GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Today, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis hosted a ‘Rally at the Restaurant’ event at Blue Gill Quality Food in Gainesville to advocate for vital COVID-19 liability protections for Florida businesses. Joined by state leaders, lawmakers and business owners, CFO Patronis encouraged Floridians to patronize and support local businesses and asked Legislators to work together to pass meaningful liability protections to get Florida’s economy back on its feet. Over the last several months, CFO Patronis has emphasized the need for COVID-19 liability protections for businesses and highlighted his three guiding principles to help shape legislation in the upcoming Legislative Session.

CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “I was proud to be joined in Gainesville today by local leaders and small business owners to Rally at the Restaurant at Blue Gill Quality Food and fight for vital COVID-19 liability protections for all Gainesville businesses. As a former small business owner myself, I’ve spent most of my life in the restaurant industry and I know how hard it is to make payroll on a good day, much less when hampered by the financial impacts of COVID-19. Since the pandemic began, I’ve spoken to countless businesses owners and held meetings with Chambers of Commerce statewide and they all share the same open-ended liability fears and concerns. We must allow businesses owners who follow the proper health and safety guidelines to be protected from frivolous lawsuits and sue and settle tactics that will stifle our state’s recovery.

“No doubt, unless we take action to protect our small businesses, we’ll see big problems: businesses will close, insurance rates will continue to grow, and critical services will get squeezed. I’m confident that we can pass meaningful liability protections and add Florida to the list of 21 other states that have enacted some sort of liability shields for businesses. We have to support our small businesses, we have to support our employees who want to get back to work, and we have to work together to get Florida’s economy back on its feet.”

To view the CFO’s guiding principles for liability protections, click HERE.