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Students on a waiting list for a state-funded private school scholarship would receive them under a bill moving through the Legislature.

While parents of students on the scholarship argue it’s been a blessing for their children, others have serious concerns about state education dollars going to private schools.

More than 100,000 students receive the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, which is funded with private dollars.

It’s helped parents like Michelle Porter pay to send their children to private schools.

“My neighborhood isn’t the greatest. So finding the right learning environment for my children was very important to me,” said Porter who is from Miami.

To alleviate a waitlist for the Tax Credit Scholarship, the Legislature created the ‘Family Empowerment Scholarship’, which is directly funded with tax payer dollars.

But the waitlist has continued to grow and now sits at 35,000.

Legislation aimed at clearing the new backlog would expand Family Empowerment Scholarship, but the idea of sending more taxpayer dollars to private schools, including ones with religious affiliations, isn’t popular with everyone.

Reverend Dr. Russell Meyer worries it could lead to students being indoctrinated into religions.

“No public funds should be used to teach your religion to our children,” said Meyer.

At an average of $7,250 per student, the expansion could cost the state more than $300 million, but Senate sponsor Manny Diaz argues it’s a mere drop in the bucket compared to the overall $22 billion education budget.

“Not to mention all the capital dollars, which is another $2.9 billion statewide that are expended through districts on public education. I think this is a very small program,” said Diaz.

If the bill becomes law, it’s estimated more than 46,000 students could receive the scholarship next year.

The bill would allow the scholarship pool grow by one percent of the total number of public school students each year.

Former State Representative Charles Van Zant and his wife collectively donated nearly $120,000 of leftover campaign funds to the church they own and operate.

But new legislation would prohibit similar cases going forward.

Politicians would barred from donating left over campaign funds to non-profits they receive a paycheck.

“We know about nonprofits and the abuses that take place in them so it just didn’t make any sense to even allow that. To say that I could have $100,000 leftover money and I give it to a small little nonprofit that I benefit financially from,” said Senate sponsor Kieth Perry.

The bill is ready to be taken up on the Senate Floor and has already cleared the House.

The Governor and state health officials continue to assert there are no confirmed cases of the Corona Virus, known as CoVid19 in Florida, but they do acknowledge some people have been tested.

Health officials are urging people to wash their hands, avoid touching their faces and to stay away from people who are sick.

What the Governor is not saying is how many people have been tested for CoVid 19.

“I don’t think I’m allowed to go into the numbers, but lets just say that since the beginning of this in January, Dr. Rivkees, we’ve been monitoring people coming in,” said governor Ron DeSantis.

The advice to keep the numbers secret comes from the Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees.

He said the law doesn’t allow the release, because with no cases there is no risk of it spreading.

“And if those circumstances change, then we absolutely will make the public informed to protect the public, but at the present time, we don’t have community spread in Florida,” said Rivkees.

Testing has been problematic.

The initial kits were faulty, so samples are being sent to state labs and forwarded to the CDC in Atlanta says the Deputy Secretary for Health.

“The current time is about three to five days to receive the results from the tests. During that time, the person is in self isolation,” said Shamarial Deputy Secretary for Health Roberson.

Democrats are saying the refusal to release the number of people tested is unprecedented, and they are vowing to try and change the law if it doesn’t change by Monday.

“We have great public health professionals. Making sure that everybody is aware of the aggregate data is extremely important in preserving that confidence,” said Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez.

State officials did say you’re more likely to get the flu than the Corona virus, but they are urging people to prepare anyway.

The Surgeon General said Thursday the mortality rate for the Corona virus is about two percent, compared to about 0.3 percent for the flu.

The Governor signed a bill into law removing the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence as the sole distributor of state domestic violence services funding Thursday.

Earlier in the day the Chief Financial Officer of the coalition took questions from lawmakers as they continued their investigation into how the coalition’s former CEO was paid $7.5 million over a three year period.

The testimony revealed the CEO had significant sway over her own salary and benefits.

Patricia Duarte has been the Chief Financial Officer for the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence since 2010.

The coalition managed $45 million a year in state funds.

Lawmakers investigating the coalition want to know how former CEO Tiffany Carr was able to make $7.5 million over a three year period and cash in $3 million of paid time off in just five months.

Lawmakers had to ask questions multiple times to get an answer, with the CFO often explaining she just did what she was told.

“Did it ever occur to you that boy, this really is a lot of money from an organization that’s supposed to be taking care of the victims of domestic violence?” Asked Rep. Randy Fine.

“If that was given to her it was not my choice,” said Duarte.

“Would you not be able to tell her that that was not the correct funding source to use those dollars for? Wasn’t that part of your job description?” Asked Rep. Susan Valdes.
“She [Carr] said that basically funds were not to be returned to DCF,” said Duarte.

When asked if the exorbitant PTO Carr allotted herself and other executives including Duarte were immoral, lawmakers were able to get one concession.

“I would say unethical, no. Wrong? I mean is it excessive? It could be viewed as excessive,” said Duarte.

Duarte also told lawmakers Carr signed off on her own payroll and travel reimbursement checks.

Carr is now residing North Carolina.

She has so far ignored House subpoenas asking for her to testify.

A Florida High School football player who died of heat stroke at a practice is the driving force behind legislation aiming to prevent heat illness for high school athletes.

The charge for change is being lead by the player’s mother.

At 6’4” Zachary Martin was nicknamed the ‘Gentle Giant’ by his Riverdale Raiders teammates.

During a high school football conditioning practice in 2017 Martin suffered heat stroke.

His mother Laurie Giordano was at his side until he passed away.

“It broke my heart, but it also motivated me to start trying to make changes,” said Giordano.

Those changes come in the form of a bill that would require all Florida high schools have a cold water immersion tank on hand during hot practices and games.

“Heat stroke is not only 100 percent preventable, but also there has been a 100 percent survivability [rate] if that person is put into a cold water immersion tub within the first ten minutes,” said Giordano.

She told her story in the bill’s final Senate committee stop.

“Zach Martin is a protector. It is why he was a great offensive lineman for his football team and it is what made him a loyal friend, brother and son. If he had survived, he would be speaking to you today,” said Giordano.

Before it passed, the bill was amended and named the “Zachary Martin Act”.

The House already has passed the bill and the full Senate is expected to do the same in the coming days.

The Zachary Martin Foundation has donated 35 cold water immersion tanks to Florida High Schools.

The organization plans to continue its efforts to help every school acquire the life saving safety feature.

Giordano said she’s also working with the state’s US Representatives and Senators in hopes of passing similar legislation nationwide.

There are no known cases of the Corona Virus in Florida, but it is already having an economic impact on some businesses.

That has the Capitol shifting into high gear.

The Governor spent most of the day behind closed doors, but his schedule showed two corona related events, a call with Governors and a meeting with the State Surgeon General.

Tallahassee based manufacturing company Danfoss Turbocore will suspend production beginning next week because it can’t get parts from China.

The company makes highly efficient commercial air conditioning compressors.

Brett Ewing with First Franklin Financial is a frequent contributor to Bloomberg News on Chinese financial issues.

He said he worst economic impact may be yet to come.

“What we are focused on is its disrupting the supply chains. With the trade war over the last two years, we had a major disruption, and this is compounding those problems,” said Ewing.

The virus could have financial impacts for Florida ports, but Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said that isn’t his first concern.

“We want goods to flow, but the most important thing for me and the people of Jacksonville is that we make sure we are doing everything to keep them safe,” said Curry.

CFO Jimmy Patronis has been in constant contact with the state’s first responders.

“This is no different than a hurricane. We’re doing pre-event staging right now,” said Patronis.

And State Representative Cary Pigman, who is also a first responder and an emergency room physician said the the virus presents unique challenges.

“What’s it’s going to mean if we pick someone up who later is found to have it. How are we going to keep our first responders safe from contamination? How are we going to keep our hospitals safe from contamination? And then how are we going to de-con things?” Said Pigman.

The state’s lodging and tourism association said it hasn’t seen cancellations yet, but it is monitoring the situation daily.

The State Surgeon General is expected to brief a state legislative committee on the virus next week.

The Florida Senate voted 40-0 to end the exclusive relationship the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence had in funneling state funding to 42 domestic violence centers Wednesday.

The action comes after revelations its CEO made $7.5 million over the last three years.

The Department of Children and Families will take over the cash distribution, and Sponsor Senator Aaron Bean said local centers should see a seamless handoff.

“There’s multiple different options. They have thought through this every way to Sunday. Every option ends with making sure that the stream of resources, the money given from the state continues to flow in the same fashion that it’s flowed, but with transparency and accountability. But the folks that are providing the domestic violence help and work are going to continue to receive it,” said Bean.

The Governor is expected to quickly sign the legislation, which becomes effective with his signature.

Legislation that would make it harder to amend the state constitution through the citizen initiative process cleared its final senate committee Wednesday.

The bill would increase the signature to trigger a review by the State Supreme Court, allow the Attorney General to ask the court in the proposed amendment violates the US Constitution and would significantly raise the cost to have petitions counted.

This is the second year in a row lawmakers have considered cracking down on the process, prompting Senator Oscar Braynon to suggest the real debate that should be had is whether to keep citizen initiatives at all.

“It makes it harder by 1,000 cuts and I can’t support the 1,001 cut. I really hope the next time we see something petitions we actually are completely honest about what we want. We either like the petition process or we do not,” said Braynon.

Three Republican lawmakers voted in favor of the bill in Wednesday’s committee, but said they would vote against it on the floor unless significant changes were made.

Legislation to allow college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness has cleared its final Senate committee.

The bill creates a pathway for athletes to enter into endorsement deals, profit from self promotions like social media accounts and seek representation from licensed agents.

Senator Debbie Mayfield, the bill sponsor, said the bill is more symbolic, as the NCAA has indicated it will be adopting similar rules of its own by the start of next year.

“I’ve also been with Senator Rubio’s Office on this legislation on what they’re draft is so that all 50 states are alike, but this is more of a pressure to put on the NCAA that says the state’s are moving in this direction, you need to come up with rules so we’re all playing by the same game,” said Mayfield.

The Florida bill would take effect in July of next year, with or without action from the NCAA.

Funding for land conservation is one item where the House and Senate are far apart in their proposed budgets.

The Senate is fast tracking a bill it hopes will pressure the House to increase funding and possibly prevent budget squabbles in the future.

Florida forever was once funded at about $300 million a year, but that all changed in 2008.

“Since the 2008 recession funding has been zeroed out or very low,” said Lindsay Cross with the Florida Conservation Voters.

Dedicating a guaranteed funding source for the program was the focus of a 2014 constitutional amendment approved by 75 percent of voters.

The amendment has been largely ignored by lawmakers, but a bill moving through the Senate aims to set the baseline funding going forward at a minimum of $100 million.

“And this would be reoccurring funding for our suit of conservation programs. This means that we don’t have to come and fight for this every year, but that we can put our time and our energy into making sure that we start to grow the investments in our critical conservation programs,” said Cross.

The Senate bill also would prohibit Florida Forever money from being used on things like executives’ salaries and administrative costs.

If nothing more, the bill is an effort to pressure the House to up its offer.

This year the Senate is proposing $125 million and the House just $20 million.

Senators do have one thing going for them, the Governor has requested $100 million for Florida Forever for the past two years, though last year it only received $34.5 million.

“The citizens want us to have a larger amount set aside and we’re just going to have to work on that because this bill that I introduced is just the floor,” said bill sponsor Senator Linda Stewart.

But if the Senate bill becomes law, $100 million for Land Conservation could become the expectation instead of the exception.

A group of veterans joined a State Senator condemning a bill moving through the House that would put a 10 percent THC cap on medical marijuana products Tuesday.

The veterans, part of the Veterans Cannabis Project, fear limiting the amount of THC in medicinal cannabis would reduce its effectiveness for treating ailments suffered by many veterans like PTSD.

State Senator Jeff Brandes said it could force veterans to go to the black market.

“Limiting THC would reduce the amount of medical effectiveness of cannabis and would cause many veterans to rely on unsafe, untested options including moving to the illicit market to manage their needs. The cap and regulations would also cause medical cannabis’ costs to skyrocket,” said Brandes.

Senator Brandes said the Senate is holding strong and has no appetite for the legislation, but Senate President Bill Galvano said the Senate may consider THC caps in a December interview.

35,000 low income children who qualified for Family Empowerment Scholarships last year, but were on a waiting list would receive the scholarships this Fall under a voucher expansion approved by the Senate Education Appropriations Committee Tuesday.

Critics called it an affront to separation of church and state and warned that private schools may indoctrinate students with religious beliefs, but sponsor Sen. Manny Diaz said the costs for the expansion are minimal in the overall $22 billion education budget.

“We have 35,000 students who have gone through the process that are low income, that are qualified, that don’t have the ability to participate in this. And I think if you compare those two things, you know the 22 billion plus, not to mention all the capital dollars, which is another $2.9 billion statewide that are expended through districts on public education, I think this is a small program,” said Diaz.

The legislation also automatically increases the number of vouchers available each year by about 28,000, about equal to one percent of the number of public school students.

Three board members and two executives were in the legislative hot seat Monday as they explained both behind closed doors and in public how the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence came to pay its CEO $7.5 million over three years.

Melody Keeth, the former Board Chair for the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence was the first to be deposed.

She spent roughly two and a half hours behind doors with the House Public Integrity and Ethics Committee attorney.

She was mum afterwards.

Former CEO Tiffany Carr was paid $7.5 million over three years.

Committee chair Chair Tom Leek said he first wanted to hear from FCADV’s inner circle on how that possibly could have happened.

“How is it that you have shelters that need more beds and at the same time you are paying an executive director that kind of money. That’s what I want to know,” said Leek.

In an afternoon public forum, Melody Keith admitted to signing memos without reading them.

“Can you explain why on earth you all thought, you thought, or you proposed giving Mrs Carr more PTO days than there are work days in a year?” Questioned Rep. Randy Fine.

“I was surprised that it says days and not hours,” said Keeth in response.

Keeth also raised the possibility of forgery.

“At some point in time it became days in these memos, and I was surprised by that,” said Keeth.

CEO Tiffany Carr is yet to receive a subpoena.

It is complicated by her out of state residence.

Because the subpoena was issued by the Legislature and not a judge, North Carolina, where former CEO Tiffany Carr now lives, must agree.

Subpoena’s for more records have also been issued to the Coalition and its foundation, which Carr is listed as its registered agent.

Her private attorney has refused to accept the foundation because he only represents Carr.

Democratic Presidential frontrunner Senator Bernie Sanders is drawing flack from Florida lawmakers on both sides of the isle following comments he made about Cuba in a 60 Minutes interview Sunday night.

During the interview Sanders doubled down when asked about past comments he’d made about Cuba.

“It’s unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know when Fidel Castro came into office you know what he did? He had a massive financial literacy program. Is that a bad thing?” Said Sanders.

Almost immediately the Democratic Presidential frontrunner began taking flack from Florida Republicans and Democrats alike.

Governor Ron DeSantis condemned the Senator’s comments while talking to reporters Monday.

“Any attempts to white-wash the brutality of the Castro Dictatorship is just totally unacceptable. It flies directly in the face of the values of the people throughout this state,” said DeSantis. “And this is a Senator who has spoke positively throughout his whole life about the Dictatorship there. He spoke positively about Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. He’s been a long time supporter of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua and that’s just unacceptable.”

State Senator Annette Taddeo, a Miami Democrat, Tweeted, “Saying a murderous dictator wasn’t so bad because of a literacy program is like saying “there were very fine people, on both sides”.

Florida’s two US Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio along with multiple South Florida Representatives have also condemned Sander’s comments.

“He puts a number of swing seat congressional and state legislative members in Miami-Dade in a bind. They now have to come out and oppose the potential nominee for President and that’s never a good place to be,” said Steve Schale, a Democratic Strategist.

Schale said the comments could easily cost Sanders the Cuban vote in South Florida.

“The biggest thing for Democrats is the later generation Cubans are now swing voters. They voted for Obama, they voted for Clinton. We need them in 2020 if we’re going to win the state,” said Schale.

Schale noted the comments aren’t likely to affect Sanders much in the Primary next month, but if he makes it to the General Election that’s where it could really hurt.