Takeaways from Tallahassee — On to 2022!

Good morning, Florida! T-255 days till the 2022 Legislative Session begins. That may seem like a lot, but after the whirlwind of the last 60 days, it’ll be here before you know it.

One person who’s going to be busy for the foreseeable future is Gov. Ron DeSantis. While lawmakers may have introduced 12% fewer bills and PCBs this year, they got 31% more across the finish line.

Here’s the story in numbers …

2021:

— 3,140: Bills and PCBs filed.

— 2,632: Amendments filed.

— 3,788: Votes taken.

— 39: Floor sessions.

— 275: Bills passed in both chambers.

Compared to 2020 …

— 3,578: Bills and PCBs filed.

— 2,596: Amendments filed.

— 4,223: Votes taken.

— 40: Floor sessions.

— 210: Bills passed in both chambers.

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Coming up, the usual assortment of tidbits, leftovers and not-ready-for-prime-time moments by Peter Schorsch, Drew Wilson, Renzo Downey, Jason Delgado, Haley Brown and the staff of Florida Politics.

Take 5

The “Takeaway 5” — the Top 5 stories from the week that was:

Lawmakers finalize budget at $101.5 billion — For the first time in state history, the budget will top $100 billion. That’s $9.3 billion larger than the current year’s $92.2 billion budget, an increase Florida can attribute almost entirely to the state’s pandemic response. Among the gains is a $4.3 billion boost to account for an additional 1 million Medicaid enrollees and $2.8 billion in federal stimulus for child care. “It’s a lot,” House budget chief Jay Trumbull told members. The budget outlines $6.7 billion in American Rescue Plan spending too, adding to the state’s tab. In that funding are bonus checks to the state’s first responders.

Transgender athletes, seaports bills revived — Republicans brought legislation to ban transgender women from playing in women’s sports back from the dead Wednesday and passed it through the House and Senate. Simultaneously, Republicans revived preemption legislation to undercut a local referendum in Key West regarding cruise lines, complicating the final week of the Session. The “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” tacked on a school choice bill, drew impassioned and emotional debate from both sides of the aisle. The seaport preemption was added at the last minute to a transportation package after it had apparently stalled in the House.

Legislature passes DeSantis’ priorities, including elections bill — The Legislature passed the GOP’s bill to increase election fraud prevention measures over complaints from Democrats and Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes. Thursday evening, the House agreed to the Senate’s language along party lines after holding out against most of those provisions for days. Democrats in the House only had less than three hours to review what Republicans had decided to agree to. Lawmakers also passed a bill to crack down on “censorship” by social media platforms. A late addition to that bill included a carveout for theme parks, meant to free Disney Plus from the regulation. Lawmakers also approved a ban on vaccine passports. All three measures were priorities of DeSantis.

DeSantis extends COVID-19 state of emergency — With hours remaining in the state of emergency, DeSantis issued another 60-day extension on Tuesday. However, he warned the state to prepare to resume nonemergency operations. The extension also includes new language addressing vaccine passports and schools. Two days later, Surgeon General Scott Rivkees quietly pulled back most of the public health advisories and recommended that government services should be in-person going forward. Both moves hinged on the growing share of vaccinated Floridians. Data released Friday shows that 8.8 million Floridians have received at least one shot.

DeSantis signs Right to Farm Act update — In a ceremony with farming and legislative leaders Thursday, DeSantis signed an update to Florida’s Right to Farm Act, a priority of Senate President Wilton Simpson. Several members changed their votes on the bill from no to yes after farmers from the Everglades explained why they need the measure. Ultimately, the bill passed over opposition from seven representatives and one senator, all Democrats. Several of the Governor’s priorities went unheard during long pauses in the Senate on Wednesday, leading to some questions of whether the Senate President intentionally held up those bills as leverage to get DeSantis to sign the farming proposal. Simpson denied intentionally holding them up when asked by reporters.