Sen. Yarborough highlights anti-human trafficking bill, lab meat ban, more

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, highlighted bills from what he called a “really good” 2024 Legislative Session, including a bill focused on targeting the crime of human trafficking, granting sheriffs more independence, and more.

Anti-human trafficking

One major provision HB 7063 creates is to ban those under the age of 21 from working at adult entertainment establishments like strip clubs.

Yarborough co-sponsored the Senate version of the bill, which was carried by Sen. Bryan Avila, R-Hialeah Gardens. Rep. Toby Overdorf, R-Stuart, carried the House bill. The legislation is heading to the governor for its final passage.

Employers who violate this newly proposed statute can face penalties ranging from a first degree misdemeanor to a second degree felony.

Yarborough said a few years ago, a Jacksonville ordinance passed to raise the age from 18 to 21 for people who can work at adult entertainment establishments. He said he used that ordinance as a model for this legislation.

The senator said there are “valid arguments on both sides” about when the appropriate age is to be able to work at these types of establishments, but pointed to the age for such things like tobacco use and alcohol use being 21.

“I think it’s reasonable […] Primarily women and girls who get engaged in this, a lot of them have reported to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, that they were as young as 17, 16, maybe even 15 years old, when they first engaged in commercial sexual activity,” Yarborough said.

“That suggests to me that we are within bounds to go to an entry point of human trafficking, which is an adult entertainment establishment, and say, ‘this is not lawfully something that you’re going to be able to do and have, you know, younger individuals there,” he continued.

Along with multiple other provisions, the bill would extend the future repeal date of the direct-support organization for the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking through 2029, and would revise the hotline telephone number to be included in human trafficking awareness signs.

The bill replaces the national human trafficking hotline with the Florida human trafficking hotline with the telephone number as 1-855-FLA-SAFE.

Granting sheriffs more independence, budget power

Another bill Yarborough sponsored would grant more independent rights to sheriffs, including sheriffs in consolidated governments.

Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, sponsored the House companion bill, HB 1447.

Consolidated governments are ones in which the county and municipality consolidate their local governments into one entity. Duval County is currently the only community in Florida which has such a system.

Yarborough said Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters approached him and Duggan about the matter and they ultimately sponsored the bill for him.

The bill, which passed through both chambers and will head to the governor’s desk for final approval, clarifies that sheriffs, including those in consolidated government, may move approved funds between different sub-categories of their budget without further approval.

“I think if it’s within reasonable limits, the sheriff in our case, should have the opportunity to make budget transfers within the overall amounts that have been approved by the city council and signed off on by the mayor,” Yarborough said.

“I don’t think that’s a problem if he needs to, you know, make some adjustments for purchasing and procurement of supplies or personnel adjustments, you know, within the bounds of how the budget’s already set for, you know, personnel expenses,” he continued.

Waters told Florida’s Voice that in 2022, this legislation was passed for Florida sheriffs across the state, but the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was not included in it, because of an “oversight.”

“The bill that Representative Duggan and I worked on was to say, let it be clear that in a consolidated government like Jacksonville, our sheriff, whoever the sheriff is today or in the future, has the ability to make those reasonable budget transfers and oversee his budget as approved by the city,” Yarborough said.

Waters said he is “extremely excited” about this legislation and it will help his agency be able to do things “much more efficiently.”

Yarborough said he thinks this is something other constitutional officers would “benefit from too, not just the sheriff” and said next legislative session, he may look into pushing similar legislation for them.

Banning Lab Grown Meat

Yarborough sponsored legislation that he said was put into an agriculture bill package, prohibits and creates penalties for the manufacturing, sale or distribution of cultivated meat in the state.

Gov. Ron DeSantis will consider official approval for SB 1084, sponsored by Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa. The House version was sponsored by Rep. Danny Alvarez, R-Riverview.

Yarborough said legislators received “some criticism” on this legislation, but said they have an “obligation” to protect citizens.

“You’re talking about essentially cells from animals and growing them in a lab and making lab grown meat, you know, maybe it’s not as bad as we think in the future, but we’re still very much on the front end of this,” Yarborough said.

DeSantis reaffirmed his opposition to lab-grown meat during a press conference in early February.

“You need meat. OK?” the governor said. “We’re gonna have meat in Florida.” 

“We’re gonna have fake meat? That doesn’t work,” he said. “We’re gonna make sure to do it right.”

Yarborough applauded the governor for “being behind” the legislation as well as Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson for doing “a great job safeguarding our food supply.”

Appropriations Budget

Yarborough pointed to the passage of the state’s appropriations budget, which also awaits the governor’s approval.

He said the tax holidays are some of his “favorites” in the budget, including the back to school sales tax holiday that he said will “help families out,” and two disaster preparedness sales tax holiday periods in June ahead of hurricane season, and then the other in August.

He mentioned the “freedom month sales tax holiday,” which is for event tickets to things like museums, concerts and cultural events.

Another sales tax holiday the senator pointed to is one that he said would come up around Labor Day, called the “skilled workers sales tax holiday.”

“I love those because that’s money that gets to stay in Floridians and families pockets and help them out,” Yarborough said.

District Appropriations

For District 4, which is Yarborough’s district that encompasses Nassau county and part of Duval county, he said they received over $140 million in appropriations for the district alone.

The senator said if the governor approves it, the district will utilize that money for road and education projects, money for Jaxport to purchase another crane, and more.

“Altogether, I’m very, very grateful that we could get so much back home for Northeast Florida,” Yarborough said. “So a huge blessing for us here.”

Yarborough said he is “very pleased” with how the 2024 Legislative Session turned out.

“Hopefully the governor approves and you know, we’ll see all that come to fruition,” the senator said. “I’d say it was a good one.”