The Florida Senate on Tuesday voted to pass a bill that requires state and local governments to allow members of the public to speak at public meetings. Several other bills, including a funeral protest ban, tort immunity for design professionals, and repeal of the international drivers permit law were put in place for a final vote at a later date.
Under Floridas Sunshine laws, meetings by government agencies and commissions must be noticed and open to attendance by the public, but they are not required to receive public input. SB 50 (Public Meetings), sponsored by Sen, Joe Negron, R-Palm City, fills this gap, and it passed the Senate unanimously. A companion measure, HB 23 (sponsored by freshman Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero), is making its way through the House.
Over a dozen other measures were given a second reading, and then put in place for a future final vote, with little or no debate. They included:
SB 160 (Licensure Fee Exemptions for Military Veterans). Sponsored by Sen. Gerrett Richter, R-Naples, this bill would grant fee waivers to any military servicemen who apply for certain health professional licenses within 24 months of their honorable discharge. A House companion bill is sponsored by freshman Rep. David Santiago, R-Deltona.
SB 118 (Funerals and Burials). Sponsored by Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, the bill would criminalize protest activities within 500 feet of the property line of any location where a funeral, burial, or memorial service is being held, and during or within one hour before or one hour after the conducting of such services. Violation of the prohibition would constitute a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in county jail and a $1,000 fine.
The bills introduction was motivated by the activities of a Kansas sect, the Westboro Baptist Church. The churchs pastor, disbarred attorney and Democratic political activist Fred Phelps, regularly stages protests at the funerals of military servicemen and other famous victims of tragedy. One of their most infamous slogans is God Hates Fags.
SB 286 (Design Professionals). The most controversial measure taken up by the Senate today, this bill -- another of Negron's would grant tort liability immunity to design professionals, such as architects and geologists, for damages resulting from negligence occurring within the course and scope of their employment, so long as disclosures to that effect are included in the contract. The design companies themselves would still be liable.
Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, expressed strong opposition to the measure, warning it would open a Pandora's Box of other professionals such as lawyers and medical doctors seeking similar personal exemptions.
Negron countered that we [senators] are in charge of Pandora's Box, and that other proposed exemptions would be considered by the Legislature on a case-by-case basis. He said it wasn't fair that any employee working for a company who touches a file concerning a particular client might be held personally liable if something goes wrong to a property.
SB 1766 (Driver Licenses). This is the Senate's version of a bill passed by the House, repealing an embarrassing, overlooked provision in a 2012 transportation bill, requiring foreign visitors to the United States to carry a special international driver's license. Industry lobbyists warned the unintended measure might have a chilling effect on international travel and might even violate the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic.
SB 62 (Low-Speed Vehicles). Sponsored by Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, this bill would allow owners, for a $40 fee, to have any low-speed vehicles with a top speed of 20 mph classified by the DMV as golf carts, which might lower their insurance premiums.
SB 352, also sponsored by Hays, would change the name of Lake-Sumter Community College to Lake-Sumter State College.
The session began with tributes both adulating and tear-filled. Legislative matriarch Gwen Margolis, D-Miami, was named honorary Dean of the Legislature, in part to commemorate Women's History Month. The Senate held a moment of silence for former Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, who died at age 65 over the weekend. Her son, Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, delivered an emotional tribute.
President Don Gaetz also allowed the Italian Caucus, made up ofSens. Maria Sachs, Bill Galvano, Joseph Abruzzo and Darren Soto, to make a short announcement commemorating Saint Joseph's Day, an important Italian and Catholic holiday.
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
