Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Ryan RayJune 30, 2015

For the second time this month, Rep. Kathleen Passidomo received plaudits from the Florida Bar. The Trial Lawyers Section gave the Naples Republican its “Legislator of the Year” award on Tuesday, honoring the third-term representative for her work in revising the state’s guardianship laws to protect Florida’s elders from financial exploitation. “I am humbled by this honor […]

Christine Jordan SextonJune 10, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a health care bill on Wednesday, though he signed many others into law. Below is a list of the bills and a brief description of what they do from the legislative bill analyses. HB 79 Creates the Crisis Stabilization Services Utilization Data Base and requires the Department of Children and Families to […]

Christine Jordan SextonMay 31, 2015

The House Health and Human Services Committee meets for three hours on Monday and will “workshop” the Senate’s proposals to expand health care coverage to uninsured Floridians by tapping into Medicaid dollars under ObamaCare. To assist them the committee will have a package of information compiled by House staff. There are pages of charts, figures, […]

James CallMarch 27, 2015

The personal identifying information of more than 200,000 Floridians who had applied for public benefits may have been stolen and sold, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. A joint federal-state investigation has resulted in the arrest of a Cora Eutsay, who used her position at CareerSource South Florida in Opa-Locka to access […]

Christine Jordan SextonMarch 18, 2015

The House released a health care budget on Tuesday that contains no supplemental Medicaid funding traditionally used to help pay hospitals, federally qualified health centers, graduate medical education, and even prepaid health plans. House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Matt Hudson said it would be “premature” for the House to include supplemental, or Low […]

Christine Jordan SextonMarch 15, 2015

The Senate has proposed a tandem of bills that, combined, would transform Florida’s mental health and substance abuse laws as well as increase the amount of federal Medicaid money used fund the programs. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human services will discuss two bills — released late Friday — at its March 16 […]

Phil AmmannFebruary 17, 2015

Florida’s child-welfare system is once again under Tallahassee’s microscope, further consequence of the death of 5-year-old Phoebe Jonchuck, whose father threw her off a St. Petersburg bridge into Tampa Bay on Jan. 8. Senate President Andy Gardiner is calling for an “across the board” examination of the state’s mental health care and abuse hotline procedures, […]

Florence SnyderFebruary 16, 2015

It’s not every day that a divorce lawyer reports her own client to the state’s child abuse hotline. But that’s what John Jonchuck’s lawyer did on January 7, when Jonchuck showed up at the firm’s office dressed in pajamas and toting his five-year-old daughter Phoebe, along with a Bible which he incorrectly believed to be written in Swedish. Jonchuck’s lawyer told the Hotline that […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 12, 2015

It’s not every day that a divorce lawyer reports her own client to the state child abuse hotline. But that’s what John Jonchuck‘s lawyer did. On Jan. 7, Jonchuck showed up at the firm’s office dressed in pajamas, toting his 5-year-old daughter Phoebe, along with a Bible he incorrectly believed to be written in Swedish. Jonchuck’s lawyer told the Hotline that her client was “out-of-his-mind […]

Associated PressFebruary 9, 2015

Just 12 hours before police say a man threw his 5-year-old daughter to her death off a Tampa Bay bridge last month, his own attorney called Florida’s child abuse hotline, warning that his client was suffering from mental delusions. But the hotline operator didn’t refer the call to investigators because she didn’t think the child […]

Tag: Department of Children and Families
Pastel colored tropical townhomes

Trial Lawyers Bar honors Kathleen Passidomo as top legislator

Rick Scott approves a data base, more vaccines, and burial-transmit permits

A look inside the info the House is giving its members on Senate FHIX plan, Medicaid expansion

ACCESS Florida data breached; woman charged with selling client info

House releases budget with no supplemental funds and deep cuts to Department of Health

Senate bill seeks additional federal Medicaid dollars for mental health and substance abuse programs

Andy Gardiner calls for full analysis after death of Phoebe Jonchuck

Florence Snyder: DCF's Orwellian response to child thrown from bridge

Florence Snyder: Phoebe Jonchuck tragedy reveals underpaid staff, DCF doublespeak

Hotline ignored calls on girl thrown over bridge by dad