Rep. McClain highlights major tax relief for property owners, social media restrictions

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Rep. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, spoke with Florida’s Voice following the legislative session to talk about legislative wins including passing bills on tax relief, social media protections for minors, school chaplains, and more.

McClain has served in the Florida House since 2016. For the 2022-2024 term, he was appointed as the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

“It was a really good legislative session. Over the past few sessions, the governor, and the Senate President and Speaker have all been pretty much in unison with what we wanted to get done,” McClain said.

McClain noted that significant priorities were achieved, ranging from Senate President Kathleen Passidomo’s Live Healthy package to House Speaker Paul Renner’s goal of protecting children against addictive social media platforms.

“We continue to move things forward, from a budget perspective, and from policy perspective, we continue just to advance,” McClain said.

Tax relief

McClain said as the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, lawmakers looked at ways to “reduce taxation.”

The legislation carried by McClain, SB 7074, provides tax credits and exemptions for various items and expenses.

“One of the big things we did was we offered about $500 million in tax relief on premium finance tax on homeowners insurance,” McClain said.

The bill also establishes other exemption and credits related to property taxes, corporate income taxes, insurance premium taxes and more.

McClain said this is “just another little way that we felt like we could help homeowners with the property insurance issues they’re having.”

The most significant exemptions include no sales tax on back-to-school items including certain clothing, school supplies, learning aids and puzzles, and personal computers from July 29, through Aug. 11.

Additionally Disaster Preparedness items and supplies would be tax exempt from June 1, through June 14 and from Aug. 24 through Sep. 6.

Other exemptions for boating and water activity supplies, camping supplies and tools and safety equipment will also be tax exempt during certain parts of the year.

Florida’s Voice previously reported the package is set for consideration by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has routinely been strongly in favor of giving Floridians as much relief from various sorts of taxes as possible.

For more information on upcoming tax holidays click here.

Social media bill: HB 3

McClain signed on as a co-sponsor to the legislation barring minors under 14 from creating accounts on social media platforms that employ addictive features and data collection software.

The legislation was signed by the governor on March 25 and will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025.

The purpose of the legislation is meant to specifically target platforms that use addictive features with content catered to individuals based on algorithms that analyze user information.

McClain said the safeguards that were put in place were “the right ones.”

The legislation allows for 14 and 15-year-olds to create accounts on the apps with parental consent.

Additionally, the bill requires adequate age verification measures for internet sites that contains obscene or “harmful” content, unsuitable for minors.

“This is more about who can access the platform, at what age and is it age appropriate,” McClain said.

“If you look at what we’ve done in the legislature over the last eight years a lot of it has been about parents having more knowledge, parents understanding what children have access to. We’ve done a lot as it relates to materials and schools, this is an extension of that, if you will, but it’s in the broader social spectrum than just in the school system,” McClain said.

School chaplains bill

McClain sponsored a bill, HB 931, that would allow school districts and charter schools to adopt a policy allowing volunteer school chaplains. The bill is currently pending the approval of DeSantis.

“Obviously, in this day and age, it seems like the family just is inundated with just lots of different challenges. This would be just one more tool that they could use,” he explained.

McClain said each county may look different so they left the legislation “fairly open.”

“We left it as as wide open as possible so school districts can make a lot of the local decisions as it relates to that. That was a bill that I had a lot of passion about,” McClain said.

School districts will be required to vote on whether to adopt a policy authorizing the school district or charter school to allow volunteer school chaplains by Jan. 1, 2025.

The legislation requires parental consent for a child to see a specific chaplain. The chaplains would be listed on the school district’s website.

Local district appropriations

Although the governor has not signed off on the budget just yet, McClain highlighted a few appropriations requests that he hopes will be approved for his district.

He requested funding for the Beacon of Hope Shelter, which serves survivors of domestic violence in Marion County.

He also submitted funding requests for SMA Healthcare West Volusia Addictions and Mental Health Clinic, Empowerment Pathway Project (Strengthening Services for Domestic Violence Survivors), Hands of Mercy Everywhere (Teen Moms and At-Risk Youth Prep Vocational Training), and more.

Another important appropriation request was for the Nancy Renyhart Center for Dementia Education.

According to the request, the planned project supports Florida’s priority to “address dementia care for the growing population of older residents.” The affiliation with Empath Health ensures this project will “support the demand for caregiver training in 18 counties across Florida.”

“Our hospice has been doing some more with dementia patients, and one of the things they found, they discovered is that a lot of the first responders aren’t educated on what you know, some of the signs of dementia, and then how to try to handle those types of folks,” McClain explained.

McClain said not only are they operating a care center, but they’re also going to offer classes to first responders on the signs of dementia.

Additionally, McClain said he submitted funding for road projects, water projects, among other requests which are listed here.

Future plans: State Senate run

Although his time in the House is coming to an end, McClain looks forward to his potential next chapter: the Florida Senate.

He is running for the District 9 seat and is the only Republican vying for the position. Sylvain Dore, listed as a Democrat, has also filed to run for the seat.

“I’ve been representing the citizens here for quite some time, I feel like I have a good understanding of the things that they want out of their legislators and certainly in my time of service I still feel like I have a lot to offer,” McClain said.

McClain said he wants to “continue to serve others” and excited about the opportunity to help constituents.

“There’s still things that we need to accomplish here in Marion County,” McClain said.

“We’re excited about the opportunity just to be able to continue serving. […] I’m excited about it. I enjoy serving people and just looking forward to continue to be able to do that,” McClain said.