Florida lawmakers wrapped up the 60-day legislative session last Friday, passing a $117.46 billion budget and a slate of new bills. Among them are new restrictions on social media use by teenagers, limits to where people experiencing homelessness are allowed to sleep and some tweaks to the troubled homeowners insurance market.
Political journalist William March and Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald Tallahassee correspondent Lawrence Mower join host Matthew Peddie to discuss the highlights from the legislative session and what it means for residents of the greater Tampa Bay region.
On the social media bill:
"They passed a weakened version after Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed concern about the constitutionality of the bill, as well he might," said March of the bill, which bans children 13 and under from using some social media sites but allows 14- and 15-year-olds to use them with parental permission.
March said similar bans in other states have drawn lawsuits. "And they're being sued by an organization called NetChoice, which is sort of a conglomeration of some of the biggest social media sites: TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and NetChoice has pretty much signaled that they will file litigation over this law also."
On restrictions to people sleeping on public land:
"Essentially, it forbids local governments from allowing people to sleep on sidewalks in public places," said March.
"The only enforcement mechanism, though, is that it gives other citizens the right to sue the government, if they allow homeless people to sleep near your property or in a way that it affects your property."
The legislation would allow local governments to designate places for people to camp, as long as there is security, access to mental health and other services.
"The cost is a really big question, and we don't really have any good figures for that yet," added Mower.
"The big problem is, you know, a camp is not a solution to homelessness. The best practices are you help homeless people transition into permanent housing, you need to have a strategy to do that," said Mower.
On homeowners insurance:
"What the legislation did was basically, if you have a second home in Florida, so say you're a snowbird in Michigan, and you live there most of the year and come down here during the winter, Citizens can kick you off the rolls and send you to what's known as a surplus lines insurance company," said Mower.
He said moving these policies out of Citizens is a higher risk for homeowners.
"The state has always historically said, we're not going to put Citizens customers, you know, normal homeowners onto these surplus lines insurers, because they're unregulated."
Listen to the full conversation using the media player above.
