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Florida Commissioner of Education Eric Smith is resigning. Smith was appointed to the position in 2007 by former Governor Charlie Crist. Smith butted heads with Crist last year when Crist vetoed the teacher merit pay legislation. A similar bill was approved by both chambers earlier this month. Smith helped secured 700-million federal dollars in the Race to the Top competition to help usher in the merit pay system. Smith said in a statement he�s stepping down to give Governor Rick Scott a change to appoint his own leader to the position.

One in five Floridians is Hispanic according to the 2010 census statistics released this week. The figure may not bode well for immigration reform legislation; opponents believe would encourage racial profiling. As Whitney Ray tells us, some Hispanic Republicans say they�ll vote Democrat if the GOP led legislature passes the immigration reform bill.

250 Latinos, some legal, some not, were at the state capitol Thursday, angry over an Arizona inspired immigration measure they say would encourage racial profiling.

The immigration debate rages as the latest census numbers show the Hispanic population soaring. Now 22 percent of Floridians are Hispanic; up from 16 percent after the last census. And as Hispanics register to vote, few are registering as Republicans.

With one in three Hispanics registering as an independent their vote is up for grabs, and they are using their support or opposition as leverage in the immigration debate. Opponents say lawmakers better take heed.

�The decisions they are making now are going to have serious ramifications for the future of the state and the future of their politics,� said Subash Patel, an organizer with We are Florida a group organized against the bill.

Filipe Matos, who delivered petitions to the Senate President running for Congress, sees the growing numbers of Hispanics as a political bargaining chip.

�If he doesn�t stand with the Latino community, we will not stand with him in 2012,� said Filipe.

But not all Florida Hispanics side with Filipe. The immigration reform bill is being sponsored by Senator Anitere Flores a Cuban-American� and many in the Hispanic caucus have her back.

Republicans lost Hispanic voters between 08 and 10� while 96-thousand Hispanics registered Democrat.

Legislation is moving in the state House against red light cameras.

Members who passed a red light camera repeal bill out of committee yesterday say the devices are an invasion of privacy. Representative Carlos Trujillo says if the state uses cameras to enforce traffic laws� it may encourage video enforcement of other crimes.

�If cameras in high crime areas would deter crime should we just start putting cameras on the street in a high crime areas? Where do we start drawing the line and where do we start protecting peoples� privacy,� said Trujillo.

The cameras were approved on state roads just last year, but opposition to the devices has been quick and angry.

The trial for former House Speaker Ray Sansom begins Monday. Sansom faces charges stemming from 2008 when he used his leadership position to put six million dollars in the state budget to build an airplane hanger for a political contributor. The hanger was scheduled to be built on Northwest Florida State College. The former president of that school also faced charges, but he reached a deal and will now testify against Sansom. Also on the list of witnesses is former Governor Charlie Crist who signed the 2008 budget.

A last ditch effort to revive high speed rail in Florida has failed. An effort spearheaded by US Senator Bill Nelson to bring Orlando and Tampa transportation officials together with Amtrak executes will just miss the station with all conceding today there just isn�t enough time to meet the April 4th deadline.

�This is a huge disappointment because Florida�s project was going to be a model from the entire rest of the country it was going to be online on 2015,� said Nelson.

Nelson says Florida can reapply for the money next year, but warns the plan will still not pass muster unless the governor or state legislature acts to secure the right-of-way to build the rail.

Three thousand inmates received federal tax returns from the IRS while locked up in Florida prisons. In most cases the prisoners simply filed a return making up an income and claiming they qualified for a tax credit but never sent documentation. US Senator Bill Nelson is working with the IRS to stop inmate tax fraud.

�We�ve even had some that would file fraudulent claims were they would receive a homebuyers tax credit,� said Nelson.

Nationwide nearly 300-million dollars in fraudulent claims were paid to inmates.

A battle between the nation�s largest cigarette makers and a Florida company is heating up at the state Capitol. Price is the issue. Dosal Tobacco was left out of the states settlement with cigarette makers and is able to sell more cheaply, which has given them market share and upset traditional tobacco companies.

Florida made 305 brand cigarettes are popular. Chris Askey smokes them because the are as much as three dollars a pack cheaper than some of the traditional brands.

� Five dollars a pack….Six dollars a pack….that is just too high for me,” he said.

One reason 305�s are so much cheaper is because their maker, Dosal, isn�t part of the settlement between Florida and major cigarette makers that drove other brands up by 50 cents a pack.

With almost 20% of the market, these low cost cigarettes have gotten the attention of the big name brands. Altria, the maker of Marlboro and other brands ran this full page ad in the Tallahassee Democrat to get lawmakers attention. Rep. John Tobia says its only fair to make the off brands pay the state at least 50 cents a pack for the health care costs they create.

� People don�t smoke their cigarettes because of quality, they smoke them because of price. They still will be cheaper than the other ones,” replied Rep. John Tobia.

But Dosal, which has 31 lobbyists listed, has fought off higher fees for almost a decade, the company argues its done nothing wrong and hundreds of well paying jobs will be lost.

�Dosal didn�t advertise to minors. Dosal did not lie before congress. Dosal did not engage in a ledge acts of racketeering like big tobacco did,” Christian Ulvert said.

Lawmakers are caught in the middle. On one side, Florida is facing huge budget cuts and on the other, a Tea Party that is demanding no new fees or taxes.

Legislation allowing local law enforcement officers to check immigration status is drawing hundreds of opponents to the state capitol. As Whitney Ray tells us, many minorities fear the changes would encourage racial profiling.

A hundred people of different faiths and ancestry lifted their voices and their prayers in a church just blocks from the state capitol Thursday morning.

22 year old Evelyn Rivera came to Florida from Columbia when she was a child. Four years ago her mother was deported. She�s praying that lawmakers don�t pass a bill that would allow local law enforcement officers to enforce immigration law.

�I just pray that all the Congressmen and legislators really, really listen to what we have to say,� said Rivera.

From prayers to protests, the number of activists quickly grew as busloads of angry protestors arrived at the state capitol to bash the bill.

Even within the legislature, there�s debate over how severe new legislation should be. The Senate scaled back its version. The House is speeding ahead.

For more than an hour the protests chanted and waved signs. A dozen students delivered a petition to house sponsor Bill Snyder. One student told Snyder he had no choice when his parent moved from South American to Florida when he was five. Snyder stuck to his guns.

�We are not creating new law. If someone is hear illegally, they have no documentation, they are already breaking the law,� said Snyder.

Florida�s plan doesn�t go as far as Arizona�s� it would only allow police officers to check the legal status of people under criminal investigations� but to the crowd gathered it signifies the beginning of racial profiling and harassment.

Most Republicans support the bill, although right now there�s an in party fight over a provision that would require businesses to use the federal e-verify system to check the legal status of their employees.

A plan to cap state spending, start a budget saving account, and lower property taxes is fueling a partisan debate. Republicans say the measure would hold government accountable. Democrats say it would force deep budget cuts for schools and health care. As Whitney Ray tells us, voters will likely have the final say.

With the tea party at their backs and a budget crisis on their hands Republicans lawmakers are wasting no time pushing a state spending cap. The plan would keep the budget at the 2013-2014 level and tie increases to inflation and population growth.

Any money collected above that level will be put into a savings account to protect the state when times are tough, or used to lower property taxes. The idea is a top priority for a Senate President who wants to go to Washington.

�It�s about stability. People will know that the government spending will not increase faster than their ability to do paperwork,� said Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos.

Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff ushered the plan through the state senate Tuesday.

�Less money in government means more money in the pockets of citizens and that�s a good thing,� said Bogdanoff.

But every reduction has its price. Advocates for the poor and sick say children and seniors will pay. Colorado passed a similar plan in 1992, but after it forced severe cuts to social services, lawmakers there limited part of the plan.

�There�s only certain areas that you can squeeze state general revenue out of the budget and those fall most heavily in the areas of health care and education,� said Karen Woodall, the Executive Director for the Florida Center for Economic and Fiscal Policy.

The plan now moves to the House, if it passes there, voters will be asked to decide in 2012.

Every year in Florida 11 billion plastic containers and cans end up in landfills where it takes decades and sometimes centuries for them to waste away.

State lawmakers want consumers to pay a deposit on recyclable goods they buy in an attempt to reduce waste. Legislation requiring a five cent per container is being drafted in Tallahassee. State Jack Latvala says the deposit program would help create green jobs by creating recycling centers throughout Florida.

�Environmental advantages, we�ve got some economic advantages to the state and the under-deemed deposits and we�ve got a big potential job creator here,� said Latvala.

Customers would get their money back if they recycle the materials. The deposit program is projected to raise between 100 and 200 million dollars a year.

The State House is debating the merits of ending teacher tenure and tying pay raises to student performance.

The debate began at one (est) and is scheduled for six hours. Before the debate began Democrats gathered with teachers and community activists to protest the bill. Representative Geraldine Thompson says given the Republican super majorities in the House and Senate the outcome is a forgone conclusion, but that won’t keep her quiet.

�We are not going to be silenced. We know that the numbers are not with us, but we have to make the chase for the citizens of the state of Florida,� said Thompson.

Last year Former Governor Charlie Crist vetoed similar legislation. Governor Rick Scott says he’ll sign the bill.

Today in Tallahassee, representatives from Florida�s space industry are celebrating Space Day to raise awareness of the financial challenges they�re facing.

The federal government has cut the space budget. The industry has an estimated economic impact in Florida of 40 billion dollars a year. The industry is looking for ways to stay afloat. Space Florida Co-Chair Frank DiBello says adventure tourism, opening space up to people who want to take an adventure ride to the edge of space� maybe a one way to move forward.

�They�re paying a fortune to do this, and as more capability opens up in space, we will see the transit system grow,� said DiBello.

Florida�s space industry could see a loss of up to 21 thousand jobs by the end of this year based on the federal cuts. Their message to state lawmaker� even a little bit helps.

Florida leads the nation in the number of staged car wrecks by people trying to get a large insurance payout.

Legislation to crack down on Personal Injury Protection fraud, also known as PIP, is being pushed in the State House and Senate. There were more than three-thousand questionable car wreck claims in Florida last year. 330 people were arrested for insurance fraud. The state has been arresting about one fraudster a day. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater says the legislation would allow his office to do more.

�With the tools that this bill will provide us, we can try to step it up from one and a half individuals arrested every day to two and three and four,� said Atwater.

The bill would increase penalties for doctors who file false medical records, require police to conduct more detailed car wreck investigations and give insurance companies more time to do their own investigations before paying claims.

Legislation to allow permitted gun owners to wear their guns outside their clothing passed a House committee today. Business owners, sheriff�s deputies, and college students have raised concerns about the bill. As Whitney Ray tells us, the opposition hasn�t been enough to kill the bill� but it has made it miss the target.

750-thousand Floridians can legally carry guns in public, but they have to keep them hidden.

The NRA hopes to change that. legislation allowing permitted gun owners to wear their weapons in public was shooting through the legislature; until it hit a snag

The original bill called for open carry on college campuses, but the provision was removed after lawmakers heard the story of an FSU student accidentally shot and killed at a fraternity house.”

The shooter wasn’t permitted and his gun was already banned from his frat house but opponents fear the mere presence of more guns on campus would lead to more shootings.

House bill sponsor Chris Dorworth wanted to keep the campus provision in the legislation.

“Human interaction is part of it and when there�s a tragedy like that it�s going to cast a long shadow so I think it�s perfectly understandable that people in the House and Senate are moved by that,� said Dorworth.

Florida’s sheriffs oppose the open carry measure entirely, saying it would make their job more dangerous.

“It would create an environment of intimidation and a sense of uneasiness,� said Seminole County Sheriff Don Enslinger.

43 other states have open carry laws. Only US citizens who are 21 or older, who have never been convicted of a felony, aren�t addicted to drugs or alcohol and complete a gun safety course would be eligible to openly carry firearms.

Governor Rick Scott is confident that Florida�s nuclear power plants won�t experience the same problems as Japan�s. There are three nuclear plants in Florida. Over the weekend Governor Rick Scott ordered a review of the plants� safety plans. Scott says Florida is in good shape.

�I started talking to Bryan Koons who runs the emergency management to make sure I had a better understanding about the difference between our power plants and other power plants and so we, as you know, has a world class emergency management in our state. He�s very focused on it. I�ve been brought up to speed. He�s working with his group and on top of that talking to the companies that own those plants to make sure we don�t have an issue,� said Scott.

Emergency drills are conducted four times a year at each of Florida�s three power plants. Mock hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and tsunamis are acted out with emergency personal. Scott believes if a tsunami were headed toward Florida the plants could be shut down before the waves hit.