Senator Anitere Flores refiles bill to start legislative sessions in January

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A Miami Republican lawmaker is calling again for the state to hold sessions of the Florida Legislature earlier in the calendar year, according to Gary Rohrer of The Florida Current.

On Friday, Sen. Anitere Flores filed SB 72, a Senate bill moving the regular 60-day legislative session to January starting in 2016. Currently, regular legislative sessions begin in March.

SB 72 is similar to another bill filed by Flores this year (SB 1356), but that bill never had companion House legislation. It died after clearing a single Senate committee.

Rohrer writes that Flores’ proposal would have sessions begin on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January.

Earlier in 2013, Democrat Sen. Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth filed SB 512; the bill would place on the ballot a constitutional amendment for year-round, full-time Legislature. Clemens’ bill also did not have a House companion and never made it to committee.

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.