Bills banning pregnancy discrimination and establishing credit scores for minors sailed through one Florida Senate committee Tuesday. The same committee also passed a measure paving the way for dentists to provide additional services to low-income people without risk of lawsuits.
Sen. Geraldine Thompson's (D-Orlando) bill prohibiting employment discrimination against pregnant women won unanimous approval Tuesday from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chairman Tom Lee says the measure is needed because a pregnancy case is pending before the Florida Supreme Court.
“There’s actually conflicting DCA opinions on this, which is what has led this to the court, and what Senator Thompson is really trying to do is make Florida law consistent with some amendments that were done on the federal level.”
The committee also did not debate before passing a measure from Sen. Alan Hays (R-Umatilla). It allows dentists who volunteer their services to low-income people to accept payment for more complicated services but still be protected from lawsuits.
“Passing this bill is going to help a lot of people get some missing teeth replaced, and they would appreciate it," Hays said.
And finally, the committee gave a unanimous pass to Sen. Nancy Detert’s (R-Venice) bill allowing parents to pay $10 to create and freeze children’s credit histories to protect against ID theft.
