October 23, 2012, Laurel Brubaker Calkins and Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg News  – BP PLC urged a U.S. federal judge to approve a proposed US$7.8-billion settlement of thousands of claims by coastal businesses and property owners who sued over economic damages from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. “The settlement will bring full compensation to all class members, including those on the Gulf Coast, while resolving a major component of the Deepwater Horizon litigation,” BP lawyers said Monday in an after-hours filing in New Orleans. “The alternative is all-out litigation that would last many years and have an uncertain outcome for class members.”

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• Introduced by Comm. Barbara Jordan and placed on the Commission agenda for Nov. 20.
• Paid leave would be a compliance nightmare. Mandating such a costly and onerous provision on their Miami-Dade business would create an untenable HR and bookkeeping situation while inhibiting the incentive to grow in Miami-Dade.
• Mandating paid leave kills small business jobs and increases prices for consumers.If this proposal passes, businesses will have to either reduce staff, and reduce pay and benefits, or pass along those costs to the consumer by increasing prices. Based On results from a study of similar legislation in Colorado, Miami-Dade could lose over 7,000 jobs.
• Paid leave is a one-size-fits-all government mandate that does not recognize the various business models that make up our economy. A blanket paid leave mandate will have disproportionate effects on businesses, with those least able to afford this mandate bearing the brunt of its weight.
• The Miami-Dade County economy cannot bear an untimely and costly burden onthe thousands of private sector businesses that are only recently creating the jobsour local economy so desperately needs. Mandatory paid leave is bad for business,and it will have negative results for our economy. It’s simply bad public policy.

The 2012 Legislature made two changes that affect the amount of reemployment tax businesses will have to pay in 2013. Heavily supported by FRLA, the Legislature reduced the increase in tax rates by extending the recoupment period for the trust fund from three years to five years. The Legislature also reduced the taxable wage base to $8,000 effective January 1, 2012 through 2014. On January 1, 2013, this taxation policy change will reduce the unemployment compensation tax increase by nearly $50 per employee, saving  employers $549 million over two years.

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NRA) – Employers should not wait until 2014 to determine the impact on their business.  Now is the time to understand the law’s requirements and what it will take to comply. For the 10 steps to take now to prepare for the health care law click here.

February 20,2013 , Associated Press – TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –  Gov. Rick Scott announced plans Wednesday to expand Medicaid coverage to roughly 900,000 more people under the federal health overhaul, a surprise decision from the vocal critic of President Barack Obama’s plan. Scott said he will ask the Legislature to expand the program under a bill that would expire in three years, after which it would require renewed legislative support. He’s the seventh Republican governor so far to propose expanding the taxpayer-funded health insurance program.

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MANDATORY PAID LEAVE CLEARS FIRST COMMITTEE
The Florida House’s Local and Federal Affairs Committee met this evening to debate State Representative Steven Precourt’s (R-Orlando) paid leave preemptive measure, House Bill 655. The 18-member committee, by a vote of 10 to 7 and 1 excused, passed the bill allowing it to be sent onto the next stop, the House State Affairs Committee. The FRLA is actively engaged in this legislation and will continue to provide updates as the bill is scheduled to be heard in committee in both the House and the Senate.

For more information on HB 655, please click here.

Thank you for your support of this paid leave preemptive measure. Please continue to check the FRLA’s “Government Relations” website link for Session updates.

If you have any questions, please contact FRLA headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida, at 888.372.9119 or [email protected]

February 20, 2013, Steve Bousquet, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau – TALLAHASSEE — In dramatic fashion, Rep. Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg narrowly won a caucus vote Wednesday night to be leader of House Democrats in 2014. Rouson defeated Rep. Mia Jones of Jacksonville, 23-21, after the two deadlocked on a 22-22 vote and a second round of balloting was held. Lawmakers voted by secret ballot, so who switched sides and why remains a mystery.

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February 20, 2013, Gray Rohrer, The Florida Current – The Florida Legislature released the parameters for the study of the state’s gambling economy and laws Wednesday and invited firms to conduct the analysis. Both Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, have set up committees this year dedicated to look at Florida’s gambling laws with an eye to a possible comprehensive overhaul. Read More…..

February 22, 2013, By Margaret Kavanagh, FLORIDA — A new law that went into effect January 1 could hurt tourism in our state, an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people here in Florida. This law is so controversial, it’s caused an outcry among international travelers and now Florida Highway Patrol officials say they’re not going to enforce it. Visiting from Venezuela on vacation, Jose Osamonao and his mother said he showed his driver’s license from his home county and got a rental car. Osamonao said he loves Florida. He said they are going to the theme parks and doing a lot of shopping.  Read More…

February 21, 2012, written by John Kennedy, Post On Politics – An effort to give cities and counties authority to limit smoking at beaches and parks cleared its first legislative test Thursday — earning unanimous approval from the Senate Regulated Industries Committee. The measure (SB 258) is similar to one sponsored by Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, who two years ago successfully got lawmakers to give school boards power to enact tougher anti-smoking restrictions than those contained in state law.  Read More….