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Last March the US Drug Enforcement Administration banned chemicals used in synthetic drugs. Florida’s Attorney General followed suit with a state ban on bath salt, a PCP-like drug once sold legally at gas stations. But drug manufacturers have found yet another loophole. As Whitney Ray tells us, new synthetic drugs are showing up in gas stations and in at least one case in the system of a dead Florida teenager.

After smoking Jazz, a synthetic drug sold legally at gas stations, 19 year old Logan Kushner was found unconscious in a creek. His death is a wake up call to law enforcement who thought they were gaining ground in the synthetic drug war.

After passing legislation last year to ban bath salts, which are PCP-like drugs, and a federal ban on chemicals used in synthetic marijuana products lawmakers though they had the problem under control. But drug manufacturers wasted no time slightly altering the chemicals in their products and now they’re back on the shelves at gas stations and tobacco shops.

Products like Jazz and Barely Legal are being marketed as herbal incense. Their labels read not for human consumption. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi says they won’t be legal for long.

“We are working with law enforcement to do everything we can to ban all these compounds that create these synthetic drugs that are killing our young people,” said Bondi.

Bondi’s Pill Mill Czar Dave Aronberg admits it’s hard to stay ahead of the manufactures.

“We are not allowed just to say all of it is illegal because it would be unconstitutional so we have to do what we are allowed to do under the constitution. It is a priority for the Attorney General to make these drugs illegal,” said Aronberg.

The Attorney General’s Office is working with lawmakers on legislation to outlaw the current wave of new synthetic drugs this legislative session. It’s hard for the state to police the companies that make these drugs because most of them are in Asian countries.

State lawmakers voted this week in support of limiting the number of consecutive years congressmen and US Senators can serve.

Congressional term limits have gained more popularity in recent months, as the approval rating for Congress dropped below 10 percent. Representative John Julien is co-sponsoring the Florida House memorial that urges Congress to adopt term limits.

“We as elected officials are supposed to serve the public and be public servants. You can’t be a public servant if you are in the system so long you forget that you are there to serve,” said Julien.

For the first time since the 90’s there are bills in both the US House and Senate to limit the number of consecutive terms. Both Ron Paul and Mitt Romney have voiced support of the limits while campaigning for the Republican Nomination for President. Advocates for limits have conducted polls claiming three out of every four voters supports capping the number of years.

Lawmakers are considering basing the price of tuition on the degree a student pursues.

The issue came up this morning while the House Education Committee spoke with the president of the University of Florida and Florida State University. FSU President Eric Barron says degree based tuition would help raise funds for state universities without costing taxpayers more.

“This is a good market based argument without a cost to the state,” said Barron.

House Education Chairman Bill Proctor says raising the price of science and technology degrees would help Florida universities hire the top professors in those fields.

“There is going to be competition for people capable of teaching it, for graduate students participating in it, for the grantsmanship that is going to have to take place,” said Proctor.

Under the plan, science and engineering degrees would cost more than English and history degrees, mainly, because the equipment is more expensive and hiring the top professors in those fields costs more.

Florida is one of only nine states without some sort of ban on texting while driving. A bill to prohibit the practice has failed in the last two legislative sessions. This year may be different. As Whitney Ray tells us, the bill has to pass just one more committee before heading to the Senate floor and lawmakers are just three days into the 60 day session.

Every year about 6-thousand people are killed in car crashes caused by distracted drivers. One of the main distractions is texting. There’s no ban on the practice in Florida, but state Senator Nancy Detert is trying to change that.

“The behavior of a person texting while driving is the same as the behavior of a drunk driver. They are coming into your lane,” said Detert.

This is her third attempt to pass a bill banning the practice. Detert’s bill passed its second senate committee Thursday. Chairman Andy Gardiner voted for the bill.

“We need to address the issue and you know as technology changes statutes need to change,” said Gardiner.

The bill makes texting a secondary offense. That means police couldn’t pull you over for texting, but if you were pulled over for something else, you could then be fined for texting.

Opponents of the ban say Florida already has a reckless driving law and if its enforced it will catch the worst offenders. State Senator Joe Negron cast the lone no vote against the bill.

“The examples that are used, of someone weaving down the road while they are texting, if a law enforcement officer observes that, the person can be given a careless driving citation under existing law,” said Negron.

For Governor Rick Scott the issue is personal.

“It happened to my wife three years ago, it happened to her. Somebody back ended her,” said Scott.

Scott hasn’t seen the bill yet, but says a thoughtful ban would have his support. The fine for a first time offender would be 30 bucks. Get caught twice in five years and the fine doubles. People who cause a wreck because they are texting would have six points added to their driving record.

The state will save 90 million dollars by closing seven state prisons and four work camps. The facilities are being closed because Florida’s inmate population is shrinking. No one will be released early. Instead the inmates are being shipped to other state facilities. Governor Rick Scott says the consolidation will make the system run more smoothly.

“To get the efficiencies we need to get we will continue to consolidate inmates into fewer prisons which is good for the state,” said Scott.

The prisons will close July 1st. As many as 13-hundred prison officials could lose their jobs.

***List of prisons: Broward, Demilly, Gainesville, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jefferson and New River.

New state budget estimates were released today and not much changed. Lawmakers are still facing about a two billion dollar budget shortfall for next fiscal year. Some state lawmakers want to wait until the March estimates are out, before beginning work on the state budget. Governor Rick Scott doesn’t expect those numbers to be any better.

“It doesn’t appear the numbers are going to change a lot so I think it will be beneficial if we can get out of here on time,” said Scott.

Traditionally lawmakers use the March statistics to build their budget, but this year session began early and in order to use March numbers lawmakers would have to stay late.

State lawmakers are not expected to have much time to tackle too many big issues this session. Redistricting and the two billion dollar budget shortfall are expected to eat up most of their time. But those limitations aren’t keeping State Senator Alan Hays from trying to scale back Citizen Property Insurance. Hays filed a bill this week that would eliminate hundreds of thousand of polices from the state backed insurer.

“The sooner we can depopulate Citizens the greater diminishing we have of that financial obligation,” said Hays.

The bill would eliminate million dollars properties from Citizens in 2013, and then by 2017, nothing over half a million dollars could be insured by Citizens.

Giving false information to police about a missing child could soon land someone behind bars for a long time. Legislation heard by House and Senate Committees today in Tallahassee makes it a felony with a possible five years in prison to mislead police, but the sentences could be a whole lot longer.

Casey Anthony was sentenced on four counts of lying about her missing and dead daughter. She served just under three years. but under proposed legislation sponsored by State Senator Joe Negron, Anthony could have been sentenced to 5 years on each count for a total of 20 years.

“I think it would be utterly reprehensible for a parent to know that their child is missing and intentionally steer law enforcement in the wrong direction,” Negron told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee when presenting the bill.
State Senator Alan Hays thinks the punishment should be even tougher and said so “SenatorNegron, I’m ready to throw them under the jail and throw the key away.”

The legislation received unanimous approval in House and Senate committees on Thursday. Police say the tougher penalties are just one more bit of leverage to use to get someone to tell the truth.

Once referred to as Caylee’s law, neither bill still carries the name. Sponsors say they don’t want the focus to be on just this one case.

“But we want to make sure everyone knows we won’t tolerate people lying to the police when there is a child unaccounted for” says Negron.

14 year old Skye Henning watched from the back and was pleased with the votes. Her mom works in law enforcement. Asked why she was there, she responded “I’m my mothers daughter and because I don’t like to see police waste their time.”

And while instances of parents lying about their children being missing are rare, lawmakers say the potential of spending two decades or more behind bars sends a strong message.
While the maximum sentence for each lie will be five years, investigators say there are always multiple lies and each lie can be treated as a separate crime.

This past October, every local gun ordinance went away as the state assumed all responsibility for where guns can and not be carried with a concealed weapons permit. One County is suing and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, two state lawmakers say there are glitches in the law that need to be fixed.

Walk into a county court house anywhere in Florida legally carrying a concealed weapon and you’ll go to jail. But a block away or around the corner at a City Hall, it’s a different story.

City halls are different than courthouses; you can pack heat inside a city building, as long as you’re not going to an official meeting of a city commission.

You can’t take a legally concealed gun into a jail, a police station or a school, but you can take one into a day care or Pre-K center. State Senator Maria Sachs calls that a glitch in the law that needs fixing.

If you’re not allowed to carry a gun into a school where children are 5 years-old, I’m sure the law should extend to those who are 4, and 3 and 2,” Sachs said.

The state has always had supreme authority to say where and where not guns can be carried, but until October there was no penalty for local officials enacting tougher restrictions. But now those same local officials can face stiff fines and even removal from office.

Only one county, Palm Beach, has cried foul. It is suing the state.

“The punitive action of a governor removing someone from office, that is, we believe, a step too far,” Palm Beach County Commission Chair Shelly Vanna said.

Lawmakers who passed the change aren’t likely to give local officials more authority with a tragedy, which is what those seeking more local control say they are hoping to avoid.

More than eight hundred thousand people in Florida have concealed weapons permits.

Legislation to eliminate fraud from personal injury protection or PIP insurance was voted through its first committee today. Its passage came over protests about how the legislation would impact emergency rooms throughout the state. As Whitney Ray tells us, if the bill passes, opponents say ER wait times will lengthen.

To legally drive a car in Florida you need personal injury protection insurance, also known as PIP. PIP covers 10-thousand dollars in medical costs no matter who caused the wreck. Fraudsters know this and stage wrecks to receive huge payouts.

At a House Committee meeting Wednesday a bill to eliminate the estimated one billion dollars of yearly PIP fraud quickly filled with lobbyists. The bill requires all crash victims to visit an emergency room within 72 hours of their accident in order to be eligible for PIP. That’s down from 14 days.

Opponents of the change, including some doctors and lawyers, stepped to the lectern to oppose the 72 hour limit.

“By forcing people to go to the emergency room for a sprained knee or headache you are going to flood emergency room,” said Jason Lamoureux, a Hillsborough County Attorney.

There’s also a provision in the bill to require ER doctors to give testimony in PIP fraud cases. Representative John Julien says emergency room waits would lengthen under the plan.

“In essence what you are doing to your constituents, you are saying to them go compete for service against heart attack victims, stroke victims,” said Julien.

Julien voted no, but the bill still passed. Reforming PIP is a priority of the governor and legislative leader, but how it’s reformed will be the subject of debate for most of the legislative session.

Some of the people who testified before the committee today told lawmakers to leave PIP fraud up to law enforcement officers. The bill’s sponsor says if something isn’t done insurance rates will go up 30 percent next year.

Florida’s Secretary of State is leaving his post, he says, to spend more time with his family.

Secretary Kurt Browning gave his letter or resignation to the governor just before noon today. Browning will stay through the January 31st Presidential Primary, and leave his position February 17th.

“Certainly my desire is to have good elections. We proved that in ‘08. We proved it again in ‘10 and ‘12 should be no exception,” said Browning.

Rumors are Browning will run for Pasco County Superintendent next fall. He wouldn’t confirm those rumors when we spoke with him today, but he didn’t rule it out.

A delegation of community leaders and elected officials were at the state capitol today to lobby state lawmakers and the governor.

Today is Palm Beach County Days, and the group wanted to let the governor know they want more protections for the Everglades and Medicaid. Scott says he’s looking into those issues and would like for the federal government to give Florida a block grant for Medicaid.

“We’ve got to figure out a way that we have the right safety net for people because that is what we want, but we have got to figure out a way to pay for it,” said Scott.

The Palm Beach delegation is also asking the state legislature to overturn a new law that prohibits local governments from passing more stringent gun regulations than the state already has on the books.

The Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture and Chief Financial Officer joined the Florida Chamber of Commerce today and declared gaming a bad bet for Florida.

They say a gaming expansion would ruin Florida’s family friendly environment and hurt business. Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson says the focus should be on climbing out of the recession, not resort casinos.

“Lets put this massive distraction aside. Lets focus on growing the private sector, continuing to grow the jobs in Florida and lets put this conversation off,” said Wilson.

The senate bill passed its first committee last night. Pro-gaming commercials featuring Ben Stein are beginning to air statewide promising 100-thousand permanent jobs.

Protesters are promising to keep a watchful eye on the state capital this legislative session. Dozens of Tea Party, Occupy and Awake the State protestors traveled from all over Florida to Tallahassee today to voice their displeasure with lawmakers. As Whitney Ray tells us, no political party is safe from their scrutiny.

The 2012 Legislative Session was gaveled in over the voices of protestors. Just outside the House chamber, Occupy Tallahassee protestors lined the entry way handing out flyers and shouting at lawmakers entering the chamber.

The governor took a short cut around the protestors. Once the governor was inside the House Chamber, the occupiers joined with the Awake the State group.
The two groups of protestors have similar messages.

Awake the State has more union backing and identifies more with Democrats. Occupiers say no party is meeting their needs.

“Democrats and Republicans are nearly the same. They are just different on a few social issues that get blown up by the media,” said Shelby Radcliffe and Occupier from Orlando.

The Tea Party folks are also having a tough time finding lawmakers who hear their concerns and follow through with their promises.

“We put some of these officials in office right now and we expect them to perform. If they don’t perform, we are going to eliminate them,” said Mary Lynn Geisler a Tea Partier from Ocala.

Tea Party members want to see lawmakers improve schools, repeal redlight cameras and cut spending. All the groups say they’ll hold legislators accountable at the ballot box. All the groups are planning to have members at the capitol throughout the 60 day session.