Legislative Update 3-3-14
Legislative Update 3-‐3-‐14 Operations Funding Support the Council of Presidents (COP) “Florida First” proposal requesting $150 million (a three-‐ year plan) for the Florida College System (FCS): o First in Success and Completion -‐ $40 million-‐to increase degrees and certificates awarded o First in Preparation for Careers -‐ $25 million-‐ to increase the number of college graduates employed in Florida within one year of completion o First in Access and Affordability -‐ $63 million-‐ to increase Floridians enrolling in FCS and limit college system tuition increases and to build capacity and performance through compression funding and funding model allocation o First in Accountability -‐ $20 million-‐ for performance based funding • Fund Operating Costs of New Facilities -‐ $2 million • Support Matching Funds Programs, re-‐establishing the ability of Colleges to match future donations and cover prior obligations. STATUS: Performance funding discussions occurring in both House and Senate. Council of Presidents requesting 2014-‐15 Budget be a “pilot” to ensure performance measures are equitable across colleges. •
Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) Funding Support solution to lack of stable PECO funding. Consider proposal from Adam Putnam, Agricultural & Consumer Services Commissioner, cutting the tax of 7 percent that commercial entities pay for the use/consumption of electricity by half. The remaining 3.5 percent would become a dedicated revenue source for PECO. This would be phased-‐in over a three year period. STATUS: BILLS FILED: SB 1076, Flores and HB 899, Hill, M. Addresses energy tax, but PECO component is not included. •
Technical Centers Proposals in both houses will allow Tech Centers to become “colleges.” Authorizes college credit certificate programs with process for approval and authorizes AAS. Establishes fees for credit programs, requires residency requirements for credit but eliminates residency for adult education. STATUS: BILL FILED: HB 7057, Higher Ed and SB 1202, Montford. Concern expressed with accreditation issues, duplication of services, clarity of programs/courses, and consistency in funding. 1
Dual Enrollment/Early College Support State Board of Education (SBE) Legislative Budget Request (LBR) request for specific dual enrollment funding for school districts and the Florida College System. STATUS: • BILL FILED: SB 850, Legg. Requires Colleges to establish a collegiate high school in a public or charter school. Requires a grade 12 program, with industry certifications. Allows for FTE to exceed 1.0 value. Colleges will only report for FTE and receive tuition for dual enrollment if the college establishes a collegiate high school program. • BILL FILED: SB 924, Stargel, and HB 981, Perry. Does not amend public schools paying of tuition to colleges, but does not specify who pays tuition for private and home schooled. Does amend law to provide for free instructional materials for private school and home schooled students, however it does not specify who pays for those materials. • BILLS FILED: HB 961, Zimmerman, and SB 1071, Montford. Deletes requirement that School District pay tuition for dual enrollment students.
Residency for In-‐State Tuition, Veterans and others Support waiving the 12-‐month residency requirement for in-‐state tuition for veterans who physically reside in Florida. Encourage statutory language that simplifies the residency process, including clarifying the Florida Supreme Court Ruiz ruling. STATUS: • BILLS FILED: Several bills filed addressing residency for veterans and for immigrants. • BILL FILED: HB 851, Nunez, and SB 1400, Latvala. Addresses many issues that simplify the process, including the allowance for any student who attends a Florida high school for 3 consecutive years, and then enrolls within 24 months of graduation, to pay in-‐state fees. This single section will reduce the workload of admissions significantly. The bill addresses the Ruiz ruling and veterans.
Textbooks Expect discussion regarding textbook affordability. Legislation has been filed to require policies & procedures to: • Include “other” instructional materials. • Change the required posting date for adopting textbooks, their costs, and other instructional materials from the current 30 days before the first day of class to 14 days before the first day of student registration. • Required annual reports on the average costs of textbooks. STATUS: BILLS FILED: HB 355, Porter and SB 530, Flores
Bright Futures Support allowing civic engagement opportunities (such as political campaign experience) and career exploration (such as internships) as options for students to earn Bright Futures. STATUS: BILLS FILED: HB 557, Rooney and SB 566, Lee
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Nursing Education Programs Re-‐defines “clinical training” to include simulation but removes the current 25% limit on how much clinical training can be through simulation so it becomes unlimited. Requires accreditation of RN programs by July 2019 and increases CEUs to 30 and removes CEU requirement if nurse graduated from an accredited program. STATUS: BILLS FILED: HB 1039, Pigman and SB 1036, Grimsley
Educator Certification – Internships Though this is primarily a K-‐12 bill, it has a provision that fixes a problem created in a bill last year related to online teacher education programs and student internships. Students may complete their internship requirement by authorizing the faculty supervisor to possess a credential from the state where the internship occurs rather than requiring a Florida credential. STATUS: BILLS FILED: HB 433, Spano and SB 950, Stargel
Preference in State Contracting The bill expands provisions that require an counties, municipalities, agencies, universities, colleges, school districts and others to provide preferential consideration to a Florida business in awarding competitively bid contracts to purchase personal property to include the purchase of construction services. This provision would increase the cost of construction services. STATUS: BILLS FILED: HB 801, Fitzhagen and SB 612, Hays
Florida Retirement System Establishes a cash balance retirement plan for new state employees eligible for the Florida Retirement System (FRS). The plan features individual employee accounts that are guaranteed a minimum retirement benefit. Cash balance plans offer some of the features of both the pension plan and the investment plan. The State Board of Administration (SBA) is responsible for administering the new plan. Cash balance accounts would be funded by employee and employer contributions based on a percentage of monthly compensation. Account growth is guaranteed at 2% minimum interest and 75% of any investment returns over 2 percent. Employees hired after July 1, 2015, must choose the cash balance plan or the existing FRS investment plan, and could revise that decision by making a second election at a later date. One potentially controversial aspect of the bill is that only special risk employees such as law enforcement, firefighters, and other first responders would be able to choose the existing pension plan. Employees under the cash balance plan are vested after completing five years of service. Existing employees may choose to move between the pension plan or investment plan to the cash balance plan. Upon retirement, employees may choose to receive the total of the cash balance account as a lump-‐sum distribution, direct rollover retirement account distribution, periodic distribution or combination. STATUS: BILLS FILED: SB 1114, Senate Community Affairs and Simpson, No House Bill Filed Yet 3
