Legislative Update and Resources for Members
Regarding the Nov. 5 election, the House had 120 members in play and the Senate had 20. Republicans retained a supermajority of seats in the House (now 84) and in the Senate (28).
An organization session was held on November 19, where each chamber’s leadership was formalized along with chairs and members of the various committees. Rep. Daniel Perez (R. Miami) will be House Speaker for the 2024-2026 term and Sen. Ben Albritton (R-Bartow/Wauchula) Senate President.
Interim committee weeks are scheduled for January and February, 2025. Next year’s Regular Session will begin on March 4 and will continue through May 2.
As in past sessions, we expect bills to be filed ending or reducing newspaper legal notices, including bills to replace newspaper notice of self-storage unit liens with “public websites that customarily conduct or advertise personal property auctions.” The following House committee references and chairs are likely for any storage-unit bill: Civil Justice Sub. (Traci Koster), Commerce Comm. (James Buchanan), Judiciary (Chuck Brannan). For the Senate—Judiciary (Clay Yarborough), Regulated Industries (Jennifer Bradley), and Rules (Kathleen Passidomo).
Members should continue to form and maintain relationships with their own local legislators and delegations as these connections become very valuable as session approaches and gets underway.
Resources are available to help members in this regard including talking points (being updated), a 2023 Florida-based survey from Mason Dixon Polling on the public’s reliance on newspapers for public notice, and a recent nationwide survey by America’s Newspapers on the trust citizens place in their community papers.
We are planning a Media Day at the Capitol on Wednesday Feb. 19 during the Legislature’s last interim committee week, which will include a reception. The event will allow members to further connect with their legislators and staff. More information on this event to come.
In addition to public notice, we expect other bills to be filed including legislation watering down protections against defamation lawsuits and otherwise increasing exposure, for example, by changing the presumption of actual malice and imposing take-down requirements for publishers to avoid damages.
Please contact Sam or Karen if you have any questions about legislative resources or Media Day.