In this year’s legislative session, the James Madison Institute (JMI) championed several issues dealing with lowering taxes to improve school choice.
Their latest “2025 Legislative Wrap-Up,” focuses on some key issues that didn’t get much media attention.
Center for Technology and Innovation
Protected Digital Security and Innovation by highlighting the flaws of legislation requiring AI-generated content be labeled. This mandate would have created significant technical and compliance challenges for smaller Florida businesses, while protecting larger well-established firms.
Defended Consumer Data Privacy by educating lawmakers about the dangers of “right to repair” legislation. Specifically, this legislation would have created potential security breaches involving medical records or banking information through access to the internal components of personal digital devices without sufficient safeguards.
Preserved Constitutional Freedoms by highlighting the First Amendment violations associated with requiring that app stores age-verify users. This protected all Floridians from creating new data breach targets while supporting market-based solutions like age-appropriate design features and parental controls that respect users’ privacy.
Safeguarded Critical Encryption Technology by outlining the dangers of creating back doors in “end to end” encrypted messaging services. This prevented the creation of intentional vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious hackers, similar to those responsible for the “Salt Typhoon” attacks on American telecommunications infrastructure in December of 2024.
Advanced Digital Infrastructure Development by supporting the Utility Relocation Reimbursement Grant Program within the Department of Commerce. This program allocates $50 million annually from existing communications services tax revenue to fund utility relocation costs previously passed to consumers. This represents a paradigm shift toward using the Communications Services Tax revenue to actually fund communication services rather than diverting dollars to general revenue. In doing so, we are helping to create a sustainable framework for maintaining and expanding Florida’s vital communications networks.
Identified Future Priorities for supporting Florida’s growing independent workforce of 890,000 contractors, the highest proportion in the country. Future legislation should include “portable benefits” solutions allowing businesses to voluntarily contribute to benefit programs without triggering employee classification, and reasonable cybersecurity liability protections that would shield businesses using industry-standard security practices from liability if hacked.
Marshall Center for Education Freedom
Aided the Advancement of ‘Sports Choice’ in FL (and MO). We aided Senator Corey Simon’s successful effort to expand “sports choice” options for private school students who wish to play a sport for which their school has no team. Simon’s measure will build upon Florida’s much-celebrated “Tim Tebow Law” (which gives homeschool students sports team opportunities). Soon after this new Florida legislation passed, the state of Missouri adopted a similar bill. (JMI stayed in regular contact with proponents in MO, sharing insights and encouragement.)
Helped Address Learning Space Needs for New Education Enterprises. We helped advance a proposal to give charter schools “first dibs” on claiming abandoned school buildings that could be used for educational purposes – and we generated a great deal of interest (via op-eds and legislative testimony) in making it possible for private schools and new “microschool” enterprises to make use of underutilized school building space as well.
Beat Back Efforts to Cap, Restrict, and Over-Regulate K-12 Scholarship Programs. We helped convince lawmakers that FL’s #1 ranking in Education Freedom could be in jeopardy if a proposed enrollment cap on scholarship programs was adopted. We also helped convince them (via op-eds and digital ads) to remove some onerous new paperwork requirements on scholarship parents – and to steer clear of any new restrictions on how families could use their Personalized Education Scholarships. In addition, we led a successful effort to “keep the home in Home Education Instructional Programs” (after a proposed ban on home-based “edu-preneurs” was introduced).
Aided Efforts to Adopt New Federal Education Policies Friendly to Parents. We urged the federal government to permit Title I monies to “follow the child” in states like Florida (via weighted scholarships for those living in communities needing revitalization). We also worked with proponents of a federal school choice tax credit program (which found its way into President Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill”).
