Florida Legislative Interim Committee Week Update December 5, 2025
The fifth interim committee week is finishing up today. It has been quiet in Tallahassee, with most of the scheduled meetings either being cancelled or only having a few bills or presentations heard. Next week will be the final interim committee week, before a holiday break and the start of session in January. That means next week will be a very busy one, as all normally scheduled education committees are meeting, and several education-related bills that are being heard by other committees will be up for consideration as well.
Let’s dig into what happened this week in education policy. The Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee held confirmation hearings for many candidates for the Boards of Trustees for multiple State Colleges and Universities. All of the candidates were confirmed for the positions.
In the House, the Student Academic Success Subcommittee had a presentation on AI in K-20 schools. In Natural Resources and Disasters, the bill that keeps coming back, HB 11 (Designation of the State Birds) was reported favorably. The most activity came from the House State Affairs Committee, where four similar bills were heard. HJR 201, HJR 205, CS/HJR 209, and HJR 211 are all about the elimination of non-school property tax for homesteads. There have been multiple versions of bills in both the House and Senate that address property taxes. All of the bills are pretty similar, with just a few tweaks to each of them. This will be a very significant topic in the 2026 Legislative Session, so stay tuned to these bills. The four bills heard this week were all reported favorably in committee.
The House Budget Committee also approved HB 145, which would revamp Florida’s sovereign-immunity laws, which are designed to shield government agencies from lawsuits. This bill, in particular, focuses on people who pursue lawsuits over injuries caused by government negligence. The current law, passed in 2010, caps the government liability at $200,000 for individuals, and $300,000 if multiple people are involved in an incident. If this bill is passed, the cap would increase to $500,000 and $1 million, respectively. This bill still has one more committee stop, FASA will keep you updated on its progress.
Next week is going to be a busy one. As of this morning, eight House and Senate Committees are meeting, with many bills to be heard. Among some bills of note are, SB 320 Administrative Efficiency in Public Schools (School Deregulation 3.0), SB 318 Educational Scholarship Programs, and SB 124 Florida Virtual School. We will update you on these bills, as well as any other updates from the week, next Friday.
As always, you can follow the bills that FASA is tracking with our bill tracker. Don’t forget to listen to the Leadership Lounge Podcast, and follow our daily emails and social media updates for up-to-date news.