Public-Private Partnership Legislation Died Without Senate Approval

House Bill 337, codifying public-private partnerships (“P3”) in Florida, was approved by the House last week and sent to the Senate, but it died in the Senate without action before the end of the legislative session last Friday. Although this is a minor loss of momentum for P3s in Florida, it doesn’t change anything as there is still authority for public-private partnerships in Florida public construction. As one attendee asked me at one of our recent P3 workshops, “why do we need this legislation anyways since we can do public-private partnerships regardless of the bill?” He was right and I responded that the legislation had drastically increased statewide awareness of the P3 solution to the public construction budget crunch, which was really the best argument in favor of the bill. So although the bill didn’t pass, it won’t change much and P3s continue to be the hot thing in Florida construction. Stay tuned to this blog for further news, ideas and suggestions about P3s as the process continues gathering momentum even without Tallahassee’s help.