The Sunshine States fight against prescription-drug abuse and pill mills received a bit of help from the federal government on Monday when Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan unveiled The Pill Mill Crackdown Act of 2011 with support of congressmen from both parties.

Buchanans legislation would direct money seized from pill mill operators to be used for drug treatment, increase fines and sentences for those convicted of running pill mills and change standards, making hydrocodone drugs harder to obtain.

The Senate Community Affairs Committee passed along a bill that would prevent the automatic deduction of government-worker union dues by a razor thin margin Monday in a 5-4 vote.

Senate Bill 830, sponsored by Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, would allow state and local government workers to authorize union dues deductions and approve money spent on political purposes on a yearly basis, but it surprisingly ran into opposition by some Republicans on the committee.

As I prepare for the morning every weekday, I listen online to the Sports Final Radio show from WJXL 1010 AM out of my hometown of Jacksonville. Monday was a little out of the ordinary. Instead of hearing about how the Jaguars plan to make another run at a mediocre record next season, the show was dominated by angry callers who were horrified that the Duval County School Board, facing a $97 million shortfall, was considering cutting high school athletics.

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, released a video update late last week, updating an update on the progress of legislation related to the economic impact of the Gulf oil spill.