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Carlos Guillermo Smith - page 3

Red-light camera ban clears green-lighted by House committee

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A House bill to ban red-light cameras cleared its final committee Tuesday and is ready for a floor vote when the 2017 Legislative Session kicks off next month. The House Government Accountability Committee approved HB 6007 with a 13-3 vote; the only no votes came from Democratic Reps. Joe Abruzzo, Carlos Guillermo Smith and Clovis Watson. Last month, the bill had made it through the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the House Appropriations Committee with similarly lopsided votes. The bill would…

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Ridesharing bill advances 21-1 in House committee

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A bill to create statewide regulations for ridesharing companies easily advanced in its last committee stop Tuesday in the Florida House, but not without some dissent from a handful of Democrats on the panel. The bill (HB 221) is sponsored by Tampa Republican Jamie Grant and Palm Harbor Republican Chris Sprowls, and officials with Uber and Lyft are hoping that this is finally the year that such legislation is finally passed. The bill would require transportation network companies to have third-parties conduct local and national criminal background checks on drivers. People would…

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Florida looks to expand gun rights in wake of Pulse shooting

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Florida Republicans are more determined than ever to pass bills expanding gun rights in the wake of the deadly Pulse nightclub and Fort Lauderdale airport shootings. They say law-abiding gun owners should be allowed to take their weapons to airports, government meetings and state universities, and would be in a better position to protect themselves and others if a mass shooting should erupt in one of those places. “Anytime you create a gun-free zone, you essentially are creating a safe…

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Dana Young joins push for new greyhound bill, banning steroids

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Decrying that racing dog owners are “doping greyhounds,” state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith joined state Rep. Alexandra Miller and Dana Young Friday in another effort to tighten regulation of dog racing in Florida, with a bill explicitly banning the use of steroids. Smith, the Orlando Democrat, and Miller, the Sarasota Republican, introduced House Bill 743 Thursday, replacing an earlier version Miller had introduced. Young, the Tampa Republican introduced Senate Bill 512 last month. On Thursday, it was referred to the…

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Dana Young, Amber Mariano, others file to run for re-election in 2018

in The Bay and the 'Burg by

Count them in for 2018. Dozens of state lawmakers have already filed to run for the state House and Senate in 2018. For some, their decision comes before their first bills get a hearing. Others have their eye on the higher office as they embark on their final term in the House. State elections records show more than 50 members of the House and Senate have filed to run in two years. While many of those are incumbents who faced…

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Advanced Manufacturing Research Center, I-4, Sanford Burnham, water quality, Pulse, on Central Florida lawmakers’ minds

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As they prepare for the 2017 Legislative Session, Central Florida lawmakers are looking out for help for the emerging Advanced Manufacturing Research Center in Osceola County, the demise of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in Lake Nona, and I-4 throughout the region. Those are things almost everyone in Central Florida’s delegation is examining. The Democrats add, don’t forget about Pulse, and the economic fairness and mental health issues everyone spoke of during the election campaigns this year. But…

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Women’s groups see Hillary Clinton having skirt-tails to help Stephanie Murphy, other women

in Statewide by

Is it Hillary Clinton or the whole women’s and feminist movement at the top of the Democrats’ ticket on Tuesday? A rally in Orlando Saturday – part of a statewide bus tour full of women’s movement and feminist leaders – offered the suggestion that there are such stark differences in attitudes, rhetoric, histories, and policy positions between Clinton and Donald Trump and the Republicans that this is very much a gender-critical election. The gender gap in voting has never been…

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