Legislative Action
Rep. Driskell is fighting for every Floridian’s freedom to be healthy, prosperous, and safe.
Even though Republicans have the majority, she’s committed to delivering results for our community.
This legislative session, Rep. Driskell has proposed legislation addressing everything from standing up for our public schools, protecting American history, and bettering mental health care. Make your voice heard. Click the links below to email Rep. Driskell’s fellow legislators and tell them to take action on her bills.
As it stands today, the Governor of the State of Florida has the power to appoint whomever they choose as the Commissioner of Education. The Commissioner of Education then has authority over education programming and spending throughout the state and has an enormous influence over how our local school districts can make decisions for our communities. Unfortunately, we’ve seen how badly this procedure worked when the Education Commissioner tried to penalize local school districts for making decisions during the pandemic that were designed to protect children, teachers, and their families. And voters have no direct recourse.
This bill gives voters the power to appoint the Commissioner of Education. It would place power over our kids’ education directly into the hands of parents and the community instead of protecting a Governor’s ability to show political favoritism to the detriment of our communities. The people should have a direct say in our school system as we work together to keep our students safe and set them up for success.
One of our fundamentally held beliefs as Americans is that people are considered innocent until proven guilty. Sometimes, the system gets it wrong and someone is unjustly imprisoned – they are shown to be innocent, but have been jailed or imprisoned – taken away from their homes, families, and communities with their reputations ruined.
They will never be able to get that time back, but we, as a society, have a responsibility to do all we can to help them. Unfortunately, the current laws offer very limited opportunities to petition for compensation and very restrictive amounts that can be granted.
This bill gives people who have been wrongfully incarcerated more time to petition for that help, and adjusts the eligibility for compensation. It gives Florida’s CFO the ability to adjust the compensation for inflation and specifies that certain types of payments have to be specifically approved by the Florida Legislature.
Social Media usage has become part of our daily lives as a society. And our children are often the first users of new forms of communication. If HB 361 becomes law, it would require that schools provide social media literacy training – teaching students about the benefits of these resources and how they can avoid the dangers that new technologies can pose. Information about the literacy training would be made directly available to parents, and local school districts would have the power to design curriculum that helps children make more informed decisions about how the use social media so that they can learn to protect themselves and others.
This bill builds on Rep. Driskell’s prior, groundbreaking legislation to create a task force to uncover abandoned Black cemeteries in Florida. This bill, which has widespread, bipartisan support, will create the Historic Cemeteries Program within the Division of Historical Resources. The goal of the Office would be to restore and maintain abandoned Black cemeteries and other historic cemeteries across the state. That way, we can protect the history and lineage of our state and all Floridians.
Mental health affects every aspect of a minor’s growth and well-being. Unfortunately, some minors are at greater risk and need mental health care intervention. This bill balances the need for involuntary mental health intervention with the best interests of children – making sure that kids are protected from embarrassment and that they are shown respect at every step of the process. We must ensure that we are uplifting the mental health of our children in order to set them up for success in the future, and this bill will accomplish that end.
This bill changes the existing law to ensure that public universities cannot deny Florida residents certain benefits, including in-state tuition, based on their immigration status if they’ve been granted temporary protected status or DACA status by the US Department of Homeland Security. It also creates a Professional Student Loan Repayment Program designed to incentivize students to become doctors, nurses, teachers, dentists, and veterinarians in parts of the state that are facing desperate shortages.
HB 649 clarifies existing laws to protect funds or accounts that have been transferred as part of a divorce. Specifically, if a fund or account was protected from creditors when it was owned by a former spouse, it will keep that same protection when it is transferred to the other former spouse. At a particularly difficult time in people’s lives, our government should be working to make people’s lives easier and this bill will help relieve some monetary stress people may face coming out of a divorce.
This bill creates the “Drive for Success Pilot Program” within the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation. For many individuals, a parking ticket is no small matter. They may have to choose between paying it or the rent. If they lose their license as a result of the unpaid ticket, they may not be able to make it to work or school. Essentially, a parking ticket can ruin a person’s entire future.
The purpose of the pilot program is to create a system that allows eligible individuals with driver’s licenses that have been suspended because of unpaid fines – instead of having to pay the fine in one lump sum, they can agree to a payment plan which allows them to keep their license while they pay off their fines. (Individuals aren’t eligible for the program if their license has been suspended because they have not made child support payments, have traffic-related felonies, have been designated as habitual offenders, or other similar violations.)
This pilot program would give people the chance to keep their lives on track while they fulfill their obligations to repay fines.
