Florida's 32 United Ways strive daily to solve the most pressing education, income, health, and safety net challenges facing our communities.  Our work extends deep into the fabric of our communities and expands to embrace every opportunity to improve the lives of our neighbors and those we serve.

During the 2015 Session, we will focus on three Florida United Way Consensus Legislative Agenda priorities:  Early Learning, Access to Health Care, and Financial Stability.

While we will focus on these critical issues, we will also join our community partners in their advocacy efforts to improve the quality of life for all Floridians; pursuing issues that - together with our Consensus priorities - are fundamentally important to improving the health and well-being of our communities, today and tomorrow.

Working hard, but hardly getting by?  The United Way ALICE Report found that 30 percent of Florida households are above poverty yet are still Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.  With an additional 15 percent of families in poverty, nearly half of our state is in or close to financial crisis. This prevents millions of our children, seniors and workers from contributing to or benefiting from the state's economic recovery. The report has informed this year's United Way policy priorities that promote a more prosperous and sustainable Sunshine State.   See Appendix J, beginning on page 129 of the report, to see how large the ALICE population is in your community. 

Early Steps is one of Florida's most critically-needed services for children and their families. The program serves more than 43,000 children birth to 36 months old who have medical conditions such as Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, hearing/vision impairment, as well as children with significant developmental delays. It is instrumental in helping these children achieve their full life-time potentials. 

Last month, the Department of Health (DOH) notified the state's 15 Early Steps offices that $4.2 million would be cut from this year's program budget. When concerned legislators, led by Senator Renee Garcia, voiced their displeasure that such a cut would decimate direct services to children, the Department rescinded the cut, slashed state program office staffing, and told local Early Steps offices to reduce their administrative/operating costs by nine percent. In doing so, the Department assured Senator Garcia that direct services will not be impacted and the program will run more efficiently.

Early Steps experts and staff across the state strongly disagree, claiming that services and program quality will be compromised to the point that continued federal funding - about $50 million of the total $54 million budget - is jeopardized.

Dr. Celeste Philip, Deputy State Health Officer for Children's Medical Services in DOH, will testify next week about the "transition".  Advocates are looking forward to hearing the details.

Amendment 1, which passed last November with 75 percent of the vote, requires that 33 percent of documentary stamp revenue be placed into the Land Acquisition Trust Fund (LATF) and used for land and water conservation.

By law 16.9 percent of doc stamp collections are currently placed into Sadowski Housing Trust Funds; a dedicated revenue source to fund Florida's affordable housing programs that are a lifeline for low income families and individuals to attain or maintain their housing.

CS/SB 586 is one of several bills written to implement Amendment 1. As required by the Constitution, it would allocate 33 percent of doc stamp revenues to Amendment 1 programs. However, it changes the Housing distribution to 16.19 percent of doc stamp collections less the 33 percent given to Amendment 1. This means that housing would get 16.19 percent of 67 percent of doc stamp revenues instead of 16.19 percent of 100 percent of doc stamp revenues. The end result is that housing distributions would be reduced by more than $112M every year in the future.

The Sadowski Coalition - a broad-based coalition of non-profit and business partners, including the United Way of Florida - is working with legislators to craft a bill that implements Amendment 1 without causing harm to Floridians in need of affordable housing.

The Arc of Florida and the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council hosted 2015 Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day at the Capitol on Thursday.   Highlighting March as national Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, the event provided exhibitors an opportunity to display and share information and services available to persons and families with developmental disabilities.

A huge barrier to accessing health care for immigrant children lawfully residing in Florida is state law that makes them wait five years before they are eligible for KidCare.  During those five years, many forego needed care that could not only improve their quality of life, but help them succeed in school.

On Wednesday, SB 294 was unanimously passed by the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee.   The bill would remove the five year waiting period for more than 25,000 children.  Read more. 

While their parents are at work, hundreds of our youngest children across the state are cared for during the day in the homes of others.  670 of those family day care homes are members of Florida Family Child Care Home Association (FFCCHA).   FFCCHA members strive to ensure the care they provide is safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate.

Unfortunately, there are thousands of family child care homes around the state where home owners are charging fees to take care of unrelated children, but the quality of the care and the safety of the children is unknown.

CS/SB 210, which was passed by the Senate Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee on Thursday, is intended to - at least minimally - protect children who are in unlicensed and unregulated child care facilities and family child care homes during the day.  Among others, the bill: 

• Defines "family day care home" as an occupied residence where care, protection, and supervision of a child takes place for a period of less than 24 hours a day on a regular basis, is regularly provided for children from at least two unrelated families, and which either receives a payment, fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care or advertises the availability of its services, whether or not it receives a payment, fee, or grant.
• Requires a registered family day care home to conspicuously display its license or registration in the common area of the home. 
• Requires a family day care home not subject to licensure to register annually with the Department of Children and Families and provide basic information such as name and address, proof of background screening, number of children being cared for, and plans for a substitute.
• Requires screening and background checks for the operator, each household member, and the designated substitute.
• Makes it a misdemeanor to advertise a child care facility, a child care facility exempt from licensure, a family day care home, or a large family child care home without including within such advertisement the state or local agency license number, exemption number, or registration number of the facility.

Although Florida's uninsured population declined 3.8% from 2013 to 2014, the Sunshine State is among the states that still have the highest rate of uninsured residents, according to a Gallup study released late last month. This state's uninsured rate of 18.3 percent in 2014 ranks it in the highest quintile in the nation. Many states in the South rank in the highest two quintiles. States that expanded Medicaid saw larger drops in uninsured rates and, for the seventh consecutive year, Massachusetts has the lowest uninsured rate in the nation, at 4.6 percent. Read the report.