Efforts to end a two-decade-old ban on bar contests where dwarfs are tossed, and another to allow middle school-aged kids to avoid gym class, appear doomed in the upcoming legislative session.
Historically, about 10 percent of the approximately 2,000 bills filed each year make it through both chambers during the regular 60-day session. House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, widened the odds for many of the bills that have been introduced for the 2012 session that begins Jan. 10.
With the session to be dominated by redistricting and the budget -- not to mention the attention being given to gambling -- Cannon has advised members that, once again, they shouldnt expect bills to move through the committee process unless there is similar effort moving through the Senate.
We did not withdraw a single House bill from a subcommittee or committee, and we did not take up a single Senate bill whose House companion had not reached the House calendar, Cannon wrote to members on Dec. 22. It is my intention to adhere to the same principles for the 2012 session.
Cannons comment should mean good news for the American Heart Association, which has objected to the bill by Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha --HB 4057 -- which would eliminate the requirement for students in grades six to eight to be involved in 150 minutes of physical education each week. For Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, Cannons statement means his bills have no future that seek to repeal a 22-year-old law that prohibits places that serve alcohol from exploiting dwarfs --HB 4063 --and to lift the ban on unwed couples living together --HB 4021. However, his effort to once again let people in Florida ride a bicycle hands free has a future. Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, has introduced SB 390 to go along with Workmans HB 4017.
Another effort that might not be considered a world beater, yet is back after failing in the spring of 2011, may also be able to move as it has champions in both chambers: HB 399 to designate the barking tree frog as the official state amphibian by Rep. Charles Chestnut, D-Gainesville, and its companion, SB 1030 by Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami.
Under Cannon's edict, legislators may also get to wrestle with HB 395 to designate the schooner Western Union as an official flagship of the state by Rep. Doug Broxson, R-Tiger Point, and SB 326 by Sen. Bullard, plus the designation of auto racing as the state's official sport, HB 745, sponsored by Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, and SB 266 sponsored by Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Daytona Beach.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
