News
2014 End of Session Update
2014 Legislative Session Update
End-of-Session Edition
The 2014 Florida Legislative Session has come to a close and we finished strong! Again this year, on the last day of budget conference negotiations, Speaker Will Weatherford provided additional state funding from his own budget reserve for the Mary Brogan Breast & Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. That allocation, and the others outlined below, simply wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of volunteers like you throughout the state.
As a result of our collective voice, a budget including more than $183 million in mission-related appropriations (a $37 million increase over Fiscal Year 2013-14 spending) is on its way to the Governor for his approval, including funding for all three of ACS CAN’s top priorities. Below is a quick summary of how each of those issues ultimately fared:
Mary Brogan Breast & Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program
The Legislature approved total state funding of $1.8 million, including $300,000 in recurring revenue - meaning it will be included in next year’s base budget. This marks the third year in a row that the Legislature has invested its own dollars in the program and the second year they have included an increase to help screen more eligible women. Please take a moment to call Speaker Weatherford to thank him for his leadership in continuing Florida’s commitment to lifesaving cancer screenings for women.
Speaker Will Weatherford: (850) 717-5038
Biomedical Research
The King and Bankhead-Coley Programs were appropriated $10 million each for FY 2014-15, maintaining the significant increases we achieved last year for the state’s two competitive, peer-review research programs.
Tobacco Prevention and Education
The program is slated to receive $66.6 million, with all contracts awarded through the appropriation to include performance measures and measurable outcomes based upon the Centers for Disease Control’s best practices.
A complete 2014 session summary will be available in the coming days detailing some of the relevant legislation that passed this year.
We would like to thank you for your continued commitment to this cause, and for the important role you played in a very successful legislative session. Updated information on our legislative priorities can be found at www.fightcancer.org/florida. You can follow the action in real-time on Twitter at @ACSCAN_Florida and please be sure to click here to “like” us on Facebook.
Yours in the fight,
Heather
Heather Youmans
Florida Government Relations Director
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network