The Florida House of Representatives adjourned its annual session on April 21, three days ahead of the scheduled end date.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli (R) thanked the state representatives for their “patience as we work through a really incredibly unusual session” before declaring Sine Die.
The House adjourning ahead of the established May 1 end is due to the budget impasse with the Senate over Medicaid expansion.
With the House session officially over, the Single-Sex Public Facilities bill (HB 583), or “the bathroom bill”, has died and will not move any further.
The “bathroom bill” would prohibit individuals from using public facilities that align with their gender identities, and instead have them use facilities based on their gender at birth.
Four other LGBT bills that have not been voted on in the House also die with this session.
House Bill 33, which would revise the Workforce Act to include sexual orientation and gender identify as protected classes, and House Bill 83, which would outlaw “conversion therapy” to be used on minors, will not be moving forward this year.
The other bills, one for a state wide domestic partner registry and one to repeal the language preventing county clerks to issue marriage licenses, may not even be needed after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage comes out.
The Supreme Court ruling is expected at the end of June.
