Ryan Ray
One of several bills making tweaks to Florida’s austere prohibition on gifts, Sen. Oscar Braynon‘s SB 984 was granted an easy passage Tuesday afternoon in the Senate Governmental Oversight & Accountability Committee.
The proposal — which would allow public entities to let candidates and officials use public property such as city halls and conference rooms without considering that an “expenditure” or in-kind contribution — was approved unanimously and now moves on to the Rules Committee.
The bill’s hearing was a lighthearted affair that mostly focused on Sen. Jack Latvala engaging in the time-honored Senate tradition of hazing legislative aides presenting their first bill.
Latvala played obtuse in his attempt to catch Braynon aide Katia Saint Fleur off guard: “How would you define ‘public property’?” Latvala asked in the manner of a metaphysical interrogator.
Sen. Alan Hays in a similar vein posed this knee-slapper: “It’s always a pain when legislators try to lobby me while I’m in the bathroom. Does this bill address that?”
Otherwise the bill’s approval was a subdued affair as the bill continues to move toward consideration in the full Senate.
Rep. Hazelle Rogers‘ companion bill, HB 599 has also cruised through the committee process process. It now sits in House Rules, Calendar & Ethics. It has received zero ‘No’ votes thus far.
This is one of the few Democrat-sponsored initiatives likely to continue to move this Session, which has been particularly harsh to the superminority House Dems.
