The Political Whore

By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.

Today is the 22nd day of the 2009 Legislative session.

Interesting happenings on both sides of the Capitol today. Here are a few highlights:

Florida House of Representatives

For pet lovers out there and for Bob Barker, the Agriculture & Natural Resources Policy Committee will hear House Bill 451 by Rep. Scott Randolph. The bill would require all cats or dogs to be spayed or neutered by four months of age or within 30 days of adoption. Mandatory sterilization would not be required when it endangers the health of the dog or cat, as certified by a veterinarian, or for Greyhound racing dogs. Counties and cities can enact local ordinances to require licenses exempting some animals, such as those used in competition or as service animals (guide dogs).

House Bill 1499 by Rep. Greg Evers will be heard in the Civil Justice & Courts Policy Committee today. The bill will require any person who wishes to address a committee of the Florida Legislature to take an oath or affirmation, either written or oral, prior to addressing the committee, declaring that he or she will speak truthfully.

The Government Operations Appropriations Committee will hear House Bill 1295 by Rep. Rich Glorioso, which would repeal the requirement that a portion of appropriations for new state buildings are used for art.

House Bill 1287 by Rep. Doug Holder, which would prohibit scalping of charity event tickets without permission of the charity, will be presented in the Public Safety & Domestic Security Policy Committee. Scalping of other tickets will continue to be legal in Florida.

Florida Senate

The Communications, Energy, and Public Utilities Committee will hear a major telecommunications bill. Senate Bill 2626 by Sen. Mike Haridopolos will make a significant number of changes to Florida’s telecommunications laws. The bill, which has more than fifty Republican and Democrat co-sponsors, creates the “Consumer Choice and Protection Act.” It allows telephone companies (Verizon, BellSouth, Embarq, etc) to operate most of their services outside of regulation – mainly to provide competition with unregulated cable, wireless, and VoIP companies. Florida residents with only basic service would still have the protection of regulations; but add any non-basic service (call-waiting, caller-id, voice mail, etc), and the company is freed from most regulations.

Senate Bill 2058 is on the agenda for the Community Affairs Committee. The bill, by Sen. J.D. Alexander, expands the “Charter County Transit System Surtax” to all 20 of Florida’s charter counties and renames it to the “Charter County Transportation System Surtax. This would allow the board of county commissioners of any charter county to propose a referendum asking the voters to approve a half-cent sales tax to pay for transportation and transit projects. Hillsborough County was previously included in the surtax but the Hillsborough County BOCC has not taken advantage of this option.

The same committee will hear Senate Bill 616, which would require local governments who want to repair public buildings (or other public works) to use outside labor, or prove that county/city employees are cheaper than the lowest bid. (Simple maintenance is excluded).

The Senate will also be meeting in session today to consider passage of bills that have completed the committee process. Bills heard “on the Floor” are on first placed on a “Special Order Calendar” where they are read (for the second time), debated, and amended. Bills taken up on Special Order move to “3rd reading.” The Florida Constitution requires bills to be read three times before a chamber can pass the bill. Some of the bills to be heard today are:

Third Reading:

• Senate Bill 318 by Sen. Nan Rich — This bill removes the words “shylock” and “shylocking” from Florida Law. Yes, Florida law actually used the word “shylock,” a character in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, as a synonym for “loan shark” — while some loan sharks do demand their pound of flesh, this anti-Semitic term needs to be stricken from the statutes.
• Senate Bill 316 by Sen. Lee Constantine — This will Aathorizes the Commissioner of Education to award a high school diploma to honorably discharged Vietnam War veterans.

Special Order Calendar:

• A number of trust fund bills that re-authorize special trust funds used by the state. Trust funds in Florida have designated sources of revenue, usually fees, special taxes, or revenue from the federal government. The Florida Constitution requires all trust funds to be repealed four years after they are created, unless the Legislature acts to extend them. The first eight bills in the Senate doing so will be heard today.

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