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House votes down budget amendment calling for report on cost-effectiveness of Florida’s death penalty

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The Florida House rebuffed an attempt to include proviso language in the budget for a report on the “imposition and execution of capital punishment” in Florida. The amendment, put forward by Rep. Sharon Pritchett, called for the state to use money to fund a report from the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) looking at the death penalty. The report, among other things, would have had to identify the actual fiscal cost associated with maintaining a capital…

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Florida may pay millions to homeowners for lost citrus trees

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Florida may end a long-running battle and pay millions to homeowners whose healthy citrus trees were torn down in a failed attempt to eradicate citrus canker. The Florida House has $66 million in its proposed budget to pay lawsuits filed on behalf of homeowners in Broward, Lee and Palm Beach counties. There are also lawsuits ongoing in Orange and Miami-Dade counties. Rep. Carlos Trujillo, the House budget chairman, said the payments should be made because courts have already ruled against…

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Voters said yes, but Florida may change class size limits

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Florida’s voter-approved class size limits could be eased under a bill now moving in the state Legislature. The Florida House on Wednesday voted 95-22 for a bill (HB 591) that would change the way class sizes are calculated. If the bill became law, then schools would measure class sizes by a schoolwide average instead of measuring it at the classroom level. A similar bill is moving in the Senate. Voters in 2002 first approved class size limits and rejected an…

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Democrats decry change to ‘stand your ground’ law

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Perry Thurston

A critic of the state’s “stand your ground” law Wednesday said a change to the law now moving through the Legislature will “make it easier for people to murder other human beings.” Lawmakers now are considering shifting the burden to prosecutors, making them disprove a claim of self-defense. Sen. Perry Thurston, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, called that making “a bad law worse.” He appeared with several fellow Democrats at a morning press conference in the Capitol. The stand your ground…

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House sees Senate on gambling bill, raises the ante

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blackjack gambling casino

The House amended the Senate’s gambling measure with its own bill Tuesday, setting up the legislation for conference. The difference between the two chambers’ approach was set up by Rep. Mike La Rosa, the St. Cloud Republican who chairs the Tourism & Gaming Control Subcommittee. He said the House effort “erects a firewall against the expansion of gaming in the future,” adding there would be “no more loopholes.”  With the Senate OK with some gambling expansion, the stark contrast has led House…

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House amends Senate’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ bill

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The House on Tuesday began consideration of a Senate bill changing the state’s “stand your ground” law to make it easier to claim self-defense. But the House soon amended the measure (SB 128) to change the burden of proof to overcome self-defense to “clear and convincing evidence,” a lower threshold than the Senate’s “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The burden would be on “the party seeking to overcome the immunity from criminal prosecution,” usually prosecutors, requiring a separate mini-trial, of sorts. House Democratic Leader…

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Senate OKs mandatory recess bill

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Recess scored a big win the Senate, but the proposal faces an uphill climb in the House. The Senate voted 36-0 to approve a bill (SB 78) that would require school districts provide students in kindergarten through fifth grade with 20 minutes of recess each day. The vote marks a big milestone in the Senate, which just last year refused to hear to hear a similar proposal. But the Senate proposal is significantly different than one moving through the House,…

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