Legislative Update - Session Update #5

April 13, 2017

House and Senate Adopt 2017-18 Budget Proposals

legislative update Both House and Senate passed their versions of the 2017-18 state budget this week. This paves the way for joint meetings of the House and Senate members appointed to the various conference committees to meet in the coming weeks with hopes of an agreement to be reached by May 2nd. This allows for the 72-hour waiting period where the full legislature, public, and media have an opportunity to scrutinize the budget agreement prior to its vote on May 5th, the last day of regular session. UFF and FEA will be monitoring and lobbying for the best budget possible for public education from this point forward.

The budget proposals on a macro scale have not changed from the previous report. Here is a quick snapshot.

HOUSE The House proposal funds Florida Colleges at $1.153 billion, a reduction of $88 million from the current year. $72.6 million of that reduction was made due to carryover reserves held by the colleges and the committee’s attack on college funds being shifted to foundations. Funding for colleges are exclusive of tuition and fees. Performance funding was maintained at $60 million with $30 million from college base funding.

Universities are funded at $4.56 billion which includes $1.96 billion in tuition and fees. The universities have been cut $172 million from the current year with $159.4 million due to carryover reserves and university funds being transferred to foundations. Performance funding was unchanged from the current year.

SENATE The Senate proposal for Florida Colleges is about $7 million less at $1.146 billion, a reduction of $95 million from the current year. The Senate reduction is primarily from the suspension of performance funding and cuts to Developmental Education Programs. Funding is exclusive of tuition and fees.

Universities are funded at $3.117 billion in state funds, exclusive of tuition and fees. While normally tuition and fees are included, the block tuition proposal being considered in several Senate bills resulted in this funding being removed from the total. The actual tuition and fees amount should be very close to the House proposal of $1.96 billion. The Senate plan for state support exceeds House University spending by over $500 million. Much of that difference, $130 million, is a result of funding new programs being proposed in Senate legislation. University Performance Funding was increased by a total of $25 million to $525 million. State funding grows to $250 million and base funding of $275 million is continued.

SB 374 – "College Competitiveness Act"

SB 374 by Senate Education and Dorothy Hukill (R – Port Orange) passed from the Senate on a 36-2 vote with only Senator Gary Farmer (D – Ft. Lauderdale) and Senator Tom Lee (R – Brandon) voting No. Senator Bobby Powell (D – West Palm Beach) voted No after roll call. Senator Hukill was absent as she has been recovering from a serious illness.

The bill was amended to include the entire content of SB 2 which is the Senate Higher Education package. The bill would remove state colleges from the oversight of the State Board of Education and put them under a new State Board of Community Colleges. The bill will limit 4-year baccalaureate degree programs at our colleges. The amendment would do the following:

UFF opposes the bill as there is no need for a new college governance structure and no need for a limit to colleges providing baccalaureate programs for needed workforce in their communities. We also oppose the rush to 4-year graduation rates as a performance funding metric, the lack of need-based scholarships, and the block tuition requirement without an analysis of its impact on university funding. The House passed SB 374 but struck all language in the Senate version and replaced it with their HB 5601 which removes provisions authorizing state university or Florida College System institution direct-support organization to use personal services of the state university or Florida College System institution. This is the House maneuver to place SB 374 as the subject of the conference committee.

Florida Retirement System

SB 7022 passed the Florida House by a 77-41 margin mostly on a party-line basis with only two Republicans voting No. SB 7022 as amended by the House is no longer a pure rate bill. The lengthy 60+ page Senate bill is actually the House version, HB 5007, covering a multitude of FRS issues including 2017-18 contribution rates but the real serious change was reversing the default choice for future employees from the defined benefit plan to the defined investment plan. The new Senate bill lacks transparency as it was rushed through the House process in a matter of two weeks and was part of a rate-setting bill that is normally standalone legislation. An amendment by Representative Loranne Ausley (D - Tallahassee) to remove the policy changes in the legislation and create a true rate bill was defeated. This bill could have serious consequences on the FRS plan for the future and all the changes together increased the cost to the system. The default change was not submitted to a long-term actuarial impact but only for associated costs during the next two years. House Democrats were highly critical of this legislation and questioned that the real motive was to reduce participation in the defined benefit plan which would limit the state's future liability for the defined benefit plan. In the opinion of the editor of this update, House leaders would eliminate a defined benefit pan altogether if they could. Fortunately, they cannot.

Key Higher Education Legislation

Union Decertification

HB 11 by Rep. Scott Plakon (R-Longwood) has passed in the House of Representatives. This openly anti-union measure would add an additional requirement to an employee union's annual renewal with the Public Employees Relations Commission. HB 11 requires that each certified bargaining unit of a registered employee organization must provide the number of eligible employees for union membership and the number of dues paying members. If the certified bargaining unit dues paying membership is less than 50%, that bargaining unit must petition PERC for recertification as the exclusive bargaining representative within one month after the date on which the bargaining unit applied for renewal. Then an election would be held through PERC for recertification of the bargaining unit.

HB 11 and its companion SB 1292 by Senator Dennis Baxley (R - Lady Lake) are both referred to four Senate committees. UFF and FEA will make every effort to keep these bills bottled up until the Legislature adjourns. But these bills point to the opposition UFF and FEA faces in the Legislature and the

need to both grow membership and political and legislative activity in the years ahead leading to the 2018 Elections.

Secret Executive Searches

HB 351 sponsored by Representative Bob Rommel (R - Naples), will create an exemption from public record and meeting requirements for information associated with the applicant recruitment process and discussions associated with the applicant search for president, vice president, provost, or dean at any state university, college, or community college. UFF opposes this legislation that permits a cloak of secrecy around the process of selecting university and college leadership.

The bill passed the Education Committee by a 15-1 on April 6th where they added vice president to the exempt category. The bill has been placed on the House Calendar with all bills on Second Reading and is available for Special Order at any time. On a positive note, the companion SB 478 by Senator Kathleen Passidomo (R - Naples) has not been hard in any of its three committees of reference.

Fee Waivers for Graduate Assistants

SB 1276 by Senator Stargel (R-Lakeland) passed unanimously from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education on April 3rd. The bill waives 25% of fees for graduate teaching assistants and graduate research assistants. These fees consume up to 25% of a graduate assistant's pay. HB 1073 by Representative Chuck Clemons (R - Jonesville) has not been heard in the House. UFF is looking for ways to use Senator Stargel's bill as an amendment to must-pass legislation.

Guns on Campus

Neither SB 622 by Senator Greg Steube (R - Sarasota) nor HB 6005 by Rep. Scott Plakon (R - Longwood) have been heard in any legislative committee. That is great news for now but we cannot stop watching until the hanky drops at Sine Die of the 2017 Session.

State Employee Health Insurance

HB 7007 by Health & Human Services Committee and Brodeur (R - Sanford) has passed the House of Representatives. Brodeur Care, as described by Rep. Lori Berman (D - Boynton Beach), establishes four health plan choices for state employees and university faculty which will lead to cost shifting to older and more medically-needy state employees when these plans are rolled out in 2020.

The bill does not address reduction of medical costs or pharmaceutical drugs. It does not establish a policy for premiums and who pays what amount. If the claims continue to increase at the medical inflation rate, the question is who is stuck with the medical bill should HB 7007 become law?

The companion bill, SB 900, by Senator Tom Lee (R - Brandon) has not been heard in a Senate committee.

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[last updated: April 15 2017]