The Political Whore

By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor

Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.

Today is the 58th day of the 2009 Legislative session.

The House and Senate are still 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.

Here are the highlights from their Calendars:

Florida House of Representatives

The House will meet in session to consider passage of bills that have completed the committee process. Some of the bills to be heard today are:

Third Reading:

• House Bill 7099, a committee bill by the Insurance, Business & Financial Affairs Policy Committee — The bill implements federal requirements that all states have a system of licensure meeting national definitions and minimum standards for mortgage loan originators. These federal standards include greater accountability and regulation of loan originators and enhance consumer protections. The bill establishes regulatory requirements for individuals, rather than businesses, licensed or registered as mortgage brokers and lenders, collectively known as loan originators. The bill also fulfills the requirement that states participate in a national licensing registry.
• Senate Bill 762 by Sen. Ken Pruitt — The bill will permit all eleven state university to utilize differential tuition, which allows the individual universities to exceed the tuition set by the Legislature by no more than 15 percent. The extra tuition dollars must enhance undergraduate education and provide additional need-based financial aid. It also limits the total tuition and fees after differential to the national average of public universities. Some students will not have to pay this additional tuition, including students on prepaid programs or who were enrolled prior to July 1, 2007.
• Senate Bill 2682 by Sen. Ken Pruitt — The bill implements some of the recommendations of the Florida College System Task Force and the State College Pilot Project. The biggest change requires Community College graduates to get priority over out-of-state applicants for transfer into Florida’s state universities. (Community Colleges can also change their name to “State College” if they are accredited for granting baccalaureate degrees.)

Special Order Calendar:

• Senate Bill 234 by Sen. Don Gaetz – The bill clarifies that university boards of trustees are responsible for hiring and administering the university president, not the Board of Governors.
• Senate Bill 216 by Sen. Charlie Justice — The bill would prevent local governments from spending tax dollars on issues before the voters — even for so called “voter education” measures — unless they are purely factual in nature.
• Senate Bill 344 by Sen. Nan Rich — The bill would allow law enforcement officers to pull over drivers when they see the driver is not wearing his or her seat belt (primary enforcement). Previously, the seat belt law was only enforced if the officer pulled a driver over for other violations.
• Senate Bill 1796 by Sen. JD Alexander — The bill Creates the “Transparency Florida Act.” Requires the Governor’s office to establish a website providing information relating to each appropriation in the General Appropriations Act.

There will be no more House Bills on Special Order Calendars because of House Rules. After the 55th day (April 26) of regular session, no House bills on second reading may be taken up and considered by the House.

Florida Senate

The Senate will meet in session to consider passage of bills that have completed the committee process. Some of the bills to be heard today are:

Third Reading:

• Senate Bill 642 by Sen. Thad Altman — This bill carries a number of changes and additions to Florida’s specialty license plates, including two controversial religious license plates.
• Senate Bill 2058 by Sen. J.D. Alexander — The bill 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.
• Senate Bill 2226 by Sen. Mike Fasano — The bill implements federal requirements that all states have a system of licensure meeting national definitions and minimum standards for mortgage loan originators. These federal standards include greater accountability and regulation of loan originators and enhance consumer protections. The bill establishes regulatory requirements for individuals, rather than businesses, licensed or registered as mortgage brokers and lenders, collectively known as loan originators. The bill also fulfills the requirement that states participate in a national licensing registry.
• Senate Bill 2626 by Sen. Mike Haridopolos — The bill will make a significant number of changes to Florida’s telecommunications laws. The bill 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 competion with un-regulated 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 1574 by Sen. Alex Villalobos — 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.

Special Order Calendar:

• Senate Bill 1978 by Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla — The bill requires school districts to spend at least 70 percent of a school’s budget on classroom instruction.
• House Bill 439; by Rep. Ron Reagan — The bill sets state-wide standards for the use of cameras at intersections to capture license plates of those who run red lights. Currently, a number of local governments have approved the cameras, but with varying standards.
• Senate Bill 836 — This bill eliminates unnecessary regulations, provides consistency between provisions, streamlines regulatory procedures for the pari-mutuel industry. The bill also authorizes additional games for Miami-Dade and Broward — specifically, they can include blackjack if the Seminole Tribe is allowed non-card games (craps, roulette, sports booking, etc) in any future compact.
• Senate Bill 616 by Sen. Mike Haridopolos — The bill 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).
• Senate Bill 1154 by Sen. Jim King — The bill includes, among other provisions, Governor Charlie Crist’s “20 percent by 2020” proposal that electric companies in Florida derive 20 percent of their electricity from “clean energy” sources, of which nuclear can only be 25 percent. [The House added a controversial oil drilling measure to their version of the bill yesterday.]
• Senate Bill 2262 by Sen. Don Gaetz — The bill makes a number of changes in the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, including:
  • Specifying that the Florida State Boxing Commission must approve the sanctioning organization for amateur mixed martial arts events, and
  • Establishing procedures that give a restaurant owner the discretion, with local approval by ordinance, to allow patrons to bring their dogs onto outside patio eating areas
• Senate Bill 942 by Sen. Eleanor Sobel — The bill creates a sales tax holiday for specific energy efficient appliances. From July 20-28, sales tax will not be collected on the first $1,500 of the selling price of a new energy-efficient product purchased for noncommercial home or personal use.
• Senate Bill 1126 by Rep. Garrett Richter — The bill would let the Office of Statewide Prosecutor go after those who allegedly violate the Florida Money Laundering Act and the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act.
• Senate bill 2036 by Sen. Mike Bennett — This bill will allow property insurance companies to sell virtually unregulated residential property insurance on the open market, giving more choice and power to the consumers.

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