Florida House, Senate Convene For Organization Session Tomorrow, November 22, 2016

 

The Florida Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled to convene jointly for an organizational Session tomorrow, November 22, 2016 at 9 a.m. (ET).  

The Senate will then hold Session at 10 a.m., followed by the House Session at 11 a.m.  Among other formalities, each chamber will take up and act upon resolutions outlining procedural rules for the 2016-2018 Legislative Term.  

The House and Senate Sessions will be Webcast live on www.TheFloridaChannel.org.  The House video Webcast page is here.  The Senate video page is here.

During the Senate Organization Session, Senators will vote to elect a President and President Pro Tempore to lead the Senate during the 2016-2018 Legislative Term.  Additionally, all 40 Senators will take the Oath of Office and the Senate vote to adopt the Senate Rules and select a Senate Secretary.  The Florida Senate will welcome 20 new Senators and welcome back 20 returning Senators for the coming term.

Florida Senate President-Designate Joe Negron announced earlier this month that Senator Anitere Flores (R-Miami, Monroe) has been selected as Senate President Pro Tempore.

President-Designate Joe Negron released the proposed Senate Rules for 2016-2018 on November 15, including a statement and a summary of revisions.

• Proposed Senate Rules for 2016-2018 
• Summary of Revisions 
• Memorandum from President-Designate Joe Negron

In its proposed Rules, the Florida Senate also eliminated four committees and added five new ones.  Senate committees that no longer exist are:

• Appropriations Subcommittee on Education
• Education Pre-K – 12
• Finance and Tax
• Fiscal Policy

The new Senate committees are:

• Appropriations Subcommittee on the Environment and Natural Resources
• Appropriations Subcommittee on Finance and Tax
• Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education
• Appropriations Subcommittee on Pre-K – 12 Education
• Education

Florida House Speaker Designate Richard Corcoran released substantially revised House rules also earlier this month.  They include a new committee structure that places the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee under the oversight of a newly created “Commerce Committee.”

The proposed committee structure included in the proposed 2016-2018 Florida House Rules contains two fewer committees than last term.   To view the new structure, click here.

Committee assignments will not be made until mid-December, inasmuch as Speaker Designate Cocoran said his office will no longer make appointments in isolation, as had been the prior practice.  Instead, he said the new leadership team will work collaboratively on the appointment of the committee vice chairs and subcommittee chairs.  

To download the Florida House Public Guide to the proposed Rule changes, click here.

To access a PDF of the proposed Rules, click here.

To watch a video explaining the proposed Rules, click here.

The following House leadership appointments will be formalized during tomorrow’s organizational Session.

Speaker Pro Tempore	Representative Jeanette Nuñez
Majority Leader	Representative Ray Rodrigues
Rules & Policy Committee	Representative Jose Oliva
Appropriations Committee	Representative Carlos Trujillo
Commerce Committee	Representative Jose Felix Diaz
Education Committee	Representative Mike Bileca
Government Accountability Committee	Representative Matt Caldwell
Health & Human Services Committee	Representative Travis Cummings
Judiciary Committee	Representative Chris Sprowls
Public Integrity & Ethics Committee	Representative Larry Metz
Ways & Means Committee	Representative Jim Boyd

Interim Committee Weeks in preparation for the 2017 Legislative Session begin during the week of December 12.  To view the complete schedule, click here. 

 

 

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