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There has only been one constitutional convention in our country’s history, but State lawmakers passed a call for Congress to authorize a Constitutional Convention. While lawmakers sought to limit the subject matter, scholars say it could be a dangerous proposition.

Under the US Constitution…34 states can ask for a convention to  make changes to the document.  A resolution by Florida lawmakers was filed with Florida’s Secretary of State on Thursday, seeking the convention. Rep. John Wood of Winter Haven pushed the issue during the legislative session.  “We are prepared to fix what is broken in Washington” is what Wood told House members just before the vote in April.

A national movement called Citizens for Self Governance is pushing the measure in all 50 states. A well done web video says this about the iniativive: “That gives WE the People the opportunity to make some long overdue structural adjustments. Maybe term limits would be a good place to start.” It also features pictures of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

Spider Webb pushed for the resolution in Florida.  He wants to limit the scope of bills Congress can pass. Two other resolutions seek a convention for a  balanced federal budget and term limits. Webb says all are ideas Congress isn’t likely to take up. “It would be very unlikely that Congress would propose that amendment” says Webb.

Legislation would impose criminal penalties for delegates who vote for anything not authorized by the state. But once a convention is called Constitutional scholar and FSU Law Professor Mark Seidenfeld says anything goes.  “You can throw people in jail if they voted the way you didn’t want them to vote, but once the vote is in, the amendment ratified, there’s no court in the world thats going to say it was an illegal act.”

And that would leave delegates free to vote on virtually anything. Like abolishing the first amendment, or even the second. There is one safeguard;  it would take 38 states to agree to abolishing one of our basic freedoms.

Georgia and Alaska have also called for Constitutional conventions. Three other states have resolutions pending. The resolution passed by state lawmakers was filed with the Secretary of State today for forwarding to Congress.

How strict is too strict when it comes to school nutrition requirements? As Matt Galka explains, standards set by the federal government could be getting scaled back, and that will impact what your child is eating between classes.

Call it a food fight in Washington.  School nutrition standards put in place in 2010 could now be relaxed.  The Florida School Nutrition Association says it’s the right move.

“Programs have lost money, children aren’t eating the food that’s being offered now, so we really want to be able to catch up,” said Frances Gilbert with the FSNA.

The school food lobby group says school lunch participation dropped off in Florida by 15,000 meals a day because of the nutrition requirements.

“What they see is children not eating these fruits and vegetables, throwing away food, you can have the most nutritious meal in the world, if the children throws it away and doesn’t eat it, it has not been nutritious for that student,” said Gilbert.

Stricter nutrition guidelines would mean 100 percent whole wheat grains next year and more fruits and vegetables.

The state’s Department of Agriculture is providing free meals for kids throughout the summer. Cathy Reed is one of the administers of the program in Leon County that feeds more than 3,000 kids a day

“Change is hard, but it’s necessary, I just think we could use a little more time to implement the changes we need to do,” said Reed.

The federal proposal would allow schools losing money to be granted a waiver from the program.

Higher scholastic requirements will keep thousands of graduating high school students from receiving Bright Futures scholarships this fall. The dwindling scholarships have already become a political football in this years gubernatorial campaign.

At its peak in 2008, Bright Futures was costing the state 429 million with average awards of 25 hundred dollars. At the height of the recession In 2011, lawmakers raised test score and GPA requirements, cutting a hundred million dollars. The average award dropped to just over 19 hundred dollars.

Now in a Web Only ad, Democrats are criticizing Rick Scott for the cuts. In Gainesville for a campaign event, Governor Rick Scott responded..sort of. “Bright Futures is a great program. As you know we have historic funding, this year, for K-12 State Colleges, for universities. We’ve got a lot of projects around universities. I want to continue to fund Bright Futures” Scott told WCJB-TV.

Higher standards from 2011 kick in this fall. With the higher requirements, 26 thousand fewer students are expected to walk through that classroom door with a Bright Futures Scholarship. That’s expected to save the state just over 50 million dollars.

We met Toni Morse on the FSU campus as she was waiting for her daughter, who is an incoming freshman. Her daughter has the lower tier Bright futures, but Toni worries her tenth grade son will be shut out. “Well, I’m definitely a little nervous for him. I think that his opportunities are not going to be as open as they are for her, and even for her they’ve definitely decreased over what I’ve seen in the last few years” says the Coral Springs mother.

And as thousands of incoming freshmen are touring college campuses across the state, thousands more will be staying home, wondering how bright their future may be.  This fall first time Bright Futures recipients must have , an ACT scores of at least  26 for the minimum award. That’s up from a score of 22 last fall.”

A 12 day trial into whether state lawmakers purposely drew political maps to benefit Republicans ended today in the State Capitol.

A ruling that could order the redrawing of the maps is expected before the end of June. Both sides claimed victory. Former Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantera represented the State Senate. “And Senate staff, House staff, all saying under oath in court, for the first time in the history of this state about the legislative process. And they have all said they did not intend to favor any party or incumbent.”

But David King, who represents the League of Women Voters is equally confident, telling reporters “We thing we proved our case. We think we proved the map is unconstitutional and ought to be set aside. We’re very confident of that.”

No matter which side wins, an appeal is considered a certainty. If maps are eventually to be redrawn, it would not be until the 2016 election.

The federal Government wants Florida to cut back on emissions and clean up the air.  As Matt Galka tells us, environmentalists are praising the move.

Florida gets about 20 percent of its energy from coal. Scientists say burning fossil fuel contrbutes to climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency wants the state to cut its emissions by 38 percent.

“The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will review the EPA’s proposal and will work to continue to protect Florida’s environment,” said D.E.P. Press Secretary Tiffany Cowie.

The Governor’s office says Florida emissions are lower than they have ever been, but environmentalists have railed against the Governor’s energy policies.  Governor Rick Scott has also been dodging questions lately about whether or not he believes climate change is man made.

“I’m not a scientist – I can only do whatever I can to help the environment,” said Gov. Scott (R-Florida) earlier in May.

While the state decides how to tackle issue, clean energy advocates hope this leads to alternative sources of power.

Eric Draper with the Audubon of Florida environmental group says the state has to act now.

“Sea level rise is already being experienced and recognized throughout the state as a relatively shallow and coastal state we should really worry about this so we should be the first to move forward with solutions,” said Draper.

And environmental attorneys at Earth Justice say consumers shouldn’t worry about an energy bill spike

“This could actually save people money depending on how it’s implemented,” said Earth Justice Staff Attorney Alisa Coe.

The state could have until 2018 to submit a plan on how to cut power plant emissions. The E.P.A. wants the emissions reduced by 2030.

For the first time in four years, public schools in Florida are receiving maintenance money from the state, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, it is not nearly enough to meet years of neglect.

Leaky roofs, faulty air conditioners and chipped paint have gone unattended in schools across the state.  Maintenance was one of the first thing to go during the recession.  Over the last three budgets, public schools got nothing for repairs. Over the same time Charter Schools got 90 million in the current budget. They’ll share 75 million in the coming year.

Starting in July, Public schools will see the first state money in at least four years for maintenance….Still public school advocates like State Representative Allan Williams (D-Tallahassee) say charters still reign supreme in funding. “Rather than invest in public schools, Rick Scott and his allies are directing tens of millions of dollars to charter schools just interested in making a buck off of your child” says Williams.

Republican Lawmakers defend giving charter schools maintenance money but not public schools because they say public school boards can levy up to a mill and half for school repairs, and the charter schools can’t.

Kindergarten teacher Shari Genwater says her district has been good about maintenance…but  “We still have teachers teaching in portables…we have air conditioning and filtration systems that are not up to par where they should be” says the 17 year classroom veteran.

The Dept of Education was unable to provide a needs assessment for maintenance statewide…saying local districts know best.

The Florida Republican Party criticized State Representative Allan Williams in a statement, saying he shouldn’t have voted for the budget if it was so bad….Williams countered that the good in the budget outweighed the bad.

Governor Rick Scott signed the 77 billion dollar budget today, vetoing just 68 million dollars in projects. The Governor is touting record education funding, which is true when you consider total dollars but not extra costs.

Rick Scott likes to point out that Florida will spend more than 20 billion dollars on schools this coming year.  “Record funding for K-12, record funding for state colleges, record funding for universities” is what Scott said the night lawmakers went home. And It is a record for total spending, up 575 million from last year. But Ruth Melton of the Florida School Boards Association says costs and student enrollment are up as well. “But we also have 90 thousand more students than we had in 07-08. The total funds per student is less this year than it was in 07-08“ says Melton.

There are other stark differences from pre recession funding. Money for exceptional students is down 59 million. Money for classroom supplies is short 43 million, and money for buses, fuel and drivers is down 58 million. Melton says  while funding is down, costs are up. “We all know what’s happened with  not only gas prices, but tires and all kinds of things that go with transporting students” says Melton.

Both Rick Scott and Florida Democrats are making Education funding a key issue in this falls election. The GOP is out with a two million dollar ad buy talking about tuition…

“Now Governor Rick Scott is making college more affordable” Chimes Rick Scott’s latest  tv spot. And Florida Democrats have a web only ad out Monday pointing out the shortcomings of new funding. The ad features only classroom and hallway noise, but has graphics suggesting Scott cut funding and per pupil funding is still down.

For all the hype, there’s just 132 million new state dollars going into schools this coming year. That’s just one of every ten new dollars the state had to spend this year. The other 400 million plus new cash for schools is coming from higher taxable property values.

An ethics law loophole has allowed high ranking executives at state run Citizens Property Insurance to quickly work for the companies months after awarding them million dollar contracts. As Matt Galka tells us, critics are demanding the loophole be closed.

It’s a scene that’s played out far too often for Citizens Property Insurance: a high ranking-executive bolts to work for a company that was just awarded a multimillion dollar contract.

“The state ethics code had too many loopholes,” said Integrity Florida Executive Director Dan Krassner.

Krassner says one of those loopholes allows for senior executives to do this. The law bans other state employees from working for a company they’ve done business with for two years.

“The inspector general should launch a full investigation into these cozy relationships, the revolving door that these executives have with the companies they regulate,” he said.

Citizens spokesman Michael Peleier says that senior executives that have left – some as recent as January of this year – didn’t have a direct relationship with the contracts being handled.

“Those contracts were awarded through our normal procedures, a team of evaluators, a team of negotiators, the employees in question were not involved in those groups,” said Peltier.

The revolving door has prompted State Senator David Simmons (R- Altamonte Springs) – the head of the Senate Banking and Insurance committee – to call for a tightening up of ethics laws.

“We’re trying to make sure there’s a full and complete application of Florida’s ethics laws in Citizens,” he said.

Citizens says they’re not sure yet whether their inspector general will be looking into the claims. Integrity Florida sent an official letter today to Citizens Inspector General Bruce Meeks calling for an official review.