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Today was the first day of what is expected to be a two week trial over election law changes passed by lawmakers in 2021. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the makor issues being challenged are changes to drop boxes, vote by mail ballots, and who can return vote by mail ballots.

Election law changes made after 2020 have voting rights advocates in Federal Court crying foul. “We don’t like to ascribe intent, but it’s odd this bill would move forward after so many voted by mail in record numbers” says Brad Ashwell of All Voting is Local.

As Senate Bill ninety moved through the 2021 session, Sponsor Dennis Baxley told us:

“I was very proud after going through some tough elections, that we had such a smooth one and I want to protect what is working well.”

The new law requires drop boxes at a supervisors office to be monitored by a person 24/7. Elsewhere, drop boxes can only be used during early voting hours.

Nat sot: “It’s a solution looking for a problem” Ashwell told us. He worries the legislation now before the Federal court will make voting harder.

“There is no question SB 90 makes it harder for people to vote, whether it be registering to vote, making it harder for third party voter registration groups to operate, or to vote by mail, making drop boxes less accessible” says the voting rights activist.

There are new requirements and notices that third party voting groups must give applicants they sign up. That includes telling applicants their application might not get turned in on time.

League of Women Voters President Cecelia Scoon was the first to testify. She said that her volunteers were actually embarrassed when they have to tell a voter that the League may not turn in their application.

And while lawmakers are in the middle of their 2022 session, No major election overhaul legislation has been introduced yet, but Baxley told us to stay tuned.

In 2020, nearly nine million Floridians voted early or by mail. Just one point nine million voted in person.

Efforts to reform Florida’s alimony laws are moving quickly in the state Capitol. The legislation abolishes permanent alimony and sets up a formula based on the length of a marriage, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the legislation contains a clause that has sunk reform efforts in the past.

Permanent alimony would end under the legislation. It would be replaced with a formula based on the length of a marriage.

And for the first time, the change is being supported by the Family law section of the Florida Bar.

Philip Wartenberg is the Family Law Chair Elect, and told the committee “This is something the section has historically opposed, but we believe the time has come to move away from this concept of permanent alimony.”

The most controversial provision says child custody issues begin with a presumption that parents will share time equally.

“What would happen is you will have a huge hurdle, this presumption, before you even get to the 20 factors” says Wartenberg.

Before the bill was approved by the House Civil Justice Sub Committee sponsor Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R-Ft. Myers) said there was one goal.

“To insure that this leads to a better system that provides predictability. That provides certainty and fairness.”

Anna Eskamani voted no.

“When you have a fifty-fifty assumption, it can tie a judge’s hands.”

The sponsor twice refused to talk with us about the legislation.

What we would have asked is why the sponsor included the presumption that parents would share children equally. That has killed the bill in the past.

And Barbara Devane of Florida NOW told us the threat of child sharing is often used as leverage.

“To get them to agree to something that is not in their financial economic interests, or the child’s” says Devane. 

The legislation also creates an avenue for the payor of alimony to seek to lower the amount or end it altogether when someone reaches retirement age.

Under current Florida law a judge evaluates 17 to 20 factors to decide child custody. It would remain, but the fear is it will take a back seat to the 50/50 sharing provision.

Pending legislation would encourage state universities to voluntarily come up with plans to end hunger on college campuses. The measure would also create a grant program through the Department of Agriculture to finance better eating for students.

Students who appeared with the bills sponsors on the steps of the Capitol say food uncertainty is rampant, but often overlooked. Andres Cubillos is the President of the Public Interest Research Group on the FSU campus.

“Nationwide, thirty-four percent of students say they know someone who has dropped out of college because of the difficulties getting food. In a state as prosperous as Florida,, we cannot continue to allow that to happen” says Cubillos.

Nastassia Tazzy Janvier is the FSU Student Body President. She says no one should face being hundgry.

“No student should have to go home and be hungry. No student should have to think about where there next meal is going to come from” 

Some ideas include texting students when there is left over food from on campus events, and providing vouchers at on campus food service facilities.

FSU currently has a food pantry, but students today said it is poorly located on the edge of campus in a high profile building. A grant would make it possible to put the pantry in a more convenient high traffic area.

Former Governor Charlie Crist returned to the Capitol this morning in his quest to regain the job. He was there to announce he wants to require insurance companies that write auto insurance to also be required to sell homeowners. Crist says it will lower rates for homeowners, who pay the third highest rates in the country, while auto insurers here charge the highest rates nationwide.

“Right now, they are cherry picking and that’s not fair to our Floridians. If they want to make a rate increase and do well by selling auto insurance,, they ought to have to sell property insurance too. It’s only fair to our people” said Crist.

The former Governor also said he would veto any legislation that would raise auto insurance rates. That puts him in agreement with the current governor, who vetoed a plan to end no fault insurance last year. The alternative was expected to initially raise rates for policy holders with minimum coverage.

Black mold and radon in a 1950’s era building at Florida State is the subject of a report by four faculty members of the College of Health and Human Sciences, which occupies the building. The 129 page report, first reported by Florida Politics, outlines issues with air quality, high radon levels, possible chemical exposure and a “cancer cluster” on the fourth floor of the building. The report says at least eight faculty or grad assistants who worked on the fourth floor have been diagnosed with cancer over the last ten years. A public records request for the report has been acknowledged by the University, but not yet delivered.  A request for an interview has so far gone unfulfilled.

Controversial Florida Surgeon General Joseph was confirmed by the Senate Health Policy committee after a contentious hearing today at the state Capitol. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, Democrats unhappy with his answers walked out of the meeting, leaving only GOP lawmakers to vote.

During the tense hearing, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, when asked, said vaccines aren’t the only answer when it comes to fighting Covid, offering other alternatives.

“Physical activity, exercise, obesity, smoking cessation.”

“Just a yes or no, do vaccines work?” Asked Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book.

Ladapo replied: “As a scientist, I am compelled to answer the scientific question.”

Democrats pushed on, asking why a health director in Central Florida was suspended for asking his staff to vaccinate.

Ladapo answered by saying “There’s an active inquiry by the Inspector General into that particular issue.

Then the doctor was repeatedly pushed for an apology after refusing to put on a mask this past fall when meeting with an immune compromised Senator.

“Do you regret the way you treated our colleague when she asked you to wear a mask and you refused to do so, yes or no?” Asked Leader Book. 

Again, he responded: “And I think that’s a mutual issue, so its important to respect peoples preferences.”

It was the final straw for the Democrats, with Book telling the Committee Chair “We don’t feel we’re getting any answers.”

Then Democrats left without voting, but the GOP still had a quorum. “Doctor Joseph Ladapo is recommended favorably.”

Afterwards, asked why he didn’t respond to questions, Ladapo said he did.

“My goal was to accurately answer their questions and I fulfilled that goal.”

“Democrats said afterwards that when the confirmation vote gets here to the Senate floor, they’ll all be there to vote no.”

A tweet from the Dept of Health crowed Ladapo was approved with no opposition. Democrats called it more disinformation.

Earlier today, the Governor praised Ladapo for being right on mask and vaccine issues and said Florida is safer for his leadership.

Governor Ron DeSantis’s reelection campaign was today endorsed by the Florida Police Chiefs Association. They commended the governor for bonuses last year and for legislation that would punish the defunding of police in Florida. Clermont Police Chief Charles Broadway also praised the tough anti riot legislation pushed by the Governor.

“Your unwavering commitment and dedication to prioritizing public safety has set the standard for other states to emulate and follow. Comprehending and realizing that when public safety remains  paramount, it does have a positive impact on our economy.”

The Governor thanked the Chiefs, telling them “If you look at the crime that is rampant in some some of these areas where they have attacked police,,  where they have defunded police. Taken money away from police, , the citizens of those jurisdictions are the victims of those reckless policies.”

Today’s endorsement follows endorsements by 59 of the 67 sheriffs in the state earlier this week.

Florida is beginning the largest book distribution program in America. Called the New Worlds Reading Initiative, more than 81 thousand books are on their way to struggling readers across Florida. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the hope is the initiative will keep  slow readers from becoming dropouts.

Governor Ron DeSantis handed out colorfully illustrated books at this Wakulla elementary school. The book, Swimmy, is about creatures that overcome danger with ingenuity and teamwork.

In addition to these students, 81thousand other slow readers are getting the book in the mail, and will get a new book each month. 

The Governor watched as one student read a pledge to read everyday, concluding ”I’m feeding my brain what it needs everyday” 

“Wow, great job” complemented the Governor.

DeSantis then told reporters:

“And nearly ninety percent of the students who failed to earn a high school diploma were struggling with reading by grade three.” 

177 million is in this years budget for the New World’s Reading Initiative. It’s the brain child of House Speaker Chris Sprowls.

“If a child can learn to read, they can learn. If they can learn everything becomes possible” says the Speaker.

After the initial funding runs out, corporations will be able to donate up to fifty million a year to the program, and then take a credit against state taxes.

In addition to the books, parents are also being given an entire learning plan that includes text messages and support materials. 

The Speaker says the parents are a key to the programs success. “Engaging the parents in a real way, so that includes  getting that communication; here’s a video about the book your kid got. Here’s some quality content that will help you read that book to your kid; give you some techniques.”

The books are free to families with children in K through 5 who are not reading up to grade level. Nine books a school year will be sent to students homes.

To learn more or to enroll your child, go to newworldsreading.com/enroll.

The state knows little about who is a guardian taking care of elderly wards in the state, but Senate Bill 1710, which cleared its first Senate committee unanimously today will fix that. The legislation requires Clerks of Court to submit data annually. Doug Franks, who fought for four years to free his mother from a guardian in a two million dollar legal fight says it is unconscionable the state hasn’t already got the data.

“We’ll know what percentage and generate some ideas about abuse so that we can go and tell the Senate and the House how many people one guardian has. If he has twenty-five or thirty clients. Can he, really one person operate that many wards? And we don’t think they can. There is no limit right now that I know of that limits the wards” says Franks.

Franks mother died just two weeks after she was freed from her guardianship. Doug says she was eating ice cream at the time and called it the happiest time spent with his mother. He blames corrupt guardians motivated by money for guardian abuse. 

Virtually every area of state government is facing a hiring crisis due to low salaries. Presentations by Juvenile Justice, Children and Families and Corrections show Hugh turnover, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us,, fewer and fewer job applicants.

A chart, presented to lawmakers, shows there are ten thousand fewer people working for state than prior to the pandemic. Nearly one in five authorized positions is vacant. The burden has been particularly hard on agencies, like Arc of Florida, which serve the most vulnerable.

“Its really horrible right now” says Mark Swain, the Board Chair for ARC Florida and the CEO of ARC Gainesville.  “We need 174 Direct Service Provider’s to operate safely, and we are sixty-six short.”

Pre pandemic an average of 44 people applied for state job postings. Today it is just over 11.

Todd Inman, who is Secretary of management Services for the state told lawmakers “Filling the talent pool is critical” 

Juvenile Justice is also having retention problems. 

An exchange between Senator Jeff Brandes and Heather DiGiacomo of the Department of Juvenile Justice went like this: “I’ve heard people are leaving detention program to go work at the car was across the state. Is that correct?”

“I would say that is an accurate statement, yes.”

And If there is good news here, it is that lawmakers have just been told that they’re going to have an extra four billion dollars to spend over the next two years. 

But House Democrats\ Leader Evan Jenne says starving government has been the Republicans way since Jeb Bush.

“He said he wanted to see state government buildings empty, and this is a continued drive towards that” says Jenne

But for Mark Swain and ARC, understaffing is not a viable option and care is suffering. 

“The people who are most vulnerable are really losing out here because the providers just don’t have the staff to take these people in” Swain told us. 

And while the Governor has promised raises to move people toward a fifteen dollar minimum wage…even 15 dollars an hour these days is fill the vacancies.

Taxpayers aren’t saving money because fewer people are working. Overtime has nearly tripled, from 58 million dollars to 152 million dollars last year.

High end smash and grab robberies are plaguing retailers across the county and here in Florida where a high end handbag retailer in Palm Beach lost a million and half dollars in merchandise in December alone. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, state lawmakers may soon require online merchants to know more about who is selling on their platforms.

The Florida Retail Federation says organized retail theft is skyrocketing in Florida.  

“Sixty nine percent increase across the board, and its not just big box retailers.  It’s all retail.And these are organized entities. This is not shoplifting” says CEO Scott Shalley.

Senate Bill 944 would require Ebay and other middle men between remote sellers and buyers to verify identify and contact information for anyone who sells more than twenty thousand dollars a year on a platform. Senator Dennis Baxley is sponsoring the bill.

“Registration of the marketplaces on line will allow us to detect stolen merchandise much quicker” Baxley told us.

Walgreens and Home Depot voiced support. Ebay lobbyist Jim Daughton  asked lawmakers to wait for a federal solution.

“Obviously we prefer the Federal bill to pass” said Daughton.

But a Senate Committee decided the state couldn’t wait for something that might not happen at all.

“So, SB 944 is reported favorably” announced Committee Chair Ed Hooper

Following the vote, Baxley told us “Florida is leading the way. We’re saying we’re not going to tolerate that. We’re going to interrupt the sales process.”

Think of this online registry as a traditional pawn shop that collects information about  who is selling what and often recovers stolen property. 

The Florida Retail Federation believes the registry will get results.

“This is about individuals who are selling high volume, high volume goods that are still in the box brand new. If you get two blends for your wedding gift and you go to sell them online, that certainly makes sense. If you get twenty five in a year, that’s a little suspicious. So we’d like to be able to track those individuals” says Shalley.

Online facilitators who don’t follow the law could face fines of up to ten thousand dollars.

The law is set to take effect in July. But Ebay says they’d like more time if it passes.

Florida unemployment dropped a tenth of a percent to four point four percent in December. With twenty nine thousand new people in the work force, it marks the fourteenth straight month of job gains that now surpass the number of people working before the pandemic began. Chief economist Adrianne Johnson says the numbers bode well for 2022.

“Are people engaged in the labor market? Are they getting jobs? And as the labor force was increasing, our unemployment rate continued to decline. Businesses continue to add to their payrolls. So we are seeing a lot of growth in high wage industries, we’re diversifying our economy. All of that is a strong picture for 202, and I think it sets us up for a strong 2022” Johnson told reporters on the video call.

Miami-Dade County had the lowest unemployment among major metropolitan markets at one point four percent.

A Powerful committee in the state Capitol this morning passed a bill stripping school board members of their salaries. It was approved mainly on party lines, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us,  the legislation isn’t the only effort to change how school boards operate.

School board salaries vary by county and are based on population. This school year they range from just under 27 thousand to as much as 47 thousand.

“The purpose of this bill is to try to make the education of our children better” State Representative Sam Garrison told the committee. He is leading the charge to end school board salaries.

“We want to structure the way we do these sorts of things to where we are having parents incentivized to be in these positions, engaged in their schools. We want parental involvement in schools. Period” says the freshman representative who has already been designated his classes Speaker Designate. 

Marie-Claire Leman is a mother of three who worries average people won’t serve.

It’s a practically a guarantee that average people that are neither wealthy or politicians will be able to run and serve” says Leman, who also has an organization Fund Education Now. 

Democrats in general voted no.

“These are folks that I want to take their jobs seriously. They are in charge of our kids safety” said Representative Anna Eskamani.

There are also efforts to impose term limits. And another bill would require partisan labels.

Sen. Dennis Baxley is behind term limits. He believes the Covid experience opened eyes.

“It opened up the door for parents to know a lot more about what was going on in education, and not going on in the education of their children” Baxley old us.

And Senator Joe Gruters says it is dishonest for candidates to run without a party label.

“You should have, shine a light on where people are on the issues and the easiest way is to have people run with partisan designation” said Gruters, who is also the chair of the Republicajn Party of Florida.

And what we are being told is that meetings on all three bills are being held to sort out which if any of the concepts can find enough traction to pass.

The Florida School Boards Association did not speak at today’s hearing, but they did tell us salaries are important for people who will be managing million dollar and billion dollar budgets.

Two bills aimed at curbing local ordinances from impacting businesses cleared two key Senate committees at the state Capitol this morning. The first requires local governments to pay for an assessment of what a new ordinance might cost a business. The second would allow a business to sue local governments if a new ordinance caused more than a fifteen percent reduction in a businesses income. A common example used in meetings has been the reduction of operating hours for a bar. Sen. Travis Hutson sponsored both bills and tells us they are designed to work together and make sure local governments understand the costs of what they do.

“280, for example is the front end, right? It is the well informed do you want to make these decision? You can, we’re not telling you not to, but you can make this decision and you will know what the impact is going to be on the business. At the same time, you are soliciting that business, you can find out if it hits that fifteen percent threshold. So there is a front end and a back end, but both of those would deal with it all at the local level.

And Hutson says the idea is to keep business from running to lawmakers asking them to preempt more local authority.

A controversial bill shortening the time period for a woman to have an abortion in Florida has cleared it first committee. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the The legislation is House Bill 5…its low number indicative of its importance to the House leadership.

The legislation shaves nine weeks off a woman’s right to legally abort.

“I think fifteen weeks is plenty of time for a woman to know she is pregnant” says Senate Sponsor Kelli Stargel.

The 15 weeks was chosen because a similar Mississippi statute is already awaiting validation or rejection by the US Supreme Court. Stargel says it also makes sense from the fetus’s development.

“I think recognizing that this is a baby and at fifteen weeks those babies have eyelashes, eyebrows, and fingers and all of those types of things. We want to make sure that If someone is going to make a determination, they make it early on, not later.”

Tampa Obstetrician Dr. Haywood Brown says while most women will know they are pregnant at 15 weeks, others will not.

“We still have a lot of women who do not seek care in the first trimester, so there’s a lot of denial.” 

Dozens of speakers were given just thirty seconds to make their case.

‘Life doesn’t begin at fifteen weeks, it begins at conception” said on man, while a woman opposed voiced her objections. This bill is a blatant attack on Floridians bodily autonomy” she told lawmakers.

Today’s hearing was the first of five. There will be two more in the House, two in the Senate.

Democrat Anna Eskamani says the quick scheduling of the bill in lawmakers second week is unusual.

“Florida Republicans are fast tracking this anti abortion bill” Eskamani told us.

She also knows she and fellow Democrats are outnumbered

“We can expect this bill to get to the House Floor.” Says the Orlando Democrat. “We’re going to do everything we can to amplify public opinion.”

The first committee approved the legislation on a party line vote.

The legislation also requires abortion providers monthly reports to include information about any pregnancy that occurred as a result of human trafficking.