A number of bills, including one inspired by the death of Caylee Anthony that would increase penalties for failing to report missing children and two bills backed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, reached the desk of Gov. Rick Scott Friday.
The bills backed by Bondi would increase penalties for human trafficking and eliminate a loophole she says has allowed scam artists to thrive on people seeking to quickly sell timeshares.
Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, cautioned that a last-minute tweak to a couple of Central Florida districts in the redrawn Senate redistricting map could jeopardize the effort when it goes back before the state Supreme Court.
But Senate President-designate Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who also chaired the Reapportionment Committee, said the changes make the districts more compact, which is one of the criteria under the voter-approved Fair Districts amendment that the states top court pointed to when invalidating part of the first map submitted by the Senate.
The Trayvon Martin shooting case remained one of Florida's top stories Thursday as Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said state and federal investigations into the case should be completed before any consideration is given to setting up a special committee to review the "Stand Your Ground" law.
Hours later, Gov. Rick Scott announced the creation of a task force that will do exactly that.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnams first annual report on Floridas energy output and use points to three technologies under development that could radically change Floridas electric energy sector: battery storage, ocean energy, and advances in wind energy.
These technologies are being researched both throughout the United States and within Floridas university system, the report states.
The Senates first and only attempt to fix its redistricting map may come down to how balls were randomly drawn from a pair of cages on Wednesday.
The balls, drawn bingo-style, were used to determine which Senate seats would be up for two-year or four-year terms this fall.
The decision to use a game of chance resulted from the states top court's ruling that the Senate had failed to follow the intent of the voter-approved Fair District Amendments that ban intentionally favoring incumbents and political parties.
Two South Florida senators had a brief war of words Wednesday over plans to add more Hispanics to a Senate district and the language abilities of those in the district as the Senate moves closer to finalizing its redistricting efforts.
Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, said he will continue to push for a fourth Hispanic seat in Southeast Florida -- a seat now held by Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Miami, that de la Portilla's brother has eyed for a return to the Legislature.
Saying he believes a plantation-like atmosphere exists in Sanford, Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, plans to head a bipartisan legislative fact-finding mission to the Central Florida community that sits just outside his district.
Siplin, along with Sens. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, and Sen. Chris Smith, D-Oakland Park, also called on Gov. Rick Scott to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee a Seminole County grand jury investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin.
Anticipating a legal challenge to the new law requiring random drug testing of state employees -- and with a lawsuit against an executive order on the same topic still pending -- Gov. Rick Scott issued a memo to state employees late Tuesday putting off testing until last year's lawsuit is resolved.
"While the case is pending it does not make sense for all agencies to move forward with the logistical issues involved in instituting the new policy," the memo states.
Gov. Rick Scott said before any special panel is created to look into race relations or revisit the Stand Your Ground law, the investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin should be allowed to proceed unimpeded.
Speaking to reporters in his Capitol office on Tuesday, Scott said the state should wait to take any actions until the results are completed into the investigation hes called for by Florida Department of Law Enforcement to proceed alongside those of the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice.
Investigators from the secretary of states office are in Palm Beach County trying to determine how an error in the countys electronic-tabulating software resulted in the wrong results in two races.
Until I hear back from my people, were not going to make any conclusions or any ideas of what happened, Secretary of State Ken Detzner said Tuesday.
With the 2012 elections on the horizon, Detzner said members of his office are working with local elections officials and makers of the hardware and software.
