December 16, 2025 • 24 mins
The best, most useful, coverage of Florida's annual legislative session is found right here. Sal Nuzzo, Executive Director of Consumers Defense, joined Preston to preview the fast approaching legislative session.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Boy, talk about the old, good old days. Here program.
Not only do we have Salnuzo with us from consumer's defense,
but in there in sartorial splendor is none other than
Grant Allen, the producer emeritus.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Who you call an old you said, the good old days?
Like who you calling old the days?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Okay, that's fine, dude, i entered old territory years ago,
and I've just accepted it. It's all good. It's all good.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I will not go gently into that good night.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I can tell. I can tell there's there's a little
resistance in your voice. How are yeah, I'm doing good.
Merry Christmas. We say that around here.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Merry Christmas. It is the start of Hanako. So happy
Hanikah out to many of my Jewish friends are celebrating, so.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yes, and sadly not yeah with what happened in Australia.
What a train wreck that is. But let's just get
going the session. Let's remind everybody this is an election year, which.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Means January thirteenth, January February March. It begins the first
Tuesday after the first Monday or something second Tuesday, I
can't remember. January thirteenth is when it starts sixty days.
They have one constitutionally mandated requirement, that's pass a balanced
budget and send it to the governor. They will come
(01:22):
and do a whole lot more than that, and then some.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I mentioned last hour. The governor's running through the tape. Yep.
He's not taking time off. He's not coasting into the
final year of his governor's office responsibility. He's running through
the tape. And to that end, back to the constitutional
mandated requirement, he's submitted a budget. Yep.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
He will also not go gently into that good night.
He did submit a proposed budget last week asking for
one hundred and seventeen billion dollars total, which is about
a two billion dollar increase over the prior year. A
bit of a reminder in table setting. When you look
at Florida's budget per capita compared to other states, we
(02:06):
are the leanest state operation in the United States. We're
also a heavy growth state anywhere, depending on the year,
from six hundred to one thousand new Floridians every day.
By nature, that budget number is going to have to
increase unless you're doing some incredible austerity, which we had
(02:26):
that time, is just not now. We've got to invest
in some things, and so two billion dollars more, you've
got fifty three billion dollars in the governor's proposal, which
would be general revenue. That's the portion of the budget
that is not line itemed for either a particular federal program.
It's not a pass through, it's not a trust fund
(02:46):
some designated revenue stream. The fifty three billion is what
the legislature will use policy and appropriations to put into
the various silos. So the balance of the budget. For
people's understand, it's fifty three billion in general revenue, but
we're asking for from the governor one seventeen.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Where's the difference.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So the biggest difference is going to be federal pass
through dollars for medicaid. About thirty percent, thirty one thirty
two percent of the entire one hundred and seventeen billion
dollars is going to be just tax dollars coming from Washington,
DC to pay for medicaid for Floridians. The half of
the ninety percent, depending which population is.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
It over simplified to say that's just some of Florida's
money coming back.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh, absolutely the case. That's that's a lot of Florida's
money coming back. There are also other federal programs that
some have winded down, but there are still other federal
revenue sources. You've also got trust funds and things that
go toward designated uses like the doc stamfees and other
things like that.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
What else stands out in terms of the numbers inside
the governor's budget A.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Couple of things. On the tax relief side. You've got
two and a half billion dollars in tax relief just
from the elimination of the commercial rent tax. That's something
that Florida been the only state to do that for
many years. It is a sales tax if you rent
your business space, and we finally got that glide path
down and out. He's also proposing a couple of percent
(04:17):
across the board for state workers for increases. However, if
you're in a special risk category, I think, what does
that police law enforcement Florida Department Law Enforcement that you
got five percent? Few numbers on the K twelve side,
just over thirty billion dollars in that silo. Another six
billion for higher education. You've got a billion and a
(04:40):
half just for salary increases in this budget for instructional
staff and things like, you know, twenty billion dollars in
the transportation silo that's going towards roads improvements, expansions, things
along those lines. And it's important to remember this is
just a proposal, right The legislat mature probably won't even
(05:01):
take this in and tweak it. They will develop their
own budget proposal submitted to him, and then he has
the ability to use light one veto to nix out
any lines that he does not like or that he
isn't comfortable with.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
This is just providing maybe some guidance to the two
bodies on what he is looking for in a budget.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, it's a designation of his priorities for the coming year.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
The Attorney General, the CFO, what should we know? Yeah,
cabinet members still active and engaged. The AGE recently announced
a suit against Starbucks, going after them for their hiring practices,
which because they are stalwart defenders and champions of DEI
hiring and have all kinds of quotas and whatnot. Because
(05:51):
Starbucks is a publicly traded company, the AG is rightly
pursuing that open store YEP. In terms of whether or
not Starbucks is pursuing its fiduciary principles to generate a
return on there for investors. There cfo showing local governments
for and exposing them for the rates of increase in
(06:14):
local budgets just over the last six years. And it
should be fair to point out Republican and Democrat run
communities in Florida. Yeah, he does not care.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
This is an issue that is if you're a fan
of Scripture, I would call him kind of John the
Baptist paving the way for property tax proposals that are
going to be coming down the pike. But I mean,
his points are incredibly valid. If you look at just
the inflation rates plus population increases within counties, the budget
(06:47):
increases that these counties have seen are just off the charts,
and there is not any case to be made that
services have gone up the same. Therefore, there is there
is room for the governor proposals.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
We got about two and a half minutes left in
this segment, unfortunately, So let me ask you this, regardless
of the wrestling match that is going on with Obamacare
and what comes out of the wash or doesn't, what
options does the state of Florida have to address healthcare?
Well a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And that's the thing is that there are a substantial
amount of regulations that are kind of dictated by state
governments versus the fence. Now they've got to work within
the framework of the ACA and where there is abilities
to get issues waived or carved down. But Florida is
a massive growth state, and as I mentioned in the
(07:40):
prior segments, up to has been up to one thousand
people a day moving to the state net. You also
have two thirds of our population growth over time and
projected into the next ten years, is going to be
over the age of sixty. What that means is that
there is going to be a far more dramatic increase
in the need for health care services, just because that
(08:02):
cohort of the population is who consumes more healthcare And
you've got state level regulations governing the supply of practitioners,
and there's a lot of room for the state to
make reforms that address that supply. And so what we
see at least from the House right now is Speaker
(08:23):
Danny Perez, and this has been something that he has
talked about since probably is freshman term in the legislature,
the need for Florida to address the healthcare challenges that
we have. We've done a lot. He's proposing even more
to come in the twenty twenty six session.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Do states have the flexibility to say, allow for more
competition even across state lines if they work, let's say,
with Georgia or Alabama.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
In some cases yes, and in some cases no. But
it requires a lot of work on the part of
the states. So you have things like you can do
license your compacts, which is, if you're a doctor, a
primary care physician in the state of Georgia, you know
human beings are the same in Georgia as they are
in Florida. You shouldn't have to go through a ton
of hoops and barriers to be able to practice in
(09:13):
the state of Florida. You also have things like recognizing
specific licenses on specialists and things along those lines. You
have the ability of states to, if they do it correctly,
join with other states for association health plans and the
way that you can pool insurance. That all requires a
(09:35):
direct effort on the part of policy makers and people
in the agencies to push in that direction.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Back talking about the legislative session that is four weeks away,
I mean, wow, yep, it's crazy to get your mind around,
but it is an election here.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, And it's also important to remember that last legislative
session carried over way way late, so we're ordinarily on
a short time frame, and then it was even shorter,
so it's yeah, it's all fresh.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Before we continue with healthcare. Do you expect any of
the animosity from the last session, because the last session
was plagued with a lot of bitterness. Is it going
to carry over?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I think is the I would have wanted to say, no,
it's not going to carry over, and everybody came to
their senses. Unfortunately. What I'm seeing is kind of a
continuation of a lot of the back and forth on
specific issues completely unrelated to policy, and having a whole
lot to do with other things. And so will it
(10:46):
be as bad as bad in quotes as last session.
Probably not, But I don't see them all getting together
for smores around a campfire. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Back to healthcare. What reform you expect bubbling up into
the session? Sure?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, Speaker Perez has kind of taken on healthcare. Affordability
is probably is his big priority for the final year
of his term as speaker. There are two major bills
in the House HB six ninety three and six ninety seven.
So one of them you've got six ninety three, I
believe it is, you've got reforms to the public programs
(11:24):
Medicaid snap CHIP. They're going to align with what was
in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act about eighty hour
per month work requirements for Medicaid to push in that direction,
sort of tightening up of regulations on coverage. But then
it goes into the supply side of the challenge, which
(11:45):
really is where a state can have a whole lot
more impact. So we have healthcare provider shortages. We need
far a far greater number of doctors, nurses, specialists, everything
across the board. So what are we gonna do. So
first out is cutting out the remaining certificate of need
(12:07):
laws on nursing homes and hospices to greater expand the
ability of new facilities to get online. You're gonna see
an expansion of what we call the scope of practice
rules for nurses and estheticians and what have you, allowing
them to not only get training to do new things
(12:28):
or to do things, but to be able to perform
the things that they are trained on, which because of
the way that state laws work isn't always the case.
We talked about it in the last session. Licenser compacts.
If you're a if you're an anesthesiologist in Mississippi or
Alabama and we want to recruit you in what are
(12:50):
the requirements for you to get license in the state
of Florida. How do we make that easiest? And those
are things that go to that solution. Transparency, requirements on
coverage networks, and how deductibility functions. They're going to go after.
The pharmacy benefit managers, which are the middlemen between drug
(13:11):
manufacturers and the insurance.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Expect playing that for just a quick second and its
impact on a consumer.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
So, if you're a drug manufacturer and you make tailand all,
let's just say it's a patented drug. Now you want
tailand all to be covered by all of the different
insurance networks. You have a pharmacy benefit manager which is
a role in between the manufacturer and they make sure
that the drug then gets placed on all of the
(13:38):
insurance networks. Now, that's a very stripped down version of it.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
But why is it necessary.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Well, you know, at one time it's in the same
way that any distribution network is potentially necessary. I'm not
necessarily arguing it's unnecessary. What many critics have discussed is
they've taken that role in leverage to manipulate rebates and
incentives so that consumers are not getting the cost savings
(14:08):
all of the time there. So they're gonna do some
things there in transparency and removing what's called spread pricing
and some other things there. There's one provision in there
I'm not as sure about, which is benchmarking drug prices
in Florida to the European country networks, which could be
tantamount to a price control and I'm not sure. I'd
(14:30):
have to see. I got to see the wording and
that before I'm on board there.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
And that's where your work with Consumers Defense really devetails nicely.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, we do a lot of work in the healthcare
space with respect to drug pricing. But then also this
federal program called three point forty B which has been
manipulated by a lot of nonprofit hospitals. It's a federal
program that then passes through the states, and those two
areas are ones where we could do deep dives whenever
(14:59):
you want on all of the specific provisions in there
that then either do or don't trickle down to consumers.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
The one topic with sal Nuzzo here of consumers defense
that truly has the possibility of impacting everybody, whether they
own property or not, because everybody is impacted by property
taxes in some way, shape or form. Renters as well.
What are we likely to see? What are the proposals
out there?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, so a reminder, the governor wants the elimination of
all property taxes for at a bare minimum, homesteaded residence
in the state of Florida. He's called on the legislature
to put something forward for the ballot. The House has
several proposals that they have submitted. I believe the last
time I checked was eight. Of those eight, none go
(15:50):
as far as what the governor has called for. Right now,
you have about four of them that have moved through
committees in the Precession committee weeks and so. One of
those proposals would eliminate all but the school funding portion
of the property taxes for homesteaded properties. One would lift
(16:15):
the cap entirely on Save our Homes portability. So if
you have two hundred thousand dollars in Save our Home savings,
you could port that and if you were to buy
a home that was two hundred thousand dollars or less,
you would effectively reduce your property tax rate to zero
or something along those lines. One would eliminate all taxes
(16:36):
for seniors, and one would provide a new two hundred
thousand dollars homestead exemption which would cover a good sizable
portion of the homesteaded properties in the state.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Is anybody talking about what I think is the lowest
of the hanging fruit, and that is simply while you're
figuring this out, just make it so that you cannot
take someone's home or property for not paying it.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
There have been proposals in the past that would shield
your homestead from specific pieces of that. Now I don't
know if any of the bills that have been put
forward in the House get at that where it shields
you where and it could be something where it shields
you as long as you're alive, but it doesn't pass
(17:26):
on to your heirs or things along those lines. The
challenge with this is that whenever you get into things
like real estate, you also have various tax vehicles and
things that happen that lawyers can do to kind of
get around certain of those provisions. So I think the Governor,
(17:46):
to his credit, is saying, let's keep this simple. And granted,
there is going to be a lot of weeping and
gnashing of teeth on the part of cities and counties
as they go through this trying to say, and it.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Ties to what the CFO is trying to accomplish in
determining how they've responsibly or irresponsibly handled their budgets exactly,
and to both of their credit, one of the things
that I've said previously is before you ask the question
how are we going to provide for all of these services,
you actually have to ask the question what are the
(18:21):
basket of services that our local government should be providing
that's first, and what does that then cost? And so
we're going to have to see as this debate continues on,
there's talk about the governor is stipulated because the Senate
hasn't really moved in either direction heavily, they may want
(18:43):
to consider coming back in a special session. The House
is saying they do not want to do that. Same
kind of holds on redistricting, you have these kind of
varying debates where you get into triangulation. You have three parties,
you have to house the Senate and the Governor and
where they align. Generally, when two come together, that's what
(19:04):
moves the policy forward. All right, the x lax portion
of the conversation here with news of consumers defense. So
what's moving? Oh my gosh, we'll frame that. You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So a number of kind of policy issues that are
bubbling up. Bill filing has a deadline to it, so
and it's usually in the first week of session, so
a lot of things are being put forward, submitted, filed,
and then heard in various committees to team up for
that first week of session. One thing that I think
is going to be a theme of the session is
(19:41):
going to be fighting hostile government actors in Florida and
things like the way that the Chinese Communist Party is
infiltrated and leveraged technology in a number of different respects,
whether it's drone use or routers, medical technology. You see
a photos everything. You see the Attorney General, you see
(20:03):
the CFO, you see the Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson actually
having the foresight to put some stuff in his agency
bill last year that's now bearing fruit. A lot of
this is going to be an ongoing theme and narrative
as the state tries to set itself up as a
kind of a national leader in fighting hostile actors. Then
(20:26):
you've got a number of different bills that have just
kind of gotten some movement, and we'll see where they go.
HB three to eighteen from Senator Don Gates is more
SB three eighteen, more controls in place for school choice money.
A report came out from the Auditor General's office kind
of indicating that the controls needed to be increased in
(20:49):
how individuals are distributed scholarship funds and where they go
and what they're used on. So they're going to be
doing some overhauling there. HB one ninety seven from Representatives
expanding e verify to all employers.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
But not back employers.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
The language as I read it did not cover the
grandfathered in employees. But the other thing is is that
it does not have a Senate's co sponsor or companion
bill yet, so it would need to get one in
order to move forward. HB one three from Repsorroy moving
the gun purchase age to eighteen. Considering we're now an
(21:28):
open carry state, this would seem like some low hanging
fruit to me. But as we've come to discover with
our friends in the Senate they aren't always as open
on expanding gun rights as the houses. The Senate President
last year had a big package called the Rural Renaissance Package,
and they're reintroducing it in this year. From Senator Corey Simon,
(21:51):
our senator, it would kind of create some opportunities for
those within the county system that are not getting population
growth yor losing revenue, what have you, to be able
to tap into, whether it's federal or state dollars to
address various challenges there. Senate Bill one twenty six, I'm
(22:13):
watching this one carefully. It would reform the ways in
which the Public Service Commission, which the PSC is what
governs utility rates for all of Florida. It would govern
how they approve of rate increases. So the bill itself,
it's long, it's real in the weeds, but the intent
is they want to provide some additional visibility and transparency
(22:36):
to how rate increases are arrived at, what data are
used to support specific increases, and such one we talked
about a couple of months back. I think HB five
twenty seven from Representative Cassels requiring a human to review
all insurance claims before any denials are made, and there's
(22:57):
a fear that insurance providers could be using AI just
to come blanket claim blanket deny claims. We've talked about this, right,
Can I just ask you please?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Doesn't that start to then butt up against Donald Trump
forbidding states from addressing AI?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well, and you talked about this kind of before I
came on. In terms of what the federal government does
as a kind of floor or benchmark for AI regulations.
There was a provision that had been in the One
Big Beautiful Bill Act, but it got pulled out at
the last minute that would have preempted any state or
(23:35):
local government from regulating AI in any form for ten years.
That's not in there. So what we're going to see
now is states beginning to pass what they view is
as effective.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Right, he was going to try to stop it.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
It may come back, and if so, there's going to
be a tug.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Of war on really fight. Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Lastly, a couple of other ones hb one from McFarlane
raising the caps on suits brought against the government to
five hundred thousand dollars, which has been long an issue
with folks because then they have to file claims bills,
and then HJR. Twenty seven they're going to try for
local term limits again twelve years, and then you'd have
(24:17):
to sit out for four years. That would be for city,
county and school board races.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
All right, good stuff as always, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
So you cannot wait to kick this off in January,
we go weekly fifth, the fifth.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
One week before the session starts. We'll get everybody ready.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
We will have our running shoes on. It's going to
be an interesting one.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Do we need our headgear though? Will we be seeing
a boxing match? Likely? Yeah, I can't wait. Thanks, always
a pleasure. Saldouzoh Consumers Defense dot com
Boy, talk about the old, good old days. Here program.
Not only do we have Salnuzo with us from consumer's defense,
but in there in sartorial splendor is none other than
Grant Allen, the producer emeritus.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Who you call an old you said, the good old days?
Like who you calling old the days?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Okay, that's fine, dude, i entered old territory years ago,
and I've just accepted it. It's all good. It's all good.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I will not go gently into that good night.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I can tell. I can tell there's there's a little
resistance in your voice. How are yeah, I'm doing good.
Merry Christmas. We say that around here.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Merry Christmas. It is the start of Hanako. So happy
Hanikah out to many of my Jewish friends are celebrating, so.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yes, and sadly not yeah with what happened in Australia.
What a train wreck that is. But let's just get
going the session. Let's remind everybody this is an election year, which.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Means January thirteenth, January February March. It begins the first
Tuesday after the first Monday or something second Tuesday, I
can't remember. January thirteenth is when it starts sixty days.
They have one constitutionally mandated requirement, that's pass a balanced
budget and send it to the governor. They will come
(01:22):
and do a whole lot more than that, and then some.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I mentioned last hour. The governor's running through the tape. Yep.
He's not taking time off. He's not coasting into the
final year of his governor's office responsibility. He's running through
the tape. And to that end, back to the constitutional
mandated requirement, he's submitted a budget. Yep.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
He will also not go gently into that good night.
He did submit a proposed budget last week asking for
one hundred and seventeen billion dollars total, which is about
a two billion dollar increase over the prior year. A
bit of a reminder in table setting. When you look
at Florida's budget per capita compared to other states, we
(02:06):
are the leanest state operation in the United States. We're
also a heavy growth state anywhere, depending on the year,
from six hundred to one thousand new Floridians every day.
By nature, that budget number is going to have to
increase unless you're doing some incredible austerity, which we had
(02:26):
that time, is just not now. We've got to invest
in some things, and so two billion dollars more, you've
got fifty three billion dollars in the governor's proposal, which
would be general revenue. That's the portion of the budget
that is not line itemed for either a particular federal program.
It's not a pass through, it's not a trust fund
(02:46):
some designated revenue stream. The fifty three billion is what
the legislature will use policy and appropriations to put into
the various silos. So the balance of the budget. For
people's understand, it's fifty three billion in general revenue, but
we're asking for from the governor one seventeen.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Where's the difference.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So the biggest difference is going to be federal pass
through dollars for medicaid. About thirty percent, thirty one thirty
two percent of the entire one hundred and seventeen billion
dollars is going to be just tax dollars coming from Washington,
DC to pay for medicaid for Floridians. The half of
the ninety percent, depending which population is.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
It over simplified to say that's just some of Florida's
money coming back.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh, absolutely the case. That's that's a lot of Florida's
money coming back. There are also other federal programs that
some have winded down, but there are still other federal
revenue sources. You've also got trust funds and things that
go toward designated uses like the doc stamfees and other
things like that.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
What else stands out in terms of the numbers inside
the governor's budget A.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Couple of things. On the tax relief side. You've got
two and a half billion dollars in tax relief just
from the elimination of the commercial rent tax. That's something
that Florida been the only state to do that for
many years. It is a sales tax if you rent
your business space, and we finally got that glide path
down and out. He's also proposing a couple of percent
(04:17):
across the board for state workers for increases. However, if
you're in a special risk category, I think, what does
that police law enforcement Florida Department Law Enforcement that you
got five percent? Few numbers on the K twelve side,
just over thirty billion dollars in that silo. Another six
billion for higher education. You've got a billion and a
(04:40):
half just for salary increases in this budget for instructional
staff and things like, you know, twenty billion dollars in
the transportation silo that's going towards roads improvements, expansions, things
along those lines. And it's important to remember this is
just a proposal, right The legislat mature probably won't even
(05:01):
take this in and tweak it. They will develop their
own budget proposal submitted to him, and then he has
the ability to use light one veto to nix out
any lines that he does not like or that he
isn't comfortable with.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
This is just providing maybe some guidance to the two
bodies on what he is looking for in a budget.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, it's a designation of his priorities for the coming year.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
The Attorney General, the CFO, what should we know? Yeah,
cabinet members still active and engaged. The AGE recently announced
a suit against Starbucks, going after them for their hiring practices,
which because they are stalwart defenders and champions of DEI
hiring and have all kinds of quotas and whatnot. Because
(05:51):
Starbucks is a publicly traded company, the AG is rightly
pursuing that open store YEP. In terms of whether or
not Starbucks is pursuing its fiduciary principles to generate a
return on there for investors. There cfo showing local governments
for and exposing them for the rates of increase in
(06:14):
local budgets just over the last six years. And it
should be fair to point out Republican and Democrat run
communities in Florida. Yeah, he does not care.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
This is an issue that is if you're a fan
of Scripture, I would call him kind of John the
Baptist paving the way for property tax proposals that are
going to be coming down the pike. But I mean,
his points are incredibly valid. If you look at just
the inflation rates plus population increases within counties, the budget
(06:47):
increases that these counties have seen are just off the charts,
and there is not any case to be made that
services have gone up the same. Therefore, there is there
is room for the governor proposals.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
We got about two and a half minutes left in
this segment, unfortunately, So let me ask you this, regardless
of the wrestling match that is going on with Obamacare
and what comes out of the wash or doesn't, what
options does the state of Florida have to address healthcare?
Well a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And that's the thing is that there are a substantial
amount of regulations that are kind of dictated by state
governments versus the fence. Now they've got to work within
the framework of the ACA and where there is abilities
to get issues waived or carved down. But Florida is
a massive growth state, and as I mentioned in the
(07:40):
prior segments, up to has been up to one thousand
people a day moving to the state net. You also
have two thirds of our population growth over time and
projected into the next ten years, is going to be
over the age of sixty. What that means is that
there is going to be a far more dramatic increase
in the need for health care services, just because that
(08:02):
cohort of the population is who consumes more healthcare And
you've got state level regulations governing the supply of practitioners,
and there's a lot of room for the state to
make reforms that address that supply. And so what we
see at least from the House right now is Speaker
(08:23):
Danny Perez, and this has been something that he has
talked about since probably is freshman term in the legislature,
the need for Florida to address the healthcare challenges that
we have. We've done a lot. He's proposing even more
to come in the twenty twenty six session.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Do states have the flexibility to say, allow for more
competition even across state lines if they work, let's say,
with Georgia or Alabama.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
In some cases yes, and in some cases no. But
it requires a lot of work on the part of
the states. So you have things like you can do
license your compacts, which is, if you're a doctor, a
primary care physician in the state of Georgia, you know
human beings are the same in Georgia as they are
in Florida. You shouldn't have to go through a ton
of hoops and barriers to be able to practice in
(09:13):
the state of Florida. You also have things like recognizing
specific licenses on specialists and things along those lines. You
have the ability of states to, if they do it correctly,
join with other states for association health plans and the
way that you can pool insurance. That all requires a
(09:35):
direct effort on the part of policy makers and people
in the agencies to push in that direction.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Back talking about the legislative session that is four weeks away,
I mean, wow, yep, it's crazy to get your mind around,
but it is an election here.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, And it's also important to remember that last legislative
session carried over way way late, so we're ordinarily on
a short time frame, and then it was even shorter,
so it's yeah, it's all fresh.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Before we continue with healthcare. Do you expect any of
the animosity from the last session, because the last session
was plagued with a lot of bitterness. Is it going
to carry over?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I think is the I would have wanted to say, no,
it's not going to carry over, and everybody came to
their senses. Unfortunately. What I'm seeing is kind of a
continuation of a lot of the back and forth on
specific issues completely unrelated to policy, and having a whole
lot to do with other things. And so will it
(10:46):
be as bad as bad in quotes as last session.
Probably not, But I don't see them all getting together
for smores around a campfire. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Back to healthcare. What reform you expect bubbling up into
the session? Sure?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, Speaker Perez has kind of taken on healthcare. Affordability
is probably is his big priority for the final year
of his term as speaker. There are two major bills
in the House HB six ninety three and six ninety seven.
So one of them you've got six ninety three, I
believe it is, you've got reforms to the public programs
(11:24):
Medicaid snap CHIP. They're going to align with what was
in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act about eighty hour
per month work requirements for Medicaid to push in that direction,
sort of tightening up of regulations on coverage. But then
it goes into the supply side of the challenge, which
(11:45):
really is where a state can have a whole lot
more impact. So we have healthcare provider shortages. We need
far a far greater number of doctors, nurses, specialists, everything
across the board. So what are we gonna do. So
first out is cutting out the remaining certificate of need
(12:07):
laws on nursing homes and hospices to greater expand the
ability of new facilities to get online. You're gonna see
an expansion of what we call the scope of practice
rules for nurses and estheticians and what have you, allowing
them to not only get training to do new things
(12:28):
or to do things, but to be able to perform
the things that they are trained on, which because of
the way that state laws work isn't always the case.
We talked about it in the last session. Licenser compacts.
If you're a if you're an anesthesiologist in Mississippi or
Alabama and we want to recruit you in what are
(12:50):
the requirements for you to get license in the state
of Florida. How do we make that easiest? And those
are things that go to that solution. Transparency, requirements on
coverage networks, and how deductibility functions. They're going to go after.
The pharmacy benefit managers, which are the middlemen between drug
(13:11):
manufacturers and the insurance.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Expect playing that for just a quick second and its
impact on a consumer.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
So, if you're a drug manufacturer and you make tailand all,
let's just say it's a patented drug. Now you want
tailand all to be covered by all of the different
insurance networks. You have a pharmacy benefit manager which is
a role in between the manufacturer and they make sure
that the drug then gets placed on all of the
(13:38):
insurance networks. Now, that's a very stripped down version of it.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
But why is it necessary.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Well, you know, at one time it's in the same
way that any distribution network is potentially necessary. I'm not
necessarily arguing it's unnecessary. What many critics have discussed is
they've taken that role in leverage to manipulate rebates and
incentives so that consumers are not getting the cost savings
(14:08):
all of the time there. So they're gonna do some
things there in transparency and removing what's called spread pricing
and some other things there. There's one provision in there
I'm not as sure about, which is benchmarking drug prices
in Florida to the European country networks, which could be
tantamount to a price control and I'm not sure. I'd
(14:30):
have to see. I got to see the wording and
that before I'm on board there.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
And that's where your work with Consumers Defense really devetails nicely.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, we do a lot of work in the healthcare
space with respect to drug pricing. But then also this
federal program called three point forty B which has been
manipulated by a lot of nonprofit hospitals. It's a federal
program that then passes through the states, and those two
areas are ones where we could do deep dives whenever
(14:59):
you want on all of the specific provisions in there
that then either do or don't trickle down to consumers.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
The one topic with sal Nuzzo here of consumers defense
that truly has the possibility of impacting everybody, whether they
own property or not, because everybody is impacted by property
taxes in some way, shape or form. Renters as well.
What are we likely to see? What are the proposals
out there?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, so a reminder, the governor wants the elimination of
all property taxes for at a bare minimum, homesteaded residence
in the state of Florida. He's called on the legislature
to put something forward for the ballot. The House has
several proposals that they have submitted. I believe the last
time I checked was eight. Of those eight, none go
(15:50):
as far as what the governor has called for. Right now,
you have about four of them that have moved through
committees in the Precession committee weeks and so. One of
those proposals would eliminate all but the school funding portion
of the property taxes for homesteaded properties. One would lift
(16:15):
the cap entirely on Save our Homes portability. So if
you have two hundred thousand dollars in Save our Home savings,
you could port that and if you were to buy
a home that was two hundred thousand dollars or less,
you would effectively reduce your property tax rate to zero
or something along those lines. One would eliminate all taxes
(16:36):
for seniors, and one would provide a new two hundred
thousand dollars homestead exemption which would cover a good sizable
portion of the homesteaded properties in the state.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Is anybody talking about what I think is the lowest
of the hanging fruit, and that is simply while you're
figuring this out, just make it so that you cannot
take someone's home or property for not paying it.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
There have been proposals in the past that would shield
your homestead from specific pieces of that. Now I don't
know if any of the bills that have been put
forward in the House get at that where it shields
you where and it could be something where it shields
you as long as you're alive, but it doesn't pass
(17:26):
on to your heirs or things along those lines. The
challenge with this is that whenever you get into things
like real estate, you also have various tax vehicles and
things that happen that lawyers can do to kind of
get around certain of those provisions. So I think the Governor,
(17:46):
to his credit, is saying, let's keep this simple. And granted,
there is going to be a lot of weeping and
gnashing of teeth on the part of cities and counties
as they go through this trying to say, and it.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Ties to what the CFO is trying to accomplish in
determining how they've responsibly or irresponsibly handled their budgets exactly,
and to both of their credit, one of the things
that I've said previously is before you ask the question
how are we going to provide for all of these services,
you actually have to ask the question what are the
(18:21):
basket of services that our local government should be providing
that's first, and what does that then cost? And so
we're going to have to see as this debate continues on,
there's talk about the governor is stipulated because the Senate
hasn't really moved in either direction heavily, they may want
(18:43):
to consider coming back in a special session. The House
is saying they do not want to do that. Same
kind of holds on redistricting, you have these kind of
varying debates where you get into triangulation. You have three parties,
you have to house the Senate and the Governor and
where they align. Generally, when two come together, that's what
(19:04):
moves the policy forward. All right, the x lax portion
of the conversation here with news of consumers defense. So
what's moving? Oh my gosh, we'll frame that. You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
So a number of kind of policy issues that are
bubbling up. Bill filing has a deadline to it, so
and it's usually in the first week of session, so
a lot of things are being put forward, submitted, filed,
and then heard in various committees to team up for
that first week of session. One thing that I think
is going to be a theme of the session is
(19:41):
going to be fighting hostile government actors in Florida and
things like the way that the Chinese Communist Party is
infiltrated and leveraged technology in a number of different respects,
whether it's drone use or routers, medical technology. You see
a photos everything. You see the Attorney General, you see
(20:03):
the CFO, you see the Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson actually
having the foresight to put some stuff in his agency
bill last year that's now bearing fruit. A lot of
this is going to be an ongoing theme and narrative
as the state tries to set itself up as a
kind of a national leader in fighting hostile actors. Then
(20:26):
you've got a number of different bills that have just
kind of gotten some movement, and we'll see where they go.
HB three to eighteen from Senator Don Gates is more
SB three eighteen, more controls in place for school choice money.
A report came out from the Auditor General's office kind
of indicating that the controls needed to be increased in
(20:49):
how individuals are distributed scholarship funds and where they go
and what they're used on. So they're going to be
doing some overhauling there. HB one ninety seven from Representatives
expanding e verify to all employers.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
But not back employers.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
The language as I read it did not cover the
grandfathered in employees. But the other thing is is that
it does not have a Senate's co sponsor or companion
bill yet, so it would need to get one in
order to move forward. HB one three from Repsorroy moving
the gun purchase age to eighteen. Considering we're now an
(21:28):
open carry state, this would seem like some low hanging
fruit to me. But as we've come to discover with
our friends in the Senate they aren't always as open
on expanding gun rights as the houses. The Senate President
last year had a big package called the Rural Renaissance Package,
and they're reintroducing it in this year. From Senator Corey Simon,
(21:51):
our senator, it would kind of create some opportunities for
those within the county system that are not getting population
growth yor losing revenue, what have you, to be able
to tap into, whether it's federal or state dollars to
address various challenges there. Senate Bill one twenty six, I'm
(22:13):
watching this one carefully. It would reform the ways in
which the Public Service Commission, which the PSC is what
governs utility rates for all of Florida. It would govern
how they approve of rate increases. So the bill itself,
it's long, it's real in the weeds, but the intent
is they want to provide some additional visibility and transparency
(22:36):
to how rate increases are arrived at, what data are
used to support specific increases, and such one we talked
about a couple of months back. I think HB five
twenty seven from Representative Cassels requiring a human to review
all insurance claims before any denials are made, and there's
(22:57):
a fear that insurance providers could be using AI just
to come blanket claim blanket deny claims. We've talked about this, right,
Can I just ask you please?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Doesn't that start to then butt up against Donald Trump
forbidding states from addressing AI?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well, and you talked about this kind of before I
came on. In terms of what the federal government does
as a kind of floor or benchmark for AI regulations.
There was a provision that had been in the One
Big Beautiful Bill Act, but it got pulled out at
the last minute that would have preempted any state or
(23:35):
local government from regulating AI in any form for ten years.
That's not in there. So what we're going to see
now is states beginning to pass what they view is
as effective.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Right, he was going to try to stop it.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
It may come back, and if so, there's going to
be a tug.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Of war on really fight. Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Lastly, a couple of other ones hb one from McFarlane
raising the caps on suits brought against the government to
five hundred thousand dollars, which has been long an issue
with folks because then they have to file claims bills,
and then HJR. Twenty seven they're going to try for
local term limits again twelve years, and then you'd have
(24:17):
to sit out for four years. That would be for city,
county and school board races.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
All right, good stuff as always, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
So you cannot wait to kick this off in January,
we go weekly fifth, the fifth.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
One week before the session starts. We'll get everybody ready.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
We will have our running shoes on. It's going to
be an interesting one.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Do we need our headgear though? Will we be seeing
a boxing match? Likely? Yeah, I can't wait. Thanks, always
a pleasure. Saldouzoh Consumers Defense dot com
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