Florida’s 2020 legislative session begins Tuesday. In advance, the Times editorial board has prepared editorials and columns on some of the key topics that will be discussed during the 60-day legislative session.

This piece will offer you a primer on each one.

Teachers and the classroom

“This could be the year of the teacher in the Florida legislature,” the Times editorial board argues in this piece. With Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposal to raise the minimum teacher salary and rework the bonus program for teachers, there is a lot on the table for teachers this year.

High school students need to earn credentials that will actually prepare them for life after graduation, writes Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future and the CEO of ExcelinEd. But students should also focus on credentials for positions where there is significant demand, like IT security professionals and automobile service technicians.

Amendment 4

Florida voters “righted an historic wrong in 2018 by passing Amendment 4, which was aimed at ending a burdensome process for felons to regain their voting rights,” says the Times editorial board. But last year, state legislators passed a law that required felons pay all court fees, fines and restitution before being allowed to vote. “The move drastically undercut the promise of Amendment 4, which was believed to restore the right to vote to up to 1.4 million Floridians.”

Last month, 31 people in Hillsborough County got back the right to vote through a new program from Hillsborough County Clerk of Court Pat Frank and State Attorney Andrew Warren. In this column, Frank goes so far as to say that a law requiring felons to pay their fines, fees and court costs before receiving their right to vote may not be in word a “poll tax,” it essentially is one, in deed.

Affordable housing

There’s a reason the Florida Legislature created an affordable housing trust fund in 1992. So why aren’t they fully using it, asks the Times editorial board. The question comes down to “whether legislators think accessible and comfortable housing is a basic human right, or just one only the middle class and the wealthy deserve.”

Toll roads

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“A trip along the west coast of Florida from the Panhandle to the Everglades is a voyage through some of the state’s finest remaining natural lands,” writes former secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, Victoria Tschinkel. But three proposed toll roads could soon threaten those lands—"and the waters they shelter."

Local control

“Why do Florida legislators act like mayors?” asks former Republican strategist and lobbyist Mac Stipanovich in this column. It used to be that the Republican Party of the Reagan era believed “the best government is that closest to the people.” But that is no longer the case.

The death penalty

“If the governor goes ahead in his quest to execute Death Row inmates James Dailey,” writes columnist Daniel Ruth, “all of that blood on DeSantis’ hands could make those bill-signing ceremonies a bit messy.”

Should insurers get your DNA?

“Did you know that the DNA testing kit you received for Christmas could be used against you?” asks State Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor. He has filed legislation that will require that genetic testing companies cannot “sell or share” results and prohibit insurers from using them to base policies and pricing.