James Call
This day at the Florida Capitol the House Regulatory Affairs Committee held a four-hour workshop on gambling. Surprisingly, there was something comforting and familiar about spending the morning with a room full of Brooks Brothers suits.
A historic review of the Tribal-State Gaming Compact and an overview of the legal relationship between the State and the Tribe may sound like a yawner. The prospect of the Department of Business Professional Regulation Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering presenting an overview may sound like prescription for insomnia, while an Office of Economics and Demographic Research Gaming Revenue Overview is sure to send most folks to put on a big pot of coffee, but it really wasn’t that bad.
There was something eerily familiar almost like a déjà vu experience until Las Vegas Sands lobbyist Nick Iarossi broke the spell.
“For the benefit of those who haven’t heard the testimony I’ve given for the past five years,” was his opening line to the committee. Observers are saying it’s a safe bet Iarossi will be back for a sixth year. There is more here.
Sen. Tom Lee has been saying that balancing a state budget for next year may send the session into overtime. The divide between the House and Senate is so “vast” according to Sen. Jack Latvala that Thursday he told Pinellas Chamber of Commerce visitors to the Capitol that lawmakers will not finish budget work by the end of April and will go into overtime. That story here.
• • •
The House Uber bill is moving. Thursday a proposal that would preempt local regulations on fees and rates cleared its final committee and will now be scheduled for a floor vote. The measure also sets insurance requirements and mandates vehicle inspections and background checks for drivers.
“There’s no way the state can enforce any of this,” Lou Minardi of the Florida Transportation Association said.
A Senate bill includes insurance and background checks but does not preempt local regulations on fees. Supporters of the House bill say it makes sense to have a statewide policy.
• • •
Floridians for Solar Choice has gathered and verified enough signatures for a proposed solar amendment to the constitution to send the proposal to Attorney General Pam Bondi for review. The story is here.
• • •
We’re working a second mystery with the Charlotte’s Web story. In addition to answering the question of how the Legislature can insert itself into the rule-making process without causing further delay of getting medicinal cannabis oil to epileptic children, we now are trying to figure out who is behind the Medical Cannabis Trade Association of Florida and what is their game is.
That mystery will eventually be answered in the court chamber of administrative law Judge W. David Watkins. He’s handling the MCTA challenge to the proposed regulatory structure for Charlotte’s Web. No one seems to know who the group is or who it counts as its members. Not even Rep. Matt Gaetz, the sponsor of last year’s Charlotte’s Web law. There is more here.
