State lawmakers convene each year to conduct a legislative session that has one legal requirement -- approve next year's budget.

What that means is the governor, the Senate and the House each get an initial crack at where to spend tax dollars. They then try and work through their differences toward common ground and a final budget plan.

The first big step in that process was completed Tuesday with the release of the House budget plan. The Senate released its budget Monday, while the governor released his budget weeks ago.

Former Senate President Ken Pruitthad barelyleft the building before his Republican colleagues went to work trashing his legacy.

By the end of this session, the Bright Futures Scholarship program, one of the mostpopular legislative initiatives of the last several decades in Florida, will liegasping for breath on the Senate floor.

What a sad and senseless story.

State lawamkers Monday took a step toward allowing businesses to ask parents to sign a liability waiver before a child sets foot on a climbing wall, puts on a scuba tank or engages in other injury-prone activities.

Last Spring, for the first time in 33 years, there was no graduation address at Pace High School in Milton.

Mary Allen, the senior class president and a devout Christian, was prepared to thank God for her success in front of teachers and school administrators, but the school wouldn't let her.

Such speech is a violation of state law and can carry a fine of $5,000 and up to six months in jail.

Allen told her story Monday to members of the House Civil Justice and Courts Poilicy Committee.

With the passage of the legislation allowing the federal government to take control of the medical care system of the United States, a major turning point has been reached in the dismantling of the values and institutions of America.

An "outside the box" plan to reorganize the Florida Department of Health sailed through the House Health Care Regulation Policy Committee on Monday.

Sponsored by Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, the legislation reduces the Department of Healths mission from 13 to seven responsibilities and would require DOH to propose a new organizational structure, including reduction of divisions and bureaus, to the Legislature by November 2010.

As this is written, the lobbying of House Democrats on the health care bill is going on apace, and every hour brings news of another no vote converted to yes, or a yes vote switching to no.

The U.S. House siphoned the so-called "Gator Aid" provision out of one health-care bill, but that wasn't nearly enough for Florida business organizations. They remain adamantly opposed to anything that smacks of Obamacare.

The erstwhile proposal by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., would allow senior citizens on Medicare Advantage to stay in the program.

Prior to Sunday's House vote, Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin said, "Of the one million or so Floridians participating in Medicare Advantage, about 800,000 are expected to be protected from possible cuts."