Gov. Scott receives bill on harsher penalties for hit and run accidents

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On Tuesday, legislators sent four bills to Gov. Rick Scott, including SB 102, a measure that would beef up penalties for drivers leaving the scene of serious traffic accidents. The bill is named after Aaron Cohen, a 36-year-old bicyclist killed in 2012 after a hit-and-run accident on Miami-Dade County’s Rickenbacker Causeway Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla sponsored the measure, which creates a minimum four-year mandatory sentence for drivers leaving the scene of an accident involving death.

Waiting for Scott’s signature are also measures that would create a Central Florida Expressway Authority (SB 230), another to establish the Florida Law Enforcement Officers’ Hall of Fame (HB 41) and one for new specialty license plates (SB 132). Scott has before July 2 to either sign, veto or allow the bills to become law without a signature.

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including SaintPetersBlog.com, FloridaPolitics.com, ContextFlorida.com, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. SaintPetersBlog has for three years running been ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.