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Dozens of bills considered important will not pass this year in Tallahassee because the House went home three days early.  As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the State Senate met today anyway, and passed some bills to make a point.

State Senators used the day to approve the House’s top priority, a massive water bill.

But only to make a point.  The House wasn’t in session to take it up.

“Sadly, this bill will not become law this year, again” said sponsor Sen. Charles Dean.

Environmentalists are actually happy. On Tuesday, Audubon Florida was passing out plastic bottles filled with polluted water“They’re not following the will of the voters” is what Audubon President Eric Draper told reporters. Now, he sees the legislative meltdown as an opportunity to turn a loss into a win.

“The legislature goes home early, and they are gonna hear from the voters. They voted 75% to put Amendment one dollars into land acquisition. And when legislators hear from people, they are going to come back here and do something different” says Draper.

At just about every turn, the Senate had something to say about the House going home early. From the podium, Senate President Andy Gardiner remarked  “Unfortunately, our friends on the other side of the aisle…or across the hall, aren;t even around to have the debate and discussion.”

Also happy are fracking opponents. They argued fiercely against a bill on Tuesday.

“This is a practice, Fracking, that introduces toxic chemicals into the ground beneath the feet of our our very communities” Sierra Club lobbyist Dave Cohen said in a news conference.

The legislation was poised to pass.

” That’s not going to happen” Sponsor Garret Richter (R-Naples) told the Senate.

The bill didn’t pass because a procedural rule required a 2/3 vote that wouldn’t have been required if there was another day

It died. So The legislative meltdown helped environmentalists do what they couldn’t accomplish on their own…killing bills they said were bad public policy.

The Senate also used the day to confirm dozens of Gubernatorial appointments to boards and commissions, but none of the Governor’s agency heads were taken up. Scott can reappoint them within 45 days and if they are not confirmed next year, they lose their jobs.