Liability

The bills would strip children of patients who die from neglect of the right to claim anything more than economic damages, tighten the rules around expert witnesses and exempt passive investors from liability.

Lawmakers last year passed a measure to help shield hospitals, nursing homes and other providers from lawsuits related to the coronavirus. The measure was set to expire March 29.

Under the proposal, public and private colleges and universities would be shielded from lawsuits stemming from campuses being shut down during the pandemic and students being forced to learn online.

A decision by House Judiciary Chairman Daniel Perez to shelve without discussion five amendments proposed by Democrats caused many leaning toward supporting the bill to back away.

The Judiciary Committee spent more than two hours debating the bill and four amendments before voting 7-4 along party lines to move it to the Commerce and Tourism Committee.

‌Representatives of hospitals,‌ ‌physician‌s ‌and‌ ‌long‌-term‌ ‌care‌ ‌facilities say ‌the‌ ‌Legislature‌ ‌needs‌ ‌to‌ ‌make‌ ‌changes‌ ‌to‌ ‌protect‌ them‌ ‌from‌ ‌a‌ ‌potential‌ ‌flood‌ ‌of‌ ‌lawsuits‌.

The bill is designed to protect business entities, educational institutions, religious institutions, and governmental entities acting in good faith," says Plant City state Rep. Lawrence McClure.

COVID-19 liability protection would address the more than 200,000 jobs that have been lost, according to the state government watchdog.

Neither chamber's measure contains lawsuit protections for health care providers, but Sen. Jeff Brandes, who sponsored the Senate version, says they will addressed in separate legislation.

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis is traveling the state visiting restaurants and their owners to push for COVID-19 liability protections for small businesses.