Sen. Rick Scott

Maddy summaryThe American Shores Protection Act of 2023 extends a moratorium on offshore oil and gas leasing along the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina until June 30, 2032. It specifically adds two new areas - the South Atlantic Planning Area and the Straits of Florida Planning Area - to the existing moratorium. The bill ensures existing oil and gas leases remain valid but allows exceptions for environmental projects like shore protection, beach restoration, wetlands conservation, and habitat preservation. This directly affects federal leasing decisions and the offshore energy industry in these coastal states.

Maddy summaryThis bill prohibits the U.S. Department of Defense from requiring defense contractors to report greenhouse gas emissions. It specifically bans the Secretary of Defense from mandating any "greenhouse gas inventory" or reports on Scope 1, Scope 2, or Scope 3 emissions from contractors holding federal defense contracts. The law directly affects defense contractors who would otherwise have been required to track and disclose their emissions data. It removes a specific reporting requirement for contractors under Defense Department contracts, without altering other environmental regulations.

Maddy summaryThis bill (S 43) repeals the automatic pay adjustment provision for Members of Congress, ending their annual automatic salary increases. It directly affects all current and future members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate by requiring Congress to approve pay changes annually instead of applying them automatically. The key change eliminates Section 601(a)(2) of the 1946 Legislative Reorganization Act, shifting pay adjustments to an annual legislative process. The repeal takes effect when the 119th Congress begins, meaning the next Congress will need to act on pay changes each year.

Maddy summaryThis bill prohibits the Department of Defense from imposing new COVID-19 vaccine mandates without explicit congressional approval. It directly affects military members discharged or facing adverse actions (like separation or rank reduction) solely due to refusing the vaccine. Key provisions require the DoD to adjust discharges to "honorable," reinstate members to their prior rank, expunge adverse records related to vaccination status, and provide back pay for lost benefits. The bill also mandates equal retention and promotion opportunities for unvaccinated service members and creates exemption processes for specific cases like natural immunity or religious objections. These changes apply regardless of whether members previously sought vaccine accommodations.

Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act This bill allows individual and corporate taxpayers a tax credit for cash contributions to certain scholarship-granting and workforce training organizations. It imposes a cap of $10 billion on the sum of contributions that qualify for a tax credit under this bill. The bill requires the Department of Education, in coordination with the Departments of the Treasury and Labor, to establish, host, and maintain a web portal that (1) lists all eligible scholarship-granting and workforce training organizations; (2) enables contributions to such organizations; (3) provides information about the benefits of this bill; and (4) enables a state to submit and update information about its programs and educational organizations, including information on student eligibility and allowable educational expenses.

Maddy summarySJRES 1 proposes a constitutional amendment with three key provisions. It would grant the president the power to veto specific spending items in appropriations bills (line item veto), limit House members to six terms and Senators to two terms, and require a two-thirds vote in each chamber to pass any legislation raising or increasing taxes or fees. The amendment would prevent bundling tax changes with unrelated issues and set term limits based on total service time, excluding terms before ratification. This proposal, if ratified, would fundamentally change federal budget processes, congressional term limits, and tax legislation procedures.

Maddy summaryThis bill proposes a constitutional amendment that would limit Members of Congress to a maximum of three terms in the House of Representatives and two terms in the Senate. It specifies that filling a vacancy for more than one year in the House or more than three years in the Senate counts toward these term limits. The amendment would not apply to terms served before its ratification. If approved by three-fourths of state legislatures within seven years, it would change how long representatives and senators could serve. This is a proposed constitutional change, not current law.

Maddy summaryS 12 prohibits the District of Columbia government from using any federal funds to allow non-U.S. citizens to vote in any election. It requires the District to certify when applying for or receiving federal funds that it does not permit non-citizen voting. This bill directly affects the District of Columbia's use of federal funding for election administration. The prohibition applies to all federal funds received on or after the bill's introduction date in the Senate.

Maddy summaryThis bill raises the reporting threshold for payment platforms like PayPal or Venmo. It requires these platforms to report transaction data only if a business receives over $20,000 in payments across more than 200 transactions in a year. This change directly affects payment processors and their business users by reducing the volume of transactions they must report to the IRS.

Maddy summaryS 15, the Ensuring Accurate and Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act of 2023, requires states to submit standardized abortion data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) annually to continue receiving Medicaid funding for family planning services. States must report specific mandatory data points - including maternal age, gestational age, race, ethnicity, and abortion method - by December 31 of the previous year, using a CDC-maintained standardized system. The CDC will publish an annual report on this data, and states that fail to submit timely reports may still receive retroactive Medicaid payments, but knowingly providing false data can result in losing future Medicaid funding. This bill directly affects all states receiving Medicaid funds for family planning services, aiming to create uniform national abortion data collection.