NO SENATE SESSION SATURDAY
Senate President Mike Haridopolos said Friday that the Senate wont meet again until Monday, erasing fears that the Senate would hold an unusual Saturday session. Haridopolos earlier in the week said he planned to have the chamber meet on Saturday, but at the close of Fridays session told senators to return to the floor Monday. Legislative leaders will meet over the weekend as they try to resolve budget discrepancies between the Senate and House. The final agreed-on budget must be on desks midweek to finish the session as scheduled next Friday.
IMMIGRATION BILL NEXT WEEK
Anticipating action on an immigration package, Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, added the Senates measure (SB 2040) to the special order calendar for Monday. The bill, the sponsorship of which was transferred earlier this week from Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, to Sen. J.D. Alexander, a citrus grower from Lake Wales, has been bottled up following staunch opposition for immigrant advocates, and the states largest business and agricultural interests. Senate President Mike Haridopolos told reporters Friday that he expects the Senate package to include E-Verify provisions for employers, deporting illegal immigrants after they complete their sentences and requiring recipients of state social services to verify their immigration status.
AGREEMENT ON TRANSPORTATION, REORGANIZATION ... AND GROWTH
The House-Senate conference committee overseeing the transportation and economic development portion of the budget agreed on all but a handful of issues that will be bumped to leadership beginning this weekend. At the same time, the two chambers struck a deal on a massive growth management bill, angering environmental advocates and at least one lawmaker. The House asked for the growth management measure to be considered as part of the conference deal last night; the Senate countered with a slate of amendments. When House members balked at three of those changes, the Senate threatened to bump the entire transportation and economic development portion of the budget before House members agreed to tweak the biggest outstanding amendment and accept it. But Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, criticized the decision to handle that bill in the context of budget discussions. "I'm not happy about the way this has been done," Latvala said after the agreement was reached. But the head of the conference committee, Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, defended the agreement on growth management. "I would believe that any of these matters, if they were separate bills, would pass the Senate," Gaetz said.
NO HEALTH CARE MANDATE, SAYS HOUSE
Wading back into the battle about the federal health overhaul, the House on Friday approved a bill that seeks to prevent Floridians from being forced to buy health insurance. The one-page bill says simply that a person may not be compelled to purchase health insurance, though it includes exceptions such as when insurance is required as a condition of employment. The Republican-dominated House voted 81-34 to approve the measure (HB 1193). Despite the bills simplicity, it spurred a debate about the federal health law, which in 2014 will require almost all Americans to have health insurance. Florida is challenging the constitutionality of that law in federal court. Rep. Alan Williams, a Tallahassee Democrat who voted against the bill, said it would seek to turn back the clock to before the federal law passed. It (the federal law) was a victory for all people, for parents, for young folks, for businesses, Williams said. But bill supporters said government should not be able to force people to buy insurance. This really does come down to what kind of society we want to live in, said Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood. The full Senate is ready to vote on its version of the bill (SB 1754). At the same time, the House is ready to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment (SJR 2) that takes aim at the federal health coverage requirement.
HOUSE PASSES PUBLIC HOSPITAL BILL
The Florida House on Friday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would require judges to sign off on sales or leases of public hospitals. After little debate, the House voted 95-20 to approve HB 619, which has divided the hospital industry. The bill includes criteria for circuit judges to use in deciding whether to approve public-hospital deals, such as whether the terms reflect fair market value. Sponsor Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, said the bill stems from controversies such as a proposed merger of the publicly owned Bert Fish Medical Center in Volusia County and the private Adventist Health System.That deal had to be scrapped after it was disclosed that the Bert Fish board repeatedly violated the states Sunshine Law by holding closed-door meetings to discuss the deal. Hooper said the bill would create transparency. It eliminates backroom deals, Hooper said. Public hospitals and the Florida Hospital Association have opposed the bill. Meanwhile, for-profit hospital chains such as Health Management Associates and Tenet Healthcare Corp. have lobbied to pass it.
POLICE LINE-UP CHANGES DRAW FIRE
Following up on a task force and national attention given to innocent suspects being convicted of crimes they didnt commit, the Florida Senate on Friday approved a measure setting minimum standards and procedures for police line-ups. The bill requires a neutral officer to administer the line-ups in most cases and requires that witnesses be given instructions aimed at reducing the pressure they may feel to name a suspect. By a 34-5 vote, the Senate approved a measure (SB 1206) that backers say will reduce the number of suspects wrongfully identified by witnesses who are either led on by investigators or feel pressure to identify someone to solve a crime. If you want to put somebody in prison, there ought to be a minimum standard that you follow when you do an eyewitness identification, particularly when we know that more than 250 people in this country have been exonerated throughDNA evidence. (About) 75 percent ofthe time, the reason why they were wrongfully convicted was for a flawed eyewitness identification process, Senate sponsor Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said. The vote came over the objections of Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Cross City, and former Alachua County sheriff, who said the bill sends a vote of no confidence to law enforcement officers across the state. This is a problem with misidentification by the witness, not a problem with our law enforcement and our law enforcements integrity, Oelrich said. The House version (HB 821) is on the calendar.
