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In December, the Supreme Court of Florida ruled that death row inmates sentenced before 2002 would not get a new hearing, while those given death afterwards would, even though all were sentenced under a sentenced under a law declared unconstitutional;. Law professor Michael Allen told the house committee reviewing the opinion that it made no sense whatsoever.

“The Florida Supreme Court’s decision to make the rule retroactive to some people but not others, finds absolutely no support in anything I’m aware of anywhere in the country says the law professor.

Prosecutors have opposed giving all death row inmates a second bite at the sentencing apple. State Attorney Brad King, who prosecutes cases in west central Florida says death is the only appropriate sentence for some crimes.

“Sometimes you can only know that difference if you’ve been a cop like me and been to scenes or been the state attorney and been to scenes, and see the hole that a little girl was buried in, after she was put in a plastic bag alive, after she was rapped and then she was buried and left to suffocate to death and then the question of the death penalty I think becomes a little more real” said an emotional King.

Last Thursday, the state’s high court issued an option saying no death cases can be prosecuted until lawmakers re-enact a unanimous jury requirement, but the court quickly withdrew the opinion, calling it premature.

Florida remains without a statewide law regulating ride sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. That’s because lawmakers haven’t agree for the last two years on insurance requirements and background checks. Today ride share champion Senator Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg says the stalemate has to end this year.

“We think tourists expect this type of access and with Florida being a state with 100 millions tourists, we better make sure we’re giving our tourists, your customers what they want and this bill focuses on insuring that we put our tourist at the highest priority and make sure that they have access when and where these services are offered” says the St. Petersburg Senator.

The legislation requires at least one hundred thousand dollars in death and bodily injury coverage and twenty five thousand in property damage. It allows multi policies to cover the vehicle, including an umbrella policy by the ride share company and the personal policy of the driver.

The fifteen page bill is the first ride sharing bill to be filed this year, but it is likely not the last. It does offer insurers the right not to cover ride share drivers or to seek additional premiums when they are on duty driving.

Assault style semi automatic rifles would be banned, gun buyers would face tougher background checks and it would be harder to sell a gun to another individual under legislation being introduced in the state capitol. State Senator Gary Farmer told reporters today the announcement was planned before Fridays airport shooting, but Farmer says grief being suffered there will go un-answered unless lawmakers act.

“These are small but important steps that if passed will move Florida to a place where our families can live, play and work, and yes, travel to an airport safely, and without fear of being gunned down, or someone bearing arms and lurking around the corner says Farmer.”

The legislation faces an uphill battle in a legislature generally considered more gun friendly than many other states.

Four dozen local governments are disclosing tens of thousands of dollars in lobbying contracts under a new house rule that requires the disclosure. House Speaker Richard Corcoran had tried to ban local governments from paying outside lobbyists, but was unsuccessful for now, so he settled on public disclosure of the contracts. Corcoran still believes the practice is a waste of taxpayer money.

“It’s ridiculous we shouldn’t have to pay you know after we’ve elected a group, we’ve elected a mayor, we’ve elected a county commission, we should have to pay now for them to hire a lobbyist to take more money out of our pockets” says Corcoran, who in addition says it’s the left pocket robbing the right.

“I think its fundamentally wrong that you have one government entity that reaches into our pockets, takes our money to pay a high paid lobbyist hundreds of thousands of dollars then to go to another governmental entity to have them take more money out of your pockets of your hard earned tax dollars. It doesn’t make sense.”

The complete list of local entities that have already disclosed their lobbying contracts and the contracts can be found at:

https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/LDPublicEntityContractDisclosure.aspx

House Speaker Richard Corcoran says he strongly supports the end of gun free zones on colleges, airports and other places guns are prohibited. Lawmakers delayed a vote this afternoon on legislation that could have allowed the states one point six million concealed carry permit holders to carry on campuses and airports. Corcoran says its time to try something new.

“Why don’t we allow those people to lawfully carry their constitutional right in that zone and see what happens to violence in those areas” says Corcoran. “Let’s see what happens to violence on campuses when that takes place.  What you’re going to find what you could look at back at historical places at where there was guns allowed and no guns allowed, where there are states that have concealed weapons permits and those that don’t, you’ll see the gun violence tracks when you have a empowered Second Amendment violence goes down when you strip that constitutional amendment and take those rights away from people gun violence goes up.”

The legislation is expected to have it’s first vote in committee later this month.

A 2011 state law banning local governments from enacting any ordinances that place more severe restrictions on gun use than the state was on trial today in an appeals court. The Tallahassee City Commission refused to remove a ban on firing a gun in a park and was sued by Florida Carry and the Second Amendment Foundation. A trial court sided with Florida Carry, but Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum decided to fight for what he calls the principle of home rule.

“If a law like this is allowed to stand, if allows for the state legislature to penalize personally the elected officials duly elected by the citizens in their communities over a policy difference” say Gillum. “A different in public policy.  We believe that’s unjust and we believe that’s unfair. Today, we are also making the stand that it is unconstitutional.”

But Eric Friday of Florida Carry says the city can’t supersede state law because they disagree with it.

“It’s no different if the city wanted to go and make a rule that it wanted to paint pink lines instead of yellow lines in the middle of the roadway. We have a uniform traffic code, we have uniform firearms laws, and the city doesn’t get to do whatever they want just because they want to do it because they don’t like the law” Friday said after the hearing.

No matter which side prevails, an appeal to the state Supreme Court is likely.

Visit Florida’s Board fired its CEO and named a new one today after an upheaval over a million dollar contract with rapper Pit Bull that likely violated state public records law. Outgoing President and CEO Will Seccombe will see a severance package of four hundred thousand dollars more. House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who spurred the ouster by demanding the Pit Bull contract details be made public, is now calling on the entire Visit Florida Board to be replaced.

‘They engaged in behavior of wrapping race ,cars paying for soccer team jerseys, paying Pit Bull a million dollars” says the House Speaker. “You’re talking $5 million give or take right there in there of taxpayer money that could go to roads kids and and and infrastructure. The reality is if that’s the case and  he engaged in that kind o behavior Not only should his behavior and his performance be called into question and whether he can stay on and as we have seen they already did that, but so should the board. The board should be replaced.”

The 31 member Visit Florida Board is made up of executives from the key tourism related businesses and is appointed by the Enterprise Florida Board in conjunction with the state Department of Economic Opportunity, which answers to the Governor.

Corcoran also says the House will try to set parameters for golden parachutes. “If he’s forced to resign because there was behavior or there was a job performance that was lacking . If that’s the case then that would be fired for cause he wouldn’t be entitled to that money.  If that’s not the case then they  should say something different. But regardless of the fact I can tell you and Tallahasee will address the issue of golden parachutes and try to put in the rein and parameters were these things cannot happen” say Corcoran (R-Pasco).

Legislation to allow concealed carry permit holders to carry in the baggage claim and other non secure areas of Florida airports was in the works long before Friday’s mass shooting in Ft. Lauderdale. But as Mike Vasilinda tells us, sponsors say the horrific event may help push the legislation into law.

Taking a gun into an airport in Florida is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. Friday’s rampage in Ft. Lauderdale has given new life to an effort to allow guns in those non secure areas of airports says bill sponsor Sen. Greg Steube (R-Sarasota).

“And the law didn’t prevent a suspect from coming in and shooting a bunch of people. The only thing that the law did was prevent law abiding citizens from defending themselves” says Steube.

The idea came before just one committee in early 2016. Sen. Wilton Simpson presented the bill on Feb 16, 2016, and told the committee “48 other states already allow this activity to happen” said Simpson. ”So that so Florida is obviously one that does not.”

The legislation cleared the committee on a three to two vote, despite opposition from all 19 of the states airports. But Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon believes the idea is doomed again this year.

“Too many guns leads to things like this, where someone who is mentally unstable can do this kind of thing.You know, I happen to disagree with people who believe that if someone had a gun and could have shot the man” says the Democratic leader.

The bill was supposed to come up on Tuesday in a Senate Committee, but when there were not enough votes to pass it, the sponsor cancelled the committee meeting.

But second amendment advocates aren’t giving up. Sen. Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala) says he doesn’t know if the bill had passed last year if it would have made a difference, but “The face is no one in that area was armed to stop this man who was simply walking around shooting people.”

The sponsor expects the legislation to come up in late January.

While doubters say multiple guns will lead to confusion at a crime scene, sponsor Greg Steube says there is no evidence of armed citizens being confused by police at any crime scene in America where a concealed carry permit holder has shot a suspect.

Just over a dozen people marched to US Senator Marco Rubio’s officer at lunch today to protest the President Elect’s Cabinet picks. The group, led by Ph.D. student Lacey Love is concerned by eleven of the President elect’s picks and want Rubio to make sure each gets a thorough hearing.

“We hope we accomplished, besides getting people together, is to send a message to Senator Rubio that his constituents, especially women in Florida, that gathered together today are organized and want him to take action to vet Trump’s Cabinet properly and to let him know that we are here, and that we are watching his actions and that we support him making sure he follows an ethical choice in who he is letting in” says Love.

The protestors say more than 20 thousand women will march in Washington DC for the inauguration.  

The January issue of the national Veteran’s off Foreign Wars magazine cover story is about recognizing the 5 warning signs of mental illness and PTSD. The over and a symposium slated for Thursday in the state capital were in the works long before Friday’s drama played out in the Ft. Lauderdale airport, where a vet suffering from mental illness took five lives and wounded six others. State and national legislative affairs director Mark Alverez says the purpose of the symposium is to let everyone know help is available.

“We bottle up a lot of things inside for a lot of years and I think its time it’s all out in the open” says Alvarez. “There is someone we can all come together and someone is listening.  And there is  help and there is assistance out there for both the veteran and the families. So we want  everyone to recognize the five signs of mental illness.”

The five warning signs are personality change, agitation, withdrawal, poor self care, and a feeling of hopelessness.

State lawmakers got a preview of the biggest legislative battle on the horizon earlier this month. Businesses across Florida are unhappy about a coming  14 and a half percent hike in the cost of workers compensation insurance. Both businesses and labor advocates are blaming legal fees for the spike.

The 14 and a half percent hike applies to all new and renewing policies. It has business trade groups up in arms. Brewster Bevis is the Senior Vice President of Associated Industries of Florida.

“This isn’t to help workers get healthier” says Bevis.

The hikes also impact local governments says Eve Tooley, Bay County’s Risk Manager.

“Our workers comp program will cost  us approximately 650 percent more” she says.

The Supreme Court threw the old law out because its capped attorneys fees. In one case, lawyers were working for a buck and a half an hour.

The states business trade groups say employee’s lawyers are greedy.

“Look” says AIF’s Bevis “I don’t think that court decision had anything to do with keep workers healthy. I think it had to do more with making attorneys more wealthy.”

Trial lawyers say they wouldn’t be needed if insurers stopped denying claims.

Kimberly Syfrett is an Attorney for the Florida Worker’s Advocates Group.

“Attorney fees don’t attach until I prove my case” she told lawmakers.

And In a preview of the rancor to come, the two sides squared off at what was supposed to be merely an information Senate meeting.

Sen. Gary Farmer, a lawyer, asked Associated Industries some tough questions. “Does AIF believe that those prevailing plaintiff fees should be included in the rate making base?”

Jim McConnaughhay responded.  “Absolutely. It’s a cost to industry. Absolutely.”

Farmer persisted,  “Even though it’s industries fault they were incurred?”

To which McConnaughhay replied “You know whether they were rightfully or wrongfully denied, it was determined by some judge that they should be paid.”

Sen.. Gary Farmer argues that by counting insurers legal fees as an expense, there is no incentive to pay claims, because they profit the same either way.

And Business say if fees aren’t controlled. We all pay.

Florida is one of just 9 states that does not allow completion in workers comp coverage. Rates are recommend by an industry controlled panel. Legal fees for companies fighting claims make up about two thirds of all legal fees paid.

Supreme Court Justice James E.C. Perry retired last Friday,  He joins a growing number of former Justices who no longer believe the death penalty remains viable. In his final opinion, Justice Perry blasted the court’s majority for setting the stage for new sentencing hearings for at least 173 death row inmates, which, Mike Vasilinda tells us, will have a lasting impact on many of the victims families.

Nearly every September, Roy Brown and his family attend the Missing Children’s Ceremony at the state Capitol. His daughter, Amanda, was seven in 1998 when she was kidnapped, killed and likely dumped in Tampa Bay. Her body has never been recovered.

“People say, do it get any better’ say her father Roy. “No sir, it do’t.”

Wilie Crain is on death row for the crime..at least for now.

Crain is one of more than 170 inmates who will get the chance to have their sentence reduced. Roy Brown says the every time Crain’s case comes up for an appeal, he’s forced to relive his anguish.

“If they’d given him a life sentence, we’d be living our life, you now? say Roy. “With this death sentence, we have to be there, hear stuff we don’t like hearing, you know, we have to deal with him. His name is still in my house, and I do’t like it!”

Retiring Justice James Perry blasted the courts majority when it ruled the  killers like Crain, whose case was final in 2004 should be re-sentenced, Perry wrote it was arbitrary. He thinks justices ignored a state law that requires every death row inmate to get life instead.

“If you’re not going to kill them, you got to lock them up like Crain” continues Roy Brown.”The one who killed my daughter is locked up and he may never die,  but he’s locked up and he ain’t hurting no more kids.”

Roy Brown suffered a heart attack in 2014.

We asked ”the stress of all this help that along?” to which Roy responded “Oh yeah, oh yeah.”

And unless a federal court overrules Florida’s Highest Court, Roy Brown is about to relive a tragedy in minute detail most of us can’t imagine

sWhen Florida switched from the electric chair to lethal injections, lawmakers rewrote the law to say that if the death penalty is every declared unconstitutional, everyone on death row would automatically get life. But the majority of the Florida Supreme Court split hairs, ignoring the statute, reasoning the ultimate penalty wasn’t declare unconstitutional by the nation’s highest court…only the way the state sentenced people to death.

Governor Rick Scott is the JOBS Governor, claiming more than 1.2 million new jobs since taking office, but as many as 2500 jobs remain open in one state agency with no takers.

“Submit the application on line” one applicant was told.

The Department of Corrections has held job fairs.

“You say they do training?”  asked on applicant. “Yes mam” was the response

There are “now hiring” signs out side every prison, and on many of the departments vehicles.

Still the agency has a vacancy rate of ten percent, forcing officers to work long hours.  the problem, a 29 thousand dollar starting salary.

Corrections Secretary Julie Jones knows she has a problem.

“Right now they are working twelve hour shifts plus another four. We are working them to death because of the vacancy rate. I don’t have time to train them” says Jones.

It’s not just vacancies, but sky-high turnover as well. Jones told lawmakers the turnover rate was just under 30 percent this  year. She is asking for higher pay and signing bonuses. Making them reality could be a problem. Senate Prison Budget Chair Aaron Bean ( R-Jacksonville) says turning it around isn’’t going to be easy.

“Going from 30 to 33 leaves a lot to be desired, but its a step in the right direction” Bean told us.

Because of the high turnover rate, the most experienced officers in some prisons have just two years experience.”

The inexperience may have lead to at least six major disturbances over conditions this past year say Jones.

“We have a lot of people who can calm down an inmate, but we don;t have enough of them, and we don;’t have them everywhere we should have them.”

Prisons were shortchanged during the recession and lawmakers cut taxes during the recovery. Now they say there is not enough to make ends meet, which will leave the Department of Corrections at the bottom of the heap again.

The Federal government still classifies cannabis as a dangerous drug with no benefits, and as a result,  there has been little research into why the drug seems to be medicinal or the long term effects of its high.. But as Mike Vasilinda tells us, one powerful state Senator wants to change the states role in research.

Banned in the 30’s marijuana got a bad rap until use spread like wildfire in the 60’s. Pot remained a hot potato for Florida politicians for more than 50 years. then two years ago,  two mothers, Holly Mosley and Page Figi lobbied for the first low TCH bill. telling lawmakers noting else would help their seizure ridden daughters.

“We got to see first hand that plant is having for these children” said Holly during rule making hearings.

Now one powerful state Senator says we need to know a lot more. State Senator Bill Galvano wants the state to pay for research.

Sot: Sen. Bill Galvano

R-Bradenton

“We are relying on anecdotal evidence. We have a dirty of research from the feds for a variety of reasons and it’s important for us to understand both the benefits and potential hazards of this plant and drug as we go forward.”

Galvano would send money to Moffit Cancer Center at USF.

Other Universities like Florida A&M may get some cash.

Earlier this year, the last line of the legislation expanding the drug for use by terminally ill patients specifically allowed research in Florida Universities. Tim Moore is FAMU’s  VP for Research

“We have a product that has come medical relief that comes with it, so we’ll be looking at what are the actual features of the plant that may be more medicinally important for the pharmaceutical industry” says Moore.

And the overwhelming approval of expanded medical marijuana by voters is a green light for anything lawmakers decide they can afford. It’s also proof that time changes almost everything.one reason for the lack of federal researches that cannabis is illegal under federal law. the Obama administration has looked the other way, but a new administration could change that policy.