Florida Chamber Urges House Committee to Support HB 25

Download Letter   Regulatory Reform

The Florida Chamber of Commerce urges you to support HB 25. This bill, sponsored by Representative Scott Plakon, will be heard on Tuesday, December 5th in the House Government Accountability Committee.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce believes in transparency and accountability throughout collective bargaining in our state. Currently, an organization may become certified by the state as a bargaining agent of an entire class of public employees without having an adequate number of those employees within its membership. This bill places reasonable protections on this certification process. This common sense step will better protect the rights of government employees to associate – and not associate – with organizations based on their values. This legislation is important to Florida’s business community because this bill:

– Will add transparency into all levels of collective bargaining and lobbying by giving the public a clearer understanding of how many people the union represents; and

– Protects public servants from bad actors that may deceptively claim to be acting on their behalf.

The Florida Chamber urges you to support HB 25, and will consider votes on this legislation, and any substantive amendments to it in committee or on the floor, in our annual How They Voted report card. Because of the importance of this issue to employers across the state, our Board of Directors has determined that this bill, and any substantive amendments to it in committee or on the floor, will be counted twice on our legislative report card. The grade that you earn will be based on your voting record on the issues, such as this one. We will make every effort to notify you prior to a vote that may be included in our annual legislative report card. If you have any questions about this or other issues, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Frank C. Walker, III
Vice President of Government Affairs