March 18, 2025 • 24 mins
Sal Nuzzo, Executive Director of Consumers Defense, gave a look at what is happening inside the session, plus a check of what is ahead.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Third hour, Monday, March seventeenth. Aaron Gobra, everybody, and happy
Saint Patrick's Day to those of you of Irish descent.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
A care.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to the Morning Show with Preston Scott. He is Jose,
I'm Preston, and we are joined by our good friend
from Consumers Defense the website Consumers Defense dot com. Salnowzoh, hello,
my friend Aaron Gobra. Today we are all Irish. Yeah
something like that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. This actually our first
topic here as we look at the legislative session what's
(00:37):
going on in Florida governance. This actually dovetails very nicely
with Consumers Defense.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh yeah, it's one I kind of selfishly teed up
a little bit, but it is very important, especially for
anybody who has a Florida retirement system package. We've got
a lot of state workers in the area, and normally
we try to tee up the governor. This is more
on the Attorney general, and I think it's important.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Tell me this. The new attorney general was the chief
of staff for Governor Rond de Santas, James Uthmeier. Is
he picking up where Ashley Moody left off on this one,
or is this a new initiative.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
This one's relatively new. I think prior to him coming
into office, a lot of these things were tackled in
the cfo's office. But now you've got that influx a
little bit because Jimmy Patronis is on kind of the
path to Congress. And we really don't know yet who
officially the governor's going to name, but to her credit,
General Moody, now Senator Moody was very aggressive and going
(01:36):
after corporate problems, and so in one sense a little bit,
but this is really his initiative, and he's going starting
with target the company, the retailer, and his claim is
very unique, and like you said, it kind of dovetails
into the combating ESG front that we have his claim
and he is going after them with litigation. Is that
(02:00):
by embracing this ESG governance approach, in embracing DEI and
expanding it out throughout their entire retail structure and system,
the company itself is willfully and negatively impacted their shareholder value.
The return on them as a public company is far
(02:20):
lower than if they had not. So the Florida Retirement
System is a major investor, and so there the Attorney
General is going after them from that vantage point, saying
that from the perspective of a shareholder, exactly, we're a shareholder.
You are embracing a strategy that we are defending our
tens and hundreds of thousands of retirees that that need
(02:45):
to generate returns for their retirement system. But he's also
telegraphing this to other publicly held companies that your first
and really only mission should be to maximize the return
to your shareholders. Social agendas do not translate to that,
and therefore, if you are pursuing them, you are doing
(03:06):
damage and you are not maintaining what we would call
pecuniary or fiduciary interests.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
We talk about this on the show from time to
time with our friends with Project twenty one, the Free
Enterprise Project, because they talk about shareholder activism and thus
far it's largely fallen on deaf ears. They've been saying
to the Walt Disneys of the world, the Targets of
the world, you have a responsibility to the shareholders, and
they're ignoring it. This would force them to no longer
(03:31):
ignore it.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, and one of the problems that we've uncovered with
those big publicly traded companies that are pursuing this is
because the activism is not necessarily starting with their board
of directors. It's starting with the asset managers that control
all of the stocks. So Blackrock, State Street, Vanguard are
pursuing this activist agenda. The challenges those three asset managers
(03:56):
will oftentimes control forty fifty sixty percent of the stock
in Disney or some of these other companies, so they're
pushing the board of directors to pursue that in the
board if they want to keep their jobs, because those
three control the stock, they're going along with it. Now
that's not always the case, sure, but it's happened more
and more as we've kind of peeled back the onions. Okay,
(04:18):
so as the Attorney General is going after Target, it's
also telegraphing to all of these other publicly traded companies
you need to be prepared to fight the shareholder activism
or on the flip side of this, we're going to
we're going to defend our shareholder rights as the Florida
retire Retirement System kind of the folks who hold those
(04:41):
the retirees. Now, it's a little bit different than if
you're a private company. Like hobby lobby. You want to
do whatever you want, that's business. As long as you're
obeying the law, you're fine. But when you decide to
go public, you're now subject to a new set of requirements.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Eleven minutes past the hour of those of you that
go to my blog page, you've seen it. I've suggested
you go there, especially if you're an employer inside the
state of Florida. I'll ask sal News of Consumer's Defense,
if you've had a chance to read the piece that
was published in Florida Politics that I wrote about a
personal situation involving my daughter and her children, my grandchildren,
(05:23):
and an illegal immigrant in this country being employed by
someone in Florida.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, I did, And in fact I had also heard
your segment I think it was last week or earlier,
and so saw it on x Twitter and then it
also was the top opinion in Florida Politics this morning
in Sunburn. So really well done. Kudos to you for
using the platform and really tying it into a very
(05:50):
specific policy debate that needs to continue. Where is that
debate though, in the House in the Senate? Sure, So
let's unpack this. So the special session passed some new
reforms to make sure that the state was ready to
partner with the Trump administration DHS and border security. However,
what they didn't do in that special was address anything
specific in cracking down on the employment of illegal immigrants.
(06:16):
So back I think it was two sessions ago, maybe three,
the legislature did pass the everify requirement, but it's only
a requirement if you have twenty five or more employees.
If you have less than twenty five, you can continue
to use the I nine form, which is not nearly
as fool proof. It's very easy to fake documents and
(06:38):
get around that, and it doesn't it offer basically employees
number one, it offers them a loophole, but equally it
allows them what i'll call plausible deniability.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Oh, we've done what we've you know, we've followed the law.
But they're in practical terms, they're not solving the problem.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Absolutely, you're spot on there now. During the special session
on the Senate floor, Democrat Senator Jason Pizzo, who you
cited in your article, filed a floor amendment that would
have closed that loophole. It would have required all employees,
regardless of size, to use e verify. It was ruled
(07:15):
not germane to the existing bills, so they could not
amend it on the floor because of that procedural protocol.
And you've cited why this is a problem, why it's
a loophole. If you have forty employees, all you do
is create a separate LLC, and now you've got two
LLCs with twenty and you're out of the way. There
(07:37):
are a series of bills that are moving in both chambers,
and one of them on the Senate side, or two
of them on the Senate side, one from Pizzoh and
one from I believe It's blazing Golia. Do close that loophole.
I have not seen any of them or heard of
any of them gaining traction yet to move on to
(08:01):
a committee agenda that would get them into the kind
of the glidepath to enactment, given your knowledge of the
way policy unfolds inside Florida. So this is one of
those everybody knows illegals are being paid in certain trades
(08:21):
under the table. Everyone knows that. Customers know it, clients
know it, competitors know it. Why is this not getting hit?
What is keeping this from just this to me is
low hanging fruit. What's keeping it from getting done. Oh,
you'd have to really talk with a number of the
(08:43):
trade associations, a number of the employer groups, Okay, a
number of the very big industry sectors that for a
long time, I think have turned a blind eye.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
And isn't it fair though, to say that there are
absolutely people that are legally employable, that have the proper
requisite visas and so forth, that can get jobs. And
so to me, it's the issue of the illegals.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
It's it's a great point that isn't talked about. What
we talk about a lot of times, especially when you
talk about national immigration reformis yeah, well, these are the
people that do a lot of the jobs that Americans
don't want to do.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
One.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I think that is an awful argument. If you want
to defense slavery, go for it. I'm never going to
But the point that you're making is not only is
this a problem for lawbiding. You know, Americans immigrants who
are here legally are not getting jobs because of the
fact that this loophole has existed, and not just in Florida,
(09:49):
in other states. Is absolutely and it is kind of
it is making life harder for those who have done
the right thing. To get here legally.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So some bills that are finding some progress one way
or the other, either progress out the tour, progress and passage.
Starting with public safety, let's unpack some public safety stuff.
Seven fifty nine Senate Bill seventeen sixteen. It would remove
the prohibition on the sale of firearms to adults aged
eighteen to twenty one. It is moving, and I'm surprised
(10:20):
if it's moving in the Senate or not. I mean
pleasantly surprised, because typically the Senate has been very has
been verish yeah on firearm restrictions. And in a related
note to this, and this came out over the weekend,
I believe the ag James Uthmeyer, has said publicly his
(10:41):
office will not defend the existing law against any suit
file to overturn it. So he's effectively siding with the
folks who are like, no, eighteen to twenty one year
olds legally and constitutionally should be allowed to purchase a firearm.
Another one kind of in the public safety space, Senate
(11:02):
Bill thirteen eighteen, House Built five oh one from Senator
Aaron Grahl and Alison Tant hands free driving.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
It is moving. It is likely I would say this
one's got a fair chance of passing. We would join.
I think it's more than two dozen states that are
just hands free completely. You will not be able legally
to touch your phone while your car is moving, so
you'll have to use the voice prompts and all of
that stuff from this point forward or risk a ticket.
(11:31):
Another one one point thirty House Bill fifty nine Incarcerated
but Innocent compensation. I'd mentioned this in a previous segment
because of the fact that Florida has what's called this
clean Hands provision, which is if you have been wrongfully
incarcerated for like twenty twenty five years and you're exonerated,
you you have a right to compensation. But if you
(11:54):
have been convicted of a prior felony, it could be
when you were eighteen years old, but it's not related
to the one you were incarcerated wrongly for, you cannot
get that compensation. We're like the only state that does.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That's silly.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, and it's moving, And I would say it seems
all but certain to land on the governor's desk. They
recognize that this is an injustice.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Is he likely to sign it? He sometimes has been
contrarian on issues like this.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And that's the that's the part of this that I'm
really paying attention to. In the past, he has done
some vetos for bills in the public safety space, like
the juvenile justice what do you call when you remove
expurging records? So I don't know where he stands on
this part. I don't see anything public that he's stay
(12:41):
said on it, but I'm kind of watching its coast.
And lastly, in the public safety space two thirty four
House Built one seventy five from Rep. Assaltsman Blazingolia, enhancing
the penalties for taking the life of a law enforcement officer.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
That one's going forward as it relates to elections.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, actually, let's take up elections in the next one.
Look over because I want to spend some time on
that one. In the education space, Demi Bisada has got
House Built nine forty nine, extending the device band to
the entire school day. It advanced unanimously. You I think
this one is going to be a game changer, and
(13:17):
I know it will. Yeah, and I'm really pleased to
see this. We've talked about this over the years, and
so that one is a big one.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And the Housing and Insurance Arena you got a few
one eighty four to two forty seven on affordability from
Senator Gates. Uh it, it's one where the biggest difference
in government legislation and writing is the difference between the
words may and shall. When a legislator puts the word
(13:46):
may in there, you can you know, you can bet
it's it's whitewashed.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
When you have the word shall, it's a requirement. These
are some things that are going to be useful for
expanding the ability of developers to put smaller, more affordable
housing units in local governments. You've also got the Condo
Boards Piece nine thirteen seventeen forty two that would block
(14:14):
its citizens Property insurance from issuing or renewing policies for
condo owners if they have not complied with the prior laws.
But what they're also doing is including provisions to make
it a little less painful for those condo units to
obtain credit and bonding to get all of those renovations
and repairs to bring the units up to the new standards.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
We were talking about insurance and there was a fascinating
hearing on Friday.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, so they had the House Insurance and Banking commission
Committee had a three hour hearing where they wanted to
get more information on this report that was a draft
report cited in the speaker's remarks which kind of alleged
that insure companies in the state had been funneling premiums
(15:02):
from rate payers to their affiliate companies out of state
and then crying poor and whatnot. So the you know,
the legislature had given the insurance industry a whole lot
of what they were really wanting back in twenty twenty
three with tort reform, and so they had first Michael Yuworski,
who is the state's insurance commissioner.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
But he's new to the job.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
He's new ish, you know. I think it was like
late twenty twenty two is when he came on board,
after the report had been sent in draft form to
the prior oir commissioner, David Altmeyer. So the current commissioner
gave a presentation on kind of how the structure of
(15:45):
what they call these MGA's managing general Agencies affiliate group's
kind of function, and then they dove in quite a
bit on the elements of the report, why it was
still in draft form, what they were doing with it,
over the course of a year or two. And you know,
to his credit, he is a very collegial. He knows
(16:08):
more about insurance than I think anybody that I've ever
come across. So the back and forth was very good
with him. They did ask some pointed questions and he
gave very direct answers. And then they brought up the
prior commissioner, David Altmeyer, and they swore him in so
he was under oath, and they gave him a grilling
(16:31):
for a good hour and a half on why they
didn't do more with it in draft form, why it
wasn't released, in a whole host of other things. He
did his best to kind of navigate what was a
lot more combative than the first half of that hearing.
But yeah, they're in a very the legislature, the House
(16:52):
in particular, is in a very angry mood with respect
to this.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Would it be fair to say that the insurance company,
then it would appear, based on the draft have postured
themselves being fiscally financially far worse off than they reality
are within the state of Florida because they've moved so
much of their revenue out of state.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
That is the allegation as I understand it in the report,
and I haven't seen even the draft, and.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I don't know that any buttresses what they're requesting the
legislature continue to do on their behalf.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Potentially, and that could pose a problem if they if
the legislature wants to come back and you know, train
their you know, fire on insurance companies for not reducing premiums.
And we've talked about this that you know on the
Senate side, you have individuals kind of saying, look, the
market is correcting, we're on the right path. Don't do
(17:51):
anything to upset that. And so that's a big deal, all.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Right, before we take a break and then look at
the week that's coming up elections.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Elections, You've got a number of bills filed. Some are aligned,
some others deal with different parts of the code. The
ones that are moving right now are twelve oh five
and seventy sixteen. And seventy sixteen is a Senate PCB,
a proposed committee bill. The fact that they made it
a PCB when Blazing Gloalie had already filed the bill
is a little bit telling because Blaze is one of
(18:20):
the governor's biggest supporters there. What those two bills deal
with are the regulations on citizen initiative petitions the ballot
amendment process. Now, it's been a challenge area in the
state for decades, but slowly and surely over the years,
they've been enacting reforms to make it more challenging for
groups to get a petition on the ballot, which I
(18:40):
am all in favor of because that is our governing document.
We should not be debating policy in it. So now
what those things would do, What those two bills would
do further tighten the process for collecting signatures, ensure groups
that are not gaming the system or not being forthcoming
with intent and language. One element of the says not
(19:00):
addressed within those bills is the issue that was brought
up by the governor on the funding of ballot initiatives
by foreign nationals. Basically, what we found was is like
radical leftist billionaire giving tens of millions of dollars to
groups in the US nonprofits who then use that money
to do ballot campaigns. One of those groups is called
the sixteen thirty Fund, used about thirteen million dollars from
(19:23):
a Swiss billionaire just to promote the abortion amendment last year.
The election statutes are a little bit ambiguous, and depending
on how you read it, you know, there could be
some case for tightening that. Okay, and that's going to
be something that we're paying attention to, not just me,
but our group that we work with a lot, the
(19:45):
Honest Election Project, because that's a loophole that they're trying
to close nationally.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
A couple of the bills here that are moving before
we get to what's ahead.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Sure three in particularly like to point out seven five
to two sixty sixty seven from Corey Simon and Allison
Tan They're bringing the defamation Bill on news outlets. It
would lower the standard for defamation suits against media platforms.
It would require them to take down material that's been
deemed by a court ruling or and this is where
(20:13):
some problematic language I think when I get nervous, or
what a quote reasonable person would know to be false?
It passed its first Senate stop. I think this is
gonna be something that gets debated and dialogued and amended
before it well.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
And who determines what a reasonable person is exactly?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And that's where I'm like my antenna go up when
anything ambiguous like that is potentially significant, fair enough, two
thirty two seven on the House side, debt collection. It
would prohibit companies from sending text messages to individuals after
nine PM. And it's a Democrat sponsored bill, but it's
it's got a lot of support, bipartisan, and it's moving.
(20:55):
And then the one that I really hope gets some
steam six seven five point forty one on the House side,
minimum wage exemptions. This would create what we would call
training wages or interurn wages. If both parties, the employer
and the employee, sign an agreement saying we understand the
minimum wages X. We are both agreeing that this will
(21:16):
be a training wage. It would allow those employees to
earn a lower wage. And knowing, well, is there a
cap on the length of time for that, like a year?
Great question, And I'll have to read the language on
it to find out. It could very well be in there,
and that might be something that if it isn't in
gets placed in later. Okay, all right, let's move into
(21:37):
this week. There's a lot going on committee hearings every
single day. A few to pay attention to. First off,
thirteen seventy four in the Senate side from clay Yarbro
mandatory reporting requirements for teachers, and this one's one. It
flew under the radar until I saw it last week.
If a teacher is charged with certain offenses for example, grooming, assault,
(21:58):
et cetera, outside of any outside the classroom it's not
related necessarily to their function, they would be required by
law to report that to the district within forty eight hours,
and then the district would have twenty four hours to
decide to remove them from the classroom. It's up in
its first committee stop. Today, you've got Senate Bill five
(22:19):
thirty six and A eight ZHO two up. These are
the term limit bills for both county commissioners and school boards.
Seventeen ten from Senator Di Segli further eliminating DEI in
state agencies and medical institutions that are tied to universities
of Tier one or Stage one institutions that they have
(22:42):
fourteen thirty eight and sixteen ninety two two Senate bills
from Senator Er Grahl and Stan McClain would further expand
the provisions of last year's bill to keep harmful content
on social media platforms for miners. And I think this
is important because just the other day Judge Walker refused
(23:02):
to enjoin last year's bill on social media access for minors.
So that bill is enacted until the court challenge kind
of weaves its way fully, so they're going even further
this year. You've got HB six' five to, one which
is the big agency bill From agriculture And Consumer. Services
(23:22):
there is a ton in there that at some POINT
i think it would be great to unpack. More it's
got its first, stop and Then i'm keeping an eye
on thirteen hundred and eleven forty. Three this is from
our local, Folks Alison, Tant jason chaff And Corey simon
banning oil and gas permits from areas within The Big
bend that are in close proximity to specific bodies of.
(23:43):
Water we saw one where they were trying to drop
some holding tanks for oil and gas close to what
color of. Springs they're trying to like nip that in the.
Bud and you, know the environmentalist in me is all for.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
It, Yeah and there's it's not like we don't have
land available exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Exactly this is very tailored AND i think it's precisely
how you should do, legislation.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Good, stuff all, Right thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Sir always a pleasure to be with.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You, Yeah monday from now ought to be fun after
all these committee.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Weeks it's going to be an intriguing, week, indeed And
i'm looking forward to as we enter into the second
third of the session kind of how what gain, steam what's,
moving what's kind of fallen, off and the dynamic with
The house and the and the. Governor i'm still paying attention, To.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Thank, you. Sir always sell newso With Consumers defense the
Website consumers defense dot. Com The Legislative session review is
over for the.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Day
Third hour, Monday, March seventeenth. Aaron Gobra, everybody, and happy
Saint Patrick's Day to those of you of Irish descent.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
A care.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to the Morning Show with Preston Scott. He is Jose,
I'm Preston, and we are joined by our good friend
from Consumers Defense the website Consumers Defense dot com. Salnowzoh, hello,
my friend Aaron Gobra. Today we are all Irish. Yeah
something like that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. This actually our first
topic here as we look at the legislative session what's
(00:37):
going on in Florida governance. This actually dovetails very nicely
with Consumers Defense.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh yeah, it's one I kind of selfishly teed up
a little bit, but it is very important, especially for
anybody who has a Florida retirement system package. We've got
a lot of state workers in the area, and normally
we try to tee up the governor. This is more
on the Attorney general, and I think it's important.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Tell me this. The new attorney general was the chief
of staff for Governor Rond de Santas, James Uthmeier. Is
he picking up where Ashley Moody left off on this one,
or is this a new initiative.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
This one's relatively new. I think prior to him coming
into office, a lot of these things were tackled in
the cfo's office. But now you've got that influx a
little bit because Jimmy Patronis is on kind of the
path to Congress. And we really don't know yet who
officially the governor's going to name, but to her credit,
General Moody, now Senator Moody was very aggressive and going
(01:36):
after corporate problems, and so in one sense a little bit,
but this is really his initiative, and he's going starting
with target the company, the retailer, and his claim is
very unique, and like you said, it kind of dovetails
into the combating ESG front that we have his claim
and he is going after them with litigation. Is that
(02:00):
by embracing this ESG governance approach, in embracing DEI and
expanding it out throughout their entire retail structure and system,
the company itself is willfully and negatively impacted their shareholder value.
The return on them as a public company is far
(02:20):
lower than if they had not. So the Florida Retirement
System is a major investor, and so there the Attorney
General is going after them from that vantage point, saying
that from the perspective of a shareholder, exactly, we're a shareholder.
You are embracing a strategy that we are defending our
tens and hundreds of thousands of retirees that that need
(02:45):
to generate returns for their retirement system. But he's also
telegraphing this to other publicly held companies that your first
and really only mission should be to maximize the return
to your shareholders. Social agendas do not translate to that,
and therefore, if you are pursuing them, you are doing
(03:06):
damage and you are not maintaining what we would call
pecuniary or fiduciary interests.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
We talk about this on the show from time to
time with our friends with Project twenty one, the Free
Enterprise Project, because they talk about shareholder activism and thus
far it's largely fallen on deaf ears. They've been saying
to the Walt Disneys of the world, the Targets of
the world, you have a responsibility to the shareholders, and
they're ignoring it. This would force them to no longer
(03:31):
ignore it.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, and one of the problems that we've uncovered with
those big publicly traded companies that are pursuing this is
because the activism is not necessarily starting with their board
of directors. It's starting with the asset managers that control
all of the stocks. So Blackrock, State Street, Vanguard are
pursuing this activist agenda. The challenges those three asset managers
(03:56):
will oftentimes control forty fifty sixty percent of the stock
in Disney or some of these other companies, so they're
pushing the board of directors to pursue that in the
board if they want to keep their jobs, because those
three control the stock, they're going along with it. Now
that's not always the case, sure, but it's happened more
and more as we've kind of peeled back the onions. Okay,
(04:18):
so as the Attorney General is going after Target, it's
also telegraphing to all of these other publicly traded companies
you need to be prepared to fight the shareholder activism
or on the flip side of this, we're going to
we're going to defend our shareholder rights as the Florida
retire Retirement System kind of the folks who hold those
(04:41):
the retirees. Now, it's a little bit different than if
you're a private company. Like hobby lobby. You want to
do whatever you want, that's business. As long as you're
obeying the law, you're fine. But when you decide to
go public, you're now subject to a new set of requirements.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Eleven minutes past the hour of those of you that
go to my blog page, you've seen it. I've suggested
you go there, especially if you're an employer inside the
state of Florida. I'll ask sal News of Consumer's Defense,
if you've had a chance to read the piece that
was published in Florida Politics that I wrote about a
personal situation involving my daughter and her children, my grandchildren,
(05:23):
and an illegal immigrant in this country being employed by
someone in Florida.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, I did, And in fact I had also heard
your segment I think it was last week or earlier,
and so saw it on x Twitter and then it
also was the top opinion in Florida Politics this morning
in Sunburn. So really well done. Kudos to you for
using the platform and really tying it into a very
(05:50):
specific policy debate that needs to continue. Where is that
debate though, in the House in the Senate? Sure, So
let's unpack this. So the special session passed some new
reforms to make sure that the state was ready to
partner with the Trump administration DHS and border security. However,
what they didn't do in that special was address anything
specific in cracking down on the employment of illegal immigrants.
(06:16):
So back I think it was two sessions ago, maybe three,
the legislature did pass the everify requirement, but it's only
a requirement if you have twenty five or more employees.
If you have less than twenty five, you can continue
to use the I nine form, which is not nearly
as fool proof. It's very easy to fake documents and
(06:38):
get around that, and it doesn't it offer basically employees
number one, it offers them a loophole, but equally it
allows them what i'll call plausible deniability.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Oh, we've done what we've you know, we've followed the law.
But they're in practical terms, they're not solving the problem.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Absolutely, you're spot on there now. During the special session
on the Senate floor, Democrat Senator Jason Pizzo, who you
cited in your article, filed a floor amendment that would
have closed that loophole. It would have required all employees,
regardless of size, to use e verify. It was ruled
(07:15):
not germane to the existing bills, so they could not
amend it on the floor because of that procedural protocol.
And you've cited why this is a problem, why it's
a loophole. If you have forty employees, all you do
is create a separate LLC, and now you've got two
LLCs with twenty and you're out of the way. There
(07:37):
are a series of bills that are moving in both chambers,
and one of them on the Senate side, or two
of them on the Senate side, one from Pizzoh and
one from I believe It's blazing Golia. Do close that loophole.
I have not seen any of them or heard of
any of them gaining traction yet to move on to
(08:01):
a committee agenda that would get them into the kind
of the glidepath to enactment, given your knowledge of the
way policy unfolds inside Florida. So this is one of
those everybody knows illegals are being paid in certain trades
(08:21):
under the table. Everyone knows that. Customers know it, clients
know it, competitors know it. Why is this not getting hit?
What is keeping this from just this to me is
low hanging fruit. What's keeping it from getting done. Oh,
you'd have to really talk with a number of the
(08:43):
trade associations, a number of the employer groups, Okay, a
number of the very big industry sectors that for a
long time, I think have turned a blind eye.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
And isn't it fair though, to say that there are
absolutely people that are legally employable, that have the proper
requisite visas and so forth, that can get jobs. And
so to me, it's the issue of the illegals.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
It's it's a great point that isn't talked about. What
we talk about a lot of times, especially when you
talk about national immigration reformis yeah, well, these are the
people that do a lot of the jobs that Americans
don't want to do.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
One.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I think that is an awful argument. If you want
to defense slavery, go for it. I'm never going to
But the point that you're making is not only is
this a problem for lawbiding. You know, Americans immigrants who
are here legally are not getting jobs because of the
fact that this loophole has existed, and not just in Florida,
(09:49):
in other states. Is absolutely and it is kind of
it is making life harder for those who have done
the right thing. To get here legally.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So some bills that are finding some progress one way
or the other, either progress out the tour, progress and passage.
Starting with public safety, let's unpack some public safety stuff.
Seven fifty nine Senate Bill seventeen sixteen. It would remove
the prohibition on the sale of firearms to adults aged
eighteen to twenty one. It is moving, and I'm surprised
(10:20):
if it's moving in the Senate or not. I mean
pleasantly surprised, because typically the Senate has been very has
been verish yeah on firearm restrictions. And in a related
note to this, and this came out over the weekend,
I believe the ag James Uthmeyer, has said publicly his
(10:41):
office will not defend the existing law against any suit
file to overturn it. So he's effectively siding with the
folks who are like, no, eighteen to twenty one year
olds legally and constitutionally should be allowed to purchase a firearm.
Another one kind of in the public safety space, Senate
(11:02):
Bill thirteen eighteen, House Built five oh one from Senator
Aaron Grahl and Alison Tant hands free driving.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
It is moving. It is likely I would say this
one's got a fair chance of passing. We would join.
I think it's more than two dozen states that are
just hands free completely. You will not be able legally
to touch your phone while your car is moving, so
you'll have to use the voice prompts and all of
that stuff from this point forward or risk a ticket.
(11:31):
Another one one point thirty House Bill fifty nine Incarcerated
but Innocent compensation. I'd mentioned this in a previous segment
because of the fact that Florida has what's called this
clean Hands provision, which is if you have been wrongfully
incarcerated for like twenty twenty five years and you're exonerated,
you you have a right to compensation. But if you
(11:54):
have been convicted of a prior felony, it could be
when you were eighteen years old, but it's not related
to the one you were incarcerated wrongly for, you cannot
get that compensation. We're like the only state that does.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That's silly.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, and it's moving, And I would say it seems
all but certain to land on the governor's desk. They
recognize that this is an injustice.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Is he likely to sign it? He sometimes has been
contrarian on issues like this.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And that's the that's the part of this that I'm
really paying attention to. In the past, he has done
some vetos for bills in the public safety space, like
the juvenile justice what do you call when you remove
expurging records? So I don't know where he stands on
this part. I don't see anything public that he's stay
(12:41):
said on it, but I'm kind of watching its coast.
And lastly, in the public safety space two thirty four
House Built one seventy five from Rep. Assaltsman Blazingolia, enhancing
the penalties for taking the life of a law enforcement officer.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
That one's going forward as it relates to elections.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, actually, let's take up elections in the next one.
Look over because I want to spend some time on
that one. In the education space, Demi Bisada has got
House Built nine forty nine, extending the device band to
the entire school day. It advanced unanimously. You I think
this one is going to be a game changer, and
(13:17):
I know it will. Yeah, and I'm really pleased to
see this. We've talked about this over the years, and
so that one is a big one.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And the Housing and Insurance Arena you got a few
one eighty four to two forty seven on affordability from
Senator Gates. Uh it, it's one where the biggest difference
in government legislation and writing is the difference between the
words may and shall. When a legislator puts the word
(13:46):
may in there, you can you know, you can bet
it's it's whitewashed.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
When you have the word shall, it's a requirement. These
are some things that are going to be useful for
expanding the ability of developers to put smaller, more affordable
housing units in local governments. You've also got the Condo
Boards Piece nine thirteen seventeen forty two that would block
(14:14):
its citizens Property insurance from issuing or renewing policies for
condo owners if they have not complied with the prior laws.
But what they're also doing is including provisions to make
it a little less painful for those condo units to
obtain credit and bonding to get all of those renovations
and repairs to bring the units up to the new standards.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
We were talking about insurance and there was a fascinating
hearing on Friday.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, so they had the House Insurance and Banking commission
Committee had a three hour hearing where they wanted to
get more information on this report that was a draft
report cited in the speaker's remarks which kind of alleged
that insure companies in the state had been funneling premiums
(15:02):
from rate payers to their affiliate companies out of state
and then crying poor and whatnot. So the you know,
the legislature had given the insurance industry a whole lot
of what they were really wanting back in twenty twenty
three with tort reform, and so they had first Michael Yuworski,
who is the state's insurance commissioner.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
But he's new to the job.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
He's new ish, you know. I think it was like
late twenty twenty two is when he came on board,
after the report had been sent in draft form to
the prior oir commissioner, David Altmeyer. So the current commissioner
gave a presentation on kind of how the structure of
(15:45):
what they call these MGA's managing general Agencies affiliate group's
kind of function, and then they dove in quite a
bit on the elements of the report, why it was
still in draft form, what they were doing with it,
over the course of a year or two. And you know,
to his credit, he is a very collegial. He knows
(16:08):
more about insurance than I think anybody that I've ever
come across. So the back and forth was very good
with him. They did ask some pointed questions and he
gave very direct answers. And then they brought up the
prior commissioner, David Altmeyer, and they swore him in so
he was under oath, and they gave him a grilling
(16:31):
for a good hour and a half on why they
didn't do more with it in draft form, why it
wasn't released, in a whole host of other things. He
did his best to kind of navigate what was a
lot more combative than the first half of that hearing.
But yeah, they're in a very the legislature, the House
(16:52):
in particular, is in a very angry mood with respect
to this.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Would it be fair to say that the insurance company,
then it would appear, based on the draft have postured
themselves being fiscally financially far worse off than they reality
are within the state of Florida because they've moved so
much of their revenue out of state.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
That is the allegation as I understand it in the report,
and I haven't seen even the draft, and.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I don't know that any buttresses what they're requesting the
legislature continue to do on their behalf.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Potentially, and that could pose a problem if they if
the legislature wants to come back and you know, train
their you know, fire on insurance companies for not reducing premiums.
And we've talked about this that you know on the
Senate side, you have individuals kind of saying, look, the
market is correcting, we're on the right path. Don't do
(17:51):
anything to upset that. And so that's a big deal, all.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Right, before we take a break and then look at
the week that's coming up elections.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Elections, You've got a number of bills filed. Some are aligned,
some others deal with different parts of the code. The
ones that are moving right now are twelve oh five
and seventy sixteen. And seventy sixteen is a Senate PCB,
a proposed committee bill. The fact that they made it
a PCB when Blazing Gloalie had already filed the bill
is a little bit telling because Blaze is one of
(18:20):
the governor's biggest supporters there. What those two bills deal
with are the regulations on citizen initiative petitions the ballot
amendment process. Now, it's been a challenge area in the
state for decades, but slowly and surely over the years,
they've been enacting reforms to make it more challenging for
groups to get a petition on the ballot, which I
(18:40):
am all in favor of because that is our governing document.
We should not be debating policy in it. So now
what those things would do, What those two bills would
do further tighten the process for collecting signatures, ensure groups
that are not gaming the system or not being forthcoming
with intent and language. One element of the says not
(19:00):
addressed within those bills is the issue that was brought
up by the governor on the funding of ballot initiatives
by foreign nationals. Basically, what we found was is like
radical leftist billionaire giving tens of millions of dollars to
groups in the US nonprofits who then use that money
to do ballot campaigns. One of those groups is called
the sixteen thirty Fund, used about thirteen million dollars from
(19:23):
a Swiss billionaire just to promote the abortion amendment last year.
The election statutes are a little bit ambiguous, and depending
on how you read it, you know, there could be
some case for tightening that. Okay, and that's going to
be something that we're paying attention to, not just me,
but our group that we work with a lot, the
(19:45):
Honest Election Project, because that's a loophole that they're trying
to close nationally.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
A couple of the bills here that are moving before
we get to what's ahead.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Sure three in particularly like to point out seven five
to two sixty sixty seven from Corey Simon and Allison
Tan They're bringing the defamation Bill on news outlets. It
would lower the standard for defamation suits against media platforms.
It would require them to take down material that's been
deemed by a court ruling or and this is where
(20:13):
some problematic language I think when I get nervous, or
what a quote reasonable person would know to be false?
It passed its first Senate stop. I think this is
gonna be something that gets debated and dialogued and amended
before it well.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
And who determines what a reasonable person is exactly?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And that's where I'm like my antenna go up when
anything ambiguous like that is potentially significant, fair enough, two
thirty two seven on the House side, debt collection. It
would prohibit companies from sending text messages to individuals after
nine PM. And it's a Democrat sponsored bill, but it's
it's got a lot of support, bipartisan, and it's moving.
(20:55):
And then the one that I really hope gets some
steam six seven five point forty one on the House side,
minimum wage exemptions. This would create what we would call
training wages or interurn wages. If both parties, the employer
and the employee, sign an agreement saying we understand the
minimum wages X. We are both agreeing that this will
(21:16):
be a training wage. It would allow those employees to
earn a lower wage. And knowing, well, is there a
cap on the length of time for that, like a year?
Great question, And I'll have to read the language on
it to find out. It could very well be in there,
and that might be something that if it isn't in
gets placed in later. Okay, all right, let's move into
(21:37):
this week. There's a lot going on committee hearings every
single day. A few to pay attention to. First off,
thirteen seventy four in the Senate side from clay Yarbro
mandatory reporting requirements for teachers, and this one's one. It
flew under the radar until I saw it last week.
If a teacher is charged with certain offenses for example, grooming, assault,
(21:58):
et cetera, outside of any outside the classroom it's not
related necessarily to their function, they would be required by
law to report that to the district within forty eight hours,
and then the district would have twenty four hours to
decide to remove them from the classroom. It's up in
its first committee stop. Today, you've got Senate Bill five
(22:19):
thirty six and A eight ZHO two up. These are
the term limit bills for both county commissioners and school boards.
Seventeen ten from Senator Di Segli further eliminating DEI in
state agencies and medical institutions that are tied to universities
of Tier one or Stage one institutions that they have
(22:42):
fourteen thirty eight and sixteen ninety two two Senate bills
from Senator Er Grahl and Stan McClain would further expand
the provisions of last year's bill to keep harmful content
on social media platforms for miners. And I think this
is important because just the other day Judge Walker refused
(23:02):
to enjoin last year's bill on social media access for minors.
So that bill is enacted until the court challenge kind
of weaves its way fully, so they're going even further
this year. You've got HB six' five to, one which
is the big agency bill From agriculture And Consumer. Services
(23:22):
there is a ton in there that at some POINT
i think it would be great to unpack. More it's
got its first, stop and Then i'm keeping an eye
on thirteen hundred and eleven forty. Three this is from
our local, Folks Alison, Tant jason chaff And Corey simon
banning oil and gas permits from areas within The Big
bend that are in close proximity to specific bodies of.
(23:43):
Water we saw one where they were trying to drop
some holding tanks for oil and gas close to what
color of. Springs they're trying to like nip that in the.
Bud and you, know the environmentalist in me is all for.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
It, Yeah and there's it's not like we don't have
land available exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Exactly this is very tailored AND i think it's precisely
how you should do, legislation.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Good, stuff all, Right thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Sir always a pleasure to be with.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You, Yeah monday from now ought to be fun after
all these committee.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Weeks it's going to be an intriguing, week, indeed And
i'm looking forward to as we enter into the second
third of the session kind of how what gain, steam what's,
moving what's kind of fallen, off and the dynamic with
The house and the and the. Governor i'm still paying attention, To.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Thank, you. Sir always sell newso With Consumers defense the
Website consumers defense dot. Com The Legislative session review is
over for the.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Day
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