House members spent the morning debating whether to allow the state's four largest investor-owned utilities to raise their rates by as much as $376 million over the lives of renewable energy projects, only to have the measure's sponsor postpone a vote at the last minute.

Businessman Rick Scott has clearly made an impression in his campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination: the Democrats have opened fire on him.

"Since disgraced businessman Rick Scott wants to be judged by his results, Floridians should know that Scott's company paid the largest Medicare Fraud fine in history and he was forced to resign in scandal, said Eric Jotkoff, spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party, on Tuesday. In this case, Rick Scott's 'results' truly speak for themselves.

The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund, a group of more than 280,000 pro-life activists who back female candidates, endorsed Republican attorney general candidate Pam Bondi on Tuesday.

"This year, attorneys general races are a top priority for the pro-life movement, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the fund. Pam Bondi's 18 years of experience as a prosecutor make her an exceptionally qualified woman to defend the pro-woman, pro-life legal position -- especially when it comes to abortion funding in healthcare.

While most of the focus today in the Legislature is on the budget to which House and Senate leaders agreed last night, the lawmakers are tackling other issues during the session's final week. One case in point is the debate in the Senate over debit card fees.

Leaders in the House and Senate agreed to a $69 billion following an 11pm conferencing meeting held on Monday night.

While the final budget was closer to the Senates initial proposal than the Houses first draft of $66 billion and relied on additional Medicaid funding that the House initially resisted, House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, was pleased with the final result.

Attorney General Bill McCollum and law enforcement could soon have a bigger stick to crack down on Medicaid fraud.

On Monday afternoon, the Florida Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 8, which will coordinate efforts and focus resources on detecting and deterring Medicaid fraud. It also adds resources for tackling public assistance fraud.

"None of our state's limited resources should ever wind up enriching those who would prey on our friends and neighbors receiving Medicaid," said Sen. Joe Negron, R-Port St. Lucie, the bill's sponsor.

How do we love thee, Dave Aronberg? Let us count the ways: You're an accomplished state senator, quite good-looking and Harvard-educated. Is it really any surprise that people are falling all over themselves to endorse you for attorney general?

Nah. The surprise is in how they're doing it.

The Florida House passed a measure supporting Attorney General Bill McCollums lawsuit against the federal government for new health-care laws by a 74-41 vote. McCollum filed suit against the health-care legislation the same day that President Barack Obama signed it into law.

The lawsuit has already been filed, said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who said that his measure was about standing.

While some retiring House members have complained about term-limits during their farewell addresses, Rep. Ed Homan, R-Tampa, said he still supported them but noted that term-limits paved the way for more power from special interest groups. Homan said one way of taking power away from the special interest groups would be to stop naming future speakers until after they have served four years in the House.

Republicans, led by incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Chris Dorworth, R-Lake Mary, questioned whether or not Fair Districts Florida is actually a grassroots effort.