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Politics

House OKs Guns in Adoptions, More

March 18, 2010 - 7:00pm


The Florida House of Representatives passed a number of bills Thursday morning with some debate but no close votes.

Republicans took aim at trial attorneys in a measure that limits fees for private attorneys representing the state attorney generals office and also in a bill reforming slip-and-fall tort law.

The House voted along party lines to cap attorney fees by a vote of 71-40 after debate. Three Democrats voted for the measure, Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, Rep. Leonard Bembry, D-Greenville, and Rep. Debbie Boyd, D-Newberry.

During debate, both Republicans and Democrats kept referring to the big tobacco settlement case Florida won in 1997. While the case garnered $13 billion for Florida, the state forked over $3 billion of that in fees to private attorneys.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, said, No attorney representing the people of Florida should ever receive compensation that would make a Wall Street executive blush.

Democrats, led by Rep. Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, argued the proposal tied the hands of future attorneys general.

The House passed a bill moving the burden of proof to the plaintiffs in slip-and-fall cases, which sailed through on a 108-2 vote.

Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, sponsored a bill allowing party leaders in both the House and Senate to create affiliated political committees which would allow legislative leaders to raise money for other candidates.

McKeel said, This bill ushers in a new era of transparency and openness to the political fundraising process by making political fundraising information easily accessible to the voters and the general public.

It is no secret that legislative leaders have long raised money for their respective political parties, but the current system is flawed, because citizens have no easy way to see how much money has been raised or see which interests gave that money.

The House passed a measure making it easier for Floridians serving in the military to vote in elections. Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Oviedo, the sponsor of the bill said, The changes in HB 131 make it clear that uniformed services voters who are stateside, but away from their place of residence, are governed the same under the Florida Election Code as are overseas voters.

A bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee, prohibiting adoption agencies from using ownership of firearms as a factor for determining potential foster parents, flew through the House without opposition. The bill, which also passed the senate, is now on it's way to the governor's desk. Earlier in the week Democrats amendedthe bill to prevent adoption agencies from asking about homosexuality, but they withdrew their amendment.

Other items that passed without opposition included measures requiring middle school students to take civics; a bill streamlining vocational school statutes; a measure concerning food inspections of domestic violence centers; and a measure repealing an old law prohibiting plays and gambling within a mile of a religious camp meeting.

The House gave second readings to legislation that passed the Senate earlier in the month, including prohibiting the state from pulling money out of the concealed weapons general revenue fund, changing the names of highways and creating new license plates.

Kevin Derby can be reached at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com.

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