TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – State senators quickly began filing bills as they prepare for the 2025 legislative session, which begins March 4.

Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, officially took over the leadership of their respective chambers for the next two years during an organizational session last week.

House and Senate committees will meet over several months in December, January and February to begin examining the proposals ahead of the 60-day session.

Bills submitted so far for consideration during the 2025 session include:

• A measure (SB 48) aimed at closing loopholes used in condo foreclosure auctions.

• A proposal (SB 58) that would amend boating laws and add the death of an “unborn child” to the definition of “vessel homicide” by reckless boating operations that cause injury to the mother.

• A bill (SB 46) that would establish a list of programs and degrees that a nonpublic, religious postsecondary institution may offer to be exempt from state licensure.

• A proposal (SB 56) that seeks to prohibit the injection, release, or dispersion of any chemical or device into the atmosphere “with the express purpose of affecting the temperature, weather, or intensity of sunlight.”

The measures filed last week by Sens. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami, Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral, and Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, are not the first bills to be filed for the next session that begins in March. 4.

In August, senators were able to begin introducing bills seeking payments for people who suffered injuries and damages from the actions of state and local government agencies.

The proposals, known as “claim” bills, are required at least in part because of a state sovereign immunity law that generally limits the amount of money government agencies can be ordered to pay in lawsuits to $200,000 or $300,000 depending on how many people are involved. Claims bills allow payments higher than the limits.

State lawmakers filed 1,902 bills, memorials or resolutions — including twin proposals filed by the House and Senate — for the 2024 legislative session, which ended in March. Governor Ron DeSantis signed 299 measures into law and vetoed 14 bills. The bill’s totals do not include thousands of funding requests submitted by lawmakers for local projects, services and organizations.

Unlike their counterparts in the Senate, state representatives are limited to filing seven stand-alone bills.

Perez earlier this month revamped the House bill filing process, saying House members “seemed to have been under the mistaken impression that their bills would automatically appear in a committee session” for the past two years.

“Next, if you want a president to consider hearing your bill, you will be required to write to the president to put your bill on the agenda. Your request must also include information on the Senate’s anticipated companion bill. Please note that although sending a letter will be a procedural prerequisite for a bill to be placed on the agenda, it will not in itself be sufficient. Members will be expected to work on the bills and fully engage not only with the chairs, but also with committee members,” Perez wrote in a Nov. 13 memo.

Perez also created a new process for bills to be reviewed by staff members, which he said is aimed at improving “readability, usefulness and interactivity.”

The revised procedure “will present new challenges for our staff in both adapting our current practices and integrating new technological features into their work,” Perez wrote in a Nov. 15 memo to members. “But we believe the result will be worth it. We hope this new analysis of the bill will improve our understanding of the issues and better prepare us to make the decisions that the people of Florida have elected us to make.”