FEATURED
STORIES
Florida House returns to normal after chaotic spell
By Toluse Olorunnipa and Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After spiraling into near-chaos late Wednesday, the Florida House returned to normal Thursday, with no robotic readings of bills, threats of lawsuits, procedural brinkmanship or petty bickering on the floor.
Voting rights watchdogs give thumbs down to Florida elections bill
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post
Related: Florida's long-sought elections repairs in snag as lawmakers try last-minute negotiations
Several Florida organizations that watchdog voting rights issues are giving a thumbs down to the elections bill currently awaiting a vote in the Florida legislature.
Scott gets tax break, but House Democrats threaten lawsuit
By Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Did Florida legislators pull a fast one on Gov. Rick Scott when they passed a manufacturing tax break late Wednesday but left it in legal limbo?
House sends governor the Orange-inspired sick-leave bill
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida House sent Gov. Rick Scott a sick-leave bill which would block local governments from enacting sick-leave policies like the one slated for a public vote in Orange County.
Lawmakers tighten guidelines on nuclear advance fees
By Ivan Penn and Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
In the short term, Duke Energy can keep collecting the “advance fee” money already approved for the Levy County nuclear plant.
We're nuked again
Editorial
Ocala Star-Banner
Lawmakers have reminded us once again who their masters are when they're in session in Tallahassee — and it's not the people of Florida.
BEST
OF THE BLOGS
The Florida GOP And Sick-Time: "Small Government" Hypocrites
By Martha Jackovics
Beach Peanuts
Conservative Republicans claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility, and yet Rick Scott threw away taxpayer dollars along with stimulus money and the promise of jobs when he rejected high-speed rail, a project that was years in the making.
Florida House GOP Wants Poor People To Pay Three Times More For Health Care Than State Lawmakers Do
By Sy Mukherjee
Think Progress
The GOP-controlled Florida state house on Friday passed a Medicaid “expansion” bill that would substantially burden the state’s budget by rejecting any federal funding.
Debriefing Parent Trigger’s Defeat in the Florida Senate
By Bob Sikes
Scathing Purple Musings
Perhaps Senator Bill Montford said it best in this quote he gave Palm Beach Post reporter Dara Kam:
Medicaid Expansion in Florida: It's Obamacare vs. Grouponcare (Part 2)
By Gary Stein
Huffington Post
In the Florida House session day last week on Thursday, April 25, as the House Healthcare Bill was to be debated, one lawmaker quoted those sages known as the Rolling Stones by stating, "You can't always get what you want."
Deal makers and breakers in final days of 2013 Florida legislative session
By Daniel Tilson
West Palm Beach Liberal Examiner
As the clock wound down on the 2013 Florida legislative session yesterday, the wheeling and dealing wound up and into high gear as Governor Rick Scott and GOP legislative leaders all “gave some to get some”; to each other at least, if not to more than a million impoverished, working poor and middle class Floridians suffering without health insurance coverage.
FLORIDA
POLITICS
Major bills await Florida Legislature's final day
By Kathleen Haughney and Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida Legislature used its next-to-last day Thursday to pass a watered-down texting-while-driving ban, a plan to slim down the state-run Citizens Property Insurance and legislation that strips local governments of the power to impose sick-leave laws.
Elections bill lingers on Legislature's last day
By Marc Caputo and Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Embarrassed by an elections meltdown, lawmakers headed to the Capitol this year with a pledge to undo a law that helped lead to long lines, angry voters and jeers about "Flori-duh."
Texting-while-driving ban approved by Florida lawmakers, headed to Gov. Rick Scott
By Rochelle Koff
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After two days of drama and five years of trying, a texting-while-driving ban is headed to Gov. Rick Scott's desk.
Alimony Veto May Not be Final Word
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Governor Rick Scott has vetoed alimony reform legislation that advocates describe as unfriendly to women and families.
Time running out for Dolphins stadium bill
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
The Miami Dolphins were still throwing late-game Hail Marys in Tallahassee on Thursday, with the team’s push for a taxpayer supported stadium upgrade stuck in limbo just 24 hours before the close of this year’s legislative session.
State Legislature wrap-up: The good, the bad, the embarrassing
By Deirdre Macnab
Orlando Sentinel
Florida citizens, this is no time to take your eyes off the Legislature in Tallahassee.
Partisanship hurts the old, sick & poor
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
This week, the Sentinel helped put a face on the victims of the sequestration budget mess in Washington.
Former State Senator Paula Dockery Discusses the Legislative Session Including the Debate over Medicaid Expansion and the Parent Trigger Bill
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Tampa
Coming up we’ll talk about the almost completed work of the 2013 state legislative session. Joining us will be former state senator Paula Dockery from Lakeland.
National Review, which lifted Rubio, now bemoans 'Rubio's folly'
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
The latest sign of the pounding Sen. Marco Rubio is taking for his stance on comprehensive immigration reform: Sept. 7, 2009: Yes He Can. May 20, 2013: Rubio's Folly.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
Reject latest assault on Florida’s environment
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
As members of the Florida Legislature congratulate themselves for spreading around a record $74.5 billion budget, one part of the state is getting shafted: the Florida environment.
Lawmakers wrap up work on Everglades bill; Big Sugar, enviros praise outcome
By Bruce Schreiner
Associated Press
Florida lawmakers completed work Thursday on a plan to help pay for Everglades restoration, drawing praise from environmental activists and the sugar industry after years of squabbling over ways to protect the famed River of Grass.
Senate strips language dealing with wetlands, fertilizer ordinances from permitting bill
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The Senate on Thursday voted to strip language banning new local fertilizer ordinances from an environmental permitting bill along with a provision dealing with local wetlands regulations.
State cools on land buys, shifts approach to conservation
By Chad Gillis
Ft. Myers News-Press
Long heralded for spending billions to secure green space and create wildlife preserves and corridors, Florida is in the midst of an about-face on the conservation front, with some elected officials saying the state has too much public land and some should be sold to the private sector.
Duke is cutting 585 jobs at Crystal River nuclear plant
By Ivan Penn
Tampa Bay Times
Duke Energy issued a notice to the state this week that it intends to transfer or layoff 585 employees at the shuttered Crystal River nuclear plant over the next year or so.
LGBT
Gay-straight club to be allowed at Fla. school
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A Florida school board will allow the formation of a gay-straight alliance club at middle school a day after it was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Fla. gay couple's legal move could lead to big changes
By Marisa Kendall
Ft. Myers News-Press
When Daniel Maltbie and Garry Houston had to walk away from their mortgage, they did what many other married couples might — filed for joint bankruptcy.
Rhode Island to become 10th state allowing gay marriage
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Rhode Island is joining nine other states and the District of Columbia in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.
EDUCATION
Amendment on Florida House bill targets 'unsatisfactory' teachers
By Kathleen McGrory
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Two days after the Florida Senate killed the parent trigger bill, one of the proposal's more controversial provisions found new life in the Florida House.
Senate opens digital learning to out-of-state companies
By James Call
Florida Current
Florida students will be able to sign up for more online classes under a bill the Senate passed Thursday and sent to the governor.
Parents Need to Pull Trigger to Help Schools
By Margo Pope
Florida Voices
As media websites throughout Florida on Tuesday told of the end of the notorious “parent trigger” bill for this year, one state senator nailed the problem – the law already allows parents to get involved in fixing failing public schools but few of them bother to do so.
Teachers' lawsuit against merit pay law is dismissed
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
A lawsuit by Florida's teachers union over the merit-pay law was dismissed today, with a circuit judge ruling the sweeping 2011 law did not violate teachers constitutional rights.
Florida’s Largest Teachers Union Lost Tax-Exempt Status
By Steve Miller
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
What happened to the Florida Education Association’s tax-exempt status?
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
No more drama: House Dems get on board the state budget
By Michael Van Sickler
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Despite all the meltdown drama from the past couple of days, don’t expect a big clash on the state’s $74.5 billion budget on Friday.
Legislative staff analysis: Tax cut needed two-thirds vote to pass
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
According to staff analysis from the House and Senate, Gov. Rick Scott’s top legislative priority of a manufacturing tax cut likely needed a two-thirds majority in both chambers to pass into law.
Fla. Dems submit public records request to Governor over constitutionality of Scott-backed manufacturing tax break
By Peter Schorsch
Saint Petersblog
The Florida Democratic Party sent the following public records request (scroll down) to Governor Rick Scott’s Chief of Staff Adam Hollingsworth today.
Stripped of big rate increases, Citizens reform bill heads to Scott's office
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Homeowners have been spared from the threat of faster rate increases after the Florida Senate agreed Thursday to scale back a proposal to reform Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
Florida lawmakers pass bill cracking down on renters
Staff Report
Tampa Tribune
Florida legislators are making it easier to evict tenants under a bill now heading to Gov. Rick Scott.
Scott signs law to speed up unclaimed property system
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott signed a law allowing the state's unclaimed-property office to automate its claims system Thursday, speeding the process for Floridians trying to cash out old bank accounts or receive long-forgotten belongings left in bank safe-deposit boxes.
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
Hope Fades for Deal; Robo-Reader 'Mary' Returns to Closet
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
It appears increasingly likely that the legislative session will end on Friday without agreement to accept more than $50 billion in federal funds to cover an estimated 1.1 million uninsured Floridians.
South Florida Is Ground Zero for Medicare Fraud
By Chris Parker
Miami New Times
Driving through Hialeah, where strip malls line boulevards like concrete-and-metal kudzu, a federal agent offers a reporter $1 for every strip mall he can spot that doesn't house a medical business.
Senate says no to maternity unit at Miami Children’s Hospital
By Tia Mitchell
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Miami Children’s Hospital argued that having a 10-bed labor and delivery unit on its grounds would save babies’ lives.
Senate softens on trauma center deregulation
By Mary Shedden
Tampa Tribune
Efforts to deregulate Florida’s entire hospital trauma center system stalled today in the Florida Senate.
IMMIGRATION,
CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Bill to ban use of foreign law in courts stalls in Senate
By Rochelle Koff
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A controversial bill that backers say aims to keep foreign law from being used over Florida law in family courts is “effectively dead,” Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, chairman of the Senate’s Rules Committee, said after that body's meeting Thursday.
Immigration reform foes stoop low
Editorial
Ft. Myers News-Press
Fixing the nation’s broken immigration system tops the short list of important things Congress might accomplish this year, even if it remains gridlocked on issues such as guns and the budget.
JUSTICE
AND THE COURTS
Florida Supreme Court rules against warrantless cellphone searches
By Charlie Frago
Tampa Bay Times
The Florida Supreme Court delivered a blow to law enforcement officials Thursday, ruling 5-2 that police needed a search warrant to access the data stored on an arrested person's cellphone.
Accuracy, not speed, in executions
Editorial
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Keep in mind that Florida has had more death-row inmates exonerated than any state in the country — a total of 24 since 1979.
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