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Sen. Bill Nelson

Nelson files series of bills aimed at range of issues important to Florida

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) filed a series of bills today aimed at tackling a wide range of issues important to the people of Florida – from protecting the state’s tourism-driven economy from the threat of offshore oil drilling to improving low-income housing and helping citrus growers recover from the devastating effects of a deadly citrus disease known as greening.
Among the measures Nelson introduced today are:

  • The Marine Oil Spill Prevention Act. In 2006, Nelson and then-Sen. Mel Martinez successfully brokered a deal to ban oil drilling off much of Florida’s Gulf Coast through most of 2022. As a result, a no-drilling zone currently extends 125 miles off much of Florida’s Gulf Coast and as far as 235 miles at some points to protect vital military training areas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. This moratorium is in effect until June 30, 2022. The legislation Nelson filed today would extend that ban for another five years, from 2022 to 2027. Text of the bill is available here.
  • The Housing Accountability Act. To help thousands of low-income families living in federally-subsidized housing such as Eureka Gardens in Jacksonville and Windsor Cove Apartments in Orlando, Nelson today re-filed legislation he first introduced last year to hold the owners of low-income housing complexes more accountable for poor living conditions. Nelson’s bill would, among other things, require the Department of Housing and Urban Development to survey the tenants of these housing complexes twice a year about property conditions and management performance. It would also create new penalties for property owners who repeatedly fail these tenant surveys. Text of the bill is available here.
  • Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act. To help Florida’s citrus growers replant millions of citrus trees lost to citrus greening, Nelson re-filed legislation today that would allow growers to immediately deduct the full cost of planting new trees, instead of over a 14-year period as required by current law. Citrus greening has been blamed for killing crops across the country, including more than 160,000 acres in Florida since 2005. Nelson’s bill would encourage growers to start the process of planting some of the nearly 20 million new trees experts say will be needed to get Florida’s citrus production back to the level it had reached nearly 10 years ago, before the greening disease began to ravage the state. Text of the bill is available here.
  • Counterterror Alert Act. Nelson today re-filed legislation he says may have prevented the tragic mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando had it been in effect prior to the incident. The bill, which Nelson initially filed last summer shortly after the tragedy, would ensure that the FBI is alerted if a suspected terrorist tries to purchase a firearm. It came to light shortly after the Pulse nightclub attack that the gunman responsible for that attack had once been on a terrorist watch list. Nelson’s bill would ensure that any individual who is, or has been, investigated for possible ties to terrorism is entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, which gun shop owners use to run checks on prospective gun buyers. And it would require that the NICS system automatically notify the appropriate division of the FBI if a background check is conducted for a prospective buyer who is, or has been, investigated for potential ties to terrorism. Text of the bill is available here.

Nelson files legislation to prevent repeal of Medicare “donut hole” provisions

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson filed legislation today to prevent Congress from repealing key provisions of the Affordable Care Act that have, on average, saved many of Florida’s Medicare-covered seniors nearly $1,000 per year on the cost of their prescription drugs.
The measure, which Nelson filed as an amendment to a broader budget bill currently under debate, would prevent the Senate from considering any legislation that repeals the Affordable Care Act’s provisions aimed at closing the gap in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage, commonly known as the “donut hole.”
Under current law, when a Medicare beneficiary and their plan spends $3,700 on prescription drugs in a single year, that beneficiary becomes responsible for a larger share of the cost of their prescription drugs until the beneficiary’s total out-of-pocket costs for the year reach $4,950, at which time Medicare will resume paying for the cost of the drugs.
Prior to the 2010 healthcare law taking effect, the gap in coverage started at $2,700 and ended at $6,100. The provisions included in the ACA have shrunk that gap and aims to completely close it by 2020.
Nelson’s measure would protect those provisions, ensuring that seniors continue to save on the cost of their prescription drugs even if Congress repeals the rest of the law.
“Closing this gap in coverage, known as the donut hole, has helped seniors in Florida save nearly $1,000 a year,” Nelson said. “Why would you want to get rid of that? We should be looking for ways to lower – not increase – the cost of prescription drugs, especially for our seniors.”
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the provisions Nelson wants to keep in place saved Florida’s 355,000 Medicare-covered seniors more than $350 million in 2015 alone. That’s an average annual savings of $987 per senior.
The text of Nelson’s legislation is available here.