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Michael Moline - page 14

Michael Moline has 306 articles published.

Michael Moline is a former assistant managing editor of The National Law Journal and managing editor of the San Francisco Daily Journal. Previously, he reported on politics and the courts in Tallahassee for United Press International. He is a graduate of Florida State University, where he served as editor of the Florida Flambeau. His family’s roots in Jackson County date back many generations.

Bill sponsor bows out of fight over short-term vacation rentals

in Statewide by

The Senate sponsor of legislation crimping local restrictions on Airbnb and other home vacation rentals abruptly cried uncle Monday — confusing a committee room full of lobbyists, plus a few committee members. Sen. Greg Steube acquiesced in a late amendment by Sen. Jeff Brandes that essentially gutted his bill. CS/SB 188, as amended, passed on a vote of 5-3. “Just to be clear, this allows cities to currently do anything they that they currently can do under current law,” Steube…

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Rick Scott endorses water storage south of Lake Okeechobee, but not buying land

in Statewide by

Gov. Rick Scott endorsed a key element of Senate President Joe Negron’s Lake Okeechobee plan Monday — storing and treating water south of the lake — and called upon the House and Senate to invest $200 million in repairs to the Herbert Hoover dike. Scott said during a news conference that the state can afford the repairs because of the $1.5 billion the Trump administration has provided to reimburse hospitals for charity care. “With this additional funding, we now have…

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Looks like that Confederate general will remain in Statuary Hall collection

in 2017 by

Representative Scott Plakon may have succeeded where a devotee of Southern Heritage failed in blocking the replacement of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith as one of Florida’s two representatives in the National Statuary Hall collection. Seber Newsome III of Save Southern Heritage appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee last week to oppose sending Smith packing. It was a lost cause: The committee voted unanimously in favor of a resolution, SCR 1360, by Sen. Perry Thurston, to replace Smith with Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune-Cookman College. Meanwhile,…

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State economists expect an additional 1,700 PreK-12 students next year

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House and Senate budget negotiators who’ll begin conference negotiations next week will have to account for more than 1,700 additional students, state economists concluded Friday. That may not sound like a lot in the context of the more than 2.8 million kids enrolled in the PreK-12 system. Still, it adds up to nearly $12.3 million under the least generous formula pending in the Legislature. “At this point, any difference is painful to them,” Amy Baker, head of the Office of…

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Public-records exemption for murder witnesses heading to Governor

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The Senate met the two-thirds requirement Thursday to send Gov. Rick Scott a bill creating a public-records exemption for information that could identify murder witnesses. The vote was 34-3 to accept CS/CS/HB 111, the House version of legislation sponsored in the Senate by Ocoee Democrat Randolph Bracy. Exemptions to Florida’s stringent public-records laws require two-thirds votes in both Houses. The House overwhelmingly approved the measure on March 30. Voting “No” in the Senate were Rob Bradley, Jeff Brandes, and Jeff Clemens. Bracy…

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Senate votes to clear up ‘mistakes’ in self-defense law for homeowners

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A bill clarifying that homeowners need not wait to be attacked inside their dwellings before resorting to defensive force passed the Senate Thursday. CS/CS/SB 1052 would reconcile conflicting statutes involving self-defense, correcting drafting errors muddying the legal situation made in 2014 legislation, bill sponsor David Simmons said. “Senators, this protects all of us in our own home. It’s rational. It’s reasonable. It brings us back to the way it was prior to the mistakes that were made in 2014, drafting errors,” Simpson said.…

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Legislative committee week cancelled

Senate President Joe Negron and House Speaker Richard Corcoran have cancelled next week’s legislative committee week because of Hurricane Irma, they

Senate workers’ compensation bill acquires firefighter cancer amendment

in Statewide by

The Senate’s workers’ compensation bill moved out of the Appropriations Committee Thursday after picking up an amendment declaring two forms of cancer occupational hazards for Florida’s 40,000 firefighters. The amendment — sponsored by Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala and vice chairwoman Anitere Flores, and not by bill sponsor Rob Bradley — names multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recognized a higher risk of those cancers among firefighters, Latvala said. Sen. Jeff Brandes objected that…

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