bill<\/a> would \u201cestablish the fundamental right to reproductive health care\u201d by prohibiting the government from blocking access to abortion procedures.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe bill was referred to the House Health Professions & Programs subcommittee Jan. 15 and\u00a0 hasn\u2019t moved since. It died during the 2025 regular session.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bills can die in committees when opposing legislators refuse to act on the measures or push to not have them heard, until eventually it\u2019s too late for the bills to pass. However, experts say reintroducing legislation often results in certain parts of the bill being adopted into larger initiatives that eventually do make their way to the governor\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This legislative tactic has been used for decades, and it\u2019s often unsuccessful, but Driskell said she will not stop until this bill is passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to continue the fight for reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy,\u201d she said, adding the government should not have a role in these decisions.<\/p>\n
Driskell said she doesn\u2019t think the bill will pass with the current Legislature, but she will continue to file it every single year. Even if the bill never reaches the governor\u2019s desk, Driskell said introducing it still serves a purpose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt would be great to get this bill signed into law,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I also recognize that it is a tool that allows us to have important conversations that are worth having.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats hold a minority in the Florida House and Senate \u2014 making largely partisan issues supported by the Democratic Party, like abortion access, difficult to pass.<\/p>\n
Another bill Driskell\u2019s been fighting for since her first year in office is aimed at protecting students from discrimination in school based on their hair styles. It\u2019s been introduced four times but never passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Driskell said the experience has taught her legislative momentum can come unexpectedly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also just have to remember that some fights are worth fighting no matter the outcome,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Repeatedly introducing legislation is common in lawmaking, said Alan Wiseman, co-director for the Center for Effective Lawmaking at Vanderbilt University.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The success of the tactic really depends on the bill sponsor, how much they care about the issue and why they are using the tactic, he added.<\/p>\n
Based on an analysis of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 2008, Wiseman said lawmakers who continuously introduced similar bills year after year were more likely to see parts of those proposals eventually move through the legislative process.<\/p>\n
Over time, bill sponsors can build support among colleagues and incorporate elements of their proposals into larger legislative initiatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBy plugging ahead and continuously trying to cultivate different coalitions across congresses, they ultimately are able to achieve their goals of moving their legislation,\u201d Wiseman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said two main factors can cause a bill to succeed after repeated failures: coalition-building among lawmakers and increased awareness of the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As legislators become more familiar with a topic or as external events draw attention to it, opinions within the Legislature might shift.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adam Zelizer, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago\u2019s Harris School of Public Policy, said repeated bill filings can also function as a political strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With highly visible issues such as abortion access, Zelizer said legislators often already know where their colleagues stand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In these cases, repeatedly filing a bill can force opponents to publicly vote against it, a record lawmakers can point to during election campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would imagine just refiling it over and over is an electoral tactic to try to make the legislators who oppose it come out on record and oppose it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lawmakers can then show voters they attempted to pass legislation but were blocked by political opponents \u2014 a tactic Zelizer described as an \u201celectoral strategy\u201d rather than a genuine effort to appeal to fellow lawmakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Contact Alexa Ryan at aryan@alligator.org<\/a>. Follow her on X @AlexaRyan_.<\/p>\n\n The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.\n <\/p>\n
Alexa Ryan<\/p>\n
Alexa is a second-year journalism and international studies student and The Alligator’s Spring 2026 Enterprise Politics Reporter. She previously served as the Fall 2025 Criminal Justice Reporter. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling and going on random side quests.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to introducing legislation, many Florida lawmakers know the third time \u2014 or sometimes even the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-190259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}