowing if your delegation has announced a date and be mindful that these dates are subject to change.
At this time, the following delegations have announced meetings:
- Brevard (9/20)
- Union and Bradford (9/27)
- Martin (10/19)
- Hendry (10/20)
- Indian River (11/29)
July 1 marked an important date as it relates to Florida’s government: it is the start of the new fiscal year for the 2017-2018 state budget and the date that many of the recently filed bills become effective.
A list of the highlights from this past legislative session can be found in this June 29 Miami Herald article.
That article is not comprehensive and you should feel free to reach out about any specific legislation or issue not included.
The Florida Office of Economic & Demographic Research (EDR), the Legislature’s research arm, continues to meet and make revisions to the financial outlook for the state. During these meetings, EDR analyzes how these forecasts will impact policy, revenues and appropriations. Various meetings are held where the panel discusses specific topics. Specific published information, including results and meeting agendas, from EDR may be found on this page of the EDR website.
Special elections
There are currently a number of special elections being held throughout Florida.
Below is a brief overview and does not include any polling data. Feel free to reach out if you have specific questions about any of these races.
Senate District 40
As you will recall, state Senator Frank Artiles (R-Miami) resigned in late April and created a vacancy in the Florida Senate. The governor called a special election for SD 40 and scheduled the primary election for this coming Tuesday, July 25, and the general election for September 26.
State Representative Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz, the current House Regulatory Affairs Committee chairman, quickly announced he would run for the vacated Senate seat, which opened up his seat, HD 116. Gov. Scott announced that the special election for HD 116 would coincide with the above dates. Rep. Diaz is running against former state Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla and a local attorney, Lorenzo Palomares, who has not previously served in elected office and is a longshot candidate. Diaz and Diaz de la Portilla are currently the top contenders for the Republican primary.
In the Democratic primary, former Representative Anna Rivas Logan is facing off against Annette Taddeo, a former candidate for lieutenant governor in the 2014 gubernatorial election, in the Democratic primary.
Both primaries are very close and there has been a lot of money pouring in from all sides as we close in on voting day.
Here is a July 5 Miami Herald article about the Republican primary.
House District 116
In the special election for HD 116, there are three candidates: two Republicans and one Democrat. Voter registrations in HD 116 lean toward the Republicans and that side of the aisle is where the biggest fight has been recently. The Republican primary has been very active between Jose Mallea and Daniel Perez. Mallea is a former aide to former governor Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, and Perez is a local attorney and first-time candidate.
The special election for HD 116 follows the same dates mentioned above for the SD 40 special election.
House District 44
In addition to the campaign action in Miami, there is also a special election in HD 44, which was vacated earlier this year when then-Representative Eric Eisnaugle was appointed to serve on Florida’s 5th District Court of Appeal. In HD 44, which has an August 15 primary election, there are four Republicans and one Democrat vying to replace Eisnaugle. This is another hotly contested race with community leaders and business owners throwing their hats in the ring for the job.
Constitutional Revision Commission
Florida is the only state in the country that automatically reviews our state’s constitution through the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC).
The CRC meets every 20 years and is composed of 37 members. The membership is composed of the attorney general and appointees from the governor (15), speaker of the House (9), president of the Senate (9), and chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court (3).
For the 2017-2018 CRC, Gov. Scott appointed Carlos Beruff, a Republican donor and former candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Marco Rubio, as the chairman of the CRC. Beruff is a developer and CEO of Medallion Homes out of Bradenton. The CRC held a number of meetings throughout the state during a listening tour earlier this year.
The CRC just recently announced the 10 standing committees and two procedural committees, including appointments of the respective commissioners. More information regarding the CRC may be found via the CRC's website.
2018 statewide elections
While still more than a year away, the 2018 statewide elections are shaping up to be very active.
Here is a quick snapshot on the current field and speculation where some potential candidates have not “formally” announced their intentions.
Governor
In November of 2018, Florida will elect the full cabinet and one U.S. Senator. Of the current cabinet, only CFO Patronis is eligible to run for re-election to his current post due to term limits.
Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam has formally announced that he is running for governor and has amassed a hefty war chest for his campaign efforts. He has also been the only official, mainstream Republican candidate to announce his intentions for that post, but there are strong rumblings that Speaker of the House Richard Corcoran and Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala are both raising funds in advance of formally announcing their candidacies.
There are a number of candidates on the Democratic side that have made their candidacies official: former Congresswoman Gwen Graham, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, Orlando businessman Chris King. A couple people are rumored to be strongly considering entering the Democratic primary for governor: Orlando attorney John Morgan and the Mayor of Miami Beach Philip Levine, both of whom have significant personal wealth and have shown the ability to solicit money for campaigns and causes.
Cabinet
Attorney General
There are two announced candidates to follow Attorney General Pam Bondi as she leaves office in 2018: Ashely Moody and Representative Jay Fant. Moody is a former circuit judge from Hillsborough County and has shown a quick fundraising advantage compared to Fant, a second-term member of the Florida House from Jacksonville.
Commissioner of Agriculture
The race to follow Putnam as Commissioner of Agriculture has seen two high-profile legislative candidates enter and quickly raise money for these efforts and traverse the state. Representative Matt Caldwell of Lehigh and Senator Denise Grimsley of Sebring have both formally announced their candidacy for the ag commissioner’s job and are actively spending time meeting with people and campaigning.
CFO
The race for CFO is a bit less clear with only former Senator Jeremy Ring formally announced on the Democratic side and the expectation that CFO Patronis will seek election in 2018. Ring is a former Florida state Senator from Broward County who left office due to term limits in 2016 and is a former Yahoo! executive. Patronis is a former Florida state Representative from Panama City and former PSC commissioner and businessman.
U.S. Senate
The most anticipated race that has not formally been announced, but seems to be lining up to be very expensive, is the potential to have Gov. Scott square off against incumbent Senator Bill Nelson.
Gov. Scott continues to raise for his “Let’s Get to Work” political committee and has also taken formal positions with the Republican Governors Association, signaling that there is something coming next. Since Gov. Scott is term-limited from running for another four years as Florida’s governor, a job he has told many is the best job he has ever had, he seems to have set his sights on taking his talents to Washington, D.C., where his friend just took up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In the past few months, Gov. Scott has continued to crisscross the state making job announcements and seemingly campaigning while doing so.
Sen. Nelson has announced his intention to run for re-election and has been raising money for those efforts. Florida is always a battleground state, but this will pull additional resources to the Sunshine State during the 2018 election.
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We hope this snapshot is helpful to you, and we look forward to a successful 2018 legislative session.
