Florida Governor Rick Scott has taken action on more than 50 bills this week. Some of those have been featured at bill signings across the state, but others have gotten more silent approval from the state’s leader.
Governor Scott said when he signs a bill there’s really just one thing on his mind -- jobs.
That’s why the governor said he signed HB 7015 and HB 1792 in Jacksonville. The bills will place additional restrictions on witnesses in lawsuits and Scott said he thinks both measures will create a better business climate in Florida.
“Every frivolous lawsuit costs families money, costs services, the company has to pay more and they have to pass that cost in the form of higher costs for services or products. We don’t want any frivolous lawsuits in our state. We want to make sure this is the state where you can get a job, your child can get a good education and you can afford to live," Scott said.
And the governor gave a similar explanation for his decision to sign SB1852, which directs money the state won in a national mortgage foreclosure lawsuit to help fund affordable housing initiatives, pay for housing for low income students and give some relief to courts backlogged by foreclosure cases.
“This is very great news for Florida families who are struggling to make ends meet, just like my family was when I was growing up," Scott said.
Meanwhile,some Democrats are hammering Scott for vetoing a different bill they say would have helped some of the state’s residents get jobs or a good education . This one would have created a new path for undocumented immigrants who get accepted to the federal deferred action program, to get a Florida drivers license. Representative Randolph Bracy, a Democrat from Orlando is one of the bill's sponsors.
“You’re talking about people who live here. They’re not citizens, but they live here. They make a living here. They’ve got family here and you’re talking about people who go to school, who go to work everyday and they’re just trying to make a decent life for themselves,” Bracy said.
Bracy said he worries without a fast path to get drivers licenses, young undocumented immigrants will have a tough time getting to their jobs or school. Although,there is another way for undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses, but Senator Darren Soto, who sponsored the measure in the Senate said that path is less sure.
“These kids’ abilities to get drivers licenses are up in the air. Right now they’re approving it, but we can’t be sure. So, the immediate impact would be that these folks would still be able to get drivers licenses after waiting months to get a work permit after already waiting months or years to get deferred action. But, we wanted to make it a statute so that it would be in law and couldn’t just be taken away at any time," Soto said.
Those affected by the measure would have been mostly young adults who have been living in the United States for most of their lives. Soto and Bracy both said they’d like to see the Senate President and House Speaker call for a special session to overrule the governor’s veto – a move that would take agreement from both legislative leaders and a two-thirds vote.
Meanwhile, in his veto letter Scott questioned the “legal basis” through which the federal deferred action policy has been adopted.
Other bills the governor recently inked include a measure that prohibits the sale of certain drug paraphernalia, and another that deals with mortgage foreclosures among many more, which got approval, but not the fan fair that comes with one of the governor’s bill signings.
