2008 Legislative Priorities

Affordable Quality Health Care

Health care and health insurance costs have risen dramatically over the past decade and millions of Floridians have no health insur-ance coverage. To make matters worse, businesses faced with rising costs are elimi-nating prescription drug coverage from their health plans or dropping health plans alto-gether. Florida PIRG:

➢    Supports SB 1488 (Sen. Dean) to provide consumers with price informa-tion for common hospital procedures. This would inject competition into the industry and likely lead to lower health care costs for persons who pay for care themselves.

➢    Supports HB 299 (Rep. Waldman), which would raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1.00. Increasing the to-bacco tax will lessen tobacco use and reduce health care costs associated with treatment for tobacco related ill-nesses.

➢    Supports HB 637 (Rep. Grimsley), which would reduce medical errors and constrain administrative costs by establishing a loan program that would foster the development of an in-tegrated statewide electronic health information network.

➢    Supports HB 267 (Rep. Hays), which would deter health care PIP fraud by creating stronger penalties. Health care fraud siphons billions of dollars from public and private health insur-ance programs and ultimately the public pays the costs.

➢    Supports SB 1186 (Sen. Rich) which would empower consumers with qual-ity of care data by requiring AHCA to post information regarding nurse staff-ing levels at hospitals along with turn-over rates.

Protect Homeowners

PROPERTY INSURANCE: Last year, legislators passed an ambitious insurance reform bill. While this was a good first step, there is more work that needs to be done. Florida PIRG supports legislation that would:

➢    Require that private property insur-ance companies use a fair risk as-sessment model when assessing rates that is available for public scru-tiny.

➢    Create stronger penalties to ensure that private property insurers do not stonewall the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) on producing docu-ments necessary for setting fair rates.

MORTGAGE FORECLOSURES: Floridians have seen a record number of home foreclosures during the past year. Lawmakers must take action now to prevent another spike in fore-closures throughout the state and to protect homeowners from mortgage rescue scams designed to push them into foreclosure. Flor-ida PIRG:

➢    Supports the intent of SB 992 (Sen. Fasono) and HB 643 (Rep. Ford), which aim to eliminate the practice of foreclosure rescue scams that trick homeowners threatened by foreclo-sure into signing over their homes.

➢    Supports legislation that would require home mortgage lenders to honestly assess a borrower’s ability to repay, along with legislation that would elimi-nate unreasonable fees and penalties.

Reform Campaign Finance Laws

Money plays far too great a role in American elections, from the municipal level to the U.S. presidency. An enormous loophole in Flor-ida's campaign finance laws currently allows candidates to evade contribution limits by co-ordinating with virtually unregulated groups called “electioneering communication organi-zations” (ECOs). Unlike contributions to a candidate's political committee, which are lim-ited to $500, there are no limits on the amount of money that can be contributed to ECOs, whether from individuals, political par-ties or committees of continuous existence (CCEs).  Florida PIRG:  

➢    Supports legislation that would limit the amount of money that political par-ties and CCEs can contribute to ECOs during an election.

➢    Supports HB 587 (Rep. Hudson), which creates new reporting require-ments for ECOs.

Nonpartisan Secretary of State
Floridians deserve a nonpartisan election system with integrity that they can trust.  Flor-ida PIRG:

➢    Supports SB 1494 (Sen. Aronberg), which would require the Secretary of State, as chief election officer, to be-have in a nonpartisan manner. The secretary would be prohibited from making speeches on behalf of candi-dates, participating in political cam-paigns, or serving as an officer of a political party or any partisan organi-zation

Affordable Textbooks

Students are facing not only increased tuition costs but also increased charges for their textbooks. Florida PIRG:

➢    Supports HB 603 (Rep. Flores), which aims to make college textbooks more affordable by restricting publishers’ marketing-to-professors tactics, and by requiring universities to give stu-dents information in a timely manner that will help them find used copies of required textbooks.

Fair Telephone Contracts

Few industries see more complaints from customers than the phone industry. Phone companies are protected by the fact that cus-tomers who would prefer to take their busi-ness elsewhere are trapped in lengthy con-tracts that are expensive to break.

➢    Supports SB 184 (Sen. Garcia), which would prohibit telephone companies from extending the length of a cus-tomer’s contract solely because the customer adds or removes services.

Product safety

During 2007, millions of toys were recalled due to lead content, choking hazards and dangerous magnets. The holes in the product safety net must be repaired at every level. Florida PIRG:

➢    Supports SB 886 (Sen. Justice) and HB 467 (Rep. Soto), which would re-quire independent, third-party inspec-tions of toys that are to be sold in Flor-ida along with certification that the toys meet current federal safety guidelines.