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OPINION: Reps. Brown, Morales Top Orange County Democratic House Lawmakers in Passing State Laws

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State Representative Kamia Brown (left) and State Representative Daisy Morales (right). Photos by the Florida House of Representatives.
State Representative Kamia Brown (left) and State Representative Daisy Morales (right). Photos by the Florida House of Representatives.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) – As the 2022 November midterm election draws closer, political ads have gotten increasingly nastier–especially in the state house elections in Orange County–from Republican candidates claiming their Democrat opponents got no bills passed or signed into law (namely Senator Jason Brodeur in his attack on State Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil in the Senate District 10 race). As such, we’re looking at the Democratic state lawmakers who represent Orange County and how many bills they sponsored (in their own name) out of the 14 bills issued to them that were signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis during the 2021 and 2022 legislative sessions.

 

Orange County’s Top Two Democratic State Lawmakers

Reps. Kamia Brown and Daisy Morales introduced the most bills (which include companion and appropriations bills) that got signed into law out of the seven Democratic state lawmakers representing Orange County.

Florida State Representative Kamia Brown: 7 Bills
Democratic Minority Leader pro tempore (2020-2022)

State Rep. Kamia Brown speaks on the Florida House floor. Photo: Florida House of Representatives.

State Rep. Kamia Brown speaks on the Florida House floor. Photo: Florida House of Representatives.

 

Florida State Representative Daisy Morales: 5 Bills
Democratic Freshman Lawmaker (2020-2022)

 

State Rep. Daisy Morales holds up the signed House Resolution 8069, recognizing April 2, 2022 as Puerto Rican Heritage Day across the state of Florida, on the Florida House floor. Photo: State Rep. Daisy Morales (via Facebook).

State Rep. Daisy Morales holds up the signed House Resolution 8069, recognizing April 2, 2022 as Puerto Rican Heritage Day across the state of Florida, on the Florida House floor. Photo: State Rep. Daisy Morales (via Facebook).

A Lawmaker’s Job

For anyone who may not know, in addition to balancing the state budget, getting bills signed into law is the literal job of a state representative and state senator, which is why they’re typically called “lawmakers.” The same is true at the federal level–U.S. representatives (or Congressmen and Congresswomen) and U.S. senators are responsible for balancing the federal budget and getting bills signed into law.

That said, it’s a pretty tough sell to ask voters to re-elect you if you’re an incumbent representative or senator with no bills sponsored in your name getting signed into law.

The Legislative Process in a Nutshell

Granted, the process is long, difficult and a bill is at the mercy of many people. It has to pass subcommittees, committees, then make it to the House or Senate floor for a vote and must pass there before having its companion bill approved in the other chamber (House or Senate, depending on which chamber passes the bill first).

While passing both chambers is exciting because it means the bill is headed to the governor’s or president’s desk for signature, it’s not a law until it gets signed. And there are plenty of bills that never make it that far.

This is why not having any bills signed into law for a particular legislative session (or worse, for an incumbent candidate’s entire legislative career) proves detrimental. It means the candidate only accomplished half of the job.

 

The Orange County Democratic State Reps’ Record

Here’s how the state representatives in the Orange County Democratic State Legislative Delegation measure up.


Chair – Representative Joy Goff-Marcil (District 30)

Total number of bills signed into law in her name during the 2021 and 2022 Legislative Sessions: 1

 

2022 Bills:

 

2021 Bills:


Vice Chair – Representative Travaris L. McCurdy (District 46)

Total number of bills signed into law in his name during the 2021 and 2022 Legislative Sessions: 4

2022 Bills:

 

2021 Bills:

 

Secretary – Representative Anna V. Eskamani (District 47)

Total number of bills signed into law in her name during the 2021 and 2022 Legislative Sessions: 2

2022 Bills:

 

2021 Bills:

 

Representative Geraldine F. Thompson (District 44)

Total number of bills signed into law in her name during the 2021 and 2022 Legislative Sessions: 2

2022 Bills:

 

2021 Bills:

 

Representative Kamia L. Brown (District 45)

Total number of bills signed into law in her name during the 2021 and 2022 Legislative Sessions: 7

2022 Bills:

 

2021 Bills:

 

Representative Daisy Morales (District 48)

Total number of bills signed into law in her name during the 2021 and 2022 Legislative Sessions: 5

2022 Bills:

2021 Bills:

 

Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith (District 49)

Total number of bills signed into law in her name during the 2021 and 2022 Legislative Sessions: 2

2022 Bills:

 

2021 Bills:

 

As for Senator Jason Brodeur’s recent attack ad claiming that State Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil didn’t pass any laws, that’s not entirely true. For the 2022 Legislative Session, yes, she didn’t get any bills passed, but she did get one passed in 2021, which is part of her term. One is still more than zero.

 

All in all, Democrats have an uphill climb to pass bills and get them signed into law, as they have over the last two decades as the minority party in the state legislature. It takes far more effort for them to persuade their Republican colleagues to pass bills out of committee to even make it to a floor vote. Most bills are dead on arrival and never get heard in any committee. Even for the bills that pass the legislature, it takes a miracle for Governor DeSantis, who naturally prioritizes his own party’s legislation, to sign a Democrat lawmaker’s bill into law. That’s why Reps. Brown’s and Morales’ numbers above are so significant. It’s a tough feat to pass laws as a Democrat state representative, and especially as a freshman. Results like those are a testament to a lawmaker’s grit, resilience, and adaptability.

After this year’s midterm election, the Democrats will have an even tougher fight, given the GOP’s aggressive push to gain more seats after this year’s redistricting, and with the Democrats prioritizing abortion rights as their primary campaign message compared to the GOP’s focus on the economy–which is what most voters are concerned with right now–the Dems will have to claw their way through over the next two to four years to get anything done.

Watch this space.

__________________________________________________

Mellissa Thomas is Editor for Florida National News. | mellissa.thomas@floridanationalnews.com

Politics

Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Implementation of Florida’s Prescription Drug Reform Act

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File - Governor Ron DeSantis. Photo by J Willie David, III / Florida National News
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Governor Ron DeSantis and members of the Florida Cabinet approved rules to implement several provisions of the Prescription Drug Reform Act (SB 1550). The rules approved today increase accountability among pharmaceutical middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). As signed by the Governor earlier this year, SB 1550 institutes the most comprehensive reforms to Florida’s prescription drug market in state history. Additional information on the bill can be found here.
“We are committed to making Florida’s prescription drug market the most transparent and accountable in the nation,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “For too long, PBMs and Big Pharma have made extraordinary windfalls by operating behind closed doors deciding which prescriptions are covered, where they can be purchased, and how much they cost. These rules will continue our efforts to lower prescription costs and make corporations responsible to the patients they serve.”
Rules approved by the Governor and Cabinet today include all application forms for PBMs seeking to operate in Florida after December 31, 2023. Any PBM that attempts to continue operating in Florida on or after January 1, 2024, that has not been approved as an insurance administrator will be subject to fines totaling $10,000 per violation per day.
Following today’s Cabinet meeting, the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) formally sent correspondence to all PBMs currently operating in Florida reinforcing the updated requirements of Florida Law. OIR also issued additional information to all stakeholders outlining the method by which PBMs must report appeals from network pharmacies and pharmacists and the forms for health plans and payors to annually attest compliance with Florida law. More information on these announcements can be found here.
This summer, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation initiated rulemaking to implement additional provisions of SB 1550 to require Big Pharma to provide notice when increasing the cost of prescription drugs. Prescription drug manufacturers must disclose all price hikes that result in a 15% increase within a calendar year or 30% increase within a three-year period both on the effective date of the increase and through an annual cumulative report citing the contributing factor for the reported increases.

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Politics

Florida Judge Finally Rejects Governor DeSantis’ Congressional Map as Unconstitutional After House Floor Sit-In

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State Reps. Travaris McCurdy (D-Orlando), and Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) sit on the Florida Seal in protest as debate stops on Senate Bill 2-C: Establishing the Congressional Districts of the State in the House of Representatives Thursday, April 21, 2022 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. State Rep. Daisy Morales (D-Orlando), joins the protest, holding a sign. The session was halted on the protest. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)
State Reps. Travaris McCurdy (D-Orlando), and Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) sit on the Florida Seal in protest as debate stops on Senate Bill 2-C: Establishing the Congressional Districts of the State in the House of Representatives Thursday, April 21, 2022 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. State Rep. Daisy Morales (D-Orlando), joins the protest, holding a sign. The session was halted on the protest. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FNN) — On Saturday, a Florida judge ruled that a congressional map put forward by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) was unconstitutional and ordered the state legislature to redraw the boundaries.

Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh found that the redrawn districts authorized by DeSantis in northern Florida violated the state constitution’s Fair Districts Amendments by “dismantling a congressional district that enabled Black voters to elect their candidates of choice under the previous plan.” See florida-ruling.

The district, which stretches across much of Florida’s northern border with Georgia, was previously held by Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat who lost in the 2022 midterm election after the redistricting process.

In the previous district, 46.5 percent of the voting age population was Black. Under the new map, the four districts in the area are 23.1 percent, 15.9 percent, 31.7 percent and 12.8 percent Black.

The map approved in the 2020 redistricting cycle was submitted to the Florida legislature by DeSantis’s office, after the governor rejected two earlier maps passed by state lawmakers.

Lawyers for both the Florida House and Senate conceded in court that the map did not satisfy the non-diminishment requirement in the state constitution. Only the Florida secretary of state argued otherwise, according to Saturday’s ruling.

In 2022, NBC News also covered the sit-in, reporting that Florida Democratic state lawmakers shut down the state’s special legislative session for more than an hour with a pray-in and a sit-in at the center of the House floor chamber.

The surprising act of defiance began a little before noon, when Rep. Yvonne Hinson went over her allotted speaking time and had her microphone cut off, prompting other Black legislators to stand without being recognized and gather in the center of the chamber, showing off shirts that read “Stop the Black Attack” and sitting on the state seal on the blue carpet.

In all, four Black legislators and a Hispanic representative — Hinson, Angie Nixon, Travaris McCurdy, Felicia Robinson and Daisy Morales — occupied the center of the chamber as bewildered Republicans looked on.

Rep. Daisy Morales, an Orlando Democrat, held a sign that read: “Legislators serve the people. Not your party.”

The decision marks the latest blow to new congressional maps in Southern states.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Republican-drawn map in Alabama, ruling that it violated the Voting Rights Act. In a 5-4 decision, the court affirmed a lower ruling that ordered the GOP-led state to create a new map with an additional majority-Black district.

This is an ongoing story. Bookmark and follow Florida National News for more updates.

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Florida Legislative Black Caucus to Kick Off State of Black Florida Tour

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MIAMI, Fla. Representative Dianne Hart (D- Tampa), Chair of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, will be joined by members of the FLBC, clergy, and Orange Blossom Classic leadership for a press conference to kick off the “State of Black Florida” tour. This press conference, as the ones to follow, will highlight the pressing issues facing Black Floridians. In the following weeks the FLBC will hosts press conferences and events in the following cities: Tallahassee, Gainesville, Orlando, Jacksonville, and others to be announced at a later date.

WHAT: Press Conference to kick off the Florida Legislative Black Caucus “State

of Black Florida” Tour

WHEN: Friday, September 1, 2023

11:30am

WHERE: JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort

19999 W Country Club Dr, Aventura, FL 33180

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