STATE NEWS BRIEFS
Rounding to nearest nickel, tax breaks for eVTOLs and voyeur privacy laws
Florida State Capitol
Merchants could round up, down to nearest nickel
Businesses could round cash sales up or down to the nearest nickel, to account for the discontinuation of the penny, under a bill that is moving in both legislative chambers.
The House Ways & Means Committee unanimously backed a measure (HB 951) on Feb. 2 that establishes rounding procedures when the business is unable to provide exact change to those paying by cash.
“This bill just makes sense,” said bill sponsor Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota.
The U.S. Mint suspended production of the penny on Nov. 12, 2025, due to production costs.
Under McFarland’s proposal, purchases could be rounded down to the nearest nickel involving cash sales that end in 1, 2, 6 or 7, and rounded up to the nearest nickel when the sale ends in 3, 4, 8 or 9.
McFarland’s bill must still go before the Insurance & Banking Subcommittee and the Commerce Committee before it can be considered by the full House.
A similar measure in the Senate (SB 1074) was unanimously backed by the Commerce and Tourism Committee on Jan. 21. The Senate bill also has two more committee stops.
Tax breaks sought for electric aircraft
State lawmakers hope Florida will play a major role in efforts to develop new technologies for air transportation, as a key state legislative committee advanced a proposal on Feb. 2 to help those efforts take off in the state.
The House Ways & Means Committee unanimously approved an incentive package for “advanced air mobility” projects around the state aimed at developing a network of battery-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically.
Carrying a handful of people like a family car, the aircraft have inspired many joking references to the flying cars in the Jetsons animated show of a high-tech future. The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft typically have a range of 60 to 100 miles on a single charge, although some are designed for longer trips.
The incentives advanced on Monday include tax breaks on aircraft, batteries, training equipment and electricity used for the new type of aircraft. It allows the Florida Department of Transportation to fund infrastructure improvements, streamlines regulations for the building of “vertiports” and allows public-private partnerships to be used to construct the new facilities.
Rep. Leonard Spencer, a Gotha Democrat, said the measure was intended to make sure “Florida leads in this next phase of aviation.”
“Advanced air mobility is moving from testing to deployment, and states that put the right policies in place now will capture the jobs, capital, investment and innovation that come along with it,” he said. “This bill ensures Florida is leading other states in this growing industry.”
He said the new technologies could be used to provide many different services, including air taxis, medical transport, disaster response and cargo delivery.
Spencer said the development of new kinds of aircraft could also help rural airports and general aviation airports for private aircraft attract new business.
Rep. Doug Bankson, R-Apopka, was the only lawmaker to express any hesitation about the new proposal, although he ultimately voted for it.
Bankson said he worried about legislators jumping in now would be “premature” when the industry is rapidly changing.
“It’s not that there’s not some good things here that I disagree with wholeheartedly. [But] is it time at this point?” said Bankson, who is a pilot. “When I’m flying in the plane, we’re real clear between left seat and right seat, who has the airplane. It felt like someone grabbing that other yoke at the same time. FDOT is already moving a lot of the things you’re saying.”
But Bankson said he was encouraged in conversation with state transportation department officials that the agency could work in tandem with Spencer to promote the industry.
Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue has championed advanced air mobility for years. He and Gov. Ron DeSantis saw prototypes of the VTOLs last June at the Paris Air Show, an international aerospace trade fair and air show. In October, the two announced plans for an aerial test bed at the department’s SunTrax facility in Polk County.
The proposal must still pass two more committees before going before the full House.
Legislation would expand voyeur privacy laws
Floridians should expect privacy from digital voyeurs when in their own fenced-in yards under a bill that passed by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Feb. 2
The committee advanced a measure (SB 1536) that would expand the term “reasonable expectation of privacy” to any privately fenced yard.
“All of my neighbors at home and here in Tallahassee have cameras, but we all have a sort of an agreement and expectation that they’re pointing at areas and lanes and side areas and alleyways, on intrusions to their property, not to spy and be creepy with each other,” said bill sponsor Sen. Jason Pizzo, NPA-Sunny Isles Beach.
Currently, an individual can face a digital voyeurism charge for secretly recording a person without their knowledge or consent while dressing, undressing or privately exposing their body where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, according to a Senate bill analysis. A reasonable expectation of privacy is already covered for areas that include the interior of a residential dwelling, bathroom, changing room, fitting room, dressing room or tanning booth.
The proposal, which has two more committee stops, doesn’t have a House companion.
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