Elections supervisors’ number one complaint from voters is that their email or phone number on file is getting them hit with spam or too many political messages.
The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee approved a bill Tuesday, that would remove addresses, emails, and phone numbers of voters from the public record.
Committee Chair Dennis Baxley said voters are surprised when the unwanted contacts start.
“You’re exposing people to things they never really signed up for or intended. And their privacy is of value too. And it looks like we’ve mismanaged their information as they are being contacted by sources,” said Senator Baxley.
The information would still be available to political campaigns and committees, which are the source of most contacts that rub voters the wrong way.
A Democratic Florida Senator is speaking out against changes proposed to the state’s voting laws by Republican lawmakers.
Senator Randolph Bracy said bills aimed at limiting vote by mail and a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the bar for passing future amendments are attempts at voter suppression.
He noted with Florida coming out of the past election without encountering any major problems, the changes are unnecessary and will restrict access to the ballot box.
“They’re putting fourth every kind of measure to suppress the vote, to limit access to voting, to limit access to vote by mail- a way in which Democrats have voted overwhelmingly this past cycle. And so if I was a Republican, Democrat, Independent, whoever, I would be upset that these games are being played,” said Bracy.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, 253 bills with provisions that restrict voting access had been filed in 43 states as of February 19th.
Florida parents are currently required to keep their children in booster or car seats until they are five.
For a decade, the Federal government has recommended age seven be the cutoff, but even a compromise to raise the age to six has fallen on deaf ears at the Capitol.
Raising the age from five to six for kids to be in car or booster seats is supported by science.
“In an accident, all of the deceleration goes against the strongest parts of the body,” said Dave Cullen with the Advocacy Institute for Children.
The CDC says nearly half of all child auto deaths aged eight to 12 were because they were not restrained.
The rate falls to 36 percent for kids four to seven.
Few oppose the idea. At least publicly.
But for a decade raising the age from five to six has languished, even though six is one year less than federal recommendations.
Cullen explained the argument opponents have used against the legislation.
“Children are their parents’ responsibility. And it is the parents ability to have freedom to do whatever they want with their children,” said Cullen.
The Senate is already moving quickly to pass the legislation down to the more reluctant House, where it has died in years past.
Senate sponsor Keith Perry is optimistic.
“Talk to the trauma surgeons and the trauma doctors and they tell you about how easily this injury could have been prevented,” said Perry.
He said the biggest challenge will be educating parents if the age is raised.
“Its more to inform the parents. Hey, we’ve done the research, we’ve done the studying. This is good for you and good for your kid,” said Perry.
Perry also pointed out child restraints are available from private organizations for parents who face financial constraints.
Violating the state’s current child seat requirements could cost parents a $60 fine plus court costs.
Florida Republicans are taking aim at public sector labor unions, with two bills passed through a House committee Monday morning.
One specifically targets teachers unions.
It would prohibit teachers from opting to have their union dues taken directly out of their paycheck.
House sponsor Cord Byrd said it’s about getting government out of the way.
“We live in a digital age. It’s much simpler now for someone who derives a benefit from a service, that they pay that service directly,” said Byrd.
But in the bill’s first committee hearing, the state’s largest teachers union said it would do just the opposite.
“This is a bill putting government in between an individual’s right to join a union. Stop interfering in the rights of employees to direct how they get their paycheck and what they do with their paycheck,” said Stephanie Kunkel with the Florida Education Association.
The teachers union bill would also expand a requirement passed last year that unions representing K-12 employees maintain at least 50 percent membership to keep their certification.
Under the bill, unions representing university and college employees would also have to meet the 50 percent threshold.
Democrats like Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith questioned the timing of the legislation, pointing to teachers’ front line role through the pandemic.
“It’s important for us to just call a spade a spade. These are union busting bills targeting our teachers who have been our heroes through this pandemic, who really have sacrificed so much,” said Smith.
We asked Byrd why his bill singles out teachers and leaves out other public sector employees like police, firefighters and state workers.
“That’s something that could be considered moving forward, but once again, the focus of the bill is in the education sector and I wanted to keep mine narrow, knowing that others had bills dealing with unions more broadly,” said Byrd.
One of those other union bills was also approved in the same meeting.
It would require all public sector employees to reauthorize their membership every three years or any time their contract is renegotiated.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried was again critical of how the Governor is rolling out vaccines Monday.
She said he has no plan whatsoever.
On Thursday, Fried had called for an FBI investigation into whether the Governor is favoring some Floridians over other less wealthy people in exchange for campaign contributions.
Fried said she has been having a two way discussion with the FBI, but will say little more about the exchange.
“So we know there is something going on here that is just not kosher. So that’s why we’ve asked for an independent investigation by the FBI. That’s what they do is going into corruption, especially corruption,” said Fried. “We can’t go into specifics because we are still in communications with the FBI.”
The Governor has denied any pay-to-play in vaccine disbursement.
Governor Ron DeSantis today took shots at the American Rescue Plan moving through Congress Monday.
He said because the funding for states is tied to unemployment rates, rather than population, Florida will get $2 billion less.
The Governor noted states receiving a larger share of the package like California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois all are deeply blue and imposed heavy-handed executive action like lockdowns during the pandemic.
“I think it’s designed basically to bail out the poorly governed states. Florida is being penalized for having more successful outcomes and that is not fair,” said DeSantis.
The Governor also pointed out Florida’s death rate for seniors 65 and up is lower than New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California.
He also noted at 5.1 percent, Florida’s unemployment rate is also significantly lower than the other four states.
The first two bills of the 2021 legislative session have been cleared through the House Chamber and they’re both COVID-related.
Lawmakers spent most of their time debating liability protections for businesses to shield them from COVID-related lawsuits.
Democrats argued the legislation protecting businesses from COVID lawsuits is a solution in search of a problem.
“We’re not seeing that flood of litigation at all,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani.
Republicans pushed back, arguing it’s only a matter of time.
“It may be 50 lawsuits now, but if we don’t do this it’ll be 50,000 lawsuits soon,” said Rep. Bob Rommel.
Democrats were also critical of the high burden of proof required to hold a business accountable.
The bill says a business would have to be ‘grossly negligent’ in order for a lawsuit to succeed.
The bill also requires a doctor to affirm a person contracted COVID at a specified business for a lawsuit to go forward.
Democrats argued that would be impossible to prove.
“You can file a COVID-related TORT claim. And you have the possibility of succeeding… When pigs fly,” said Rep. Omari Hardy
That argument in particular struck House Speaker Chris Sprowls, who said it essentially proves the point of the bill.
“You’re in a business that has small margins already. You already had to lay off employees. Now you have to go out, hire a lawyer at $300 an hour to go defend a case against something where someone couldn’t possibly know where they’ve gotten it,” said Sprowls.
Debate took nearly two hours, but in the end the vote came down mostly along party lines with 83 voting in favor and 31 voting against.
There could still be a bumpy road ahead for this legislation, as the Senate is considering consolidating healthcare liability protections and those for businesses.
That would send the bill back to the House for another floor vote.
The House also voted to increase penalties on scammers who trick people into paying for fake vaccine appointments.
Unlike the liability bill, that legislation passed with unanimous support.
The Governor is pushing back against a Miami Herald story detailing how his political action committee ‘Friends of Ron DeSantis’ received a quarter million dollar contribution a month after vaccines were made available to a wealthy community in the Keys.
Florida’s lone statewide elected Democrat wants the FBI to investigate.
In late January, the Ocean Reef Community in Key Largo was offered shots by Baptist Hospital.
A month later, Bruce Rauner, a former Illinois Governor and Ocean Reef resident sent the Governor’s Political action committee…a $250,000 check.
The Governor Thursday said his office had nothing to do with setting up the site.
“In the initial three or four weeks, as you remember, the hospitals were getting the lions share of the vaccine,” said DeSantis.
But he added he was glad the hospital stepped up.
“If you are 65 and up, I’m not worried about your income bracket. I’m worried about your age bracket,” said DeSantis.
Hours later, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried called on the FBI to investigate.
“If this isn’t public corruption, I don’t know what is. I know that we will get to the bottom of this. So, I am asking the FBI Public Corruption Unit to be investigating this,” said Fried.
We asked Fried if she had proof of a quid-pro-quo.
She instead offered this answer.
“The fact is this is time and time again. This isn’t just one example. That there has now been a pattern of these examples have been occurring since these vaccines started to roll out,” said Fried.
The Governor called the original Miami Herald story a train wreck.
“That article was just flat wrong. And I don’t know, do you even know if he has been vaccinated? Do you know? Okay so literally they are just trying to indulge in conspiracy theories,” said DeSantis.
Fried is the second Democrat, after Congressman Charlie Crist, to call for an investigation.
Late Thursday afternoon, a third Democrat, State Senate Democratic leader Gary Farmer, wrote prosecutors asking for an investigation.
Both Fried and Crist are considered likely candidates for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2022.
Dozens of survivors of communist regimes were at the State Capitol Thursday, supporting a bill that would bring stories like theirs into the classroom.
Supporters worry upcoming generations don’t understand the history of America’s founding principles and how they differ from communist ideology.
For many Floridians, Communism is thought of as a relic of the Cold War, but for dozens of survivors of Communist regimes like Maximo Alvarez who brought their stories to the State Capitol, it’s personal.
“We have lost our families, brothers, some of us friends, mom and dads,” said Alvarez, who escaped from Cuba at the age of 13.
He and the other survivors are backing a bill that would require US Government classes to include a comparative discussion of political ideologies, like Communism, that conflict with the nation’s founding principles.
It would also direct the Department of Education to curate an oral history collection from those who have seen both forms of government in practice.
“We need our children in Florida’s classrooms to realize that there are some places in the world where freedom is a luxury and liberty is just a dream,” said House Speaker Chris Sprowls, who is backing the legislation.
A survey by The Victims of Communism Foundation found one out of three millennials have a favorable view of communism.
“Clearly the text book isn’t enough. The instruction in the classroom isn’t enough. What our children need to understand what happens with victims of communism, what happened in the Holocaust, is to hear it from survivors. From people who were there in their own voice, from their own experience,” said Sprowls.
Alvarez worries without hearing it from those who lived through it, the same ideology that deprived his countrymen of their human rights and left others in graves, could take root here.
He hopes this legislation will help ensure that never happens.
“I have a thriving business, but if I give everything that I have today it wouldn’t be one percent of what I was given when I came to this country,” said Alvarez.
The bill sailed through its first committee with unanimous bi-partisan support.
A separate bill has been filed that would establish Victims of Communism Day as an official state holiday to commemorate the 100 million victims killed under communist regimes.
The holiday would be observed on November 7th, the anniversary of the first day of the Communist regime in Russia.
The contentious anti-rioting legislation supported by the Governor gets its second of three committee hearings in the House Wednesday.
Opponents argue the bill is an attack on First Amendment rights, but supporters assert it will protect law enforcement and prevent public disorder seen at the US Capitol and across the country last year.
There are two distinct camps on the controversial Combatting Public Disorder legislation.
Senate sponsor Danny Burgess signed on after seeing a business in his district burned down during the unrest over the summer.
“Martin Luther King stood for peaceful protest. Plain and simple. And that’s what we’re here to protect and preserve,” said Burgess.
On the other hand, social justice groups argue the bill seeks to silence their ability to protest.
“This is an anti-Black bill. This is an anti-brown bill,” said Rep. Michele Rayner.
Protestors at the Capitol argued the bill, which increases penalties for crimes committed during a riot, will lead to the arrest of peaceful protestors.
“We’re supposed to trust the police department to discern rioting from protesting, what we’re doing, right now. Do we trust the police right now?” Said Christina Kittle with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee.
The response from the crowd was a resounding ‘no’.
But House sponsor Juan Alphonso Fernandez-Barquin argues his bill will work to the benefit of those seeking to exercise their First Amendment right.
“If these agitators show up, it is in the best interest of the peaceful protesters to point who these individuals are out to the law enforcement and that law enforcement deals with them directly,” said Fernandez-Barquin.
There are also concerns with a provision that would allow those arrested during a riot to be held without bond until first appearance.
Fernandez-Barquin said the policy is in response to what he described as ‘fringe groups’ immediately bailing people out after they were arrested in cities like Portland and Seattle during riots in the cities.
He explained the intent is only to hold those arrested overnight.
“So that individual does not return back to the riot and keep participating in the riot,” said Fernandez-Barquin.
The legislation also would allow citizens to petition the Governor’s Office if their local government moves to decrease funding for law enforcement.
The local budget could then be altered by the State Administration Commission.
Opponents see the bill as a crack down on the racial justice movement spurred by the death of George Floyd, but the Governor standby his claim that the legislation is not about politics.
“The minute you start to turn violent or attack law enforcement, we are absolutely going to hold you accountable,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.
The bill hasn’t moved in the Senate, but with the Governor’s backing, it won’t be stagnant for long.
A controversial three-year-old agreement that has Pasco County Schools sharing student data with the Sheriff’s Office could soon end under legislation moving in the State Capitol
A last minute amendment to a parents’ rights bill would require parents to give their permission before schools could share data with law enforcement.
The 2002 movie Minority Report portrayed futuristic police using predictive technology to stop crimes before they happen.
For three years, Pasco Schools have been providing the Pasco Sheriffs office with student data, then cross referenced for any law enforcement contact and possible follow up.
But that process could be severely curtailed under an amendment approved in the State Capitol.
“Parents should have to affirmatively consent to allowing the school district to release their child’s grades to local law enforcement,” said amendment sponsor Senator Jeff Brandes.
The amendment would require every school district, not just Pasco, to get permission from a parent before sharing a student’s information with police or anyone else.
Democratic Senator Tina Polsky voted for the amendment, but against the bill.
“Good amendment, and I voted for the amendment. Obviously, I knew the bill would pass but I am glad the amendment is there,” said Polsky.
Dennis Baxley, whose family has ties to law enforcement, said the amendment is about putting parents first.
“The school is not the parent. The parents, these families these children belong to these families. They don’t belong to the state,” said Baxley.
The state’s plan for three major road projects would undergo major changes under legislation approved by its first Senate Committee Wednesday morning.
The bill would remove the MCORES project from state statute and redirect $123 million into the state transportation trust fund for use on more urgent needs.
Under the new plan, DOT would be instructed to identify ways to use existing roadways to improve traffic on I-75 and US-19.
Bill sponsor Gayle Harrell said the new plan will save the state money in a tight budget year.
“Anticipating a shortfall of $2 billion this year, we really have to address how we’re spending our money carefully and this really takes somewhat of a different tactic. It’s prioritizing where the congestion is, the problems that we have and really allowing us to take a second look at things,” said Senator Harrell.
Environmental groups expressed concerns about the new proposal, though few have taken a hardline stance on the bill this early in the process.
For the 123rd time since statehood, Florida lawmakers opened their annual session Tuesday, in what the Senate President called an opening like no other.
For the Governor, his State of the State address was mostly a victory lap.
Florida lawmakers have kept a hands off approach since the pandemic and for 28 and a half minutes, the Governor told them it worked on everything from keeping schools open to allowing people to work.
“We are one of only a handful of states in which a parent has the right to send their child to school in person,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “And our citizens are employed at higher rates than those in the nation as a whole.”
He also attributed the openness to the creation of an influx of new businesses.
“We are one of the top destinations for business relocation,” said DeSantis.
Looking ahead, the Governor again called for record school funding.
“And I just want to make it very clear. I reject and reductions in funding for K-12 education,” said DeSantis.
He also wants a billion over four years to fight climate change.
“It will help our communities adapt to the threats posed by flooding from intensified storms and sea level rise,” said DeSantis.
Legislative leaders said if there’s any federal stimulus money coming, it will be for one time expenses.
“Our priorities should be to reinvigorate this economy, we can do that with one time investments in our shovel ready road projects,” said Senate President Wilton Simpson.
As a rebuke to local governments who fought against not requiring masks, the Governor is proposing limiting local emergency powers.
Democrats argue the Governor isn’t looking out for average Floridians, only his political career.
“He’s no longer focusing on the state of Florida, but he’s focusing on his popularity as he’s getting ready for a Presidential run,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried.
As the only statewide elected Democrat, Fried is considered a top challenger to the Governor in 2022.
Asked Tuesday, she said she has not announced for Governor, “yet”.
Each year following the Governor’s State of the State address, the party in the minority responds with a counter vision of where they see the state headed.
This year some of the Governor’s top priorities are the top points of opposition from the Democratic Party.
While the Governor painted a rosy picture of Florida besting other states in pandemic response during his State of the State address, Florida Democrats immediately responded with a different take.
“We’ve lost loved ones, jobs and income,” said Rep. Andrew Learned. “Instead of helping hardworking Floridians with common sense solutions, we heard an agenda that was driven by pettiness, imaginary threats and settling partisan political scores. This is a time for leadership, a plan to get COVID-19 under control, to deliver relief for Florida’s families and build back our economy better.”
In a pre-recorded video, Democrats and progressive activists delivered what they call the ‘People’s Response’.
In it, they demanded changes to the state’s unemployment system.
“As hundreds and thousands of Floridians were personally devastated with the loss of their job at no fault of their own, with bills bearing down on them, they were left to deal with a horribly broken unemployment system,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani.
In another video, Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer took aim directly at the Governor’s top agenda items.
“Our Republican Governor has made the dissolution of your First Amendment rights his top priority and protecting violence inciting hate speech on the internet as his second,” said Farmer.
The lone statewide elected Democrat, Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, suggested the Governor’s priorities are aimed at delivering red meat to his base rather than addressing the everyday needs of Floridians.
“We should not be dividing our state and dividing our country. If we work on issues that are impacting everybody across the board, that’s when we make progress,” said Fried.
Democrats’ key agenda items this year include expanding Medicaid, increasing unemployment benefits, police reform and expanding access to the ballot.
While Democrats are voicing their objections, they don’t have the votes to stop anything the Governor and Republican-led legislature want to do.
About a hundred people arrived at the State Capitol Tuesday afternoon to make known their displeasure over proposed anti-rioting legislation.
The measure would increase penalties for non peaceful protests when police are attacked, temporarily deny bail, and punish cities that cut law enforcement funding.
Newly elected St. Petersburg State Representative Michele Rayner called the legislation discriminatory.
“You can’t really lobby the way that you want to, but you’re driving from Sarasota, Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando. All of these places. You are doing the work. You are making your voice heard.And I love that you are protesting an anti protesting bill,” said Rayner.
The legislation is a top priority of the Governor and GOP leaders.
It has a hearing in its second of three committees late Wednesday afternoon.
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