State leaders are calling the Legislature back to Tallahassee for a special session. But medical marijuana isn’t part of their plans.
The calls for a medical marijuana special session began almost as soon as this year’s regular session adjourned. Since then, the clamor has only grown. But Governor Scott is restricting his special session to education, tourism and business development funding.
“So it’ll be three things in session,” Scott says. “The first will be increasing the funding for FEFP. My goal is to increase it by one hundred dollars. We also talked about a Visit Florida and EFI bills.”
But while state leaders are patting themselves on the back for finding common ground, Mark Wilson of the Florida Chamber is a bit more circumspect.
“So far there’s nothing in the call that makes Florida more competitive,” Wilson says. “Workers comp rates are still going up a billion and a half, we still have the highest business rent tax in the nation and we still have home insurance rates because of fraud going up 10 to 18 percent.”
In a memo, House Speaker Richard Corcoran tells his members he’s ready to expand session to include a marijuana measure. Broadening the session’s scope requires a two thirds vote in both chambers.
