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Sen. Laurie Berman briefs Wellington council on 2025 session highlights and budget fight
Summary
Senator Laurie Berman gave an end-of-session update, outlining bills she sponsored, major successes and bills she called "good, bad and ugly," and saying the budget remained unresolved with a $4 billion gap between House and Senate.
Senator Laurie Berman delivered her annual legislative update to the Wellington Village Council on Tuesday, summarizing bills she sponsored this session and broader outcomes in Tallahassee.
Berman told the council she passed five bills this year, including measures affecting Florida Bar trust and LLC practice sections, a bill ensuring subsequent mammogram testing in the Florida Health Insurance Plan, a law memorializing Holocaust Remembrance Day, and legislation directing the Department of Environmental Protection to produce a statewide recycling plan. She also highlighted a mental-health measure intended to give prosecutors discretion to dismiss certain charges following successful mental-health treatment in the correctional system.
The senator described a mix of accomplishments and disappointments. Among items she praised was a bill preventing commercialization of state parks (prohibiting hotels or golf courses in state parks) and reforms to medical-malpractice remedies that equalize standing for certain plaintiffs. She identified two measures she regarded as problematic: new restrictions on citizen-initiative petition drives (including limits on circulators and criminal penalties for exceeding petition limits) and changes to mitigation-bank rules that may allow credits to be purchased anywhere in the state, raising constitutional concerns. Berman said litigation has already been filed challenging the petition-law changes.
On the budget, Berman said the House and Senate remained about $4 billion apart and the legislature had extended an internal deadline to finalize the budget through June 30. She described pressure around proposals to shift major revenue sources, and said the governor had signaled opposition to a proposed 0.75 percentage-point sales-tax reduction. She also discussed other topics that drew coverage this session, including changes to condominium reserve and milestone-inspection laws.
Council members asked about property-tax proposals and potential changes to tourist-development (bed) tax; Berman said property-tax changes would require a constitutional amendment and placement on a future ballot and that she did not anticipate property-tax changes this year. She said the bed-tax change under discussion was unlikely to pass.
The senator closed by noting ongoing budget negotiations and offering to return with more detailed information when budget language was available.
