TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Legislators filed a whopping 3,491 bills for consideration during the 2019 session, by far the most filed over the last 10 years.
But just 5.6 percent of the filed bills made it through the process, the smallest percentage in a decade.
Among higher profile bills that ended up on the scrap heap, a measure to ban fracking in Florida and another to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments from 60 percent to two-thirds.
Legislation that would require minors to get parental consent before having abortions passed in the House, but was not considered by the full Senate.
House bill sponsor Erin Grall is hoping for better luck next year.
"I've seen an overwhelming responsiveness to the life movement, to the science of the fact that the child in the womb is always the child," said Grall.
A measure that would have raised the smoking age in Florida from 18 to 21 also died.
Opposition came from those who feel 18-year-old adults are old enough to smoke, as well as anti-smoking groups, who felt the measure had too many loopholes.
Legislators agreed to pass 197 bills, which will be sent to the governor for final action.
That number is the lowest number of passed bills since 2010.
