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Between 2017 and 2018 e-cigarette use among middle and high school students rose nearly 50%.

The stats are alarming schools and lawmakers here in Florida, and the concern is fueling momentum for legislation that would raise the age to purchase tobacco products to 21.

One out of five Florida students vape.

High School Juniors Payton Fearington and Lexi Furtys don’t, but they say vaping is rampant among their peers.

“Probably everyone I know,” said Fearington.

“Probably almost everyone,” said Furtys.

Andrea Messina with the Florida School Boards Association says policing vaping on campuses is taking a toll on administrators.

“There’s been a number of suspensions related to it,” said Messina. “Nicotine on campus when we’ve got tobacco free zones creates discipline problems.”

There are also health concerns.

While e-cigarettes are often marketed as a safe alternative to traditional tobacco, recent studies have linked use to seizers in adolescents.

That has Florida lawmakers like Senator Bill Montford taking notice.

“It’s time for us to step up,” said Montford. “It comes down to a matter of, really a matter of life and death for these young people.”

Legislation that would raise the age to purchase tobacco and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21 is gaining momentum this year.

Mark Landreth with the American Heart & Lung Association says raising the age will make it harder for younger kids to access the products.

“If you don’t start the tobacco habit or the electronic cigarette habit by age 21, you’re 90% less likely to start it,” sad Landreth.

The Tobacco 21 Act is moving quickly through the Senate, but in the House it hasn’t been scheduled for a single hearing.

Similar legislation around the country have been picking up speed.

Just since the start of session in March, laws to raise the smoking age to 21 have passed in Washington and Illinois.

If the legislation passes here, Florida would be the 11th state to raise the smoking age.

Health advocates and education leaders say in addition to raising the age to purchase e-cigarettes, a higher emphasis needs to be put on educating young people about vaping’s negative health effects.

Stung by voter approval of Medical Marijuana and felons voting rights, state lawmakers are pursuing two avenues for making it harder to amend the constitution.

The first would allow only Florida residents to collect signatures.

The second, would raise the number of votes needed to change the constitution.

Voters earned the right to change their constitution through petitions in 1968.

It was first used by then Governor Reubin Askew, after lawmakers refused to require financial disclosure.

“They wouldn’t do it, so I went out on the stump,” said Askew.

And so it’s been for decades.

When lawmakers say no, citizens can go around them, but it could soon get harder to pass a ballot initiative.

State Senator Dennis Baxley wants to raise the approval mark for amendments from 60% to 66.66%.

“People go around the elected body and put things directly into the constitution that are policy and budget issues,” said Baxley. “I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

Representative Rick Roth is the House Sponsor.

“It’s going to be a little bit harder to get into the constitution, but also, i’ll pretty much require things to be more bipartisan too,” said Roth.

But math may get in the way.

Democrats picked up a seat in the state Senate, leaving the GOP with 23 seats.

It’s one shy of the number required to put an amendment on the ballot.

We asked Senate Democratic Leader Audrey Gibson if Democrats intend to block the bill.

“We will see,” said Gibson.

While a two thirds vote isn’t an obstacle that can’t be overcome, it likely to dissuade some groups from even trying.

In 2006, Voters approved raising the threshold for amendments to 60 percent.

Ironically, it passed with just under 58% of the vote.

While The GOP may not have the votes to try changing the constitution, they do have the votes to place restrictions on petition gathering organizations, which could also make it harder to make future changes.

A Senate committee has approved legislation requiring notarized parental consent for a minor to have an abortion.

Lawmakers heard from not only Pro Choice advocates, but also a group that supports banning all abortions.

Bonnie Coffey-Cannone is with Abolish Abortion Florida says they are opposing the consent legislation on the thought that accepting any abortion under any circumstance is wrong.

“We are Christians opposed to all abortions. We are in opposition to the parental consent bill because we want it to be amended to become a bill of complete abolition of all abortions in the state of Flordia. We are here because one baby is murdered by abortion every seven and a half minutes in the state of Florida,” said Coffey-Cannone.

Seven out of ten would be teen mothers do talk to their parents, but Pro Choice advocates say the other three cannot reveal their pregnancies for fear of abuse or because of incense.

The bill provides for a judge to allow the abortion under strict circumstances.

Legislation allowing churches to hire armed security or allow parishioners to carry concealed weapons was postponed by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee today.

The proposal gained momentum after the November 2017 Texas shooting that claimed more than two dozen lives.

Sponsor Dennis Baxley says the measure lets churches decide what best on their property, instead of prohibiting weapons because there is a daycare or school on the property.

“It is very clear to me that one of the most dangerous places would be communities of faith. We are disempowering them from protecting themselves and their congregants. I’ve been concerned about this issue. for a long time,” said Baxley.

There is no word on when or if the bill will be heard.

The Florida Legislature is grabbing national headlines over the fines it wants to collect from felons before giving their voting rights back.

In an exclusive interview we sat down for a one on one with Tampa Representative James Grant, who is the sponsor, asking him to respond to the criticism.

Amendment 4, automatically restores felons’ right to vote after they’ve completed their sentence.

Representative Jamie Grant says that includes paying court fees, fines and reparations.

It’s a position that has come under fire in national headlines, with some comparing it to a poll tax.

“I think it not only offends the people who actually lived through a poll tax, who were free men and women who were told because of the color of their skin they had to pay to vote,” said Grant.

Grant says he’s taking the those who pushed the amendment on their word.

In Supreme Court testimony and on the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition’s website, fines, fees and restitution were explained to be part of the sentence.

“You don’t get to go tell one story in the supreme court, tell that same story to voters and then tell a mutually exclusive story when you get to the Legislature and when you don’t like what you’re getting call the person a racist,” said Grant.

Neal Volz, with the coalition has admitted the campaign misspoke.

“Our view is that we’re imperfect people and we’ve made mistakes and we’re willing to acknowledge them,” said Volz in March.

While Representative Grant says his hands are tied by the ballot language and Supreme Court testimony, others argue it’s within the legislatures authority to do more.

“The Legislature can interpret it broadly,” said Human Rights Attorney Mark Schlakman.

Schlakman says the Supreme Court testimony doesn’t outweigh the ballot language, which never mentioned fines fees or restitution.

“It’s an impediment that in all likelihood the Florida voters did not contemplate,” said Schlakman.

Grant’s bill does allow for courts, victims and the Department of Corrections to waive fees, fines and restitution for felons on an individual basis to make them eligible for restoration.

Rep. Grant says it’s almost inevitable that whatever passes this year will be challenged in the courts, but says that isn’t a reason for him to change his position.

After spending the morning in Hurricane ravaged Calhoun County in the Florida panhandle, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and a handful of state lawmakers are calling on Congress to act quickly to send Florida $1 billion dollars in relief.

72 million tons of fallen trees remain on the ground, creating a massive fire hazard, because of that, Fried is also asking state lawmakers for for fire suppression funding before the coming fire season.

“We’ve asked for thirty nine million dollars from lawmakers. Mostly that is not able to be reimbursed through FEMA. That is restoring irrigation, rebuilding aquaculture, cost sharing with land owners to clear their lands from fire threat, and even if reimbursable, Federal funds will take too long,” said Fried.

Fried may not get all she wants from state lawmakers, who have so far set aside less than half of her request, but she says she is hopeful they will see the wisdom of avoiding a California like fire storm.

A bill moving through the Florida Legislature would deregulate two dozen professions in the state, including barbers and interior designers.

Those in the industries say it could lead to lower quality work and endanger public health, but supporters say the opponents just want to avoid more competition.

The Governor’s plan to deregulate certain industries in the state is headed to the House floor after passing its last committee.

Sponsor Rep. Blaise Ingoglia says cutting down on Government interference will break down barriers for job seekers.

“Occupational licensing was meant to help people. Unfortunately at this point it’s just hurting people from getting into the marketplace,” said Ingoglia.

The bill would allow licensed barbers to practice outside of a traditional storefront and cut the required training hours for barbers to get a license in half.

“You’re training people for jobs in Florida that they’re not going to be able to get,” said Bob Harris with the Florida Barber Academy.

The legislation faced opposition from more than 60 who came to speak.

“They’re also not going to be able to get jobs if they go outside of the state of Florida,” said Harris.

The bill completely does away with licensing for interior designers.

Some in the industry say that could have dangerous consequences.

“We design you know, schools, university buildings, health care facilities,” said Chair of FSU’s Interior Design Program Lisa Waxman. “And a lot of these are really complex and have their own specific codes that have to be followed.”

The bill sponsor says instead of the Government interfering, the free market would act as a fail safe to guarantee public safety and quality.

“The public will adjust, people will adjust and at the end of the day what this is doing is it’s creating more opportunity,” said Ingoglia.

Many Democrats don’t buy that argument.

“You’re going to have a whole lot of buildings, a whole lot of structures built that quite frankly are not up to snuff,” said Rep. Evan Jenne.

In all the bill either completely or partially deregulates more than two dozen separate professions.

The bill still has two more committee stops in the Senate.

Could the highway of the future be in Florida’s future?

State lawmakers are putting aside millions this year to create three new toll roads, but the idea has environmentalists spooked, and others who see opportunity.

Slow evacuations and an even slower return after Hurricane Irma prompted a new look at new roads.

Now the state is poised to set aside 45 million this year to study three ideas.

The first would create a new road through the center of the state.

The second would extend the Suncoast Parkway from Citrus county to the Georgia line.

The third would extend the current turnpike to meet up with the Suncoast parkway.

“Every area of our state is not doing equally great,” said Senate President Bill Galvano.

Galvano is the driving force behind the idea.

“It’s a multi-purpose corridor that includes both water and sewer opportunities as well as broadband,” said Galvano.

Environmentalists worry the billions these roads are going to cost is going to take money from places it’s really needed.

“So we’re talking billions of dollars that will have to be bonded. When You spend money in place A, you don’t have it to spend in place B,” said David Cullen with the Sierra Club.

Retired highway planner Amy Datz says there’s an opportunity to build the road of the future.

“There is enough right of way to put in a light rail if and when that comes up. We can also have two way bus lanes in the center. We can have solar panels, every let’s say one hundred miles for electric car recharging,” said Data.

The legislation requires construction to begin by 2022 and be completed by 2030.

Funding for the roads doubles to $90 million next year and $135 million each year after that.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried got behind the counter of a Subway sandwich shop in the Capitol Thursday morning to promote the Fresh from Florida Campaign.

Fried made a veggie sandwich with Florida grown product, which will be used at every Subway restaurant in the state through the end of April.

The Fresh from Florida campaign promotes the states farmers, but lawmakers are split on funding.

The House is only at $1.4 million, while the Senate is at last year’s $5.8 million.

Fried says the state gets $22 for every dollar it spends

“So, obviously, we are encouraging lawmakers to fund this program to its fullest extent, because the return on the investment as we stated is tremendous to our state and our growers. And its important to our consumers who go into the food stores and see the Fresh from Florida logo, they know they are supporting their local economy,” said Fried.

The money is used to place fresh from Flordia signs in supermarkets as well as other marketing efforts across the US and globally.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried says the 650 acre wildfire near Panama City was started by a backyard rubbish fire that got out of hand.

Fried says if not for all the debris still on the ground from Hurricane Michael, the fire would have been significantly smaller.

She says the fire points to greater danger ahead.

“It should not have spread to begin with, but the fact that it started to spread and under normal circumstances without all the timber on the ground, it would have been a couple of hours to put out, five acres. But the fact we have all this fuel on the ground we’re getting 668 acres that are up in fire and forty-eight hours to put it out. And risking twenty to thirty homes in that community,” said Fried.

Nearly $2 billion was lot in timber alone during Hurricane Michael.

Much of it is still on the ground, posing a greater than usual fire danger in the months ahead.

About one hundred students who participated in last year’s march for our lives returned to the Capitol Wednesday as lawmakers in the House postponed legislation to allow teachers to be armed.

Students pressed on with their protest despite the fact it was not heard.

As the first group of protestors arrived at the state capitol, students like Maia Hebron, who attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas at the time of the shooting, were prepared to send their message to lawmakers.

“Teachers should not have the responsibility to shoot a child that is shooting a classroom,” said Hebron.

Later in the day, the school safety bill that would allow classroom teachers to be armed was temporarily postponed.

“I really do wonder if us being here has affected their decision to do it today or not,” said Hebron.

The House Speaker’s Office denies the decision having anything to do with the protest.

Instead blaming it on budget disputes between the House and Senate.

Still, students lined up in front of the House chamber doors, holding pictures of gun violence victims as lawmakers entered.

“Even if they do bring this back later on, our plan is to come back and reinforce our numbers even more and more,” said Maria Oliveria, a UCF student involved with March For Our Lives, Orlando.

Republicans say the resistance from the left is overinflated, since the program is opt-in.

Representative Blaise Ingoglia says the bill is about giving teachers and districts more choices.

“If you had a Navy Seal, who decided to all of the sudden be a teacher,” said Ingoglia. “How can you deny that person the opportunity to be able to protect his or her child?”

However, Rep. Adam Hattersley, a Navy Veteran, says armed teachers would need less than 150 hours of training, arguing it’s not enough to guarantee safety.

“I hope that nothing bad happens, but statistically something may,” said Hattersley.

The House will be in session again on Thursday.

It’s not clear if the school safety legislation will be on the agenda.

The Senate version of the School Safety bill needs to pass one more committee before going to the Chamber floor.

The State Capitol was a battleground for abortion restrictions Wednesday.

The GOP majority is cueing up a legal challenge over whether minors can be required to get their parents consent for an abortion.

A pro-life rally outside the Capitol and the bill coming up for a committee hearing inside, requiring a young woman to have her parents consent for an abortion was on the agenda was on the agenda all throughout the Capitol grounds.

“I am tired of the lie that abortion is health care,” said Rep. Tommy Gregory.

“God is the person…that allows people to be pregnant. We have to trust that he knows best,” said Rep. Bob Rommel.

“At twelve years old, if you are able to get pregnant, you can, in fact, walk into an abortion clinic and obtain an abortion,” said Rep. Erin Grall.

A handful of the more than 50 who signed up to speak at the committee were either abuse or rape victims.

“Had I become pregnant when I was sexually abused, I could not have gone to my parents,” said Carolyn Siegelman with the National Latino Institute for Reproductive Health.

The legislation does allow a young woman who can’t go to her parents for consent to seek a judicial bypass, but one woman told lawmakers it was cumbersome.

“As a teenage girl can not tell her parents she is pregnant, like I was, there’s a good reason. Trust her to make the right decision,” said Kristen Erichsen.

With new appointments from a new Governor, Florida’s Supreme Court has switched from a four-three liberal majority, to a six-one conservative majority.

If the legislation is approved, The GOP lead legislature believes it will set up a challenge to a 1989 Court ruling that found the privacy amendment applies to underage minors.

“My intent is to have the parental consent added back to our statutes…added to our statutes so that parents are involved in the decision,” said Grall.

Under the legislation, a physician that performs an abortion without a parents consent could be guilty of a felony.

A second abortion bill, prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, has yet to get a hearing.

Legislation approved by a House Committee Wednesday could cost Florida newspapers tens of millions of dollars.

It would remove the requirement that legal notices be published in daily or weekly papers, but the newspapers are fighting back.

Former Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp told lawmakers the audience for legal notices would be cut by 90 percent if they were only published on the government website.

“There are still large percentages of our population, Minority populations, over sixty-five that don’t use the internet, don’t have access to the internet. Frankly, if you want to hide information from the public, put it on a government website because nobody goes to government websites,” said Kottamp.

“What I would remind us is that the next time we are told we don’t spend enough money on healthcare, let’s remember that newspapers stood up here and said we need to spend money on newspaper ads. The next time we’re told by a newspaper we on’t spend enough money on education, let’s remember that the newspapers stood up here and said we ought to be forcing governments to pay for ads in their newspapers. The time for print ads has passed,” said Fine.

The law also requires notices of probate and even storage shed operators must print notices they intend to see someone’s belongings for non payment of storage fees.

How those would be published if the idea becomes law is yet to be worked out.

A giant paella dish, big enough to feed 2,000 was served up in the state Capitol courtyard this afternoon.

The annual Paellafest is a tradition that dates back decades.

For 30 years Bijan Nakhjavan has brought cooked up over 1,000 pounds of rice, chicken and seafood to showcase a local taste during Miami-Dade County Days each Legislative session.

Republican lawmakers and Supervisors of Elections want to dispel rumors surrounding a comprehensive elections reform bill moving through the Legislature.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Blaise Ingoglia has come under fire from Democrats, who say changes to deadlines for early voting and vote by mail will confuse voters in the 2020 election.

Ingoglia says the changes actually give voters more time to cast a ballot, from 35 to 40 days.

“There is nothing in this bill that is voter suppression at all. This is a thoughtful bill. It is a brainchild, for the lack of a better word , of people who have been involved in elections, both Republican and Democrat to ensure that we do not have any of the mishaps that we’ve seen in the 2018 elections,” said Ingoglia.

Another change made in the bill would extend the time voters can cure mail ballots with mismatched signatures from 5 pm the day of an election to two days after an election.