CFO Patronis Statement on Passage of Consumer Protection Bill

~Bars Govt from Blacklisting Media Outlets & Protects Consumers from IRS Over Taxation~

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida (CFO) Jimmy Patronis issued a statement following the passage of HB 939, a Consumer Protection Bill by Representative Griff Griffitts, off the House Floor. The Legislation bars the state and state entities from contracting with entities that blacklist media outlets. The legislation also mandates cash-app companies to create protections, so users are not unfairly taxed for transactions that are unrelated to goods-or-services. The legislation also creates a recission period during declared disasters where policyholders can get out of bad roofing contracts.

Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis said, “The House delivered a major victory for consumers today. I don’t think government should be paying media-rating companies to blacklist certain outlets. The day that government dollars are used to blacklist media outlets will be a dark day for our country – and while the bureaucrats would love nothing more than to send cash to their allies while punishing their enemies – Florida’s got too much respect for taxpayers and the Constitution to allow that to happen.

“This Consumer Protection bill also protects Floridians from the IRS. Again, Washington’s been a dumpster fire, and they passed a law years ago allowing the IRS to collect taxes from transactions above $600, which was an absurd attack against poor and middle-class Americans. After a lot of outrage, the IRS subsequently backed off that absurd threshold, but the reality is the IRS is making these decisions completely outside the law, and Congress is so useless and so out of touch, Florida’s got to go to bat for our residents to make sure they are not unfairly taxed. As many people use their cash-apps for business and personal uses, we want to make sure people aren’t being unfairly taxed moving cash around, so this bill will force the tech companies to build tools where senders of cash will be able to specify whether they’re sending cash for a good-or-service, or something else and lessen the tax burden on small business owners.” 

The CFO has made it a priority to highlight federal overreach by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and protect Florida taxpayers from targeting by the tax agency. In 2023, the CFO hosted a total of five roundtables around the state with key stakeholders, elected officials, and legislators.

The CFO continued, “I cannot thank Representative Griff Griffitts enough. He’s a fellow Panama City native who’s been a real champion on protecting consumers. We’ve also made this bill better with the help of Rep. Rommel who’s gone above and beyond in protecting his constituents. Finally, Speaker Renner and his staff have been nothing but amazing in helping us work through these policies. As the bill moves to the Senate, the Senator sponsor Colleen Burton has been an incredible partner in ensuring we get this bill over the finish line, and to the Governor so that we can begin the important work of making our constituents lives better. Senator Burton and her team have been doing the Lord’s work on this front – and with the added help of President Passidomo and her amazing team – this bipartisan legislation is on a path of success.”   

The bipartisan Consumer Protection legislation passed the House with 91 members voting “Yea.”

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About CFO Jimmy Patronis  
Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis is a statewide elected official and a member of Florida’s Cabinet who oversees the Department of Financial Services. CFO Patronis works each day to fight insurance fraud, support Florida’s firefighters, and ensure the state’s finances are stable to support economic growth in the state. Follow the activities of the Department on Facebook (FLDFS) and Twitter (@FLDFS).