It goes without saying that all of this dysfunction has created tense times in the House and Senate relations. How this will play out in the coming months is hard to predict.
When the House met in September for committee week, they formally elected Representative Richard Corcoran (R - Land O’Lakes) as designated speaker of the Florida House for the two-year term beginning in November 2016. The job comes with prestige and enormous power over the 120-member chamber.
As a former legislative aide and legal adviser to three former speakers, Representative Corcoran brings with him more than 25 years of legislative experience.
Meanwhile, over in the Senate, Representative Corcoran’s counterpart has yet to be decided. The race for Senate President remains up in the air with both Senator Joe Negron (R – Stuart) and Senator Jack Latvala (R – Clearwater) claiming victory.
So what important issues will the legislature focus on when they convene in January? First is the budget. The Revenue Estimating Conference is estimating millions of dollars in budget surplus, which could providel funding for various programs and projects or by providing tax cuts.
Issues of interest to NUCA of Florida members and the construction industry will include the annual Building code bill, wage theft, Statute of repose, workforce development/job training, public-private partnerships and local hiring ordnances.
We will continue to monitor Florida’s Construction Lien Law. This is an issue the House Speaker Designate Richard Corcoran has a keen interest in. No bills have been filed as yet, and we are not expecting one to be filed. This is an issue that will most likely be by an amendment in the latter part of session. Representative Corcoran believes that lien rights of non-privity lienors should be ELIMINATED for all work on primary residential properties [homestead or intended homestead properties]. The construction industry functions on a credit-based system. Without it, every general, residential and building contractor would have to have the financial ability to finance all of their ongoing projects. In short, without the current credit scheme which relies upon the construction lien law as an additional remedy if payment is not made, many contractors would simply be unable to compete and do business.
Look for my weekly Legislative Reports “From the Halls of the Capitol” starting in January where I will keep track of issues important to NUCA of Florida members.