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A group of college students and civil rights activists delivered their own state of the state today.

They lined the walkway from the House to the Senate and held signs demanding changes to state law. Before Governor Rick Scott’s State of the State speech the students held a news conference to call for gun control and immigration reform. Selma Ally is part of the protest group known as the Dream Defenders. Ally was brought to Florida from Trinidad by her parents when she was six.

“To say that we are illegal dehumanizes us and delegitimizes our existence and our experiences here in America. It took me 10 years to finally acknowledge that in front of all of you that I am undocumented,” said Ally.

The Dream Defenders formed after the shooting of Trayvon Martin last year. They’re goal is to advance the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.

Senate Democrats are promoting a seven step plan to fix Florida’s election problems. Some of the fixes are already being pushed by GOP legislative leaders, others, As Whitney Ray tells us, will have to be fought for.

Long lines, slow returns and absentee ballot problems plagued voting in Florida last November. To fix the problems, Senate Democrats are proposing a seven step plan.

On the check list are restoring early voting to 14 days, opening the polls the Sunday before Election Day, more precincts, and more inperson absentee voting.

“We had early voting lines that from the open of early voting to the end of early voting, all eight day, has a minimum of four hours,” said State Senator Oscar Braynon.

Many of these fixes were in place before Republican legislative leaders passed a 2011 bill to change Florida’s voting laws.

“If you have better ideas you shouldn’t have to cheat to win,” said Senator Jeff Clemens.

Senator Jeff Clemens says the 2011 bill was a GOP attempt to rig the election.

Reporter: Do you really believe Republicans cheated in 2011 with that elections bill?
Clemens: I think it was their intent to make it harder for people to vote.

Legislative leaders are promising to fix voting this year but Senate Democrats say they can’t support anything that doesn’t have all seven or their criteria.

Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith says his party will hold the line on voting reform.

“If those are not in the bill it would be hard for me to support that bill,” said Smith.

But Republicans have enough members to pass bills without Democratic votes, and so far their fixes fall just shy of the seven steps unveiled Monday.

The 2013 legislative session begins tomorrow but bills to fix voting problems have already been filed and have already been reviewed in committee.

The 2013 legislative session officially begins Tuesday, but lawmakers have been working on legislation since last November. State senators are already prepared to pass a sweeping ethics reform bill, but as Whitney Ray tells us, one Florida watchdog group says the reform package doesn’t go far enough.

After the prayer, the pledge and the gavel the first order of business for the Florida Senate on the opening day of the 2013 legislative session will be an ethics reform bill.

“Raising ethical standards, that’s job one,” said Gaetz.

In a one-on-one pre-session interview with Senate President Don Gaetz I asked what needs to change to curb corruption in Florida politics.

“We want to close the revolving door that exists between the legislature and lobbying,” said Gaetz. “The ethics commission now doesn’t have any teeth. We want to make sure financial disclosures are available online.”

All good things says Dan Krassner the President of Integrity Florida. Krassner has been pushing for ethics reform since he founded the watchdog group last year.

“Florida is on the cusp of history for ethics reform. It’s been more than 36 years since our state has had comprehensive ethics reform,” said Krassner.

Integrity Florida influenced the bill set for passage.

Reporter: Mission accomplished?
Krassner: The bill’s a little bit of a mixed bag.

The measure gives the state ethics commission the authority to garnish wages from people who don’t pay their fines, but it also lets politicians off the hook if they claim ignorance after being caught in the act.

“We want this ethics law to be stronger. We need it to have more teeth. We need to put ethics reform officers on the beat,”

Krassner is hoping the bill is strengthened before it’s voted on in the Florida House. The House bill aims to outlaw Committees of Continual Existence which raise funds for politicians and sling mud at their opponents.