One of several bills making tweaks to Florida’s austere prohibition on gifts, state Sen. Oscar Braynon‘s SB 984, was granted an easy passage Tuesday afternoon in the Senate Governmental Oversight & Accountability Committee.
The proposal — which would allow public entities to let candidates and officials use public property like city halls and conference rooms without considering that an “expenditure” or in-kind contribution — was approved unanimously and now moves on to the Rules Committee.
The bill’s hearing was a lighthearted affair that mostly focused on state Sen. Jack Latvala enaging in the time-honored Senate tradition of hazing legislative aides presenting their first bill.
Latvala played obtuse in his attempt to catch Braynon aide Katia Saint Fleur off guard: “How would you define ‘public property’?” Latvala asked in the manner of a metaphysical interrogator.
State Sen. Alan Hays in a similar vein posed this knee-slapper: “It’s always a pain when legislators try to lobby me while I’m in the bathroom. Does this bill address that?”
Otherwise the bill’s approval was a subdued affair as the bill continues to move toward consideration in the full Senate.
State Rep. Hazelle Rogers‘ companion bill, HB 599, has also cruised through the committee process. It now sits in House Rules, Calendar & Ethics. It has received zero ‘No’ votes thus far.
This is one of the few Democrat-sponsored initiatives likely to continue to move this session, which has been particularly harsh to the superminority House Dems.
