State News

A bill that would deny convicted drug felons from receiving temporary cash assistance, unless they go through a drug rehabilitation program, is now heading for a House floor vote. But, as Sascha Cordner reports, while the bill passed out of a House panel Tuesday, it received staunch opposition from Democrats, who claim the bill is mean-spirited.

Republican Representative Jimmie Smith of Lecanto says it’s the perfect way for the state of Florida to show that its officials are willing to help those who help themselves.

Monday’s meeting of the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee began peacefully enough.  But Tom Flanigan reports things quickly turned tense when members began debating a bill that would change the state’s laws governing foreclosure.

Along with Nevada, Florida has been America’s foreclosure headquarters for the past four years.  There are still nearly three-hundred seventy thousand foreclosure cases inching their way through the state’s courts.  The average time to settle a foreclosure case is about two years.  So State senators in the Judiciary Committee took up a bill that sponsor, St. Petersburg Republican Jack Latvala said, could help untangle a terrible mess.

Tampa Senator Jim Norman says if you give your life serving your community or country then your spouse deserves a tax break.  His idea dates to the start of the Iraq war. Then Norman was a member of the Hillsborough County Commission.

Norman: "When the war in Iraq started we as the Hillsborough County Commission adopted two thousand soldiers that served in combat zones. We later adopted the families of surviving spouses, 33 soldiers came back after they were killed in service. What this does is take that wonderful program, it takes it statewide."

A measure that would allow police officers, firefighters, and other special-risk employees to retire earlier is advancing in the House. But, as Sascha Cordner reports, there are a couple of provisions in the bill that opponents say would destroy the state’s pension plan system.

Republican Representative Ritch Workman says he wants a do-over on a massive pension reform plan he sponsored last year to correct a past mistake:

Lawmakers in a House committee have given the okay to a number of claims bills. Regan McCarthy reports among the measures now moving through the house are two proposals the Senate President calls priorities.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos announced before the legislative session began that he would do all he could to ensure the passage of two claims bills this session. One measure would compensate William Dillon who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The other would pay for the care of a man named Eric Brody who was severely injured almost 14 years ago in a crash with a speeding Broward County Sheriff’s deputy who was late for work. The proposal passed through the Senate last year, but was held up in the House.

Going into this year’s Florida Legislative Session, it appeared property insurance might finally drop off of lawmakers’ radar screens.  But Tom Flanigan reports, with three weeks to go in the session, the issue is once again a matter of some debate.

Florida’s so-called “property insurance crisis” dates to the big back-to-back hurricane years of 2004/2005.  Insurers coughed up billions of dollars to satisfy claims.  State officials turned aside the companies’ rate hike requests to offset those payouts and most big insurers fled Florida.  State-backed Citizens Property Insurance then became the biggest policy provider in the state.  It all seemed like a very Florida-specific scenario.  But John Forney says that’s really not the case.

Governor Rick Scott signed a bill Thursday to give a boost to Florida’s commercial space industry.  James Call reports, the measure will free up federal and state dollars to help build the facilities needed to launch equipment and people into space.

The Governor invited the House and Senate sponsors into his office for a bill signing that changes one word in the Florida law books. It is the first bill signing of the 2012 Legislative session.

It seems nearly everyone at the Florida Capitol now agrees that personal injury protection or “PIP” insurance fraud is a big problem.  Tom Flanigan reports the only thing those people disagree about is how to fix the problem.

The scene is the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy, named after former State Senator Pat Thomas, just west of Tallahassee.  Dozens of people are huddled under a leaky tent as a heavy rain falls.  A Florida Highway Patrol trooper tells the crowd what’s about to happen…

“One car approaches a four-way stop sign as another approaches.  That vehicle that has the right-of-way waves the other vehicle forward.  As that vehicle enters the intersection, the other vehicle enters the intersection, striking it intentionally.”

Florida lawmakers are working to pick the state’s sinking housing market back up. One proposal to do that would speed up the judicial process of foreclosures, but Regan McCarthy reports some worry a move like that could strip homeowners of their rights.

Florida was hit hard by the recent 2007-2008 real estate collapse. Since then, the state’s housing market has struggled to bounce back. Some say the reason for that is the state’s slow moving foreclosure process and high rate of foreclosures as the number of foreclosure related cases in the state continues to rise. Representative Kathleen Passidomo, a Republican from Naples, says she has a proposal that could help with the process.

Rolling your own could go up in smoke if a proposal moving through the legislature becomes law.  James Call reports the House Finance and Tax committee Wednesday voted to tax cigarettes rolled automatically at a convenience store at the same rate as those sold by major manufacturers like Phillip Morris and the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company.

Kissimmee Representative Mike Horner is sponsoring the bill. It closes a loophole which tobacco shops use to escape some state and federal taxes. Currently a consumer pays about $20 dollars less in taxes on a carton of cigarettes at a roll your own shop than he does when buying name brands.  A phalanx of store owners, employees and lobbyists followed Horner out of the committee room after his proposal received a unanimous vote.