Daily News Clips for May 3, 2013

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.

Daily News Clips for May 2, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Florida Runs Out of Time on Medicaid
By Lizette Alvarez and Christine Sexton Jordan
New York Times
Prospects for Medicaid expansion in Florida, which was embraced, improbably, by the state’s Republican governor in February, are all but dead this year.

Lawmakers take off the gloves as tensions mount
By Toluse Olorunnipa and Mary Ellen Klas
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The Florida House spiralled into chaos Wednesday with Republicans declaring victory on a top priority of Gov. Rick Scott and Democrats vowing a court battle — back-to-back developments that capped off a long and bizarre day in the state Capitol.

Gov. Scott's Unwillingness to Stand for Legislative Priorities
By Allison Tant
Florida Voices
Before the start of the 2013 legislative session Gov. Rick Scott was undergoing a dramatic shift away from everything he ran on in 2010.

It's a deal? Weatherford, Gaetz, Scott all win
News Service of Florida
News 4 Jacksonville
The three highest-profile figures involved in the 2013 legislative session saw their top priorities sewn up Wednesday night in a rapid-fire series of events that left a trail of unanswered legal questions and Democrats crying foul.

Gov. Rick Scott vetoes alimony, signs campaign finance and ethics
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida Gov. Rick Scott late Wednesday vetoed an emotionally charged bill that would have ended permanent alimony in divorce cases but signed into law ethics and campaign finance measures that were important to legislative leaders.

Buying a House (of Representatives) for fun and profit
By John Romano
Tampa Bay Times
Related editorial: Utility customers keep losing
A house was recently purchased in Florida, and the buyers stand to make hundreds of millions in profits on this very old and exclusive property. The hook is that it is no ordinary house. It is the House.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Tallahassee sticks it to the locals
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
Our good ol’ boys in Tallahassee surely do resent those meddlers from Washington sticking their big government noses in Florida’s business. “We know what’s best for Florida,” they’re fond of saying.

House killing Democratic bills, but not those for special-interests
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
A showdown over expanding health-care to more than 1 million Floridians slowed the Legislature to a crawl for a second day Wednesday, with the fate of an elections reform, a sick-time fight, sports stadium tax breaks and other bills hanging in the balance.

DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz: Scott, Weatherford legacy will be ‘sickness, illness and death’
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz blasted Gov. Rick Scott for failing to use his clout to push the House to approve a Medicaid expansion that could cover 1 million uninsured Floridians.

Group sought to protect Wasserman Schultz’s congressional seat, emails show
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
A liberal group involved in a lawsuit to make Florida’s congressional districts less partisan engaged in its own partisan efforts by drawing Democratic-heavy Hispanic seats or trying to "scoop" Jewish voters into a district for U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chair, emails show.

Final Session Crush
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
After eight weeks in the nine week legislative session, just 66 bills had been sent to the Governor.

Session’s Ending: Chess, Poker, Lots of Hide & Seek
By Paula Dockery
Florida Voices
Surely with a Republican governor, Senate and House, the legislative session will run smoothly, and agreement, cooperation and mutual goals will highlight a timely and successful conclusion.

Lawmakers may change, but budget tricks stay the same
By Michael Van Sickler and Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Legislative leaders promised to make transparency in spending a priority but when it came time to finish their $74.5 billion budget, it was hard to break old habits.

Amendment could doom texting bill
By Rochelle Koff
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The House on Wednesday voted 110-6 to pass a bill to restrict texting while driving, but the legislation faces an uphill battle if it's going to become law.

There's something about 'Mary' — if you can take the voice
By Toluse Olorunnipa and Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
For more than 10 hours Wednesday, lawmakers sat and listened to the drone-like voice of "Mary," a robotic auto-reader used to speed through hundreds of pages of legislative text.

Waste of time
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
It was a bit juvenile for Democrats to employ a stalling tactic to protest Florida House leaders’ opposition to Medicaid expansion, but it’s really no bigger of a waste of time than what conservatives in the chamber have been pulling all session.

New America held hostage by Old America
By Joy-Ann Reid
Miami Herald
There have been so many essays written dissecting the state of conservatism, the notion that it is in decline has become cliché. But decline doesn’t mean disappearance.  

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Nuclear bill passes House, returns to Senate as critic says legislation was "hijacked"
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A bill revising the 2006 law allowing utilities to charge customers for costs of nuclear power projects passed the House on Wednesday and was sent back to the Senate.

House approves water pollution bill
Associated Press
Tallahassee Democrat
Florida lawmakers on Wednesday wrapped up legislation authorizing the state's Department of Environmental Protection to start enforcing rules to reduce water pollution.

New US interior secretary in Palm Beach County, tours Everglades
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
New Interior Secretary Sally Jewell took an airboat ride through the Everglades In Palm Beach County on Wednesday during one of her first official trips as leader of the agency responsible for national parks and other public lands, highlighting the importance of a massive wetlands restoration project.

LGBT

ACLU sues Fla. school board over gay-straight club
Associated Press
Miami Herald
The American Civil Liberties Union sued a Florida school board Wednesday, claiming its delay in allowing the formation of a gay-straight alliance club at a middle school is a violation of free speech and equal access.

Miami Heat players support gay colleague Jason Collins
By Joseph Goodman
Miami Herald
Heat players offered support for Jason Collins and championed him as a pioneer on Tuesday, one day after the 12-year NBA veteran announced he was gay.

EDUCATION

Parent trigger: Senate kills a bill that goes too far
Editorial
Tallahassee Democrat
Who could argue against parents’ involvement in their children’s education?

Similar "parent trigger" bill language added to charter school proposal
By Leslie Postal
Orlando Sentinel
About 2.5 hours after a tie vote in the Senate killed the controversial "parent trigger" bill Tuesday, Senators amended another education bill to include provisions similar to some some of those in the failed proposal.

Five GOP senators say Scott had no role in 'trigger' bill's defeat
By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Five Republican senators who voted to defeat the so-called parent trigger bill said Gov. Rick Scott did not lobby them to oppose the controversial legislation.

Lawmakers tweak teacher pay raises
By Kathleen McGrory
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The House and Senate tweaked the language on the teacher pay raises Wednesday, meaning educators won't have to wait until June 2014 for their payouts.

Lawmakers end subsidized tutoring program
By Michael LaForgia and Kathleen McGrory
Times/Herald Staff Writers
A last-ditch effort by South Florida lawmakers to keep millions of dollars flowing to private tutoring companies suffered a resounding defeat on Wednesday, giving Florida school districts control over $100 million in federal education money for the first time in a decade.

Florida public online school gets small budget increase
By Kathleen McGrory
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
School districts, teachers and parents are celebrating the $1 billion addition to the state’s education budget.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Manufacturer tax bill unconstitutional? Dems say challenge is coming
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
The House Wednesday voted to pass legislation carrying language eliminating the sales tax paid by manufactures on equipment purchases, one of Gov. Rick Scott’s top priorities.

Saunders: exempt Orange County from Precourt's sick time preemption bill
By David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
State. Rep. Joe Saunders, D-Orlando, has offered up an amendment to exempt Orange County from a bill that would block local governments from adopting mandatory paid sick time benefits for workers.

Lawmakers cut a deal on Citizens reforms
By Aaron Deslatte and Maria Mallory White
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Sen. David Simmons said Wednesday he has cut a deal with the House to pass a Citizens Property Insurance Corp. reform bill that will mirror the House's less aggressive version in exchange for revisiting the problems with "wind-only" policy rates next year.

Time running out for lawmakers to stop insurance practice homeowners and advocates call abusive
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
Melody and Ronald Ward say Florida’s largest private property insurer “betrayed” them.

Florida still leading nation in foreclosures
By John Hielscher
Associated Press
Florida again led the nation with the highest percentage of homes in foreclosure in March, according to a new report.

Dolphins may concede state dollars in stadium fight
By Douglas Hanks
Miami Herald
The Miami Dolphins may drop their fight for state dollars to renovate Sun Life Stadium in a last-minute bid to win legislative approval to use Miami-Dade hotel taxes for the project.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Will House bite on potential Medicaid compromise
By Kelli Kennedy and Gary Fineout
Associated Press
Senate leaders are working on a compromise proposal that would expand health coverage to an estimated 1.1 million residents using more than $50 billion in federal funds, in hopes of ending a contentious debate with less than three days left in the Legislative session. But it seems unlikely House Republicans will bite.

Sides entrenched, health care deal likely dead
By Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Crist: Governor should force Legislature to keep working on Medicaid expansion
Lawmakers are likely to return home this week without an agreement on meaningful health care reform, despite the early endorsement of Gov. Rick Scott and the pleas of businesses and hospitals.

States skipping Medicaid expansion may favor new immigrants over US citizens
By Michael Ollove
McClatchy News Service
The Republican governors who decline to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act may give not-yet-naturalized immigrants a benefit that American citizens in their states can't get.

Medical malpractice gets past House slowdown to Gov. Rick Scott's desk
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
House Republicans blocked a move by Democrats to kill legislation (SB 1792) aimed at making it harder to bring medical malpractice lawsuits.

Bill extending foster care to age 21 goes to Gov. Rick Scott for signature
By Margie Menzel
News Service of Florida
The Florida House passed a bill Wednesday giving young adults in state custody the option of remaining until age 21 – three years longer than in current law – to reduce their chances of ending up homeless, jobless or in jail.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Rubio, in St. Lucie County, says immigration bill does not offer amnesty to illegals
By George Bennett
Palm Beach Post
At least 25 foes of immigration reform were protesting in the rain before Republican Sen. Marco Rubio arrived here to speak at tonight’s St. Lucie County GOP Lincoln Day dinner.

S. Fla. activists take part in a caravan to urge for speedy immigration reform
By Alphonce Shundu
Miami Herald
Immigration activists in Miami on Wednesday marked International Workers Day with a vehicle caravan from Little Havana to Doral to urge Congress to speed immigration reform and President Barack Obama to halt deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Should We Let Terrorists Buy Guns?
The Progress Report
Think Progress
Meet the Guns Rights for Terrorists caucus.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

House, Senate reach funding deal that clerks of court wanted
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post
Florida’s 67 clerks of courts — and lawmakers — hope a deal reached by House and Senate leaders late Tuesdaymeans the clerks no longer will have to seek a mid-year budget boost from the Legislature as they have for the past four years.

Gov. Scott should slow roll on speeding up executions
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
Feeling the need for speed, the Florida Legislature has sent Gov. Rick Scott a bill that would hasten executions.

Daily News Clips for May 1, 2013

FEATURED STORIES

Democrats bring House to halt over health care stalemate
By Mary Ellen Klas and Tia Mitchell
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related editorial: Weatherford should allow open vote on Medicaid expansion
Related: Crist: Governor should force Legislature to keep working on Medicaid expansion
Florida's smooth-running legislative session hit a rough patch Tuesday as House Democrats demanded that every bill be read in full to protest the stalemate on health care reform.

Acrimony Has Florida Lawmakers At Nearly a Standstill
By Gary Fineout
Associated Press
The annual session of the Florida Legislature nearly came to halt on Tuesday amid acrimony and finger-pointing.

For second consecutive year, 'parent trigger' bill dies on tie vote
By Kathleen McGrory
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
The controversial "parent trigger" bill died a dramatic legislative death Tuesday the same way it did last year: in a surprise tie vote in the Florida Senate during the final week of session.

Speaker Will Weatherford loses Senate showdown over Florida pensions
By Michael Van Sickler
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
After months of calling pension reform a top priority in his inaugural year as Florida House speaker, Will Weatherford could do nothing Tuesday as his plan went down to defeat in the Senate.

Florida House rejects attempts to repeal nuclear fees
By Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
The Florida House on Tuesday rejected attempts to repeal a controversial state law that allows utility companies to charge customers for nuclear power plant development in advance of construction.

FLORIDA POLITICS

Let us decide for ourselves
Editorial
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Even if you agree that government shouldn't tell business how to do business, a proposal in the Florida Legislature that would pre-empt local governments from exerting local control is bad public policy.

Smooth session hits gridlock on Day 57
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Related: A star is born when the House bill auto-reader is switched on
A legislative session that had been marked by compromise deals on perennial interest group fights and relative bipartisanship bogged down Tuesday as House Democrats brought its smooth sailing to a screeching halt.

Weatherford, Thurston trade jabs, gird for a long week
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
The Florida House's top Republican and Democrat made it clear Tuesday night that the slow procedural slog forced over a fight on Medicaid reform will continue through the end of session this week.

Gaetz discusses topics left to tackle before May 3
By Jennifer Curington
Orlando Sentinel
The Senate now has three session days left to get a hefty workload done and Senate President Don Gaetz has started to show his more outspoken side on many topics left to tackle.

Supporters fear texting while driving bill might be in danger
By Rochelle Koff
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
A late amendment could derail a bill banning texting while driving for another year, supporters fear.

National Democratic Party chief blasts Scott
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Gov. Rick Scott's support of Medicaid expansion, added education funding and revision of election laws is just a "death-bed conversion," the head of the national Democratic Party told Leon County party members Tuesday night.

Scott: Floridians should be Republicans
By Jacqueline Bostick
Panama City News Herald
Gov. Rick Scott’s message at Edgewater Beach Resort Tuesday night was straight to the point — all Floridians should be Republicans.

POLITICAL RACES

Beaming Rick Scott
By Robert Costa
National Journal
‘Seven-point-five percent.” When you meet Florida governor Rick Scott, you hear that phrase over and over again.
 

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Senate nuclear bill ready for a vote in House
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
A bill revising the 2006 law allowing utilities to charge customers for nuclear power plants was amended Tuesday in the House and is ready for a vote.

House Says No To Tracking Sickness Caused By Toxic Algae
By Thomas Andrew Gustafson
WFSU Tallahassee
An amendment to a water pollution bill wanting to track toxic algae deaths and illnesses failed in the Florida House Tuesday.

New US interior secretary will tour Everglades
Associated Press
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The country's new secretary of the interior is touring Florida's Everglades.

LGBT

A good teammate
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
National Basketball Association center Jason Collins has drawn praise from fellow athletes as well as politicians for becoming the first openly gay athlete active in a major U.S. sport.

EDUCATION

Senate shoots down 'parent trigger' bill
By James Call
Florida Current
The Florida Senate Tuesday killed the "parent trigger" bill. It is the second year in a row a measure creating a petition process for parents to turn a failing public school into a charter school died in the Senate on a tie vote.

Senate Proves Value, Stops Bad Education Idea
By Rick Outzen
Florida Voices
The Florida Senate proved its value on Tuesday by not approving SB 0862, the Parent Empowerment in Education Act -- better known as the “Parent Trigger” bill.

Legislature looks to speed release of school employee raises
By David Smiley
Miami Herald
Florida lawmakers are looking to speed up the release of $480 million in school employee raises one day after the House and Senate negotiated a budget that proposed delaying them until June 2014.

Rep. Castor says Head Start at risk due to budget cutbacks
By Mike Salinero
Tampa Tribune
Florida’s Head Start early education program will have to turn away 2,000 children next year if Congress doesn’t fix automatic, across-the-board spending cuts, Congresswoman Kathy Castor said Tuesday.

Even on teacher raises, Legislature puts up hurdles
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
In 2010, the Legislature required Florida’s public schools and universities to gather and report statistics showing how much material each had recycled during the year.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

Pension bill dies in Senate
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
House Speaker Will Weatherford's plan for closing the Florida Retirement System to new employees died Tuesday in a close Senate vote.

Gambling With State Worker's Retirement?
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Tampa
A coalition of groups in Florida is taking aim at a plan in Tallahassee to shift more public employees into a 401(k)-like retirement plan.

Gov. Scott: 'Ridiculous' legislature dragging its feet on tax cut
By Steve Bousquet,
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Rick Scott fired back at legislative leaders Tuesday for not embracing his call to eliminate the sales tax on manufacturing equipment, one of his two priorities in the 2013 session.

Legislature passes $200 million foreclosure settlement spending package
By Gray Rohrer
Florida Current
Although lawmakers won’t vote on the $74.5 billion budget until Thursday at the earliest, $200 million has already been appropriated.

Florida House holds firm on not raising new Citizens insurance rates, split with Senate remains
By Charles Elmore
Palm Beach Post
A clearinghouse to shrink state-run insurer Citizens is fine, but substantial rate increases for new customers are not, the Florida House made clear Monday in rewriting a Senate bill with its own version.

Florida consumer confidence continues upward trend
Staff Report
Florida Current
According to a report from the University of Florida's Survey Research Center, consumer confidence went up three points for the second month in a row, bringing it to 79.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

Medicaid Impasse Sparks Rebellion
By Carol Gentry
Health News Florida
Democrats are so angry over House Republicans' refusal to accept federal funds to expand health coverage that they deliberately caused action on the floor to grind to a halt Tuesday afternoon.

Thrasher on Medicaid expansion: Take a deep breath
By James Call
Florida Current
Sen. John Thrasher surveys the divide between the House and Senate proposals to reduce the number of uninsured Floridians and doesn’t see a way to a compromise on health care in the session’s final three days.

Abortion-related bill headed to governor
By Rochelle Koff
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
For the first time in two years, an abortion-related bill has passed both legislative houses and it is headed to the governor, who has already indicated his praise of a bill that focuses on infants born alive after a failed abortion.

'End the R-word' bill heads to Gov. Rick Scott
By Rochelle Koff
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Brittany Norman, a 25-year-old Tallahassee woman with Down syndrome, had a message for Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday: "Sign the bill."

House sets up Fla. Health Choices program for vote
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
The Florida House has set up a bill for a vote that would give $900,000 to an online marketplace where individuals and businesses can shop for health insurance.

IMMIGRATION, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Sen. Marco Rubio talks immigration at Pasco Republican gathering
By Molly Moorhead
Tampa Bay Times
Speaking to 600 diehard Pasco Republicans, Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday night cast the sensitive work of immigration reform as a national security issue that can't be ignored.

Gun Law Changes Few for 2013
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
State lawmakers have sent the Governor a bill closing a loophole that has allowed mentally ill people to purchase guns.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Florida Passes Law To Speed Up Executions
By Stephanie Mencimer
Mother Jones
States across the country have spent the last few years reconsidering the wisdom of capital punishment.

Zimmerman Won't Seek Immunity Hearing
By Kyle Hightower
Associated Press
The former neighborhood watch leader charged with fatally shooting a Florida teenager told a judge Tuesday that he agrees with his defense attorney's decision not to seek an immunity hearing under the state’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law.