What You Did In 2022:
The Opportunity For All Floridians year in review
There are more than
members of Opportunity For All Floridians.
We live in big cities and small towns, in farming communities, retirement homes, and fishing villages.
We live in all
We care about:
We believe in opportunity for all Floridians.
We communicated over
with our state lawmakers, county officials, utility commissioners and the governor this year.
If you printed our emails out and laid them end to end, they would span the
Seven-Mile Bridge
in the Florida Keys end-to-end.
And these emails, petitions, and phone calls made a difference.
Read more about the impact you had in 2022.
Democracy
Thanks to you, Opportunity For All Floridians stood up for citizen ballot initiatives when the Florida Legislature threatened to limit citizen participation in our democracy.
The Bill
Actions You Took:
The Results:
- The bill was dropped.
The bill passed both committees on the House side but was not heard in a committee on the Senate side. The Senate President and Speaker of the House have a lot of power to push bills through or kill them. In this case, The Senate President Wilton Simpson did not prioritize this bill.
Read more
Standing Up to the Monopoly Utilities
You stopped a wasteful giveaway to big electric companies when the Florida legislature tried to pass a law which threatened our solar freedom and would have raised everyone’s power bills. With the help of your actions, we pressured the governor to veto the bill.
The Bill
Actions You Took:
The Results:
- The bill was vetoed.
The bill passed the House and Senate on mostly party lines, there were three Senate Democrats and 4 House Reps who voted yes on the bill. The bill was vetoed by Governor DeSantis.
Read more
Freedom to Pass Local Ordinances / Animal Cruelty
You stopped a dangerous preemption law that would have taken power away from local governments, and given more power to the puppy mill industry. With the help of your actions, we pressured the governor to veto the bill.
The Bill
Actions You Took:
The Results:
- The bill was vetoed.
This was a priority for Senate President Wilson in his last term. The vote was a party line with Sen. Brandes being the only defector on the Senate side. After it passed the Senate and the House, it was vetoed by Gov. DeSantis.
Read more
Standing Up Against Electric Price Gouging
You are continuing to take action. Right now, thousands of Floridians have emailed the Florida Public Service Commission to tell them to stop the price gouging from the big electric companies.
The Rule
Actions You Took:
The Results:
- No final decision made yet.
While the Public Service Commission has continuously issued rulings in favor of the monopoly utility companies in Florida, they have taken note of the immense public outrage over electric rate hikes.
Read more
Holding the Line on the Everglades
After the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners voted to override Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s veto of a misguided ordinance trashing the county’s urban development boundary, which protects the Everglades and spurs smart economic growth in the urban core, our Miami-Dade members took action to hold their elected officials accountable.
The Ordinance
Actions You Took:
The Results:
- Legal Challenges Filed
The County Commissioner voted to expand the urban development boundary, the Mayor vetoed the vote, the Commissioners used a 2/3rds rule to ignore the Mayor’s veto and allow developers to move forward with developing lands beyond the urban development boundary. Residents of South Dade have now filed a legal challenge to stop the sale from going through.
Read more
Anti-Voter Freedom Act
Despite widespread agreement from election officials that Florida’s elections are fair and secure, Florida lawmakers introduced a bill this year which will make it harder and more complicated for seniors to vote by mail. Vote by mail is a tradition that seniors, veterans and active duty military have used for decades.
The Bill
Actions You Took:
The Results:
- The bill is now law.
This bill passed on party lines and was signed by the Governor. It was challenged by several organizations in court. In May 2022, the appeals court ruled in favor of the state and it was upheld.
We hope you will continue to stay active with our work in 2023.
We wish you and your family a joyful holiday season and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Thank You!
