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Several House bills, sponsored by State Rep. Doug Bankson, a Republican whose District 39 includes Winter Garden, have unanimously passed their initial committee meetings. Legislation includes establishing the governor’s “faith and community office” to provide services to Floridians, among other proposals.
House Bill 253 would increase the penalty for a motorist operating a vehicle equipped with red, white and/or blue lights (essentially posing as a police officer) from a first-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony.
HB 253 would also prohibit motorists from buying, owning, using, making and selling devices that hide license plates from view or automatically switch between two or more license plates. Bankson called the legislation a “tag-flipping bill.” Tag flippers are manual or automated devices that can hide or “flip” a license plate to so that it’s not detected by speed cameras, toll systems and other license plate readers. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, illegal license plate altering has increased 98 percent since 2020.
Under the bill, a person who purchases or possesses a license plate obscuring device would be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor; those who manufacture or sell one would be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor; and those who use the device to aid with a crime would be charged with a third-degree felony.
The Criminal Justice Subcommittee, which counts Bankson as a member, replaced the original draft bill with a committee substitute, and that's what was passed unanimously, 17-0, March 12; the Government Operations Subcommittee approved it 18-0 March 25. The Judiciary Committee will now consider it.
House Bill 999 would make gold and silver available to be used as money to purchase goods and services and exempt the materials from personal property tax.
Currently, the precious metals can only be used for investment purposes. It passed by 16-0 in its initial reading in the Insurance and Banking Subcommittee March 20 and will now be considered in the Ways and Means Committee.
Republican Rep. Chip Lamarca of Broward County co-sponsored the bill, while Sen. Ana Maria Gomez, a Republican, introduced companion legislation SB 132.
Bankson filed similar legislation in the previous legislative session that died in committee. In a video about that bill to the Seminole County Chamber of Commerce last year, Bankson said, “We need to get this bill passed to push back against the centralized bank digital currency that is being developed.”
In the current session, Bankson also filed a related bill (HB 6021) that would exempt gold, silver and platinum from being taxed. The current statute only exempts the metals if they are in a single transaction and exceed $500 in value. The Ways and Means Committee voted unanimously 18-0 March 27, and it’s now with the Budget Committee.
House Bill 293 would add statutory weight to Governor DeSantis’s Faith Office by establishing the Executive Office of Faith and Community. The bill aims to “better serve the most vulnerable persons of this state through more robust and connected faith and community networks in coordination with state resources.”
The office would: advocate for faith-based and community-based organizations that seek access to the government; establish a dedicated phone line between the governor and those organizations (this exists under the current office and is known as the “Red Phone”); and identify bureaucratic or regulatory issues that “restrict, impede or otherwise burden” organizations in providing services.
The Government Operations Subcommittee passed the legislation 18-0 March 25. Sen. Clay Yarbrough, a Republican, sponsored the companion bill SB 820. The Health and Human Services Committee is now considering the bill.
In the subcommittee, Bankson, who is the founder and senior pastor of the evangelical Victory Church World Outreach Center in Apopka, likened faith- and community-based organizations to nonprofits and police and fire departments because they all “work together for public safety, complimenting each other for a more efficient end.”
Rep. Daryl Campbell, of Broward County, the committee’s ranking Democrat, asked if the bill conflicts with the concept of the separation of church and state. Bankson said it didn’t, adding that there is no “governmental empowering of the faith-based community,” and that community and nonprofit groups would still be treated equally.
