A Note on a Session Unlike Any Other
Welcome to your 2026 Sine Die Legislative Brief, where we take a look at the full list of issues working families have been tracking throughout the regular legislative session and report on their final passage (or failure) as the legislature reaches its scheduled finish line of Sine Die.
The 2026 Legislative Session, as we have been navigating with our Working Family Lobby Corps and documenting throughout our Florida Labor Letters, has been uniquely unproductive. In the face of unwavering personal egos and internal divides within the super-majority, a significant number of bills and issues have fallen by the wayside, passing one chamber and not getting a hearing in the other, or never seeing the light of committee at all. Not even the nonpartisan issues have been spared. At the time of writing this piece, the legislature still has yet to even agree on the direction of the only bill they must pass, the General Appropriations Act, or Budget that funds the State of Florida. The result has been weeks of non-stop surprises, unknowns, and last ditch attempts by the interests and advocates both in (and out) of Tallahassee.
Laudably, your Working Family Lobby Corps has been active and responsive from the beginning, taking the reigns from Day 1 to steer a listless legislative leadership towards the policies that matter most to us, and away from the ones that should have never been filed in the first place. We are proud of all of the members of our 2026 Lobby Corps have done over the last 9 weeks, and want to thank all of you for your early mornings, late nights, meetings with your legislators, public comment in committee, and advocacy actions, whether here or back home, to stand in solidarity in pursuit of a better future.
The Brief
So how did it all shake out? Well, as the regular session winds down, The Florida Legislature leaves the Capitol today with explicit intent to return to finish their budgetary duties in Early April, followed by planned Special Sessions narrowly focused on Redistricting on April 20th, and Property Taxes at an unannounced date. Otherwise, all bills that have not passed after today are considered dead.
The following is a quick look at some of the bills that we have been tracking throughout the 2026 Florida Legislative Session and their final status. The list is neither exclusive nor exhaustive but represents some of our top priorities tracked week to week.
Property Tax
(OPPOSED) HJR 203 – Phased Elimination of Non-School Property Tax —-> FAILED
The only bill to materialize any momentum out of the year-long effort by lawmakers to wrestle with the question of Property Tax Relief (and ignore the question of rising homeowner’s insurance.) This bill, would’ve removed all non-school property taxes from local governments and offered no means to make up the lost revenue. The measure would’ve devastated local governments and their public services, and somehow made it out of the House, where it was then promptly declared dead on arrival by the Governor and Senate, who were eager to criticize the measure, but unsurprisingly presented no counter of their own. Instead, they pledged to take up the issue again in a future Special Session. When? Who knows!
Attacks on Collective Bargaining
(OPPOSED) SB 1236/HB 1387 – Weaponization of Government Funding —-> FAILED
This attack on our private sector siblings would have made it illegal for any entity receiving public funds to do business with a union (or contractor using union work) that was recognized by voluntary card check. This hypocritical attempt at government overreach in the “Free” state of Florida was killed in the Senate by the pointed, passionate testimony and hard work of working families, ensuring that even if the House version made it out of the limbo it’s been stuck in since February, it had no chance of survival.
(OPPOSED) SB 1296/HB 995 – Attacks on Public Sector Unions & Increased PERC Control —-> PASSED
This attack on our public sector builds on the work started by SB 256 and attempts to snuff out the unions that have persevered since then. The bill further expands registration and renewal requirements for unions, including more reporting, higher membership thresholds, and the possibility of decertification if membership in a bargaining unit falls below 60 percent. The blatantly unconstitutional bill was defeated early on in the Senate, but was revived by efforts of the Governor and Commissioner of Education, whose backdoor deals and public smear campaign against our teachers pressured it out of a hesitant Senate into the hands of the House, where it was voted up and sent to the Governor.
(OPPOSED) SB 1298/HB 998 – Public Record Exemption for Attacks On Our Public Sector —-> FAILED
These shadowy companion bills to SB 1296/HB 995 would have created new public records exemptions hiding the work of the Public Employee Relations Commission and decision makers who would institute the new restrictions. Thanks to the efforts of Working Families and significant public and political pressure on their companion bills, these bills began to be left by the wayside, where they died as the clock ran out.
Other Anti-Labor Efforts
(OPPOSED) SB 216/HB 191 – The Nail in the Coffin of Florida’s Unemployment Insurance —->FAILED
Already ranking 52nd in the nation, Florida’s unemployment insurance system required assistance, not further guardrails and heightened requirements as these bills sought to put in. Billed as combating (non-existent) fraud, the House version of this bill was sneakily passed in committee weeks last year. It was referred to the Senate, where Working Families spent weeks speaking against and pointing out the flaws in the bill and pressured the Senate bill to be left alone on the Senate Calendar, where it died. The House version, for its part, never made it out of Messages.
(OPPOSED) SB 1412/ HB 221 – Weakening Minimum Wage Rights —-> FAILED
These bills would have created a loophole in the state’s constitutional right to a living wage by allowing businesses to create a new class of “work study” positions billed as foot-in-the-door opportunities that would have required employees to waive their right to their state minimum wage and instead be paid at the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hr), a wage floor that has been untouched since 2009. The bill was quick to gain controversy and attention in the House early on, and it only took two committees for Working Families and the public at large to force this bill into being temporarily (and then permanently) postponed. The Senate version was never heard.
(OPPOSED) SB 1090/HB 1701 – Erosions to our Public Schools —->FAILED
This education omnibus bill would have, amongst a litany of other changes, further restricted collective bargaining for school personnel, mandated new ideological videos be shown on sex education, eliminated funding for DEI efforts, and allowed the Commissioner of Education more authority by having the ability to remove instructional material statewide. Though gaining momentum early on in session, this bill’s progress was stymied by its scope, breadth, and significant differences between the House and Senate versions, which alongside the opposition and advocacy of our teachers, led to loss of any appetite to take up the issue outside of the House. Regardless, we will be watching for some of this language in the upcoming budget.
Pro Labor Efforts
(SUPPORTED) SB 1112 / HB 1287 – Improving the Labor Pool Act —-> FAILED
This bill sought to amend the Florida Labor Pool Act (FLPA), which governs the temp agencies and labor pools that currently serve as a means for formerly incarcerated, seasonal, or other temporary workers to be able to find steady work. By requiring these labor pools to register with the Department of Commerce and removing their ability to charge exorbitant placement fees on businesses that sought to turn their temporary workers into permanent hires, this bill would make it easier for those employees to be able to find meaningful long term employment. The bill moved through and out of the entire Senate with unanimous support. Though the House did not take up the measure this session, its full passage by the upper chamber means this issue is far from dormant, and may return eagerly next session.
The Culture War and Other Issues
(OPPOSED) SB 430/ HB 147 – “Loyalty” Oaths for Teachers —-> FAILED
These attempts at intimidation and chilling free speech would have required school and higher education personnel to take oaths affirming support and loyalty to the federal and state constitutions and a commitment to professional ethics. It’s vague definitions of those terms though (alongside its Orwellian concept) led to both versions never getting heard in any of their committees.
(OPPOSED) SB 1632/HB 1471 – Ideologies Inconsistent With American Principles —-> PASSED
We didn’t come up with that title, that’s the actual bill’s name. An Orwellian measure that grants a politically appointed “Chief of Domestic Security” with the power to designate any organization they see fit as “Domestic Terrorists” was chillingly debuted in the shadow of national tragedy showing the ramifications that come with the misuse of that very term. With the criteria for such a designation being written in dangerously vague terms like “promote” or “support”, these measures have slowly marched forward in both chambers despite overwhelming public opposition and legal concern, with promise of legal challenges by civil rights groups should it get past the session finish line.
(OPPOSE) SB 1642/HB 641 – Don’t Say Gay or Trans at Work —->FAILED
These bills went far beyond the pronoun policing seen in previous culture war legislation, and instead sought to impose government control over free speech and activities in business and local governments all across Florida by dictating how those entities would be allowed to speak about, conduct events around, or train personnel on LGBTQ+ issues. Luckily, significant public exhaustion with (and opposition to) these issues, as well as their many free speech and federal law conflicts led the measure to lose momentum and die in House Messages and cease being heard in the Senate.
(OPPOSE) SB 1134/HB 1001 – Anti-DEI at the Local Level —-> PASSED
Instead of focusing on issues that help local government, the Legislature continued their attack on local autonomy with these bills that prohibit counties and municipalities from implementing, funding, or promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and end existing ones. The measures passed both chambers following extensive public opposition and lengthy chamber debate, where members criticized the bill’s vague terms and chilling effects on free speech and the ability of local governments to support historically marginalized voices in the community.
Elections Law
(OPPOSE) SB 1334/HB 991 – The (Florida) SAVE Act —-> PASSED
Modeled after the voter suppression legislation being pushed this year at the federal level, this bill attempts to disenfranchise large numbers of Florida voters by heightening requirements to be considered eligible to vote, including mandating ALL Florida voters re-verify their citizenship status while also making that process more difficult by changing currently acceptable forms of voter ID/proof of citizenship documents and instituting new, prohibitive costs to out-of-state students, persons with disabilities, married individuals, adopted citizens, and any Floridian seeking to hold their elected official accountable.
