Peter Schorsch
Sixty Days — A prime-time look at the 2018 Legislative Session
The Last 24
Good Tuesday evening. The Governor is skipping a CNN town hall tomorrow and instead sat in on workshops on school safety today, and a contentious education bill is moving in the Senate. Sixty Days never skips class. Here’s your nightly rundown.
Lobbying for Parkland: Students who survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting met with legislators seeking passage of bills that can prevent future school shootings.
Campus colloquies: A law enforcement panel convened in Tallahassee at Gov. Rick Scott’s request to discuss ideas that can prevent future campus massacres.
Education exceptions: A controversial omnibus education bill made its first appearance in the Senate, where it was stripped of a provision that organized labor opposed.
Cut, print: A bill that would create a financing program to bring TV and film production back to the Sunshine State cleared a Senate panel, but is likely dead in the House.
Close to confirmed: Florida’s top environmental agency leaders breezed through confirmation hearings on Tuesday, but Democrats objected to Gov. Scott’s appointees to the state wildlife agency.
Shielding shootings: Senators advanced a bill with the promise that it will be amended to exempt visual and audio recordings of school shootings from public disclosure.
Anti-porn push: The House approved a resolution recognizing pornography as a “public health risk.”
Statue to Scott: Lawmakers passed a proposal to place a statue of the late civil-rights leader and educator Mary McLeod Bethune in the U.S. Capitol, sending it to Gov. Scott’s desk.
Protections for injured: A Senate panel advanced a measure that would ensure workers get workers’ compensation benefits when injured regardless of their immigration status.
Quote of the Day
“I’m hurt, maybe a little offended.” — Rep. Ross Spano, responding to Rep. Carlos G. Smith’s challenge of Spano’s resolution to call pornography a “public health risk.” Smith asked why porn was a greater health risk than guns.
Bill Day’s Latest
3 Questions
House Speaker-designate José Oliva is in the hot seat, as he tries to balance Second Amendment rights with calls for gun control in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy. Douglas High students have begun flooding the Capitol, most calling for restrictions on getting assault-type rifles and ammo. The Miami Lakes Republican took questions from reporters after Tuesday’s floor session; questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What can we expect from the House as it considers a response to Parkland?
Oliva: We’re working with the (Democrats). I would tell you we’re looking at the requirements to be able to own these types of firearms and how they’re treated differently than handguns. A major focus for us is understanding where the breakdowns occurred, both at the state agency level and federal level. We have to fully understand the breakdowns, and if we are going to pass meaningful legislation, it should address those breakdowns.
Q: Many of the students coming up to Tallahassee are pushing for an assault rifle ban. What do you tell them?
Oliva: I want to engage them in the process and explain to them the role that rights play. How, when we pass a law, we must take into account the consequences of that law. It’s an infringement on a constitutional right. We have to take that very seriously. The same is true of confiscating weapons from people. The minute you give authorities the power to enter somebody’s home and confiscate, you have to be very careful who you craft that.
Q: Was the federal assault weapons ban a violation of the Second Amendment?
Oliva: Many would argue that it did, in fact, violate the Second Amendment. What makes our country great is the series of rights we protect, that freedom of speech has allowed these children to say the types of things that they have said. Some of it has been harsh. But they have that right to say it. We would do whatever we could to protect their right to say it. We just have to be very careful when we’re passing legislation that affects any one of (our rights).
Lobby Up
Jeff Sharkey and Taylor Patrick Biehl just signed Detroit-based Quicken Loans and the Family of Companies as a client, lobbyist registration records show.
The representation was effective as of Monday.
Biehl, legislative programs director for the Capitol Alliance Group, said Quicken is “interested in monitoring mortgage-related legislation in Florida.”
The home-equity credit lending concern bills itself as the “nation’s largest online mortgage lender,” and is Detroit’s “largest employer, minority employer, and taxpayer.”
In 2016, the company launched Rocket Mortgage, “one of the first fully online mortgage lenders.”
Breakthrough Insights
The Next 24
Charlie Ward, Florida State University’s 1993 Heisman Trophy winner and former NBA player, will deliver the keynote address at the 2018 Legislative Prayer Breakfast. That’s at 7:30 a.m., Cabinet meeting room, The Capitol.
The Senate Democratic caucus will meet ahead of a floor session. That’s at 9 a.m., 200 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.
The Senate will hold a floor session and could pass a bill providing for a pilot needle-exchange program, along with a bill allowing guns to be carried at churches with schools attached. That’s at 10 a.m., Senate chamber, The Capitol.
Approximately 100 community members from Parkland, where 17 students and faculty were killed last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, will join gun safety advocates and Democratic elected officials and politicians to call for gun control legislation. That’s at noon, Old Historic Capitol, Tallahassee.
The House will hold a floor session. That’s at 1:30 p.m., House chamber, The Capitol.
The Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee will consider a bill that would create “Early Childhood Courts” for cases involving children younger than 3 years old. That’s at 1:30 p.m., 37 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will hear a bill that would attempt to ensure that HMOs and health insurers provide parity in benefits for mental health and substance abuse and for medical and surgical care. That’s at 4 p.m., 401 Senate Office Building, The Capitol.
