Florida Chamber Business Agenda

For the past decade Florida Chamber members have help set the Florida Chamber’s legislative agenda for jobs. Commonly referred to as the Florida Business Agenda, our jobs plan is based on input from our members, local chambers of commerce, association partners and research. This annual agenda serves as a blueprint for private-sector job creation and a guide for the legislature and Governor to leverage as they focus on securing Florida’s future.

2013 Business Agenda: Making Florida More Competitive

With Washington bogged down in uncertainty –the fiscal cliff fiasco, increased payroll taxes, a delayed sequestration decision, and a regulatory tsunami that is emerging from the Beltway – Florida has an opportunity to lead the nation in solving challenges that will make our nation more competitive.

The Florida Chamber’s Competitiveness Agenda includes:

• Tax Reform – Leveling the playing field for small businesses and Main Street through E-Fairness, and eliminating manufacturing equipment sales tax to help grow Florida-origin exports.
• Legal Reform – Improving Florida’s 41st worst legal climate which, studies show, could save $2.8 billion in legal costs and increase employment by as much as two percent.
• Business Climate Reform – Preempting special interests from creating a patchwork of local paid sick referendums, stabilizing and lowering workers’ comp rates that are artificially higher due to drug repackaging abuses, and reforming Florida’s broken property insurance system by addressing major systemic flaws in Citizens Property Insurance and the CAT Fund.
• Excellence in Education – Provide a globally competitive education by ensuring education readies Floridians for the 21st century economy, enhancing education options, preparing future generations for a changing workforce, and making Floridians competitive in the global marketplace.
• Quality of Life – While every state is dealing with the federal health care act, the Florida Chamber looks forward to being a part of the Florida’s debate. As we grow another six million people by 2030, Florida will need more healthcare professionals to pursue medical residencies. Additionally, Florida must repair its unfair medical malpractice system that’s causing doctors to choose other states to open their practices. The Florida Chamber continues to oppose the expansion of Las Vegas-style gambling.

A complete listing of the Florida Chamber’s Competitiveness Agenda, which outlines more than two dozen priorities that fall under the Six Pillars framework, is outlined in Where We Stand.