For Immediate Release: December 22, 2021

Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Melanie Griffin as Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Melanie Griffin

Griffin, of Tampa, is an Attorney with Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick and Senior Advisor for Business-to-Business Relationships for Shumaker Advisors Florida. She is also the Founder and Owner of Spread Your Sunshine, a business that provides speaking and professional training services and designs, manufactures and sells inspirational products and gifts. Griffin is President of the Hillsborough Association of Women Lawyers Executive Board of Directors, serves on the Florida State University College of Law Board of Visitors and is a Fellow of The Florida Bar Foundation. She earned her bachelor’s degree in finance, master of business administration and juris doctor from Florida State University.

This appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

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MEDIA CONTACT: [email protected]

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Today, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) announced personnel changes within its Government Relations Department, including the retirement of long-time Senior Vice President (SVP) of Legal and Legislative Affairs, Richard Turner, who served nearly 20 years with the Association. Also announced were the promotions of Samantha Padgett to Vice President of Government Relations and General Counsel and Nicolette Hoffman to Government Relations Manager. The staffing changes are effective December 31, 2021.

“I could not be prouder of the successes of our Government Relations Department under the leadership of Richard Turner for the past two decades,” said Carol Dover, President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. “Our efforts to advocate for Florida’s restaurant and lodging industries has directly and positively impacted the health and wealth of this great state while protecting the jobs of millions of our employees. We wish Richard the very best in his well-earned retirement and have full faith in Samantha and Nicolette to continue the great work of this Association as we continue our efforts to defend and grow Florida’s top industry into the future.”

Richard Turner: Throughout his time at FRLA, Turner played a key role in achieving continued success and growth for Florida’s largest industry – hospitality and tourism. He represented the industry before the Florida Legislature and the Florida Cabinet, as well as other state partner and regulatory agencies and at the federal level in Washington, D.C.

Among his many career achievements, Turner was integral to the repeal of the alcoholic beverage surcharge, he worked on the preemption to the State of paid leave, and he was involved in the clarification of the communication services tax.

Prior to joining FRLA, Turner spent nearly two decades with the State of Florida, where he served as Director for the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco at the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR) and as an attorney at the Department of Insurance, the Department of Agriculture, and DBPR.

Samantha Padgett: Ms. Padgett first joined FRLA in 2018 as General Counsel. In her new role, she will oversee FRLA’s Government Relations Department and direct its agenda and initiatives. She will continue to provide legal counsel to the Association and its leadership and serve as an advocate for the restaurant and lodging industries at the local, state, and federal levels.

During her tenure at FRLA, Padgett helped build a coalition of concerned business associations in the effort to oppose Florida’s Ballot Amendment 2 to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she played a critical role in serving FRLA’s membership by reviewing and interpreting many state and local executive orders that significantly impacted business operations and the livelihood of business owners and employees across Florida.

In the 2020 Legislative Session and in response to the impacts of the pandemic, Padgett helped successfully pass COVID-19 liability protections for businesses; achieved the passage of alcohol-to-go which was crucial to the survival of restaurants during closures; and protected Tourist Development Tax revenues from being diverted for purposes other than tourism marketing which is essential to the health of Florida’s economy.

Ms. Padgett is a member of The Florida Bar. She graduated cum laude from the University of Florida College of Law in 2005 and received her B.A. from Emory University in 2001. She has served on the VISIT FLORIDA Board of Directors, the University of Florida Center for Retailing Executive Advisory Board and the Florida Recycling Partnership Board of Directors. Ms. Padgett previously served as the Vice President and General Counsel of the Florida Retail Federation (FRF).

Nicolette Hoffman: Ms. Hoffman first joined FRLA in the summer of 2021 as Legislative Analyst and Event Coordinator. In her new role, she will coordinate FRLA’s government relations and advocacy efforts, including state and federal issue management, political contributions processing and reporting, event planning and execution, advocacy communications, and legislative publication design.

Prior to joining FRLA, she served as the Events and Marketing Coordinator for the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, part of Florida State University’s College of Business. Hoffman has also held public policy internships at the United States Senate Commerce Committee; The Hawthorn Group, a public affairs firm based in Washington, D.C.; and Associated Industries of Florida (AIF). She graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Public Relations.

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Today, Governor Ron DeSantis was joined by Florida Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson to sign legislation that will protect Floridians from losing their jobs due to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and protect parents’ rights to make healthcare decisions for students. The bills were passed through a Special Session of the Florida Legislature and are effective upon the Governor’s signature.  Read about the legislation HERE.

In Florida, effective immediately:

✓ Private Employers are prohibited from mandating COVID-19 vaccines unless they provide certain exemptions.

‣ Employees can choose from numerous exemptions such as: medical reasons, including pregnancy or anticipated future pregnancy; religious reasons; and past recovery from COVID-19.

‣ Employees can choose to opt for periodic testing or PPE as an exemption.

‣ Employers must cover the costs of testing and PPE exemptions for employees

✓ Employers who violate these employee health protections will be fined.

‣ Small businesses (99 employees or less) will face $10,000 per employee violation.

‣ Medium and big businesses will face $50,000 per employee violation.

✓ Government entities may not require COVID-19 vaccinations of anyone, including employees.

✓ Educational institutions may not require students to be COVID-19 vaccinated.

✓ School districts may not have school face mask policies.

✓ School districts may not quarantine healthy students.

✓ Students and parents may sue violating school districts and recover costs and attorney’s fees.

“Thank you to Governor Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and the Florida Legislature for your steadfast commitment to protecting Florida jobs and for pushing back on federal mandates” said Carol Dover, President & CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

“I told Floridians that we would protect their jobs and today we made that the law,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Nobody should lose their job due to heavy-handed COVID mandates and we had a responsibility to protect the livelihoods of the people of Florida. I’m thankful to the Florida Legislature for joining me in standing up for freedom.”

Also at the event today, Attorney General Ashley Moody announced that Florida is challenging the CMS rule in court. Read more about that announcement HERE.

“Governor DeSantis has shown exemplary leadership throughout the pandemic, and I am proud to stand with him as we challenge unlawful vaccine mandates forced on Floridians by the president and his power-hungry bureaucrats,” said Attorney General Ashley Moody. “I will always fight for freedom, Florida’s sovereignty and the autonomy of American workers.”

“I am honored to be here today as Governor DeSantis signs the ‘Keep Florida Free’ agenda into law,” said Senate President Wilton Simpson. “We are sending a clear message that Florida stands for freedom. To our health care workers, law enforcement, first responders, farmers, truckers, and every other worker who never got a day off and couldn’t work from home during the pandemic – thank you for getting us through this crisis. Thank you for putting your family at risk. You stood with us when we needed you most, and we are proud to stand with you now. The Florida Legislature and Governor DeSantis are fighting for you. We will not allow the Biden Administration to make political pawns of the very people who put their lives on the line to keep our economy running while everyone else was safe at home, and we certainly will never cede the responsibility of parenting to the school system or bureaucrats in the federal government. Florida respects the dignity of work, the responsibility to parent and the right to live in freedom.”

“Today is a great day for Florida. Working together with Governor DeSantis, Senate President Simpson, House members and our Senate colleagues, we have passed the smartest, strongest legislation in America to combat the Biden Administration’s unlawful vaccine mandate,” said Speaker Chris Sprowls. “We are proud to stand alongside every Florida parent and worker and say that forced masking of our kids in schools and forced vaccinations to keep your job stops here in Florida. We are proud to stand alongside businesses and provide some sanity and options to treat their employees as the individuals they are instead of succumbing to a one-size-fits-all federal mandate. The result of this week’s work is simple: No one who is subject to Florida law will be forced to get a vaccine who does not want one.”

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By Shereen Hashem

OSHA newly announced an update to its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). Currently, the ETS requires employers with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccines or weekly testing. OSHA has since announced that it has “suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation.” The announcement results from the Fifth Circuit’s 22-page opinion continuing its stay of the ETS. The Fifth Circuit’s order foreshadows the legal challenges to come.

In the order, the Fifth Circuit accuses the current administration of forcing the desire for a federal vaccine mandate into the best, but ill-fitting, vehicle the administration could find – an OSHA ETS. The court points out that OSHA’s authority to establish emergency temporary standards is “an extraordinary power that is to be delicately exercised” and criticizes the ETS vaccine rule as “a one-size-fits-all sledgehammer that makes hardly any attempt to account for differences in workplaces.” The opinion calls the ETS the rare government pronouncement that is both over-inclusive (applying to employers and employees in virtually all industries and workplaces in America, with little attempt to account for the obvious differences between the risks they face) and under-inclusive (claiming to save employees with 99 or more coworkers from a “grave danger” in the workplace, while making no attempt to help employees with 98 or fewer coworkers from the very same threat).

The Fifth Circuit questions whether OSHA has adequately shown a “grave danger” warranting the issuance of an ETS and states that it is “dubious” as to whether the rule will pass “constitutional muster.” While the stay is good news to many employers, the Fifth Circuit is only one of 12 federal circuits and the ultimate decision may not line up with this opinion.

While the ETS’ future is up in the air for now, this does not mean employers should stop their plans for compliance. As mentioned, the Fifth Circuit’s opinion may not be indicative of how another circuit may ultimately rule. The announcement notes that “OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies,” so we should not assume that OSHA is giving up on the ETS. Cautious employers may want to move forward with plans for compliance while also keeping a close eye on whatever circuit is chosen.

Employers who are federal contractors or health care providers should not make decisions based on OSHA’s announcement and the Fifth Circuit’s order. Those employers are subject to different, although similar, federal mandates: the Federal Contractor Mandate and the CMS Medicare Omnibus Staff Vaccine Mandate Interim Final Rule. Both of these governmental mandates are currently being challenged, but at the moment have not been halted by any federal court action.

Full article via Occupational Health and Safety Online available here 

New OSHA and CMS Rules Mean Two-Thirds of All Workers Now Covered by Vaccination Rules

New Vaccination Requirement for Employers With 100 or More Employees: OSHA is issuing a COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to require employers with 100 or more employees (i.e., “covered employers”) to:

• Get Their Employees Vaccinated by January 4th and Require Unvaccinated Employees to Produce a Negative Test on at Least a Weekly Basis: All covered employers must ensure that their employees have received the necessary shots to be fully vaccinated – either two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – by January 4th. After that, all covered employers must ensure that any employees who have not received the necessary shots begin producing a verified negative test to their employer on at least a weekly basis, and they must remove from the workplace any employee who receives a positive COVID-19 test or is diagnosed with COVID-19 by a licensed health care provider. The ETS lays out the wide variety of tests that comply with the standard. Given that vaccines are safe, free, and the most effective way for workers to be protected from COVID-19 transmission at work, the ETS does not require employers to provide or pay for tests. Employers may be required to pay for testing because of other laws or collective bargaining agreements.
• Pay Employees for the Time it Takes to Get Vaccinated: All covered employers are required to provide paid-time for their employees to get vaccinated and, if needed, sick leave to recover from side effects experienced that keep them from working.
• Ensure All Unvaccinated Employees are Masked: All covered employers must ensure that unvaccinated employees wear a face mask while in the workplace.
• Other Requirements and Compliance Date: Employers are subject to requirements for reporting and recordkeeping that are spelled out in the detailed OSHA materials available here. While the testing requirement for unvaccinated workers will begin after January 4th, employers must be in compliance with all other requirements – such as providing paid-time for employees to get vaccinated and masking for unvaccinated workers – on December 5th. The Administration is calling on all employers to step up and make these changes as quickly as possible.

New Vaccination Requirements for Health Care Workers: CMS is requiring workers at health care facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid to have received the necessary shots to be fully vaccinated – either two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – by January 4th. The rule covers approximately 76,000 health care facilities and more than 17 million health care workers – the majority of health care workers in America – and will enhance patient safety in health care settings. The rule applies to employees regardless of whether their positions are clinical or non-clinical and includes employees, students, trainees, and volunteers who work at a covered facility that receives federal funding from Medicare or Medicaid. It also includes individuals who provide treatment or other services for the facility under contract or other arrangements. Among the facility types covered by the rule are hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, dialysis facilities, home health agencies, and long-term care facilities. Today’s action will help provide patients assurance about the vaccination status of those delivering care, create a level playing field across health care facilities, and help to address challenges facilities have faced with staff sickness and quarantines impacting delivery of care.

Streamlining Implementation and Setting One Deadline Across Different Vaccination Requirements: The rules released today ensure employers know which requirements apply to which workplaces. Federal contractors may have some workplaces subject to requirements for federal contractors and other workplaces subject to the newly-released COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS. To make it easy for all employers to comply with the requirements, the deadline for the federal contractor vaccination requirement will be aligned with those for the CMS rule and the ETS. Employees falling under the ETS, CMS, or federal contractor rules will need to have their final vaccination dose – either their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, or single dose of Johnson & Johnson – by January 4, 2022. This will make it easier for employers to ensure their workforce is vaccinated, safe, and healthy, and ensure that federal contractors implement their requirements on the same timeline as other employers in their industries. And, the newly-released ETS will not be applied to workplaces subject to the federal contractor requirement or CMS rule, so employers will not have to track multiple vaccination requirements for the same employees.

For more details, visit the White House website announcement here:

Today, the Biden administration is announcing that its new travel policy that requires vaccination for foreign national travelers to the United States will begin on November 8.

This announcement and date applies to both international air travel and travel across the Southwest and Northern land borders with Mexico and Canada. This puts in place a global international travel policy that is guided by public health, stringent, and consistent.

Today’s announcement means that on November 8, foreign national air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of their vaccination status to fly to the United States. Fully vaccinated travelers will continue to be required to show a pre-departure negative test taken within three days of travel prior to boarding.

Also starting on November 8, foreign nationals crossing the land borders with Canada and Mexico or arriving in the United States by passenger ferry for non-essential reasons, such as to visit friends or family or for tourism, will be required to be fully vaccinated. These travelers are required to be prepared to attest to vaccination status and to present proof of vaccination to a CBP officer upon request. By January, foreign nationals traveling across the land border for both essential and non-essential reasons will be required to be fully vaccinated.

Further guidance on the very limited exceptions to these vaccination requirements, what will be acceptable proof of vaccination, and other operational details are forthcoming from CDC and other federal agencies, as applicable, well in advance of November 8 to enable preparation for a smooth transition to the new system. CDC has already informed airlines that all FDA approved and authorized vaccines, as well as all vaccines that have an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) from the WHO will be accepted for air travel. We anticipate the same will be true at the land border.

~ Funds will allow for major transformation for culinary program through new commercial grade kitchen equipment ~ 

TALLAHASSEE – Today, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association Educational Foundation (FRLAEF) announced the awarding of a $50,000 Kitchen Remodel Grant for the Hialeah High School ProStart Program in Miami-Dade County.

Hialeah High School was selected from more than 200 ProStart participant high schools across Florida. Grant applicants highlighted their facility size, number of program participants, age of their facility, and repairs needed. The FRLAEF board reviewed the applications to determine where the grant would be most impactful. Hialeah High School is the first school to win the award in Miami-Dade County.

“The FRLA Education Foundation has always been a great supporter of Florida’s high school ProStart and HTM (Hotel and Tourism Management) programs through annual mini-grants, but it is especially gratifying to make an even larger impact with this $50,000 kitchen makeover,” said Nick Velardo, Chairman of the Board for the FRLA Educational Foundation. “Hialeah High School is well-deserving, and we are so happy to be able to support their dedicated teachers and students.”

“This has been such a dream come true,” said Kathy Gonzalez, Culinary Academy Leader and ProStart Advisor at Hialeah High School. “We have an amazing culinary program here at Hialeah High, and this is going to take us to the next level. Our kitchen was originally built in 1954, and, while there have been some upgrades, they have been nothing like this grant is going to provide. The FRLAEF/ProStart program provides such professionalism and opportunities for our students. We are so thankful!”

The ProStart program is a nationwide, two-year program for high school students that develops the best and brightest talent into tomorrow’s foodservice industry leaders. From culinary techniques to management skills, ProStart’s industry-driven curriculum provides real-world opportunities and builds practical skills and career foundations that will last a lifetime. In Florida, there are more than 30,000 ProStart students.

About FRLA

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) is Florida’s premier non-profit hospitality industry trade association. Founded in 1946 as the Florida Restaurant Association, FRLA merged with the Florida Hotel and Motel Association in 2006. FRLA’s more than 10,000 members include independent hoteliers and restaurateurs, household name franchises, theme parks and suppliers. The association’s mission is to protect, educate and promote Florida’s nearly $112 billion hospitality industry which represents 1.5 million employees. Dedicated to safeguarding the needs of the membership, FRLA provides legislative advocacy to ensure the voices of its members are heard and their interests are protected. The association offers regulatory compliance and food safety training through SafeStaff^® and FRLA’s subsidiary, RCS Training. The FRLA Educational Foundation provides industry-developed, career-building high school programs throughout the state.

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Click here for a state-by-state breakdown

TALLAHASSEE – The hotel industry in Florida is projected to end 2021 down nearly 61% or $5.3 billion in business travel revenue compared to 2019, according to a new report released today by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and Kalibri Labs.

Business travel is the hotel industry’s largest source of revenue and has been slow to return since the onset of the pandemic. Business travel includes corporate, group, government, and other commercial categories. While Florida has seen some return of business travel this year, full comparative revenue is not expected to reach pre-pandemic levels until 2024.

The new analysis comes on the heels of a recent national survey by AHLA, which found that most business travelers are canceling, reducing, and postponing trips amid rising COVID-19 cases. The lack of business travel and events has major repercussions for employment, and underscores the need for targeted federal relief, such as the Save Hotel Jobs Act.

Hotels are expected to end 2021 down nearly 500,000 jobs nationally compared to 2019. For every 10 people directly employed on a hotel property, hotels support an additional 26 jobs in the community, from restaurants and retail to hotel supply companies – meaning an additional nearly 1.3 million hotel-supported jobs are also at risk.

“Florida is a top destination for national and international business travel, and our hotels and restaurants rely on that revenue,” said Carol Dover, President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA). “While leisure travel returned this year – in some regions higher than even 2019’s record figures – business travel still remains down overall, and Florida is projected to end 2021 with the second highest losses in the nation, behind only the state of California. We continue to advocate for hotel relief so that our industry can recover, support and employ our team members, and create those wonderful guest experiences we are known for worldwide.”

“While some industries have started rebounding from the pandemic, this report is a sobering reminder that hotels and hotel employees are still struggling,” said Chip Rogers, President and CEO of AHLA. “Business travel is critical to our industry’s viability, especially in the fall and winter months when leisure travel normally begins to decline. Continued COVID-19 concerns among travelers will only exacerbate these challenges. That’s why it’s time for Congress to pass the bipartisan Save Hotel Jobs Act to help hotel employees and small business owners survive this crisis.”

COVID-19 is the worst economic event in the history of the U.S. hotel industry. Despite being among the hardest hit, hotels are the only segment of the hospitality and leisure industry yet to receive direct aid. Hotels and their employees have displayed extraordinary resilience in the face of unprecedented economic challenges, and the industry needs support from Congress to achieve a full recovery.

About FRLA

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) is Florida’s premier non-profit hospitality industry trade association. Founded in 1946 as the Florida Restaurant Association, FRLA merged with the Florida Hotel and Motel Association in 2006. FRLA’s more than 10,000 members include independent hoteliers and restaurateurs, household name franchises, theme parks and suppliers. The association’s mission is to protect, educate and promote Florida’s nearly $112 billion hospitality industry which represents 1.5 million employees. Dedicated to safeguarding the needs of the membership, FRLA provides legislative advocacy to ensure the voices of its members are heard and their interests are protected. The association offers regulatory compliance and food safety training through SafeStaff^® and FRLA’s subsidiary, RCS Training. The FRLA Educational Foundation provides industry-developed, career-building high school programs throughout the state.

About AHLA

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is the sole national association representing all segments of the U.S. lodging industry. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AHLA focuses on strategic advocacy, communications support and workforce development programs to move the industry forward. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospitality industry was the first industry impacted and it will be among the last to recover. That is why AHLA is committed to promoting safe travel while also creating a standardized safety experience nationwide through the Safe Stay initiative. With an enhanced set of health and safety protocols designed to provide a safe and clean environment for all hotel guests and employees, hotels across America are ready to welcome back travelers when they are ready to travel. Learn more at www.ahla.com.

About Kalibri Labs

Kalibri Labs evaluates and predicts hotel revenue performance with its next-generation tech platform to support hotel owners, operators, brands and real estate investors. Kalibri Labs enables users to improve underwriting accuracy and to benchmark, execute plans and assess results for a hotel’s profit contribution targets. The Kalibri Labs database is comprised of guest transactions, including cost of sales and source of business information, from almost 35,000 hotels dating back more than 7 years and updated weekly to give an expansive view of the U.S. hotel industry.

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