Florida Labor Letter – Session Finish Line, COPE Starting Line (Week of 6/5)

Daniel Diaz |

Welcome to another edition of the Florida AFL-CIO’s weekly Florida Labor Letter for the week of 6/5. This week marks the beginning and end of the legislature’s final* special session, appropriately given the letter “F” to pass Property Tax. Also, COPE is just a week away! As your state fed and its delegates prepare to head to Lake Buena Vista, FL for a weekend of solidarity, screenings, endorsements and more, that means that The Florida Labor Letter will be on a brief hiatus next week. We will return the week of 6/12 after the conclusion of our COPE Convention with news on endorsements and more! Before that, let’s recap this week’s news and more!

🏛️Legislative News

Special Session “F” As in “Final”

Photo Credit: Politico Florida

Last week we wrote about the last minute addition of another inning to the legislative ballgame in a surprise special session called by the Governor to address the issue of Property Tax Removal. Property tax was previously efforted by the House in the form of the disastrous HJR 203 and then promptly ignored by the Governor and Senate during the regular legislative session. With that history in mind, speculation was open as to whether the Florida House would even consider the issue at all, refusing to file any bills and keeping up the suspense right up until the lower chamber gaveled in Monday morning and confirmed they were to entertain the issue of stripping local governments of funds once more.

As has been the routine this year with special sessions, the political action occurred brutally and swiftly- with a lengthy single committee appearance in each chamber for then newly christened HB 1F/SB 2F and HB 3F/SB 4F before proceeding to their respective floors. Despite allocating time all the way until Saturday, legislators moved to pass the bills and gaveled out Tuesday, but not before the quick adoption of a number of amendments changing the governor’s original proposal. (Remember: Joint Resolutions from the Legislature do NOT need the Governor’s approval to proceed to the ballot)

The End Product

Pictured: FL AFL-CIO Political and Public Policy Director Rich Templin in the Senate Appropriations Committee

With a 75-26 vote in the House and 30-9 vote in the Senate, the legislature officially passed House Joint Resolution 1F — Save our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes and Senate Bill 4F — Property Tax Administration to put before the voters this November.

This amendment, if approved by at least 60% of voters in November, would primarily lift homestead exemptions for those who own primary residences in the state by the end of this year to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and tie further increases in the exemption to the Consumer Price Index.

Unlike the governor’s original proposal however, this final version of the amendment comes with a few unique changes.

  • First, school taxes would not be subject to the increased exemption limit, and would stay at $25,000, following concerns from legislators like incoming House Speaker Sam Garrison, who feared the cost to public schools and education.
  • Also, the definitions of what local governments could spend money on has also been slightly expanded to include constitutional officers, courts, special districts, and county commissions, who the governor’s staff had coincidentally left out.
    • When legislators made note that this definition is still too narrow, defenses of the amendment said that items like libraries and parks were included under the broad definition of terms like “education.” This begs the question though, as put by others: why have these restrictive definitions at all?
  • In addition, the original amendment’s false promise to have a trust fund from the state to supplant lost revenue in counties was removed as it, best put by Senator Erin Grall,“put the expectation forth that there would be a trust fund when there isn’t in fact a dedicated funding source for the trust fund,”
  • Finally and notably, following the disastrous HOPE Florida scandal and use of state funds and agencies to campaign against 2024 Amendments 3 & 4, the governor and state agencies will not be given the $5 million dollars to spend on promoting this property tax amendment as originally envisioned.

Though helpful in exerting accountability on our executive and slightly reducing the scope of this initiative though, the chief impact of this constitutional amendment still remains: by removing a key pillar of local and county government revenue, this exemption of property taxes would fundamentally upend and restructure what government is in the state of Florida at every level.

As analysis develops on this issue, we look forward to bringing you more information about what that looks like for Florida’s working families in the coming months.

🍊Florida Labor News

The Sun Also Rises for COPE 2026!

Pictured: COPE 2018, led by beloved former FL AFL-CIO President Mike Williams and State Federation Staff

This week, your state federation staff, CLCs, and more have been hard at work ironing out the final details ahead of putting together the next chapter of our election year tradition: The 2026 FL AFL-CIO COPE 2026 Endorsing Convention!

It’s been “On The Horizon” for the last couple months, but the time is almost near for our delegates and members to gather in beautiful Lake Buena Vista, FL. With our Convention theme of For a Brighter Florida, we can’t wait to gather in solidarity to discuss the best ways to advocate, organize, and vote for a brighter future for all Floridians. We look forward to screening and endorsing candidates, debating issues, resolutions and more amongst your labor siblings statewide as we carve out the best way to ensure that this November represents a sea change for Florida’s working families!

In case you haven’t already, head over to our Convention 2026 Page to see the agenda for the weekend and more. Delegates and more can look forward to receiving more detailed invitation early next week! We look forward to seeing you there!

✊Solidarity Spotlight

National AFL-CIO Convention Kicks off a Week ahead of Florida!

A bit of upward Solidarity this week, as just ahead of our own COPE Convention, the National AFL-CIO is preparing to kick off their own 30th Annual AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention. A great way to stay up to date as to the latest developments in Washington and from our siblings across the state. Direct from the national, see below:

On Sunday, union leaders and activists from around the country will gather in Minneapolis for our 30th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention. We’ll do the work to define a labor movement agenda that empowers working people, changes lives and builds an America that works for all of us.

In the three days following the start of the convention, we will hear speeches from workers, leaders and allies. We will feature panels and trainings on crucial issues like AI, immigration, organizing, worker safety and much more. We’ll talk about what’s happening in Minnesota, and how labor and allies have come together to fight injustice and oppression, and to stand up for working people. Will you tune in?

WATCH SUNDAY AT 2 P.M. ET

We’ll be streaming the convention live on aflcio.tv and our social media platforms: Sunday, June 7: 2–6 p.m.Monday, June 8: 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m.Tuesday, June 9: 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m.Wednesday, June 10: 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.We can’t do this work alone. That’s why the theme of our convention is “With You.” Our solidarity is critical. We know the power unions have to change lives. Our labor built America, and our unions have kept it strong and will continue pushing it forward. With you, we can. Will you join us?

In solidarity, 
Team AFL-CIO

🗓️On the Horizon

Aren’t you glad this is the final time you’ll see this graphic?
  • Statewide
    • June 13th – June 14th: 2026 Florida AFL-CIO COPE Endorsing Convention
    • First Monday of every Month: FLARA Monthly Meetings:
      • The Florida Alliance of Retired Americans (FLARA) invites any and all to attend their monthly zoom meetings. FLARA meets on the first Friday of every month at 10 AMEST, and features guest speakers and relevant information for retirees from national and state governments as well as important information on demonstrations, partner activities, etc.
      • Those interested in attending FLARA meetings should contact tammy@flara.org in order to get the monthly.

🛠️Business Board

📸Bonus Bulletin

Emotional Labor Law

Photo Credit: The New Yorker/Getty

This week the New Yorker’s Humor section covered an often understated and super serious aspect of labor we don’t get to cover often: Emotional Labor Law! As laid out by writer Zoey Pearl:

Just as the Department of Labor protects workers’ rights, promotes workplace safety, and advances job opportunities, the Department of Emotional Labor seeks to insure that vulnerable groups, such as customer-service employees, eldest daughters, and anyone whose co-workers think that D.E.I. is an outdoorsy retailer, are not exploited by being forced to take on an undue amount of work to make employers, customers, or emotionally immature parents more comfortable.

In states like ours and in years like this, we all could use a friendly reminder that our emotional labor is just as important to account for as much as our physical labor. What does the Department of Emotional Labor say on Unions? Well, good to keep in mind ahead of COPE is that:

All union disputes must be resolved before attending weddings, funerals, or birthdays where you will be forced to act like everything is fine while quietly wondering, “Is this it—is this the fight that breaks us?”

I think we could add that this can also apply to elections!

That concludes this week’s roundup! As a reminder, The Florida Labor Letter will be on hiatus next week as our COPE Convention gets underway. We look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks with news of endorsements and more! Thank you for reading and as always, In Solidarity!

Got any tips, actions, or messages you’d like to see in this email?

Please email Daniel Diaz at ddiaz@flaflcio.org

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