2022 Pending State Legislation

Legislative Update / By LT Col Bob Bienvenue, USAF, Ret., Legislative Chair

2022 Pending State Legislation Affecting Service members and their Families who Reside in Florida

By Lt Col Bob Bienvenue, USAF, Ret., Legislative Chair

This legislation has been introduced during the preliminary work sessions of the Florida Legislature. The bills are to be considered by the assigned committees and voted on in the regular session of 2022: January 11th -March 11th.
The FCoC strategy for supporting these bills will be discussed at the Leadership Conference in January 2022.

SB 0358 Professional Counselors Licensure Compact Ana Maria Rodriguez; R-39
Creating the Professional Counselors Licensure Compact; providing for recognition of the privilege to practice licensed professional counseling in member states; specifying that licensees practicing in a remote state under the compact must adhere to the laws and rules of the remote state.

HB 0559 Occupational Licensure of Military Spouses Christine Hunschofsky; D-96 SB 0562 Military Occupational Licensure Janet Cruz; D-18
Requires DBPR or applicable board to expedite professional license applications submitted by spouses of active duty members of Armed Forces; requires DPBR to issue temporary professional licenses under certain circumstances; requires DOH or applicable board to issue professional license to spouses of active duty members of Armed Forces if certain requirements are met

SB 0430 Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children Tom Wright; R-14
HB 0153 Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children Thad Altman; R-52
Extends the scheduled repeal of the compact and related provisions (affecting Military Children enrolled in Florida schools)

SB 0896 Educator Certification Pathways for Veterans Danny Burgess; R-20
HB 0573 Educator Certification Pathways for Veterans John Snyder; R-82
Expands eligibility to seek educator certification to specified military servicemembers who have completed a specified education requirement; authorizing the Department of Education to issue a temporary certificate to specified military servicemembers who have completed a specified education requirement; specifying the duration of a temporary certificate for specified military servicemembers.

2022 Pending State Legislation Read More »

Legislative Updates

CVS will rejoin the TRICARE pharmacy network as of Dec. 15, while Walmart/Sam’s Club will leave the network at the same time, Express Scripts officials told MOAA. With the change, military families will have access to the two largest chain drugstores in the U.S. – Walgreens and CVS – together with many smaller chains and independent pharmacies. Ask Your Lawmakers to Support the Major Richard Star Act. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) have introduced the Major Richard Star Act as an amendment to the NDAA – Senate Amendment 3984 to H.R. 4350 would support over 48,000 combat injured with medical retired pay and VA disability payments concurrently. Under current law, these combat injured (and often seriously disabled) veterans are subject to an offset where their medical retirement pay is reduced for every dollar of VA disability received. Servicemembers forced to retire because they were injured in combat – like Maj. Richard Star, USAR, who passed away earlier this year – had their retirement pay significantly reduced. The Comforting our Military Families through On-base or Remote Treatment (COMFORT) Act (S. 3021/H.R. 5758) would seek to Improve License Portability for Military Family Counselors. The COMFORT Act will help reduce the shortage of behavioral health providers and better equip DoD to meet the demand for counseling services for military families. With increased license portability, MFLC counselors will have increased flexibility to respond to local traumatic events, natural disasters, or redeployment of multiple units to one military ba