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Hurricanes Michael and Irma collectively knocked out power for more than 6.5 million Floridians in a two year period, some for two weeks or more, but new legislation seeks to prevent the mass outages in the future.

Satellite photos taken before and after Hurricane Irma depict the scope of the damage caused to Florida’s power grid.

More than 6 million lost electricity.

The following year Hurricane Michael left more than 400,000 in the panhandle without power.

In both storms, most of the outages were caused by trees and vegetation taking out power lines.

“You always think to yourself why are we putting up those same polls,” said State Senator Joe Gruters.

Putting the lines back up can cost millions of dollars, but Gruters is sponsoring a bill making its way through the Florida Senate that seeks to prevent massive power outages in future storms by hardening the electrical grid.

“The numbers have shown when you have upfront investment in hardening the grid in a state like Florida you only get dividends on the back end,” said Executive Director of Energy Fairness, Paul Griffin.

The legislation would direct utility companies to develop a 30-year plan to harden the state’s entire electrical grid.

Lower income and rural communities often take the longest to come back online after a storm, so the legislation directs utility companies to harden the most vulnerable parts of the state first.

A maximum of 4% of the grid would be converted to an underground system each year.

The long term nature of the plan would, in theory, prevent customers from seeing large rate increases.

“Most consumers may not see an increase at all, but if you do it may be a dollar or two dollars in your monthly bill,” said Gruters.

Supporters say hardening the system will not only save the state money on repairs, but would also help Floridians to get back to work faster after a storm, reducing the amount of lost economic activity.

If the bill passes hardening plans will go before the Public Service Commission each year for review.

A police dog’s death has inspired new legislation that would increase penalties for those who kill or do serious harm to other K-9s.

The bill passed it’s second House Committee Thursday.

Late last year, Fang, a 3-year-old Jacksonville police K-9was called to a suspected car jacking.

He was shot and killed by the suspect.

“He was shot twice, but never let go of the suspect,” said Debbie Johnson with K9s United.

After Fang’s death, Johnson called on lawmakers to act.

“I’m here to make sure that their lives are valued as the true heroes that they truly are,” said Johnson.

Currently, people who kill police K-9’s face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The legislation, steadily moving through the House, would raise the penalty to a second degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Over the past four years 98 police K-9s have been killed in the line of duty throughout the nation.

Deputy Justin Wilmot with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office is advocating for stiffer penalties.

In 2013 he saw first hand how the loss of a K-9 impacts a unit, after a fellow officer’s dog, Koda was shot and killed.

He says not only are the dogs expensive to train, but to their handlers, they’re partners in the line of duty.

“These dogs are asked to do a job that we can’t do,” said Wilmot. “They’re an extension of us because of their nose. We’re asking them to put themselves in the line of fire for us.”

Senate Sponsor Aaron Bean hopes the Legislation may act as a deterrent.

“We think that’s going to go a long way to protect these animals as well as let law enforcement know we stand with you,” said Bean.

Under the legislation penalties for killing a police horse remains a third degree felony, but that could change as the bill moves forward.

The bill has just one more Committee stop in the House.

It gets its first hearing in the Senate Monday.

School Districts would be required to offer classes on the Old and New Testament under legislation that is starting to move at the state Capitol.

The committee approval came over questions of the bills constitutionality.

State Representative Kim Daniels, a former preacher, is the sponsor of the legislation.

“The bible is the best selling book of all time,” said Daniels. “And this is simply a literacy course. Religion will not be pushed down their throat, they will be treated fairly.”

The legislation has the backing of the Cristian Family Coalition.

“You could be a non believers and take this course out of curiosity because you want to expand your mind,” said Coalition Founder Anthony Verdugo.

However, Democrats on the committee worried the bill won’t live up to its promise to be objective.

“I don’t know how you can have religious neutrality if you curriculum is just focused on one holy book,” said Representative Anna Eskamani.

There are also concerns about lawsuits.

“I think there’s a suit and it’s my duty as an elected official to uphold our constitution, and if I have constitutional questions about a bill, I have to vote against it,” said Representative Jennifer Webb.

The sponsor brushes aside concerns about constitutionality, saying a Kentucky law has been in place two years, and never been challenged.

“And People will be able to learn from the Greek and Hebrew on how it has affected our culture, on the history,” said Daniels.

Current law already allows schools to offer religion classes as long they don’t preach.

This bill would make the offering of the classes mandatory, but but no student would be forced to take it.

There are also concerns about the cost to local districts for the course, but key lawmakers say those costs will be covered in the state budget.

Dozens of women were at the State Capitol today to celebrate International Women’s Day and bring awareness to the issues facing women here in the Sunshine State.

They spoke against legislation aimed at restricting abortion access and a bill that would ban sanctuary cities in the state.

They also highlighted the need for affordable housing, equal pay and access to healthcare for women.

“We can fight harder if our voices aren’t being heard and the women that I stand next to today are proof that we can also run for office when we are not happy with what Tallahassee is bringing home to us,” said Representative Cindy Polo.

Currently in Florida 30% of the Legislature is made up of women. Advocates say it’s a sign of progress, but also a sign there’s more work to be done.

More than a hundred local elected officials from across the Panhandle were in the state Capitol Thursday to support legislation that would provide hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds over several years for recovery.

It also aims to speed up money from the Federal Government.

Senator George Gainer says one of the main problems that the legislation aims to address, is the fact many local governments have lost nearly a quarter of their tax base post-storm.

“What we are looking at is trying to keep the counties from going into debt, and so they can borrow some money until they can access some FEMA money, but in the long run hope we get it down to five or ten percent and some of the poorer counties nothing,” said Gainer.

Top legislative leaders and the Governor say they support the relief.

Each year in the United States, seven hundred women die during childbirth, 55% of which are preventable. It is the highest rate of mortality among all developed nations.

To address the issue, Democratic lawmakers are touting new Legislation that would require the state Department of Health to establish a Maternal Mortality Prevention Task Force.

The goal of the task force would be to research what can be done to prevent mothers from dying during child birth and come up with recommendations.

“Folks this is not only a women’s issue, health issue, but it’s also a human rights issue,” said House Sponsor Rep. Kamia Brown. “Now let us ensure that Florida leads by example to do everything possible to protect American mothers at every stage of their pregnancy so that they too are able to go home to raise their children.”

Lawmakers also want the Taskforce to investigate why maternal mortality rates are higher among minority women.

Statistics show black women are three to four times more likely to die while giving birth than white women.

Hundreds of firefighters boots were on display in the courtyard at the State Capitol Thursday.

Some had pictures of fallen firefighters.

The display was designed to get lawmakers attention for legislation that would expand health and workers comp insurance coverage when a firefighter gets cancer.

Miami Dade Firefighter, Colleen Buzzo says when she was out of work four months, she got nothing.

“There is some firefighters that don’t even have coverage from their insurance. And it’s very important because two out of three firefighters get cancer,” said Buzzo. “So w’re hereto fight for that coverage for us because we have a seventeen percent higher rate of getting cancer than the average person in the public.”

Legislation providing the coverage has cleared several committees, but faces stiff opposition from cities and counties.

In a 34 to 4 vote, the Florida Senate has passed a bill allowing smokable medical marijuana.

The passage of the bill comes eight days before a May 15th deadline requested by the Governor.

The bill allows qualified patients to acquire 2.5 ounces of whole flower marijuana every 35 days.

It bans smokable marijuana as an option for those under 18, unless they suffer from a terminal condition and have received a recommendation from two doctors.

Sponsor Senator Jeff Brandes says the legislation reflects the will of the voters.

“This legislation allows for smokable marijuana and I think it accomplishes the will of the voters. I think that’s what our goal here was, was to make sure that we’re focused on accomplishing what the courts have directed and what the voters voted on overwhelmingly,” said Brandes. “And so we’ve been working around the clock with our colleagues in the House, with the Governor’s Office to come up with a consensus product and I think we’ve done that.”

The House now needs to pass the bill before it heads to the Governor’s desk. If it doesn’t, Governor Ron DeSantis has vowed to pull the state out of an ongoing lawsuit that would force the Legislature’s hand on the issue.

First Lady Casey DeSantis is taking an active role in her husband’s administration, putting a major focus on helping hurricane victims in the panhandle, but she is also the mother of two young children.

Some have called Casey DeSantis the Governor’s secret weapon.

A former television journalist, she endured herself to voters with a humorous campaign commercial where her and her husband expressed their admiration for President Donal Trump.

Now, as first lady, she is pushing her husband’s and her own agenda.

“I really want to take this unique opportunity to put a spotlight on people who are far more deserving than myself,” said DeSantis.

She has taken an active role in hurricane relief, she has strong opinions, and thinks her husband’s focus on the environment is spot on.

“We gotta get this right. That’s why he wants a chief science office. He a=wants to make sure there is sound science,” said DeSantis.

Casey says she often reads her husband’s speeches ahead of time, but didn’t see his state of the state.

In it, the Governor told the story of how the two met for the first time while hitting golf balls at a driving range.

“I thought, oh my goodness,” said DeSantis. “Where is this going, you know?”

The story ended the Governor’s address with the line, “Sometimes it just pays to be at the right place at the right time,”

“I thought it was really great way to tie up the whole thing,” said DeSantis.

The Governor has embraced his new job with almost breakneck speed, traveling the state almost daily, but the first lady tells us that hasn’t gotten him off the hook with his family and parental duties.

“My son was still not sleeping through he night. He was waking up at three AM and I said, you know, I don”t care if you’re the Governor or Florida, get, and he took the share of the duties and he went in there and he’s changing diapers, and giving bottles,” said DeSantis. “So I don’t know if people know that that he was up a lot of with out son rocking him back to sleep and he was up the next morning heading to Mexico Beach.”

Not since 1966 have small children lived in the mansion.

Prior to the election, now Governor Ron DeSantis told us his wife would would either be First Lady or a Fox News contributor.

She told Mike she’s more than happy and humbled to be living in the Governor’s Mansion.

Optimism is high among lawmakers and advocates that 2019 will be the year Florida adopts stiffer distracted driving laws.

The Legislation would allow law enforcement to pull people over when they see them driving distracted.

This is the second year Brooke and Jordan Scherer have come to the state Capitol to advocate for stiffer distracted driving laws.

It was two and a half years ago they lost their 9-year-old son Logan.

“We just happened to be at the end of that traffic jam, in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Brooke.

Others like Demitrus Broncha, who lost his son Anthony, have been coming even longer.

“Our kids are dying. This is the number one killer of American youth,” said Broncha.

Legislation that would not only make texting while driving, but all distracted driving a primary offense, punishable by a $30 citation, passed its second Senate committee with unanimous support Wednesday.

In a press conference immediately following the vote House sponsor Rep. Jackie Toledo said an identical companion bill has the support of House leadership.

“Florida is just one of four states where distracted driving is not a primary offense and waiting just another day puts so many Floridians at risk,” said Toledo.

Currently, law enforcement can only issue citations if a driver is pulled over for another traffic offense first.

“With it being a primary offense it will literally take the handcuffs off of law enforcement and allow us to make our roads safer,” said Florida Police Chiefs Association President, Chief David Perry.

Under the proposal hands free use of a phone would still be allowed.

A first time offender could even bring proof they purchased a bluetooth device to their local clerk of courts in lieu of paying the fine.

There would also be a three month grace period after the law takes effect where all first time offenders would be issued warnings instead of tickets.

Last year similar legislation aimed only at texting died in the Senate over privacy concerns.

This year, Senate sponsor Wilton Simpson says prohibiting all distracted driving, not just cell phone use has put those concerns to rest.\

If the bill becomes law Florida would be the 17th state to adopt a hands free law.

Other states with hands free laws have seen a 16% reduction in traffic fatalities within 2 years.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is pushing legislation pumping up penalties for people caught putting credit card skimmers on gas pumps.

She’s also asking for a task force to study the issue.

She says the number of skimmers being found doubled in the last year alone.

“Skimmers have grown as a huge problem across our state. We’ve removed over twenty four hundred skimmers. And since this last year, over twelve hundred of those in the state of Flordia. Each skimmer has the potential of a one million dollar impact, which means one million dollars being taken away from our consumers, and we must make a stop of this,” said Fried.

The tougher penalties cold range as high as a first degree felony, depending on the scope of the operation.

A bill that could shield video and pictures of mass shooting incidents from the public record passed its final Senate committee Wednesday morning.

The bill leaves exceptions to the public records exemption for victims families.

Senators expressed some concerns that blocking the records could prevent media from holding government accountable for poor responses to mass shooting incidents.

Sponsor Senator Tom Lee says the legislation comes from a place of legitimate concern.

“The experiences that certain members have had touring the crime scene down in Parkland I think is what led to us trying to take something like this up,” said Lee. “There are some groups out there that are using this information for just some really nefarious purposes.”

Under the current bill, citizens could petition a court to gain access to the records, but Senator Lee suggested major changes to the legislation are likely before it comes to a floor vote.

Florida Democrats are proposing giving teachers a 13% pay raise over the next three years.

They would pay for it by ending the Best and Brightest bonus program and by collecting sales taxes already owed on internet purchases.

Democratic leader Kionee McGee pushed back on those who say collecting the tax is actually a tax increase.

“No we are not going about making a tax on the consumer,” said McGee. “We’re actually saying to the seller, who is most likely going to be out of state, to say you know what, you have to shoulder some of this responsibility because Florida deserves better.”

Under current law, consumers are supposed to report their internet purchases and pay the tax.

About 5,000 forms were filed last year, but many filed more than one quarterly form.

Governor Ron DeSantis outlined his priorities and urged lawmakers to be bold during his first State of the State address to a joint session of the Florida Legislature, but the next 59 days will test his deal making abilities.

With the daughter and son of one of the Groveland Four, who were pardoned posthumously in January in the gallery, DeSantis congratulated lawmakers for apologizing two years ago.
“It’s never too late to do the right thing,” said DeSantis.

Then he encouraged lawmakers to be bold.

“I’ve also requested two point five billion dollars over the next four years for water resource projects and for Everglades restoration,” said DeSantis.

The Governor lobbied to end a 14,000 student long waiting list for vouchers.

“Tax credit scholarship students are forty three percent more likely to attend a four year college,” said DeSantis.

He also wants a greater emphasis on vocational education.

“I propose a plan to take Florida from the middle of the pack to number one in workforce education by 2030,” said DeSantis.

The Governor wants to give teachers a bonus, but no pay raise.

“That will reward more than 40,000 teachers with bonuses approaching $10,000,” said DeSantis.

The speech drew praise from some Democrats, something the previous governor seldom got.

“I was happy to hear the things he said on the environment,” said Rep. Joe Geller.

While the Governor is still enjoying a honeymoon with Florida lawmakers, the next 59 days will test that.

On day one, friction is already building with the House over university funding, and the Senate is skeptical when it comes to the Governor’s plans on health care.

Both could derail the good will, but in the end, all three need each other to be successful.

The Governor is also asking lawmakers to protect Florida families by making sure immigrants here illegally don’t go back on the streets after being arrested.

He is supporting legislation that would withhold state funds from cities and counties which engage is sanctuary policies.