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The Florida House approved a motion to serve former Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence CEO Tiffany Carr with a subpoena by any means necessary after failing to do so through traditional means Thursday.

The Coalition was discovered to have paid Carr over $7 million over a three year period and awarded millions in salaries and paid time off benefits to executives using state funds.

Rep. Tom Leek is chairing the committee investigating the Coalition, which until recently was the sole conduit of state domestic violence services funding.

Leek said he’s confident the move will get Carr to Tallahassee and before lawmakers.
“So if this were a civil case, which it is not, you could go to the judge and say this person is evading service we need to serve by publication or one of the other extraordinary means. What happened today is the House authorized service by any means possible and what we mean there is literally by any means possible and probably by every means possible,” said Leek.

The State Attorney General and Department of Children and Families announced lawsuits against the Coalition Wednesday in hopes of preserving evidence and recovering the misused funds.

Florida classrooms would be required to start the day with a moment of silence under a bill passed off the House floor Wednesday.

The proposal is causing some to raise concerns about separation of church and state.

Lawmakers hope to improve the mental health of students by requiring one to two minutes of silent reflection at the start of each school day, but the specific statue the bill changes also includes ‘permitting study of bible and religion’.

Devon Graham with American Atheists fears the bill is a back door way of mandating prayer in schools.

“It’s not neutral, it’s not innocuous by any stretch of the imagination,” said Graham. “There’s supposed to be a strict separation of church and state and it’s for the best for everyone. When things like this impede upon that, that’s an issue for everybody.”

While the bill received unanimous support as it moved through the House committee process, but received 20 no votes when passed off the chamber floor.

It’s faced continued opposition from some Senate Democrats.

“I think you put kids in a very uncomfortable position when they’re in a classroom and the majority of the class is of one faith,” said Senator Gary Farmer during the bill’s final Senate committee stop Monday.

But Senate sponsor Dennis Baxley argued the bill is crafted to benefit students from all backgrounds.

“Without crossing the line with advocating what people do during that moment of silence. That would be between them and their parents,” said Baxley.

The bill allows students to use the moment of silence how ever they best see fit and prohibits teachers from giving direction, but Graham worries that may not be the way it works in practice.

“I could imagine different teachers telling their students different ways of how to do this and it could be explicitly, you must bow your head, you must close your eyes, you must pray,” said Graham.

If the moment of silence is misused, Graham believes lawsuits would likely ensue.

After body cam video of a six year old being arrested in Florida went viral, state lawmakers are on the verge of passing legislation that would require every law enforcement agency in the state to have a policy on arresting anyone younger than ten.

Sponsors call it a humble beginning.

Video of six-year-old Kaia Rolle being arrested last September went viral.

For a solid two minutes, sobbing is heard on the body cam video.

“I don’t want to go,” Kaia said in the video.

“Come on lets, go. You can tell me what happened in the car,” the officer responded.

On Wednesday, Kaia and her grandmother Marilyn Kirkland came to the Capitol pushing for change.\

“To have a police officer on the line telling you that your six-year-old baby, my granddaughter Kaia, was arrested and I just couldn’t process it,” said Kirkland.

Kaia has been diagnosed with PTSD, is seeing a therapist, and has transferred to a private school with a state scholarship.

“At any point in her life, at age 20, they think she could be driving down the road and is pulling over for a traffic infraction and have a flashback,” said Kirkland.

Lawmakers now say young arrests happen far more often than they realized.

“In my district, we arrested 53 eight-year-olds. This is standard operating procedure,” said Rep. Wendy Newton.

The legislation went nowhere in committee, but a last minute amendment tagged onto this year’s school safety bill would require every law enforcement agency to have a written policy that requires supervisory authority to arrest anyone under ten.
The House passed the legislation 118-0 Wednesday.

It now goes to the Senate.

Ironically, the policy about to become law was in place, but not followed in Kaia’s arrest, but supporters say the legislation is a starting place and better than nothing.

The State of Florida filed suit against the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence and its former CEO Tiffany Carr Wednesday.

Carr received millions while shelters and victims suffered funding shortages.

The suit alleges breach of contract, breach of the implied duty of good faith and duty, and breach of fiduciary duty.

Carr is facing allegations of fraud.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said the suit seeks to freeze the assets of the coalition and preserve evidence.

“I am disgusted at the mismanagement and the greedy misuse of public funds that were meant to assists victims of domestic violence across the state of Florida. The damage caused by Miss Carr and the leaders of the coalition will certainly take time to repair,” said Moody.

Criminal charges remain possible.

Last week, state lawmakers changed the law that named the coalition as the only funding conduit between the state and 42 local shelters.

The House is pushing forward with a bill that its sponsor claims would make it easier for public sector employees, including first responders, to quit their unions, but the bill is facing significant opposition.

Lawmakers were greeted by public and private sector union members chanting ‘What’s disgusting? Union busting!’ as they entered the chamber doors Tuesday.

They’re protesting legislation would require state workers like teachers, firefighters and even police to reauthorize their union membership every three years.

It also would prevent public sector unions from requiring workers to explain why they’re ending their membership.

Some fear if lawmakers were to pass the restrictions for public sector unions it would only be a matter of time before they set their sights on the private sector as well.

“They’re trying to make it harder for unions to collect money. They couldn’t decertify us because it’s in the constitution so now they’re trying to defund us,” said Jeremiah Tattersall who belongs to a private sector union in Gainesville.

The bill also requires employers certify that workers have authorized payment of their dues.

“If an employer simply doesn’t want to do it, they don’t. And then what happens to that firefighter? What happens to that teacher? Are they in the union or are they not in the union?” said Rich Templin with the Florida AFL-CIO.

Even Presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren is weighing in.

“HB 1 is just another plan to try to break the backs of unions. We need to make it easier, not harder to join a union,” Warren said in a video released Tuesday.

“I don’t not believe this is a union busting bill by any stretch,” said bill sponsor Rep. James Grant.

Grant argues the goal of the legislation is to strike a balance.

“It’s easy to opt in, it ought to be easy to opt out and you’re not going to be discriminated or deal with the fear of discrimination by the way in which you opt in or the way in which you opt out,” said Grant.

The Senate President said he has no appetite for the bill, but in the horse trading of the final days of session anything is possible.+

Just before noon Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed Florida’s third corona virus case.

“We received, which we expected, a presumptive positive test for Covid 19. That’s going to be confirmed by the CDC. And it is the sister of the young female who traveled back from Italy. She was also traveling back,” said DeSantis.

In a strange twist, the Governor said the third case won’t be listed as a Florida case, even though she is in the Tampa area because she is a California resident.

But he said more cases are likely.

The roommate of the third confirmed case has not tested positive yet and she is in isolation.

Four tests remain outstanding.

And top lawmakers are starting to talk about setting aside additional money to fight the virus.

“You know maybe 10 to 20 million dollars, until we know what we are looking at with the numbers still in play,” said Senate President Bill Galvano.

State University faculty staff and students were told in a memo that anyone traveling from China, South Korea, Japan Iran or Italy would not be allowed on campuses for at least 14 days after returning.

And the Department of Agriculture, which regulates gas stations is asking wipes or paper towels be provided for customers use because of how long Covid 19 can survive.
“Corona viruses can live up to nine days in hard surfaces including glass, metal, steel,” said Deputy Agriculture Commissioner Mary Barzee Flores.

The Governor continues to emphasize that frequent hand washing, not touching your face and staying home if you are sick is the best way to prevent the virus from spreading.

The Capitol courtyard looked like an occupied country Tuesday, with military equipment on display for lawmakers during the annual National Guard Day.

More than 11,000 Floridians serve in the National Guard, and the Governor saluted them while promising to continue to make Florida the most veteran friendly state in the nation.

“More military families calling Florida home is a great thing for all involved. We obviously want to make a great state for them because they served our country, but they also contribute a lot to our state, so we obviously want to attract veterans,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.

The Governor is asking lawmakers for $8 million to help veterans with down payments for homes and low interest loans.

For LGBTQ advocates the 2020 legislative session has proven to be a mixed bag.

As the session draws nearer to a close advocates are celebrating the defeat of bills they argue would have harmed the LGBTQ community.

But advocates failed to pass housing and employment protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Sometimes when we’re in the minority caucus it’s really about how hard we fight even when we know we’re not going to win that battle, but this battle goes way beyond this chamber. It goes into the election cycle and we’re going to do our part to make sure that we elect candidates who care about these issues,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani.

Advocates feared the Parents’ Bill of Rights would have required school guidance counselors to out students to their parents.

Another bill would have banned sexual reassignment surgeries on minors.

Both failed to pass this year.

Florida lawmakers have until Tuesday to reach an agreement on the state budget, but they are so far apart they are planning for an extended session.

Differences include the survival of Visit Florida, environmental land purchases, teacher raises and more according to Senate President Bill Galvano.
“Well, you know, these things are complicated and and id you look at the budgets as they were rolled out, they are over a billion dollars apart. Everybody’s operating in good faith. The relationship Speaker Oliva and I share couldn’t be better. It’s just these things take time,” said Galvano.

The Governor’s message to lawmakers was to get it right and not worry about staying longer.

Each day of overtime can cost up to $80,000.

The Florida House is pushing forward with legislation that would make it harder to amend the state constitution through the citizen initiative process.

Members of grassroots organizations held a press conference Tuesday urging lawmakers to reject the proposal that would raise the cost of counting petitions and dramatically increase the signature threshold for the state Supreme Court to review proposed amendments.

“We are taking this precious right, this precious governing document, we’re taking it away from the people and we’re making the right of people to change their constitution history,” said Jodi James with the Florida Cannabis Action Network.

The bill was temporarily postponed in its final Senate committee Monday, but opponents fear it could return.

Last year a similar legislation was amended onto a bill on the Senate floor in the final hours of session.

Efforts to pass legislation requiring employers to verify the immigration status of employees passed both a House and Senate committee Monday.

The on again, off again legislation is getting a final push by the Governor’s Office, and a family that knows first hand what it’s like to lose a loved one as the result of illegal immigrants.

Kiyan and Bobby Michael are the face of what can go wrong with an open border.

“This is our son, Brandon Randolph Michael. He was 21 years old,” said Kiyan.

Their son Brandon was hit and killed in 2007 by a truck driven by an immigrant here illegally.

“He was lured her, the illegal who killed him, by a job. He was working illegally,” said Kiyan.

Hiring someone known to be in the US illegally is already against state and federal law.

This legislation allows the Department of Law Enforcement and others to investigate.

“The state law enforcement agencies identified in the statute have the ability to then go and request those documents,” said House sponsor Representative Rep. Cord Byrd.

Beginning in July, contractors seeking state incentives would have to prove they did an E-verify check.

Private employers must be on board before January first 2021.

“This bill doesn’t carve out certain industries. It doesn’t carve out certain sized businesses. And I appreciate that,” said Rep. Nick DiCeglie.

One of the key reasons the legislation is starting move is the Governor’s involvement.

Senate Sponsor Tom Lee once threatened to vote against his own bill.

That was after a dubious amendment weakening the immigration checks.

Now he’s optimistic.

“There’ll be some ups and downs along the way in the next couple of weeks,, but aI feel really good that we are going to get something resolved here,” said Lee.

The Michaels said they are in the fight until the end.

“It’s not easy. It’s not easy, because we know that when we go home and unpack, our son’s snot coming home,” said Kiyan.

Employers would not be required to run immigration checks on any employees already working before January 1st, 2021.

On Thursday, the Governor and Surgeon General learned two people tested positive for the Corona virus.

Not until Saturday was the confirmation made public.

Also on Thursday, citing state law, they declined to even say how many people had been tested.

Now Democrats and Republican legislators are arguing the Department of Health got it wrong.

They want to change state law to make it clear the executive branch has the duty to report cases to the public

“Their position, going forward, is untenable. We have to make sure that the decision is about public health and based on medicine, and not on a faulty interpretation of statute,” said Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez.

“The Executive Branch has an obligation to inform the public, absence a determination about public health. That’s a matter of opinion, and I can tell you if you’re talking to the mothers who are taking kids to school where, my daughter goes to school, they all think it’s a public health necessity to know if there is an active case in Leon County,” said Sen. Tom Lee.

An effort to amend a sweeping Department of Health bill to require the disclosure failed Monday afternoon.

All public school students would be required to participate in a one to two minute moment of silence at the start of each school day if a bill passed by its final Senate committee Monday becomes law.

The bill was opposed by groups like the ACLU, the National Organization for Women and atheists who argued the bill would isolate students who don’t follow a religion or belong to a different religion than the majority of their peers.

Bill sponsor Dennis Baxley countered that while the bill doesn’t prohibit students from praying during the moment of silence, it also doesn’t prohibit them from using the time in any other way either.

“Sometimes I think we need to start meetings with that here, but I do think it’s a good idea. I think it can set a different tone and without crossing the line with advocating what people do during that moment of silence. That would be between them and their parents,” said Senator Baxley.

Under the bill teachers would not be allowed to direct students how to use the moment of silence and would require them to speak with students parents so the parents could help their child decide how to best use the time.

To combat suicide and mental health issues lawmakers want first responders, including 9-11 operators to be able to confide work related stresses confidentially with their peers.

Legislation that would protect those conversations passed its final Senate committee Monday, but with some opposition.

Some lawmakers expressed concerns that putting a blanket of confidentiality on the peer to peer conversations could be abused in situations of alleged misconduct, allowing first responder to be shielded from testifying.

“I understand if we were to have some prevision where a peer was designated by the department as someone somebody could go talk to about this and have a conversation about that, but the ability to designate after the fact seems to me to create a huge problem,” said Senator Jeff Brandes.

Th bill is now ready for votes on both chamber floors, though Senate sponsor Keith Perry said more work may need to be done on the bill before final passage.

For the second year in a row lawmakers are looking to put caps on THC in medical marijuana.

An proposed amendment to a sweeping Department of Health bill would cap THC levels at 10 percent for medical marijuana prescribed to patients under 21 years old unless they are terminally ill or their doctor receives special approval from the department.

“I am very concerned about what is happening to our young people. The studies that are coming out on brain development show that large amounts of THC have a very deleterious effect on brain development, especially in young adults,” said Senate sponsor Gayle Harrell.

The amendment was met with skepticism from Democrats and even some Republicans during questioning.

The bill was temporarily postponed in the middle of the debate and the amendment was ultimately withdrawn.