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Could the State Shutdown?

May 5th, 2015 by flanews

Lawmakers have all gone home with multi-billion dollar disagreement hanging over their heads. As Matt Galka tells us, the state is inching closer to the next fiscal year without a budget.

Governor Rick Scott opened May’s Florida cabinet meeting applauding his latest lawsuit against the President.

“It’s wrong for the federal government to coerce us by ending a Low Income Pool for low income families to try to coerce us to expand Obamacare,” said Gov. Rick Scott (R-Florida).

The battle over healthcare money forced lawmakers to adjourn this year’s regular session without a budget.

Florida’s current fiscal plan is good until June 30th. If there’s nothing in place July 1st the state could face a Government shutdown similar to federal one in 2013. Even though the clock is ticking, agency heads aren’t sounding the alarms yet.

“At the very least we’ll fund programs like re-employment assistance which is essential to citizens across the state, but we are looking at what would happen, of course, and being responsible, but I’m pretty confident we’ll have on July 1st the funds we’ll need to keep operating,” said Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Jess Panuccio.

Ash Williams was with the State Board of Administration in 1992; the last time Florida was this close to not having a budget.

“There’s a focus on what are critical services, what cannot be interrupted and how can we make sure we have continuous service, particularly in the realm of public safety and health,” he said.

The Governor says he’s working on a plan for lawmakers.

“I’m looking at special session, I’m looking at a base budget, I’m working on our own base budget because I want to make sure the state continues to operate after June 30th,” he said.

There’s no date for a special session yet, but Florida is still on the clock.

The state budget includes funding for things like hospitals, schools, and transportation. Not having one in place by July 1st could cause some programs to make cuts. The state is also working with a $1.8 billion dollar surplus this year.

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Police Memorial beings Tears, Hope, and Concern

May 4th, 2015 by Mike Vasilinda

Tears of remembrance filled the Capitol courtyard today as the families of slain police officers and hundreds of officers remembered those who have died in the line of duty. Six Florida officers died in 2014, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, some worry heightened relations between citizens and police could result in more officers down.

A sea of police motorcycles, surviving family, and bagpipes led the annual parade of officers to the State Capitol.

This was the 33rd year they have come to remember those lost doing their duty. It was the first time no statewide elected officials were in attendance. James Preston, President of the Fraternal Order of Police says each year brings new hope.

“We’ve stood upon these grounds for 33 years, with the hope that next year there will be no more names to all to the walls. Sadly, in 2014, Florida lost six officers in the line of duty.”

One by one those six families planted a rose on a floral map of Florida.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings has lost nine officers in his career.

“Law enforcement officers have come under fire in this nation” warned Demings.

He worried out loud that increased animosity between police and the public could lead to an increase in officers down. “If law enforcement officers are unduly criticized, sometimes it may cause them to second guess themselves in a split second. That hesitation is what might get them killed” said Demings.

One of the last acts of the legislature before they abruptly quit was to increase the burial benefits for slain officers from a thousand to five thousand dollars.

Florida has already lost one officer in 2015, guaranteeing these and other officers will be back again next year.

Governor Rick Scott, who has attended all four of the memorials during his first time was on the road for today’s memorial, holding two jobs related news conferences.

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Student Played Instrumental Role in Revenge Porn Bill

May 4th, 2015 by flanews

Scorned ex boyfriends or girlfriends who try to shame their former partners by sharing nude photos could soon face criminal charges. As Matt Galka tells us, a Florida State student, and victim herself, was instrumental in the bill passing.

Senator David Simmons (R-Altamonte Springs) told a story on the Senate floor last Wednesday while debating his revenge porn bill – a proposal that would make maliciously sharing an intimate picture of someone a crime. He said a girl approached him at the gym that morning to talk about it.

“This is the only way I know I can talk to you and this is a serious, serious problem,” said Sen. Simmons, describing what the girl told him.

That girl was Florida State student Carly Hellstrom. Hellstrom is a victim of revenge porn. Her ex-boyfriend shared intimate photos of her online without her permission. She has been following the bill through every committee stop and talked to us during the process.

“It’s long overdue,” she said back in April.

Carly graduated from Florida State last week and was watching online as the bill passed.

“I just hadn’t been nervous for something like that, and then I started crying when they passed it, I was just so happy, and I called my Mom,” she said.

The Senate was forced to pass the House’s version of the bill.

“Even though it doesn’t provide the kind of protections that oughta be provided to the victims of these crimes,” said Sen. Simmons.

The House had already stopped working by the time the Senate wanted to amend it.  Hellstrom is still hopeful the bill can be tweaked in the future.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be next year, I don’t know if it’s going to be the following, but hopefully one day the first offense will be a felony, I’m still a firm believer in that,” she said.

The bill still makes revenge porn a misdemeanor. It is currently awaiting the Governor’s approval.

The bill that passed only criminalizes revenge porn that appears on websites. The Senate sponsor said he wanted to broaden that to include things like sending out nude photos via text.

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Warring Chambers End Session

May 1st, 2015 by flanews

Friday is the constitutional scheduled end to legislative session – but work stopped earlier this week because of a healthcare budget battle. As Matt Galka tells us, even with both chambers not getting anything done, there’s still plenty of political drama, and no love lost, between the two sides.

Day 60 of legislative session typically is filled with celebration, but that’s not the case in 2015.

The House quit early on the Senate Tuesday which deepened the divide between two Republican controlled chambers. It also prompted Senate Democrats to file suit with the state’s Supreme Court over the early adjournment and tried to force them to reconvene.

Sen. Darren Soto/(D) Kissimmee

“We face a constitutional crisis of can one chamber just leave early and leave the other in the lurch to do whatever they want?” said Sen. Darren Soto (D-Kissimmee).

The State’s supreme court denied their petition late Friday.

But it was Twitter sparking more drama between the two sides.  Prominent House Republican Matt Gaetz tweeted “the lawsuit reads like it was researched and drafted by Senator Joyner and spell checked by Senator Bullard.”

The tweet created a social media firestorm over whether or not it was racially motivated. Senators Arthenia Joyner and Dwight Bullard are both African-American.

“This is the work of a person who is immature and does not respect race, in my opinion,” said Sen. Arthenia Joyner (D-Tampa).

The riff was one of many between the two sides who can’t agree on much this year.

So we won’t be getting the ceremonial hankey drop that ends regular session. An odd session ends with the state waiting for lawmakers to return and craft a budget.

The Supreme Court did say that what the House did was unconstitutional but forcing them back before midnight was fruitless. Senators say they will technically remain in session until 11:59 p.m. Friday night.  Meanwhile, Senators Joyner and Bullard say they’ve received no apology from Matt Gaetz over his comments, but he did tweet that he was sorry for another message he sent out about Obamacare.

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