TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Around 3,000 bills are waiting for the start of the Florida Legislative Session. They include everything from program funding to smokable medical marijuana to whether local governments can restrict a resident’s ability to plant vegetable gardens on their property.

But the Florida Legislature is only constitutionally obligated to pass one bill each session -- the budget. Few of the other bills will make it through committees, let alone to the Florida House and Senate floors for debate and vote.

Anyone can follow a bill's progress through the Florida House and Senate websites. Each site even has a tracking system, so you can get updates on multiple bills at once.

These are the 15 bills or issues we think you should pay attention to during the Florida Legislature.

NOTE: In most cases, an issue needs to have a bill in the Florida House and a similar or identical bill in the Florida Senate in order to make any progress toward passage. We've included links to the versions of bills that have made it the furthest through the legislative process at the time of publishing. If you click those links, you will see related bills.

1. Smokable medical marijuana (CS/HB 7015)

Gov. Ron DeSantis has set a March deadline for the Florida Legislature on lifting the ban on smoking medical marijuana in Florida. Bills in both houses are moving through committees, but they have differences that have to be settled before they get to the governor’s desk.

If lawmakers don’t make DeSantis’ deadline, he says he will drop the state’s appeal on a lawsuit to lift the ban.

2. Sanctuary Cities (CS/SB 168)

Whether a city or a county is a “sanctuary city” is largely up to interpretation. Gov. DeSantis made cracking down on illegal immigration and sanctuary cities a campaign promise. He made another push for a sanctuary city ban in the week before the session. Bills on Federal Immigration Enforcement, requiring state and local governments and law enforcement agencies support the enforcement of federal immigration law to the best of those agencies’ abilities.

Bills prohibiting sanctuary cities come up pretty much every year. It died in 2018. Will it pass in 2019?

3. E-verify (HB 89)

E-verify is a system that employers are supposed to use to verify whether an employee is authorized to work in the United States. Rick Scott, when he was governor, campaigned on E-Verify, but no bill ever passed the legislature. Gov. DeSantis also campaigned on E-Verify. Will it pass this time around?

4. Visit Florida (SB 178)

The state’s tourism agency may go away later this year if a bill is not passed to extend the agency’s life. After a series of controversies, the Florida Legislature passed a new set of transparency rules. The agency says it’s made changes and the agency is too important to shut down. Visit Florida reported in February that a record-breaking 126.1 million tourists visited Florida in 2018.

5. Red light camera repeal (HB 6003)

Every year there is a new attempt to repeal a law that allowed municipalities to add cameras to catch red light runners. With more municipalities dropping or looking into dropping the cameras, this year might be the year the law goes away. The House bill's sponsor, State Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Clermont, says an analysis shows the cameras caused an increase in minor crashes.

6. Texting while driving (CS/SB 76)

Right now, texting while driving is a secondary offense in Florida. That means someone is cited for a traffic violation, and they were texting at the time of the violation, they can be cited for this too. This bill would make texting a primary traffic violation. A law enforcement officer can cite someone for holding or touching a wireless communications device while operating a vehicle.

And it goes further than that -- the bill defines "driving while distracted" to include reading, writing, putting on makeup, and even interacting with your pets. These are all things you can be cited for if a law enforcement finds your driving behavior on the road to be reckless (such as swerving).

7. Abortion (HB 235)

Bills to restriction the ability to get an abortion happen in every Florida Legislative Session. This bill requires that doctors must examine a woman seeking an abortion for a fetus’s heartbeat. It also bans termination of a pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat is detected.

8. Monuments and memorials (HB 97)

Over the last few years, there’s been a push to move or remove Confederate monuments from public places, all across the country.

This bill would expand the definition of a veteran to include U.S. military engagements going back to the Anglo-Spanish War in the 1500s. Any monument or remembrance on public property that is to be relocated must go to a location of equal prominence. It also limits the ability to move or change the monument.

That would include Confederate monuments.

9. Vegetable gardens on local properties (SB 82)

Several local municipalities have restricted home vegetable gardens, including planting large gardens on the front lawn. This bill would prohibit local governments from doing that. It may seem like a silly issue to pass a bill about, but it has broader implications for home rule, and the constant discussion of how 

10 Child care facilities (HB 69)

Orlando lawmakers are pushing a bill that would require these vehicles come with an alarm system to make sure the driver checks the vehicle for children before exiting. The bill is an answer to several high-profile cases in Florida where a child was left in a day care van and then died because of the heat. They include Myles Hill, an Orlando boy who died in 2017.

11. Tort Reform (HB 17)

Florida lawmakers passed sweeping changes to tort reform over in 2003 that capped personal injury and wrongful death damages at $1 million. The Florida Supreme Court invalidated that law in 2017. The court said the caps on non-economic damages in cases where malpractice resulted in death violated equal-protection rights, and that there was no proof that the caps actually reduced malpractice insurance rates anyway.

But that was before Gov. DeSantis remade the court with three new Supreme Court justices. Lawmakers are trying again.

12. Sexual Battery Offenses (HB 83)

This bill expands the statute of limitations to 15 years for offenses that amount to a first or second degree felony, if the victim is 16 years of age or older.

It also includes provisions to make sure so-called rape kits are tested in a timely manner, and adopt an information management system to track those kids.

Our last three bills concern changes to Florida’s Constitution. Lawmakers are looking to get voters to pass these amendments in 2020.

13. Repealing the Constitution Revision Commission (HJR 249)

Remember all of the amendments on the Florida ballot last November? Many of them were added by the Florida Constitution Revision Commission. This body, which is appointed by Florida lawmakers, meets every 20 years to propose amendments to the Florida Constitution.

This amendment would get rid of the CRC. Sponsors of the amendment said the commission was too susceptible to partisanship, and had exceeded its original intent. Opponents say the commission should be reformed, not repealed.

14. Single Subject Amendments (HJR 53)

Speaking of the Florida CRC, do you remember all of those amendments on the November ballot that had multiple issues, some of which didn’t even related to each other? One amendment included adding vaping to the indoor smoking ban, and banning offshore drilling.

This amendment would ban those bundled amendments, and require amendments to include just a single issue.

15. Increasing the threshold to pass an amendment (HJR 57)

In 2006, Florida voters agreed to increase the threshold to pass a constitutional amendment to 60 percent. In other words, in order for a Florida Constitutional amendment to pass, 60 percent of voters have to approve of it (the amendment, by the way, passed with 58 percent approval).

This amendment would raise that threshold to 66 percent approval from Florida voters.