5 New FL Laws That May Change Your Life In 2020

ACROSS FLORIDA — If you've continued to text while you drive despite a new Florida law banning the practice, your grace period is over.

Starting Jan. 1, law enforcement agencies will begin ticketing people caught texting and driving. Although the law went into effect July 1, residents were given a six-month grace period to adapt to the new law before law enforcement began issued tickets.

House Bill 107, sponsored by Tampa Rep. Jackie Toledo, allows law enforcement to pull over drivers who tap out messages on their cellphones while behind the wheel.

The Republican representative introduced the bill on behalf of a Riverview couple whose 9-year-old son, Logan Andrew Scherer, was killed two years ago on Interstate 75 when a driver who was texting failed to see traffic stopped on the interstate and struck the rear of their SUV at 90 mph. Logan was killed and his parents and sister were seriously injured.

Prior to the new law, Florida was one of only four states in the country in which texting and driving was a secondary offense. Drivers could only be cited for texting while driving when they were pulled over for a primary traffic violation such as speeding or running a stop sign.

In addition to making texting and driving a primary offense, the bill also makes school zones and active work zones hands-free areas. That means drivers can't even hold a cell phone in those zones.

"There have been too many families impacted by the dangers of texting and driving," said Toledo. "Whether we are drivers, passengers, students on the way to school, construction workers on the road or law enforcement, this law protects us all."

Toledo's bill was endorsed by law enforcement agencies around the state.

"Using a cell phone is a dangerous distraction for drivers," Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said. "There has never been a text message sent or received that is important enough to endanger an innocent life."

The penalty for first-time texting violators is a $30 fine plus court costs. Violators caught in a school or work zone will be fined $60 and have three points added to their license.

Nationally, cell phone usage by drivers causes 1.6 million (one out of four) crashes each year.

See related stories:

• Texting And Driving Now Against The Law In Florida
• Bill Banning Texting And Driving Overwhelming Passed In House
• State Rep Files Bill To Make Holding Phone While Driving Illegal

Minimum Wage Increase

Another new law taking effect Jan. 1 will put a few more dimes in the pockets of minimum wage employees.

The state’s minimum wage will increase from $8.46 to $8.56 an hour on Jan. 1, with a minimum wage of at least $5.54 an hour for tipped employees, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity.

However, this November Florida voters will have the opportunity to decide if the state minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

A petition drive to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour received enough signatures to make it onto the November 2020 ballot as a constitutional amendment. The effort, led by Orlando trial attorney John Morgan, gathered the more than 766,200 signatures of registered voters needed to place Amendment 2 on the ballot.

If approved by voters, the minimum wage would increase to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021 and then go up a dollar an hour each year until it reaches $15 on Sept. 30, 2026.

Not everyone likes the idea of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, however.

In November, business owners along Pinellas County's beaches rallied against the increase, saying the increase would force them to raise prices and lay off workers.

The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce estimates it would cost businesses $15,000 more per employee, forcing owners of small businesses to cut 1.3 million jobs statewide.

Honor And Remember Flag

Also as of Jan. 1, Florida will designate the Honor and Remember flag as the state emblem,authorizing the display of the flag bearing the words "Honor and Remember" at specified locations on specified days.

The effort to adopt the Honor and Remember flag was part of a national movement to recognize the sacrifice of America’s fallen military service members and their families. The Honor and Remember Flag is intended to fly continuously as a tangible reminder to all Americans of the lives lost in defense of national freedoms.

The Honor and Remember Flag was unveiled at a ceremony on Memorial Day, May 26, 2008. Since then, personalized flags containing the name, theater of operation and date of death of military members are regularly presented to families of fallen soldiers.

Photo courtesy Honor and Remember

Prescription Drug Bill

House Bill 831, sponsored by Pasco County state Rep. Amber Mariano, and Senate Bill 1192, filed by Sen. Aaron Bean of Jacksonville was introduced at the request of big-chain pharmacies.

The new law requires health care practitioners to generate and transmit all prescriptions electronically to pharmacies, except when electronic prescribing is unavailable due to a temporary electrical or technological failure.

The purpose of the bill is to allow for better tracking of prescription drugs and consistency in their processing although the new law may come as a relief to pharmacists frustrated with doctors' illegible handwritten prescriptions.

Tax Relief Bill

This is a catch-all bill that includes sales tax exemptions for disaster preparedness supplies, reduces the tax rates on rental fees, removes a limit on the transfer of homestead property deeds between spouses, decreases the civil penalties for people who are cited for certain noncriminal traffic violations and opt to attend a driver improvement course and provides exemptions for certain building materials to repair hurricane damage.