The Florida Legislature concluded today the 2024 Legislative Session.

It was a bittersweet moment as I gaveled out the final Sine Die as Senate President. It is an absolute honor and privilege to serve the State of Florida.

My colleague House Speaker Paul Renner and I joined other legislators for the traditional Sine Die “Hankie Drop.” The presiding officers then joined Governor Ron DeSantis to mark the conclusion of the session.

I am so proud to lead the Florida Senate, and amazed by what we have accomplished together over the last two years. Our great Governor, Speaker Renner, and every single member of the Florida House and Senate have worked together on key initiatives to keep Florida the free, beautiful, and prosperous state we all cherish.

This includes the complete passage of the 2024 Live Healthy agenda, $1.5 billion in broad-based tax relief for Florida families and businesses, a balanced state budget that makes key investments in infrastructure, education, and historic reserves, a reduction in property insurance costs and the Learn Local agenda to cut red tape and support neighborhood public schools, maintaining high standards and safety, enhancing parental involvement, and empowering teachers.

I am proud of our work on kitchen-table issues important to growing families and seniors. Our work to stabilize and strengthen Florida’s property insurance market is starting to bear fruit. We know families can’t wait. Every little bit helps. Cutting the taxes associated with flood insurance and property insurance premiums is important for families trying to make ends meet as our insurance market strengthens.

More Floridians have options to Live Local, in the heart of the communities they serve. More Floridians will be Living Healthy with as we grow Florida’s health care workforce, expand access and invest in innovation. More Floridians are Learning Local – through universal school choice, or in neighborhood public schools that have served our communities for generations. Through our Compact to Conserve, the Florida Wildlife Corridor will one day be our Central Park as we preserve our state’s beauty for future generations to enjoy.

We wisely utilized pandemic funds to make critical, one-time, generational investments in our infrastructure – from roads and bridges to education facilities, to clean water and coastal resilience. Instead of spending it all, we are paying down debt, setting aside historic reserves, and providing meaningful tax relief so Floridians can keep more of their hard-earned money.

We have listened to our constituents, incorporated ideas and feedback from our communities, and made our mark with historic reforms to keep our state affordable and her people free.

Thank you to my colleagues for entrusting me to lead this chamber. I will always cherish the memories and milestones we achieved together.

The Complete 2024 Live Healthy Agenda Passes the Florida Legislature

The remaining components of my priority legislative package, the 2024 Live Healthy Agenda, were approved this week in final passage.  The Senate’s Live Healthy package will grow Florida’s health care workforce, expand access, and incentivize innovation.

The broad appeal of the free state of Florida continues to attract families, businesses, and seniors at a rate of 300,000 new residents per year. Unfortunately, our health care providers are not growing at the same rate as these new Floridians arrive in the state. 

Access to health care is important at every phase of life. Insurance does not guarantee access, as even Floridians with great insurance face barriers to care. The comprehensive Live Healthy proposals passed this session will help grow Florida’s health care workforce, increase access, and incentivize innovation so Floridians can have more options and opportunities to live healthy here in the Sunshine State.

Live Healthy increases workforce mobility and incentivizes Florida-trained health care workers to serve in needed fields like mental health, labor and delivery, and helping Floridians with disabilities.

We are also increasing access to effective, efficient, and economical health care emphasizing connecting Floridians with primary care providers who play a vital role as the main point of contact in the health care system. And, we are incentivizing innovation with targeted investments that help rural and underserved communities integrate the latest technology.

The 2024 Live Healthy Agenda, includes the following:

• SB 7016, Health Care, by Senator Colleen Burton (R-Lakeland), grows Florida’s health care workforce, removes regulations to increase workforce mobility, and expands access to quality, efficient health care.
• SB 7018, Health Care Innovation, by Senator Gayle Harrell (R-Stuart), incentivizes innovation in the health care industry through investments in technology.
• SB 1758, Individuals with Disabilities, by Senator Jason Brodeur (R-Sanford), expands services to Floridians with disabilities.
• SB 330, Behavioral Health Teaching Hospitals, by Senator Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), establishes a new category of teaching hospitals focused on behavioral health.
• SB 1600, Interstate Mobility, by Senator Jay Collins (R-Tampa), creates a streamlined licensure pathway for out-of-state providers moving to Florida.
• HB 7089, Payments for Health Care Services, by Senator Collins, expands health care price transparency.

Over $1.5 Billion in Broad-Based Tax Relief Approved for Florida Families & Businesses

The Florida Legislature passed $1.5 billion in broad-based tax relief for Florida’s families and businesses.

Inflation has led to significant increases in costs that are negatively impacting families. We are working to ease the pain with broad-based sales tax relief that will be very meaningful for families and seniors with opportunities for tax savings for families with kids heading back to school, those looking to prepare their homes for severe weather, and for Floridians, young and old, who want to get out and enjoy all the beautiful natural resources and fun events the free state of Florida has to offer this summer.

We also recognize that the cost of property insurance poses a major affordability problem for many Florida homeowners. I believe every little bit helps. Over $500 million in tax cuts for property insurance and flood insurance premiums are important for families trying to make ends meet as our insurance market strengthens.

The tax package builds on the historic tax relief passed in the 2023 Regular Session and delivers more than $900 million in broad-based tax savings to families and small businesses across the state. 

This critical tax relief demonstrates the Florida Senate’s commitment to fighting the inflationary policies of the failed Biden Administration and providing key support directly to Floridians. 

Property insurance costs continue to impact Floridians across the state, posing major affordability problems for growing families and seniors.  This tax relief package provides critical savings on home insurance premiums by establishing a one-year exemption on taxes, fees, and assessments for residential property insurance policyholders.  These savings will work to address property insurance affordability issues while significant legislative reforms passed during the 2023 Legislative Session come to fruition. 

The tax package also reestablishes Florida's historical sales tax holidays that deliver critical cost savings on school supplies, emergency preparedness supplies, tools and recreational items. Building upon legislation last year that created permanent sales tax exemptions for diapers, baby clothing and oral hygiene products, Florida is working to maintain its status as the best place to live, work and raise a family. 

Florida's Balanced Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Prioritizes Infrastructure, Education, Tax Relief and Record Reserves

Florida's balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 received unanimous support to make key investments in infrastructure, education, & historic reserves. The budget pays down state debt and prioritizes public schools and parental choice in education.

The legislation makes significant investments in Florida’s infrastructure, with record funding for public schools and school choice opportunities for Florida parents. The budget authorizes paying off $500 million in state debt, accounts for significant tax relief, and sets aside record state reserves.

Additional legislation passed by both Chambers includes historic funding to grow Florida’s health care workforce and new, dedicated investments in Florida’s environment & clean water resiliency. 

Here in the free state of Florida, we wisely utilized pandemic funds to make critical, one-time, generational investments in our infrastructure – from roads and bridges to education facilities to clean water and coastal resilience.

As the timeline to spend pandemic funds comes to an end, we are making smart, fiscally responsible adjustments and right-sizing our balanced budget to a level sustainable for the long term.  Our revenues are increasing, but instead of spending it all, we are paying down debt, setting aside historic reserves, and providing meaningful tax relief so Floridians can keep more of their hard-earned money.

The budget also provides critical funding to preserve Florida’s natural environment, expand affordable housing, and enhance educational opportunities for students and families. 

Continuing the Florida Legislature’s longstanding effort to preserve our state’s unique natural resources, the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget includes over $1.5 billion for Everglades restoration, conservation acquisitions, and programs to address flooding and sea level rise. 

Compact to Conserve: Preserving Florida’s Land, Water & Wildlife Legacy

SB 1638, Florida’s Compact to Conserve, sponsored by the Dean of the Florida Senate, Senator Travis Hutson (R-St. Augustine), commits revenues available through the Compact between the State of Florida and the Seminole Tribe to establish dedicated funding for continued acquisition and management of Florida’s conservation lands and clean water infrastructure. 

Conservation and preservation of Florida's land and water resources are essential to maintaining the quality of life we all enjoy as well as sustaining and growing a thriving economy, including legacy industries like tourism and agriculture.

The Compact to Conserve invests in the strategic expansion of our Wildlife Corridor and will help protect endangered native species, including the Florida Panther. I am grateful to Governor DeSantis, Speaker Renner, and Commissioner Simpson for their vision and steadfast leadership in safeguarding Florida’s land, water, and wildlife legacy.

GATE Program Expands Access to Career and Technical Education

Senate Bill 7032, by Senator Erin Grall (R-Vero Beach), creates the Graduation Alternative to Traditional Education (GATE) Program, an alternative pathway to career credentials for students 16 to 21 years of age who have discontinued enrollment in traditional high school programs.

Everyone who wants to work hard has the opportunity to prosper in the free state of Florida. We must have resources in place to help young people, who decide to leave a traditional high school, re-engage in work and educational opportunities and build careers that are needed in our growing communities.

Thankfully, over the last several years we have seen a decrease in the number of teens who are not in school or working. However, Florida has a job for anyone who wants one and the earlier we can reach a teen who has left high school the better chance that young person has to thrive in a meaningful career.

Senate Backs Federal Term Limits, Balanced Budget, Line Item Veto and Balanced Budget Amendments

The line-item veto, term limits, and balanced budget requirements have worked well here in Florida, and help our state guard against the rampant corruption, abuses of power, and overspending we see in Washington D.C.

Our founding fathers envisioned elected service as a short-term sacrifice, not a means of personal enrichment in which elected officials can pick and choose which laws to follow. The American people are fed up. With these initiatives, Florida is sending a strong message that the federal government must be accountable to the people.

Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides an amendments convention, when two-thirds of state legislatures apply, as one method for proposing constitutional amendments.

My Portrait Unveiling and a Special Gift from the Florida Senate

On Wednesday, I was honored to have my official portrait unveiled in the Senate chamber. With me was my wonderful husband, John Passidomo, also known as, the First Gentleman of the Florida Senate, and my wonderful daughter Gabby. I am honored to have served as the 90th Senate President since statehood. Under current practice, my portrait will hang in the Senate Chamber for 100 years before it retires to our Historic Capitol.

Steven Davis of Leon Loard Commissioned Portraits created my portrait. If you notice, I am wearing a liberty eagle lapel pin given to me by President Toni Jennings, the same pin President Jennings wore in her portrait.

In keeping with the Florida Senate tradition, I received the most touching gift from my colleagues in the Florida Senate.  I became a Safe School Canine Partner. With assistance from the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Senate purchased a safe school canine, making me a Safe School Canine Partner. During the gift presentation, I got to meet the sweet canine-in-training, Birdie, a two-year-old yellow lab. 

This was an especially touching moment because I had developed the Florida Safe Schools Canine Program which designates a person, school, or business entity as a Florida Safe Schools Canine Partner. This partnership includes fundraising or purchasing the purchase, training or care of a firearm detection dog through a local law enforcement agency.

Firearm safety canines contribute to a safe and welcoming school community, furthering a community-wide investment and engagement in school safety and public safety initiatives. The program seeks to foster relationships between schools, local businesses, and law enforcement, promoting trust and confidence in the ability of law enforcement to keep schools and communities safe. 

I will forever be so thankful for this meaningful gift of becoming a Safe School Canine Partner, thank you to my friends and colleagues! 

As always, please do not hesitate to contact my office any time that I can be of assistance.

Respectfully,

Kathleen C. Passidomo

Senate President
State Senator, District 28

Not paid for at taxpayer expense.

Paid political advertisement paid for by Working Together for Florida P.C., 133 South Harbor Drive, Venice, FL 34285.