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The original was posted on /r/keep_track by /u/rusticgorilla on 2024-02-12 12:40:28.

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This week, Keep Track takes a look at a selection of bills under consideration by the Florida legislature. The Sunshine State, controlled by an increasingly extreme Republican trifecta, has been a testing ground for legislation that chips away at constitutional and civil rights. Bills that become law and survive subsequent legal challenges are often copied by other red states—like the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which was duplicated and introduced in at least 20 other states. Due to its potential to influence conservative politics across the nation, Florida is one of the most important states to watch. So far, just over a month into 2024’s legislative session, the state is on the verge of rolling back child labor laws, erasing transgender people from public life, and removing oversight of law enforcement agencies.

Child labor

The Florida legislature is currently considering three bills that weaken many of the state’s child labor laws. The first, HB 49, would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work more than 30 hours and six straight days when school is in session. The bill, written by the conservative advocacy group Foundation for Government Accountability, would also remove the requirement that minors receive a meal break for every 4 hours on the job. A state lobbying group for the hospitality industry, called the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, “strongly supports” the bill.

The second, SB 1596, would limit 16- and 17-year-olds to working no more than 30 hours a week when school is in session, but would allow them to work as late as midnight before a school day.

The third, SB 460, would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work on roofs, scaffolding, and construction sites, provided that the teen obtained an OSHA certificate and is under direct supervision. The Associated Builders and Contractors and Florida Home Builders Association drafted the bill and sent it to Sen. Corey Simon (R-Tallahassee), who filed it for the 2024 session.

Anti-LGBTQ

HB 599: Expands “Don’t Say Gay’’ policies to include government workplaces and nonprofits by prohibiting transgender and nonbinary employees from providing preferred personal pronouns to employers. It would also ban any tax-exempt nonprofit from requiring “any training, instruction, or other activity on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression,” a prohibition that could potentially cause many Florida LGBTQ+ programs to shut down.

HB 1233: Deemed the “trans-erasure bill” by the ACLU, this legislation would require every person applying for a new or renewal driver’s license or identification card to sign an affidavit certifying that the sex listed on the application matches the sex on their original birth certificate. If the sex does not match, the bill requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to revoke the card/license. Additionally, HB 1233 mandates that insurance companies that cover gender-affirming care must also provide coverage for detransition treatment and conversion therapy.

  • Note that this bill, if it becomes law, would assist the state in creating a list of transgender individuals by cross-referencing the affidavits with previous gender markers on driver’s licenses.
  • Last month, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles issued a directive barring transgender residents from changing the listed gender on their driver’s licenses or state ID. The memo states that “misrepresenting one’s gender, understood as sex, on a driver’s license constitutes fraud,” and those with licenses that list a gender different than their birth sex could be subject to “criminal and civil penalties, including cancellation, suspension, or revocation of his or her driver license.”

SB 1708: Prohibits any sheriff department’s public safety programs from focusing on “a person’s…sexual orientation,” effectively banning all LGBTQ+ safety programs.

SB 1238: Would further criminalize drag shows and, potentially, books with LGBTQ+ material by classifying such content as “lascivious grooming” when seen or accessed by a person under 16 years old.

SB 1780: Declares that it is defamation to accuse a person of homophobia, transphobia, or discrimination based on sexual orientation/gender and limits the pathways available to prove the truth of such accusations. For example, the bill would allow a person to be sued for defamation if they accuse someone of transphobic discrimination when it is the latter person’s “religious expression or belief” that it is a sin to be LGBTQ+.

  • If passed and signed into law, this legislation will likely be judged unconstitutional for punishing free speech. As The Guardian notes, SB 1780 and similar bills are created to “test the waters and see how far, legally, lawmakers can go until they are able to silence detractors.”

Abortion

HB 651: Changes the state’s civil liability law to allow the parents of an unborn child to file a wrongful death lawsuit. While the legislation specifies that a wrongful death action for the death of an unborn child cannot be brought against the mother, activists worry that it would allow a father to sue doctors for performing an abortion without his approval. Democrats tried to amend the bill last month to protect abortion providers, but the Republican majority voted it down.

Another change that [Laura] Goodhue [of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates] said could help address concerns would be to amend the text to only allow the pregnant person to file a wrongful death claim. “That eliminates the father who could be an abuser or a rapist or what have you from holding additional power over that person,” Goodhue said.

HB 1519: Removes the rape and incest exception for abortions performed within the time frame of the state’s 15-week ban and makes it illegal for someone outside of the state to mail abortion medication to a Florida resident.

  • Meanwhile, the Florida effort to get an amendment on the November ballot protecting the right to pre-viability abortion obtained the required number of signatures last month. However, the state Supreme Court could still disqualify the amendment if the judges (all Republican) determine that the proposed amendment’s language is unclear.

Labor and public officials

HB 1471: Meant to fix the unintended effects of last year’s anti-union law, which required public sector unions to represent at least 60% of employees to maintain certification and prohibited public sector unions from deducting dues directly from paychecks. HB 1471 would expand the current law’s exemption for police, firefighter, and correctional officer unions to include paramedics, EMTs, and 911 dispatchers (often represented by the law enforcement and firefighter unions). It would also remove the requirement that all public sector unions submit annual financial reports audited by a certified pu…

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