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The Florida House and Senate formally called the 2020 legislative session to order on Tuesday, January 14. For the next nine weeks, lawmakers will work to pass the 2020-2021 state budget and consider a wide variety of bills that will affect communities across Florida.

SB 404 (Stargel) was heard by its second committee of reference, Senate Judiciary. After a lengthy period of testimony and a procedural move by an opponent that could have delayed a vote on the bill, it favorably passed the committee (3-2).

The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed (5-2) a bill that would create a new statewide consumer-loan program that could charge interest rates as high as 36 percent on small-dollar loans. Florida statutes consider interest rates beyond 18 percent to be usurious. However, consumer finance loans (installment loans largely accessed by individuals with limited access to capital and traditional financial services) are allowed to charge up to 30 percent under current Florida law.

The 2020 Regular Session of the Florida Legislature is scheduled to begin Tuesday, January 14. Lawmakers will convene in Tallahassee for 60 days to debate and vote on proposed legislation and to pass a state budget for fiscal year 20-21. The annual session is scheduled to conclude on March 13.

The FCCB has identified its public policy priorities for the 2020 Legislative Session, set to begin January 14. Key issues of concern are identified under the advocacy areas of life, education, health care, and family & social concerns.

On Saturday, November 30, communities across the globe dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty and a more civil form of justice will participate in The World Day of Cities for Life / Cities Against the Death Penalty. Specific efforts vary by location, but many cities take part by lighting up major historical, religious, or civic monuments. In turn, those illuminated monuments become symbols of a commitment to creating a world without the death penalty. This annual event has been spearheaded by the Rome-based lay Catholic community of Sant'Egidio since 2002. November 30 coincides with the anniversary of the first death penalty abolition in history, which occurred in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy on November 30, 1786. Today, the top five nations carrying out executions are China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.