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State House members spent more than an hour Tuesday asking questions about alimony reform before giving the legislation tentative approval, but it was all for naught.

During divorces, kids are often become weapons with parents bargaining for more or less time in exchange for a more or less alimony.

The alimony reform legislation would have set a presumption that parents will share kids equally.

“There is a parent who is an active addict. This would presume that fifty-fifty is in the best interests of the child?” Said Representative Emily Slosberg.

“So, Absolutely not,” said House sponsor Representative Alex Rodrigues in response.

The time sharing gave rise to dozens of questions on the House Floor.

“And like in any other court case, you prove that and the judge will determine is that parent is able to care for their child or not,” said Rodrigues.

Current law outlines 17 factors judges must consider in custody awards, everything from whether there has been abuse, neglect or drug use.

“The judge will still have to abide by those seventeen to twenty factors,” said Rodrigues.

The 50/50 time sharing is not in the Senate version of the bill.

It is also what caused the reform to be vetoed the first time it passed in 2013.

The bill also caps the length of alimony to half the length of a marriage, but a last minute amendment by the sponsor increases the length for marriages lasting longer than 20 years.

“The judge may order alimony for up to seventy-five percent of the marriage rather than the fifty in the underlying bill,” said Rodrigues.

And late Tuesday afternoon, it became clear the bill could not survive the Senate Rules Committee.

Sponsor Joe Gruters pulled it for the rest of this year, saying it will be back next year.

Unclear is whether the House will spend hours debating and passing alimony reform Wednesday on the hope the legislation can be revived in the Senate.

The controversial election reform bill that makes a number of changes to mail ballots in Florida cleared its final committee in the Senate Tuesday, but the sponsor has promised changes on the floor to water down some of the more contentious aspects of the bill.

The election reform bill has been highly debated and criticized by Democrats who argue it’s akin to voter suppression.

“The right to vote should be encouraged, never imperiled,” said Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer.

But in its final committee stop, Senate sponsor Dennis Baxley indicated changes were coming.

“The purpose, at least for me, has been to clarify our intent for secure, fair and even handed elections,” said Baxley.

Baxley told us one of the provisions on the chopping block is the requirement election supervisors to use a ‘wet’ signature on file, not an electronic one, to verify vote by mail ballots.

“It was very convoluted and misunderstood about how to do that, so we’re just pulling that away,” said Baxley.

Another expected change will allow volunteers to give water to voters in line at the polls.

“We’re interested in the concern and wellbeing of the participants,” said Baxley.

Farmer said that change will prevent Florida from receiving some of the criticism lobbed at the Georgia election law.

“You know, it’s frankly a life, health, safety issue that really needed to be fixed,” said Farmer.

Democrats still have concerns with the legislation including the requirement ballot drop boxes be staffed and requiring mail ballot requests to be renewed each election cycle.

“I don’t envision amendments happening to SB-90 that would get the Democrats to the point where our caucus would support it,” said Farmer.

So far every election supervisor has opposed the legislation.

The hope is the promised changes will be enough to earn their support.

Baxley told us there are still some aspects of the legislation are still being negotiated with the House.

Lawmakers have less than two weeks to come to a final agreement before the end of session.

Legislation that would have banned transgender women from competing on women’s only sports teams was temporarily postponed in its final committee stop Tuesday morning, possibly sealing its fate for this year.

Bill Sponsor and Senate Appropriations Chair Kelli Stargel issued a statement saying her primary focus right now is passing a balanced budget, adding she doesn’t know that the Senate will have time to revisit the trans-athlete bill.

Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer said it’s his understanding the decision is not about time running out, rather Republicans hearing the concerns of the trans-community.

“To play sports is just something that they’ve done probably for most of their lives and they just wanted to continue to do so. And so I think it was very, very unfair the way we were going to handle it and potentially take that away from them. And so I think people have heard that and we very much hope that that bill is dead for session,” said Farmer.

Despite the words of the bill sponsor and optimism from Democrats, Senate Rules Chair Kathleen Passidomo said the bill would be brought up in a future meeting.

Until lawmakers Sine Die nothing is officially dead.

Legislation expanding the use of telemedicine for Florida licensed veterinarians is ready for a vote by the full House after a bipartisan committee vote Monday morning.

The vote came after more limits were placed on what vets could treat remotely.

Veterinarian Julie Moodoyan has been a vocal critic of legislation allowing vets to treat animals remotely.

“Some of those animals will get misdiagnosed or their care will be delayed and that will lead to outcomes that are not good for those pets,” said Dr. Moodoyan.

Vets like Julie have been complaining loudly.

“And you know these big corporations are going to come in looking only to make a profit. And it is in their best interest for the pet to stay unhealthy so they can continue to make money off prescriptions,” said Moodoyan.

Lawmakers listened.

The legislation was watered down to limit what vets can treat, and what drugs they can order remotely without first seeing the patient.

“Remaining in the bill is a provision that allows vets to practice from anywhere, as long as they are Florida licensed,” said House sponsor Rep. James Buchanan.

Under the legislation, animal control staff will be allowed to administer rabies vaccines without a vet present.

That will save shelters and owners money.

Rep. Buchanan counters fears of misdiagnosis, saying it’s up to the vet to do what’s best for the animal.

“It’ll be their obligation to indicate, hey, you need to come in and have a conversation we me and let me take a physical look at the animal,” said Buchanan.

Moodoyan told us the legislation could also impact vets’ wallets.

“I don’t doubt that this would impact the business financially to some degree,” said Moodoyan.

But she said her first priority is helping animals who can’t help themselves.

Vets in Florida are not allowed to prescribe medications if they have not seen the patient in the last 12 months.

The legislation waives the requirement for future telemedicine visits.

Florida Democrats are responded to the signing of HB 1, the controversial anti-rioting legislation, Monday.

They are decrying the new anti-rioting law, calling it an unconstitutional violation of the first amendment.

“You have just declared war on the First Amendment in the State of Florida,” said State Senator Shevrin Jones.

They also argue the bill will have racial implications, suggesting it will be used to silence the voices of those protesting for racial justice and policing reform.

“The day that the jury is going to deliberate about Derek Chauvin and his guilt, it is not lost on me that today is the day that they decided to sign this bill into law,” said Representative Michele Rayner.

They’re encouraging Floridians to push back.

“The good people across this great state will resist. We will hit the streets, following Congressman John Lewis’ advice to never ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble,” said Representative Anna Eskamani.

While some Democrats are only calling on corporations to voice opposition to the law, the Black Caucus is calling for corporations to boycott the state.

“The same people who are being disenfranchised are the same individuals who shop at these places, who patronize these businesses. And so the only way Florida is going to start feeling some of this is to start doing what happened in the Carolinas and what happened in Georgia, where you start hitting them where their pockets are,” said Jones.

Republicans have said the bill only targets violent rioters, not peaceful protesters.

In a press release on the signing of HB1 Governor Ron DeSantis said “In Florida, we are taking an unapologetic stand for the rule of law and public safety. We are holding those who incite violence in our communities accountable, supporting our law enforcement officers who risk their lives every day to keep us safe and protecting Floridians from the chaos of mob violence.”

The courts will likely have the final say on whether the law goes too far.

The Governor’s Office and the Department of Health are pushing back against claims of disproportionate outcomes for Africa Americans in Florida.

A prominent Black Pastor is calling Florida’s vaccine rollout for Blacks a model for the nation.

307 small crosses were on display at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church Friday, marking the first anniversary of the first COVID death in the State Capitol.

“Death is death,” said Reverend RB Holmes.

Reverend Holmes has been leading a statewide effort of Black pastors to vaccinate African Americans.

We asked if there is an impression that Florida is doing worse at protecting African Americans from the virus.

“Well, the data does not say that,” said Holmes.

State data shows the mortality rate for Blacks in Florida is 149.5 per 100,000.

The death rate for blacks nationally is 215 per 100,000.

“We’re doing thirty percent better actually. So mortality rates are thirty percent lower amongst Black Floridians when you compare us to the national Black mortality rate,” said Florida Deputy Secretary for Health Shamarial Roberson.

More than 115,000 African Americans have been vaccinated at black churches in Florida.

Reverend Holmes says Florida can be a national leader.

“The Governor decided to open up and work with churches to do pop up clinics in African American communities. I think that has moved the needle,” said Holmes.

And the state told us the pausing of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will have no impact on vaccinating Black Floridians.

In total more than 520,000 Black Floridians have received at least one vaccine dose, but a reluctance is slowing the vaccination rate for Black Floridians.

Rev Holmes said he hopes to have shots in 70 percent of black arms by the end of 2021 or early 22.

Deaths per one death per hundred thousand for white Floridians is 150.5 per hundred thousand, slightly higher than the rate for Black Floridians.

A plan to nix the massive toll road expansion known as M-CORES is finally moving in the Florida House.

The legislation, cleared by its one and only House committee stop Friday, is expected to save the state millions while still alleviating traffic along US 19.

The Governor on the other hand seems uninterested in the Senate’s proposed revamped roads project, which would undo much of the M-CORES plan passed two years ago.

“Obviously I put my John Hancock initially, so I obviously supported it,” said Governor Ron DeSantis in a March press conference.

But nevertheless it’s passed the Senate and is moving forward in the House.

“Seeing some of the revenue that the department has not gotten over the last year because of people not paying gas taxes, we want to make sure that we have the dollars to spend on the existing infrastructure we have in place,” said House sponsor Jayer Williamson.

It cancels two major M-CORES highway projects and remaps a third, extending the Suncoast Parkway up through Madison County to alleviate traffic on US-19.

“We consider this a partial repeal of M-CORES,” said Lindsay Cross with the Florida Conservation Voters.

Cross does say the new plan is more environmentally friendly than the current M-CORES project.

“It takes the south west central corridor completely off the table. And that’s the corridor that would have gone from the Naples area up to Lakeland and would go through prime Florida Panther habitat and some of the Everglades,” said Cross. “So we’re happy to see that that area will be safe at least in the short term.”

One of the benefits of the new plan is that is focuses on widening and improving existing roadways, instead of building new roads through environmentally sensitive areas.

But it also calls for an extension of the turnpike, left up to DOT’s discretion.

With the route to be determined, environmental concerns persist.

“That’s what’s difficult, is that we don’t really know what we’re getting in this bill,” said Cross.

The legislation now heads to the House Floor.

If passed, there’s still no guarantee the Governor will sign off.

But if he does, the path for the turnpike extension would have to be finalized by 2022.

The legislation also calls for the improvements to US-19 and the extension of the Sun Coast Parkway to be developed by 2035.

After nearly three hours of debate the Florida Senate voted to send the controversial anti-rioting bill to the Governor’s desk.

Debate rarely touched on the substance of HB 1, the controversial anti-rioting bill.

Instead, Senators shared their personal stories of protest and facing racism.

“I was born to protest and my heroes have been to jail,” said Senator Darryl Rouson.

The refrain from opponents: the legislation isn’t needed.

“There are laws already that would stop you, that would incarcerate you,” said Senator Victor Torres.

Supporters made the opposite case, arguing destruction seen in Florida and other parts of the country last year show a potential vulnerability.

“The deaths that occurred during the protests, the fires that happened, the looting that happens,” said Senator Kelli Stargel.

In closing, sponsor Danny Burgess said he understood opponents’ concerns, but believed the legislation wouldn’t result in unintended consequences for peaceful protestors.

“The only reference to peaceful protests in this bill protects it. What this bill does not protect is violence,” said Burgess.

The final vote was 23-17 with one Republican breaking ranks.

Following the vote Democrats held a press conference.

Their message to protestors: ‘Don’t let this legislation silence you’.

“It’s time for the people to rise up even more,” said Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer.

Senate President Wilton Simpson fully expects legal challenges.

“But I don’t see any reason from a common sense perspective that it wouldn’t hold up,” said Simpson.

As soon as the bill is signed into law, the changes will take effect.

Along with enhanced penalties for crimes committed during a riot, the bill allows state attorneys to appeal reductions in local police budgets, creates an affirmative defense from civil lawsuits for people who injure rioters in self defense and waives sovereign immunity for local governments, allowing businesses to sue for damages if their government doesn’t take action to stop a riot.

Police agencies in Florida will no longer be allowed to use chokeholds except when an officer or someone else’s life is in danger under a bipartisan compromise in the State Capitol.

Officers will now have a duty to intervene when they witness the improper use of force.

The legislation bans chokeholds except in life threatening situations, and all of Florida is 400+ police agencies will have to report officer involved use of force to the state when it results in serious bodily injury, death or if a firearm was discharged.

“If a very large county with millions residents has a lower use of force than a smaller county, maybe we need to find out why. What training is being done?” said Representative Cord Byrd.

Officers will also be required to intervene when they witness a fellow officer use improper force.

“No one dislikes a bad law enforcement officer more than a good law enforcement officer,” said Byrd.

Florida’s Sheriff’s support the legislation.

“I don’t see us giving up anything. I see it as a really good opportunity to everything from collect data to eliminate things, that quite frankly, not best practices. The choke hold for instance. Most agencies have removed that or are in the process of removing it,” said Walton County Sheriff Mike Atkinson.

Law enforcement agencies will have to be truthful, on the record about why they fired a bad apple.

Applicants will also have to tell the truth if they resigned before being fired.

“This will be a great change helping make sure those bad apples, those bad officers can’t jump from agency to agency and just leave behind their bad disciplinary history,” said Representative Fentrice Driskell.

And after a six-year-old was handcuffed at her school in Orlando last year, this legislation prohibits the arrest of anyone younger than seven.

There is also new training required on proportional use of force, deescalation and dealing with mentally ill or drug-using suspects.

The legislation also prohibits law enforcement agencies from investigating one of their own when shots are fired, someone dies or there is an allegation of excessive force.

Newly unemployed might be seeing an increased weekly benefit of a hundred dollars after July first.

Legislation raising the weekly stipend from $275 to $375 cleared its final Senate Committee Thursday.

State Senator Victor Torres of Orlando didn’t vote in the final stop, but he was the lone no vote at its last committee because it did not go far enough.

“I want us to have an increase, but I also wanted them to have the expansion from 13 weeks to 26 weeks, which would offset for a longer period of time for them to have benefits, like the Federal government was providing. And they didn’t want to accept any amendments like that so that’s why I don’t support the bill,” said Torres.

Torres says he will keep fighting for a 26 week benefit period over the current 13 in law when the bill hits the Senate Floor.

Legislation ending the collection of union dues for public sector employees cleared its final House committee Thursday after more than hour of heated testimony and angry debate that saw one Democratic member stopped from speaking after he launched a personal attack against the sponsor.

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith also decries what believes are the politics behind the bill.

“In Florida, there is a constitutional right to collectively bargain. And this bill is an attack on those constitutional rights. Specifically against public sector unions that usually support Democrats. It’s obviously politically motivated,” said Smith.

Smith also points to the fact that law enforcement, who he says often support Republicans, were exempted from the ban on dues collection as more proof of the motivation.

After a three and a half hour hearing Wednesday, time ran out before a Senate committee in the State Capitol could vote on a controversial election reform bill.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the bill is in trouble, at least not yet.

Ballot drop boxes are allowed under the newly revised legislation, but only during the same hours as early voting.

There is also a new provision that requires election supervisors to keep on file what is being called a ‘wet’ signature.

“Wet signature means a signature the voter physically signs with a pen on paper,” said State Senator Jeff Brandes.

Brandes and other opponents argue the requirement will force millions of voters to visit their local supervisor.

“So you’re okay wiping out a million voters potentially off the roles because their only fault is they followed the current law which allows a digital signature and not a wet signature,” said Brandes to bill sponsor Dennis Baxley during the Wednesday hearing.

The new wet signature requirement is giving supervisors heartburn.

“The language needs to be improved. Its just very confusing,” said Mark Earley. Vice President of the Florida Supervisors of Elections. “Some supervisors think for the first four years you can use the Highway Safety digital signature, I think Senator Baxley just said we couldn’t so that’s kinda the worst position to be in.”

The revision also honors voters who have standing mail ballot requests through 2024.

They will stand, but after July, new requests will be good only for the current election cycle.

Opponents were adamant in their argument the bill isn’t needed.

“Why should we as a state attempt to reduce their right of a person to exercise their right to vote?” Said State Senator Audrey Gibson.

But Baxley argued nothing is further from the truth.

“We’re gonna always work to make it usable and workable for voters,” said Baxley.

One change supported by most on the committee Wednesday is a provision making it harder for shadow candidates to enter races as a spoiler.

Most enter as a no party candidate, but the new law will say they must have been a no party candidate for at least a year before running.

The legislation won’t come back up in the senate again this week.

When it is brought back up, it will likely be just for the vote.

Legislation aimed at undoing three local referendums passed last year in Key West cleared its final committee stop in the Senate Wednesday.

While the legislation may be aimed at the Keys, it would limit the ability of any Florida city or county to regulate their ports.

Key west approved three referendums last year pushing for more environmentally friendly cruise ships and limiting the size and number of cruise ships that could dock in their port.

“Smaller, safer, cleaner ships,” said Captain Will Benson with the National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council.

The goal was to prevent large ships from kicking up sediment and harming coral reefs.

“Everybody who lives in the Florida Keys over the past year without the large cruise ships noticed the waters like a miracle get clearer,” said Arlo Haskell with the Key West Committee for Safer Cleaner Ships.

But a bill moving through the legislature would undo all three referendums and prevent any other local governments from implementing similar restrictions.

“Some of the smaller boats are actually causing more problem than the bigger boats,” said Senate sponsor Jim Boyd.

The sponsor argues limiting how locals can regulate their ports now, will prevent local restrictions that could potentially harm the state as a whole in the future.

“50 percent of our oil for the State of Florida comes through the port of Tampa. So if a group got together and banned that as a commodity that would come into our port, imagine what that would do not just to the economy, but to statewide transportation,” said Boyd.

The legislation has been supported and opposed by both Democrats and Republicans.

A coalition from Key West that came to the Capitol Wednesday is hoping the Governor will veto the bill.

“To help us bring balance to Key West, to do what’s right for the cruise industry and do what’s right with supporting home rule,” said Benson.

The Governor has a mixed record on home rule.

He’s vetoed legislation the would have prohibited local plastic straw bans, but also signed legislation preempting local sunscreen bans.

The bill still has to clear the Senate Chamber and has one more committee stop in the House.

The Governor has so far been silent on the legislation.

The Florida House is hearing two bills today attempting to combat foreign influence and intellectual theft in the state.

The two proposals arose from the Governor’s demand for the state to get tough on China.

Florida’s House Speaker is concerned with foreign influence and intellectual property theft in Florida, especially in the state’s universities.

“We found that there were researchers at the University of Florida, one of which was working on artificial intelligence, who had a secret relationship with China,” said Speaker Chris Sprowls.

That example along with others from the Moffitt Cancer Center and UCF are the driving factor behind Representative Cord Byrd’s legislation that requires more transparency from universities about foreign partnerships and donations.

“We need to do this at the state level to make sure that they aren’t getting in by the back door,” said Byrd.

There’s also an effort to protect business trade secrets from foreign actors.

Representative Mike Beltran worries not enough is being done at the federal level.

“It’s going to hurt our economy, especially if it’s done by foreign governments,” said Beltran.

He’s sponsoring legislation that would beef up penalties for corporate espionage and modernize state statutes to include virtual data theft.

“Almost all the intellectual property theft is done without actually appropriating a tangible object and we close that loophole that a lot of wrongdoers have used in order to escape liability,” said Beltran.

Both bills have moved quickly through the legislative process, receiving bipartisan support.

In the Senate the corporate espionage legislation is ready for a floor vote.

The legislation dealing with universities and local governments has one final committee stop in the Senate.

And it’s no secret, the main target of both bills is China.

“They are trying to gain not only an economic, but military advantage over us,” said Byrd. “And you know this is just the first step and if this doesn’t solve the problem then we will go further.”

That could potentially mean severing all ties between Florida’s universities and adversarial foreign governments.

A catch 22 in Florida law lets doctors begin a new remote relationship with a patient via telehealth, but veterinarians can’t do the same.

Under state law, a vet must have seen the animal patient in-person within the last year before meds can be prescribed remotely.

It’s a sign of competition at work in changing times.

We tuned into a virtual vet appointment with veterinarian Dr. Shadi Ireifej speaking to a client and her dog Echo, a nine year old terrier mix.

The session took less than 15 minutes.

Because Echo was a new patient Dr. Ireifej hasn’t seen personally seen before, he was prohibited by Florida law from prescribing any medication.

“When a pet needs a refill of medication that they really shouldn’t be without, heart medication, for example. Very common scenario. We forget to refill it. And now he needs a refill and we can’t by law do that,” said Dr. Ireifej.

But if Echo’s mom wanted to be seen by her doctor remotely, that doctor could prescribe every medication deemed necessary.

Legislation allowing vets to prescribe everything but controlled substances remotely has cleared three committees in the state Capitol, but the legislation has stalled.

“It’s about protecting market share for certain individuals,” said Skylar Zander with Americans for Prosperity.

Zander argues the restriction is all about money.

“In some rural communities, the might be an hour or two hours away, and so you are able to get instance service as a consumer and also protect your animal,” said Zander.

In a statement, The Florida Veterinary Association said the legislation: “Would lead to an increase in the misdiagnosis and mistreatment of Florida pets and livestock as well as potential delays in receiving the proper care they need.”

Dr. Ireifej said he is repeatedly called by people seeking prescription refills for their animals and says he has to refuse, even though his education has spanned more than a dozen years.

He also added he has treated 22 species of animals remotely, and not one of them has bitten him or gotten upset by the travel.