A move to require state employees to be randomly drug-tested, an effort Gov. Rick Scott sought to impose after he was inaugurated last year, is moving through the Legislature.

Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, the sponsor of the Senate bill, SB 1358, said state employees are no risk of greater or lesser drug abuse than the general population, but said testing will help employees who need assistance in their personal fight against drug abuse.

Its about protecting the state employees and the public, Hays said.

Floridas leaders showed tremendous vision by enacting the first-in-the-nation motor vehicle no-fault laws that became effective in 1972.

U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, Obama's man in Moscow, who just took up his post, has received a rude reception. And understandably so.

A bill to decouple greyhound racing from dog track casinos advanced Thursday after a Senate panel rejected a "poison pill" amendment.

Senate Bill 382 cleared the Regulated Industries Committee on a 6-4 vote. The measure, by Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, would allow dog tracks to discontinue greyhound racing while maintaining their gaming licenses.

Prior to the final vote, Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, with support from the Greyhound Breeders Association, introduced an amendment to end state subsidies for tracks that halted racing.

With the Presidential Preference Primary looming on Tuesday, Mitt Romney holds a solid lead over the Republican presidential pack in Florida, according to a Sunshine State News Poll of likely primary voters.

The Senate has revved up efforts to make it illegal to text while driving, yet the House bill on the long-sought prohibition continues to idle.

After more than a decade of different legislators seeking to ban the practice, Sen. Michael Bennett, R-Bradenton, said the time has come for the bill that would make it a secondary offense if law enforcement sees the driver texting or reading texts while committing another offense, such as speeding or reckless driving.

The only question now is, will the House take up the issue, he said.

On Thursday, with all eyes on Jacksonville and the Republican presidential debate, political and policy leaders gathered on the First Coast to warn about the threats of the increasing cost of the federal government.

At a forum held at Jacksonville University, former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez joined David Walker, a JU alumnus who served as comptroller general of the United States and the current CEO of the Comeback America Initiative, and Robert Bixby, the executive director of the Concord Coalition.

Emulating his Senate counterpart from earlier in the week, House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, did some chest thumping on the Legislatures decision to move up this years presidential primary.

But as for his own vote in Tuesdays Florida primary, Cannon said he has already submitted an absentee ballot and stuck with his endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry remains one of the nine of the primary ballot, but his campaign has been suspended.

A "simple" bad-faith insurance bill bogged down in complex legal arguments Thursday and failed to clear the House Civil Justice Subcommittee.

House Bill 427 set a 60-day time limit for insurers to resolve third-party claims.

Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said her bill would have a "positive impact for small businesses by reducing 'long-winded' [court] cases."

But the measure, a simplified version of a reform bill introduced last session, ran into heavy skepticism from Democrats and Republicans on the panel.

The House Education Committee slapped its support on the side of a bill that would help school districts raise badly needed cash by posting advertisements on the side of school buses.

Behind a 14-3 vote on Thursday, HB 19 -- aimed at helping school districts facing mounting transportation costs due to rising fuel prices -- received its needed third endorsement from a House committee before heading toward a full vote by the chamber.