This week, state Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis highlighted his 2023 “Keep Florida Free” Legislative Priorities.
Patronis’ top priorities include protecting Floridians who are targeted by the IRS, protecting taxpayer dollars from the cult of Environmental, Social, Governance policies or ESG, preventing fraud through transparency by requiring GoFundMe and other crowdfunding sites to report account transactions, banning TikTok from Florida’s schools, and more.
“Last year, Floridians spoke loud and clear – they love their state, and they love freedom. They are proud of Florida’s strong leadership and our common-sense policies that Washington can only dream about. In Florida, we keep taxes low and our economy strong; we support law and order and keep our communities safe; and we never submit to the woke mob who want you to hate your country and your neighbors. During the 2023 Legislative Session, we will build on the policies that have encouraged more than 900 people a day to pack up their lives and move to the Sunshine State. As your CFO, I will continue to work to protect consumers and ensure our economy remains strong. As a former small business owner, I will work to support our job creators and entrepreneurs. As a fourth generation Floridian, I will ensure our first responders have the tools they need to keep our communities safe. And most importantly, as a father of two, I will fight to Keep Florida Free so our children can live the American Dream,” Patronis said.
Patronis’ 2023 “Keep Florida Free” Legislative Priorities are below.
Fighting Back Against IRS Overreach
Keeping Florida Free means protecting Floridians from a federal bureaucracy that’s been weaponized towards our own families and businesses. CFO Patronis has made it his top priority to combat the IRS overreach through his Four Pillars of IRS Protection and will work this session to pass legislation to fight back against the IRS, which is expected to grow by 87,000 personnel. The CFO is committed to ensuring that Floridians who are targeted by the IRS will have the tools they need to fight back and win.
Senate Bill 372/374 (Sen. lngoglia) Federal Taxation
House Bill 507/509 (Rep. Overdorf) Federal Taxation
Supporting First Responders
In 2023, CFO Patronis will continue his mission to support first responders and emergency professionals by making it a priority to expand PTSD benefits to 911 dispatchers and Crime Scene Investigators. These heroes deal with unthinkable tragedies in their profession, and they need resources as they work to save lives.
Senate Bill 352 (Sen. Burgess) Workers’ Compensation Benefits for PTSD
House Bill 337 (Rep. McFarland) Workers’ Compensation Benefits for PTSD
Also included in this legislation are measures to allow for firefighters’ charitable donations by creating a Direct Support Organization (DSO) to support financial efforts to protect their communities and provide life-saving equipment and resources.
Senate Bill 1158 (Sen. DiCeglie) Department of Financial Services
House Bill 487 (Rep. Salzman) Department of Financial Services
Following the tragic Surfside condo collapse, CFO & State Fire Marshal Patronis successfully advocated for $10 million in funding for Florida’s eight Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Forces. This year, the CFO is requesting another $10 million in funding to support US&R Task Forces after their heroic rescue efforts following Hurricane Ian in Southwest Florida. These first responders are the tip of the spear when disasters strike, and this funding provides specialized equipment, training, and exercises to save lives.
Funding included in the DFS Agency Budget Package
Protecting Florida Consumers & Taxpayers
CFO Patronis has made it his mission to protect Florida’s taxpayer dollars from the cult of Environmental, Social, Governance policies or ESG. Last year, the CFO divested $2 Billion from BlackRock and ensured state employee retirement funds are protected from ESG. This year, CFO Patronis is supporting measures, outlined by Governor Desantis, to prohibit financial institutions from discriminating against consumers for their beliefs, barring the considering “ESG Credit Scores’; and permanently prohibiting SBA fund managers from considering ESG factors when investing the state’s money.
Senate Bill 302 (Sen. Grall) Government and Corporate Activism
House Bill 3 (Rep. Rommel) Government and Corporate Activism
Social media applications like TikTok are addicting and robbing our students of valuable learning and social skills needed to succeed. CFO Patronis is supporting legislation to ban Tiklok in Florida K-12 schools and require schools to educate students on social media safety and how it can be utilized in personal and professional life. The legislation also requires school districts to prohibit students from accessing other social media platforms through the use of school internet access.
Senate Bill 52 (Sen. Burgess) Student Use of Social Media
House Bill 379 (Rep. Yeager) Student Use of Social Media
Every year, CFO Patronis has worked to protect Florida consumers, especially following a hurricane or disaster. Crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe allowed charity scams to run rampant across the internet, stealing money from people trying to help a good cause. Proposed legislation will prevent fraud through transparency by requiring crowdfunding sites report a campaign’s account transactions online for everyone to see.
CFO Patronis is also committed to protecting consumers from solar panel scams. Unscrupulous solar salesmen go door-to-door promising solar panels will save you thousands – not telling you the full story. This legislation will require important disclosures at the time of sale to ensure consumers know what they are buying and how it can impact their property insurance costs.
The legislation will also further protect insurance consumers by improving communication with public adjusters through contract requirements and ensuring the financial motives of public adjusters are in-line with the consumer in their weakest moments.
Senate Bill 1398 (Sen. DiCeglie) Consumer Protection
House Bill 1185 (Rep. Giallombardo) Consumer Protection
This session, CFO Patronis is supporting the most comprehensive tort reform in decades to decrease frivolous lawsuits and prevent predatory practices of trial attorneys that prey on Floridians. This legislation includes measures to eliminate one-way attorney fees and fee multipliers for all lines of insurance, modernizing Florida’s “bad faith” law, and protecting small businesses from paying exorbitant damages.
Senate 236 (Senator Hutson) Civil Remedies
House Bill 837 (Rep. Gregory) Civil Remedies
CFO Patronis is also supporting legislation to expand eligibility for Florida Kidcare, the state supported health insurance for children. The legislation will install a glide path to prosperity to ensure families who begin to earn more don’t have their new income consumed by rises in health care costs.
Senate Bill 246 (Sen. Calatayud) Florida Kidcare Program Eligibility
House Bill 1245 (Rep. LaMarca) Florida Kidcare Program Eligibility
CFO Patronis is supportive of measures to crack down on catalytic converter theft in Florida by stiffening penalties of suspects caught stealing the devices off of vehicles and require people to keep records about the sale or purchase of catalytic converters that have been removed.
Senate Bill 306 (Sen. Boyd) Catalytic Converters
House Bill 185 (Rep. Hawkins) Catalytic Converters
Fighting Back Against Fraud
This session, CFO Patronis will work with the legislature to crack down on Assignment of Benefits (AOBs) abuse within the automobile windshield repair and replacement industry to fight rising car insurance rates. This legislation will end the use of inducements or gift cards to unethically entice consumers and ensure that replacement windshields am recalibrated to original manufacture standards to ensure driver safety.
Senate Bill 1002 (Sen. Stewart) Motor Vehicle Glass
House Bill 541(Rep. Griffitts) Post-lost Benefit Assignments
Protecting 2nd Amendment Rights
To fight back against credit card companies who are targeting the 2nd Amendment rights of Floridians, CFO Patronis is supporting proposed legislation which would prohibit credit card companies from giving weapons and ammunition sales a specific code to identify their purchases.
Senate Bill 214 (Sen. Burgess) Sales of Firearms and Ammunition
House Bill 221 (Rep. Snyder) Sales of Firearms and Ammunition
Fortifying Florida Homes
Unfortunately, it’s not if Florida will be impacted by another storm but when. That’s why CFO Patronis has made the My Safe Florida program a priority, helping Floridians to fortify their homes against storms. This year, the CFO will work with the legislature to expand eligibility requirements and increase grant funding so more Floridians can protect their biggest investment against storms and reduce premiums.
Senate Bill 748 (Sen. Boyd) My Safe Florida Home Program
House Bill 881 (Rep. LaMarca) My Safe Florida Home Program
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