By Ben Luongo
PoHo contributor
Only after Charlie Crist announced his bid for the Senate was Marco Rubio’s campaign message, to use his words, “coming into focus.” After Crist announced his Senate candidacy, Rubio aired his first attack ad which linked Crist to President Barack Obama. Rubio then went on Fox News to pitch his campaign and talk about why Crist is not the man for the job.
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 60th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Ordinarily, today would be the last day of the session; however, the House and Senate have not passed a budget for the 2009-2010 Fiscal Year. Therefore, later today, both the House and Senate will vote to extend session into next week. Essentially, both houses have decided the only bill next week will be the budget, so today will be the last day of major policy votes.
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:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 59th 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:
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:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 57th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Today is the deadline for having the state budget completed. The Florida Constitution requires the final budget be available to legislators and the public for 72 hours before they legislature can officially vote on it. With the 2009 Regular session scheduled to end on Friday, the budget must be “on the desk” before 11:59 tonight. Media reports have indicated that will not happen.
However, 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:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 56th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The last week of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session has arrived. The House and Senate are 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:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 52nd day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The House and Senate are 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:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 51st day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The House and Senate are 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:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 50th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The House and Senate are 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:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 49th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The budget conferences are not meeting yet, even with 11 days remaining in session. House and Senate leadership are having trouble agreeing on the amount of total revenue the budget will contain — the Seminole Tribe Compact, tobacco tax, stimulus funds, and other policy decisions have a significant impact on the total revenue. Until the leadership can agree on these policy issues, the budget is hanging in limbo. The Florida Constitution requires the appropriations act be on the desks of legislators 72 hours before it is finally passed. This means if they want to vote on the budget before 5 p.m. one week from Friday, the budget must be on the desks by 5 p.m. next Tuesday. It takes about a day to print the budget, so the leadership and conference committees have until Monday to agree or there won’t be a budget passed during this session.
Also today is the the last scheduled policy committee meetings in either chamber for the 2009 Legislative Session. The remaining committees, if any, will be the rules and calendar committees responsible for setting the Special Order Calendars for each chamber.
Here are the remaining highlights from today’s agendas:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 48th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The House and Senate passed their versions of the budget last week, and will start meeting this week in a conference committee to iron out the differences. Conference committee meetings for Monday have been cancelled. Here are the remaining highlights:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 46th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The Senate passed it’s version of the budget yesterday and has a light agenda, the House will debate the budget today:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 45th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The House and Senate will debate their versions of the budget today and likely pass them tomorrow. Here are some highlights:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 44th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Today is a busy day in the Legislature, with more highlights in the Senate than the House:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 43rd day of the 2009 Legislative session.
An interesting look at public policy today. The House will debate it’s version of a telecommunications overhaul, while the Senate version is on life support. Here are the highlights from today’s agendas:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 42nd day of the 2009 Legislative session.
This is Budget Week in the Florida Legislature, as both chambers will pass their respective budgets later this week. Here are the highlights for today:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Although today is the 37th day of the 2009 Legislative Session, the Florida Legislature will not meet the rest of the week.
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 36th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Today is a busy day in Tallahassee. The Senate will end its week today, and the House may as well – both houses will take a break for the Passover and Easter holidays. Here are a few interesting items:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 35th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Monday is a light day in the House, but a bit busier in the Senate. Here are a few bills worthy of interest:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 32nd day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Another light Friday in Tallahassee:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 31st day of the 2009 Legislative session.
As another week starts winding down, the Legislature is winding through proposed legislation. Here are some bills on agendas today:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 30th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
The 2009 Legislative Session is half-way over. There is something to be said when the “hump” day is also April Fools’ Day. Here are the highlights for today:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 29th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
It is a busy Tuesday in Tallahassee. Legislators will be debating a range of bills, from the controversial to the mundane. Here are a few of them:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 28th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Only the House has a couple of meetings scheduled for today. Here are the quick highlights:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 25th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
A typical Friday, with just a handful of House committees meeting. Here are a few items on agendas today:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 24th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Although there are quite a few committees meeting, the number of interesting agenda items is a bit more limited. Here are the highlights:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 23rd day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Wednesday is a very busy day in the Florida Legislature… Here are highlights from the Florida House:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 23rd day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Wednesday is a very busy day in the Florida Legislature… Here are highlights from the Florida Senate:
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:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Yesterday was the 21st day of the 2009 Legislative session.
It’s only week four of nine, so Monday’s are still light. Members were still traveling back to Tallahassee. Here are a couple of bills on agendas yesterday:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 16th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
While it is a busy day in both houses, only a few bills are noteworthy:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 15th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Tuesday is a busy day in the Florida Legislature, with committees hearing a large number of bills on their agendas. Here are some of them:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 14th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Monday is another light day in the Legislature. Many of the Joint Committees scheduled to meet today have opted not to meet. Here are the few highlights:
By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.
Today is the 10th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
A financial day for the Legislature, with budget meetings all over the place. Some of the highlights:
Today is the 9th day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Another jam-packed day in the Florida Legislature. Some interesting bills will be heard:
