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The full court press is on in the halls of the state capitol to convince the Governor to either sign or veto controversial legislation abolishing teacher tenure and creating merit pay. Governor Charlie Crist is at the center of the efforts by both sides, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, he appears to be leaning toward a veto.

Pockets of teachers from across the state walked Capitol hallways, delivering petitions asking the Governor to veto Senate Bill Six. Crist met with them briefly.

“You have no incentive to go on to get advanced degrees, a master’s or a doctorate, because that won’t be measured as part of your performance,” teacher Lynn Janasiewicz said. “So it just really demoralizes us as teachers.”

Feeling the pressure, the state’s largest business groups called on the governor to stand with them and sign Senate Bill Six.

“We know there has been some vocal opposition to the legislation,” Marshall Criser III, with the Council of 100, said. “We want to get the governor to know that education leaders, teachers, and business leaders also support him and this bill.”

With poster-sized emails from teachers at her side, a senior advisor to former Governor Jeb Bush says most teachers are misinformed.

“Commissioner Smith, I believe, one of his teacher liaisons put out information to all the teachers in the state, to clarify what’s in the bill,” Patricia Levesque, with the Foundation for Florida’s Future, said. “And she’s gotten very positive responses because they weren’t getting accurate information.”

Two top education officials advertised as attending the business press conference didn’t show.

The Governor continues to say he hasn’t made up his mind, but continues to say he has concerns.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been lobbied this hard,” Crist said.

The governor also acknowledged that former Governor Jeb Bush left a voice mail, asking him to sign the legislation.

Crist has until Midnight Friday to act on the legislation

Hundreds of children are walking the halls of the state capitol this week, asking lawmakers to fund kids programs.  They’re being accompanied by parents and children’s advocates of course.  Cuts to programs that help kids with mental health problems and prevent child abuse are on the chopping block.  State Senator Nan Rich says the cut could add more kids to the state’s foster care rolls.

“There’s been an attempt to eliminate the healthy families program,” Rich said. “This program has a proven track record of preventing child abuse and keeping families together when it is possible to do so safely. Eliminating it would not only see more kids end up in foster care, but it could also endanger children and possibly subject them to abuse and neglect. We have to make sure that that program remains in our budget.”

The House could use money from a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe to save the programs.

Almost a year after a Florida foster child hanged himself after taking psychotropic drugs state lawmakers are passing legislation to stop overmedication. An investigation found 3-thousand kids in state care were being prescribed mind-altering drugs. As Whitney Ray tells us, some of them were as young as two years old.

On April 16th, 2009, seven year old Gabriel Myers hung himself in the bathroom of his foster home. Gabriel had been sexually abused and lived with four different foster families in less than a year’s time.

At the time of his death, Gabriel was on a slew of mind-altering medication. Experts believe the drugs clouded his judgment. Gabriel’s death spawned an investigation finding 13 percent of Florida’s foster kids were taking mind-altering drugs, compared to just four percent of their peers.

Mez Pierre was placed on two psychotropic drugs when he entered the foster care system at five years old.

“When you are taken away from your family, you are upset and you are sad. Those are regular emotions. If you weren’t then you would have to question that, but the doctors said I had emotional problems and anger problems,” said Mez.

Mez was on the drugs for 13 years. They influenced his judgment and gave him diabetes. Mez testified before a Senate Committee Tuesday asking lawmakers to pass legislation, requiring more oversight and counseling of kids taking mind-altering medication.

“What this bill does is says, “We’re not going to do that anymore. We are going to take a real hard look and we are going to be very, very thoughtful before we give you medication,” said bill sponsor Ronda Storms.

In Florida kids as young as two years old have been given psychotropic drugs. Others were taking experimental drugs not yet approved by the FDA. The legislation would ban experimental drugs from being prescribed to foster kids, and all mind-alerting medication for kids younger than 11.

The legislation has one more stop in the Senate, but hasn’t been heard yet by the other chamber. Efforts to get the House onboard with the bill are in overdrive, with just two and a half weeks left in the legislative session.

Lawmakers are debating a bill that would lessen the penalties for teens who send or receive nude picture of themselves or another minor. The act is called sexting and right now if a minor is caught doing it they can be charged with a felony and be forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of their lives. State Senator Dave Aronberg is sponsoring the legislation. The bill eliminates criminal charges for a minor who receives a nude picture from a peer.

“The child pornographer is also the victim. It’s a different situation and so the person who innocently receives a picture like this on her cell phone, if that person is also under 18, they should not be arrested as a felon and should not be registered as a sex offender for the rest of their life,” said Aronberg.

A 2008 survey found that one in five teens has sent a nude picture of themselves through email or text message. Aronberg’s bill makes the offense a misdemeanor carrying a small fine and community service.

Hundreds of children are walking the halls of the state capitol this week, asking lawmakers to fund kids programs. They’re being accompanied by parents and children’s advocates of course. Cuts to programs that help kids with mental health problems and prevent child abuse are on the chopping block. State Senator Nan Rich says the cut could add more kids to the state’s foster care rolls.

“There’s been an attempt to eliminate the healthy families program. This program has a proven track record of preventing child abuse and keeping families together when it is possible to do so safely. Eliminating it would not only see more kids end up in foster care, but it could also endanger children and possibly subject them to abuse and neglect. We have to make sure that that program remains in our budget, said Rich. “

The House could use money from a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe to save the programs.

Olympic Skater and Central Florida native Caydee Denney is making the rounds in Florida this week. The 16 year old was born in Ocala and represented the US in the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver. She is a World Skating Champion and recently returned from a competition in Italy. Today Caydee met with Governor Charlie Crist and discussed her most recent competition. Crist gave Caydee some words of encouragement.

“It was an honor to get to meet Governor Crist and when I was in there it was to see how much support and how hard work really does pay off like he said, so that was really cool,” said Caydee.

Caydee will sign autographs tomorrow at the Ocala Square at noon. Next week she is being honored by the president in Washington D.C. Caydee is the first Floridian to skate in the Winter Olympics. Her younger sister is also a skater. The two of them hope to skate together in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Governor Charlie Crist has five days left to take action on Senate Bill six, and the veto cries are getting louder. Around the state teachers are protesting the controversial legislation to end tenure and base pay raises on student test scores. As Whitney Ray tells us, teachers seeking a veto are jamming phone lines, while legislative leaders are offering to work with the governor to clean it up.

Efforts to reach the governor have been hectic since Senate Bill Six arrived on his desk Friday morning. Phone lines are jammed and this automatic message is bouncing back to people trying to email.

As of two o’clock Monday more than 14-thousand phone calls and 47-thousand emails hit the governor’s office, most of them calling for a veto.

Some lawmakers are making their own veto calls. Representative Julio Robaina, one of only a handful of Republicans who voted against the legislation, says the bill needs more work.

“If they had a chance to vote on it again, they would vote against it. They realized that they rushed through a piece of public policy, that although well intentioned wasn’t well thought out,” said Robaina.

Representative Will Weatherford, a key supporter, says the legislature is willing to make concessions if the governor will play ball.

“If the governor has issues with the bill what we would like is for him to tells us what they are and maybe we can address them,” said Weatherford.

While Representative Dean Cannon wants to hold Crist to an earlier promise.

“I still optimistic he’ll sign it,” said Cannon.

Crist has until Midnight Friday to act, but with the Governor Trailing in his US Senate race a veto would be a bold move that could pay off at the polls.

Teachers are capitalizing on that message. Florida has 175-thousand of them. About one in three is a registered Republican.

We mentioned the 14-thousand phone calls, but there are probably a lot more. The governor’s office is receiving a lot of calls from people simply saying “veto the bill.” The governor’s office isn’t asking callers to leave their name and to indicate what bill they are referring to.

Legislation creating more financial oversight in the state’s 19 billion dollar Medicaid program passed a House committee today.

The plan would require most Medicaid patients to enroll in a Health Management Organization. The HMOs would be responsible for making sure 80 percent of all Medicaid dollars were spent on medicine and services. Representative Dean Cannon says the plan would be ushered in slowly.

“There’s always nervousness with any kind of change. What we tried to do is create a really transformational policy that eliminates the special interest advantages of one party over another and create a level playing field for competition between the different regions,” said Cannon.

Under the plan there would be six regions regulated by the Agency for Health Care Administration. The Senate passed similar legislation earlier this year, implementing the changes in five counties. The House version affects 24 counties, spreading to all 67 over the next few years.

Students are tossing a football in class and tasting exotic fruit in the cafeteria at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg this year.

And thousands of schools across the country are running similar programs. The schools are part of a pilot program called “Fuel up to play 60” which is sponsored by the NFL and Florida’s Dairy Farmers. The program encourages students to eat healthy foods so they have the energy to play for 60 minutes or more each day. Rashean Mathis, a cornerback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, knows that active play can help kids lead a healthy lifestyle.

“You need to go out and you need to be active, and it helps. I loved coming home before the streetlights came on so tired that all I could do was eat and go to sleep. It was a great feeling that you were able to go out and play with your friends. I think that’s a lost art,” said Marthis.

One third of children in America are overweight or obese. The fuel up to play 60 program has already reached more than a million students in schools across the country.

For more than 9 hours last night and into the wee hours of this morning, the Florida House debated the most controversial bill of the year. Senate Bill six ends tenure for teachers and creates a system of merit pay. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, more than half of the house spoke before a closer than expected vote.

Julio Robaina was one of just a few Republicans who ended up speaking out against one of the top priorities of party leadership. He chided other GOP members for not voting their conscience.

“You know what, I didn’t come here to be threatened, or to be told what to do,” Robaina said.
“I didn’t even come up here to make friends.”

Amendments were voted down. Elaine Schwartz worried about the 900 million that will come out of school budgets for test development and merit pay.

“Where’s that money going to come from? Guess where… a rise in property taxes,” Rep. Elaine Schwartz (D-Miami) said.

Others said teachers shouldn’t be judged on a kid’s performance because those teachers have no control over the child’s home life.

“It is difficult to learn when you’re hungry,” Rep. Geraldine Thompson (D-Orlando) said.

But the 67th speaker of the night didn’t buy that argument.

“I fundamentally disagree with that,” Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel) said.  “Nothing could be further from the truth. Every child, every student can learn.”

By 2:26 a.m., the vote was much closer than most expected.

The bill was sent to the governor, where its future is uncertain, despite what legislative leaders say they were led to believe.

“I believe that this legislation, the governor should want to sign,” House Speaker Larry Cretul said. “I take him at his word that he will.”

The campaign for both sides will now shift to the governor’s office.

The bill landed on the governor’s desk this morning.  He has seven days to sign, veto or do nothing and let the legislation become law without any action.

The most controversial bill in this legislative session is on Governor Charlie Crist’s desk and thousands of cries for a veto are pouring in from across the state. The bill eliminates tenure for teachers and bases their pay raises on student test scores. As Whitney Ray tells us, phone lines in the governor’s office are jammed with teachers trying to convince Crist to veto the bill.

It was too little too late for teachers desperately trying to change votes in the House. A nine hour session ending at 2:35 in the morning sent Senate Bill Six to the Governor’s desk. Setting up a final battle scenario playing out over the next seven days.

State Senator Dave Aronberg tweeted just seconds after the House voted. He put the governor’s phone number on the internet and asking people to voice their opposition.

“The legislature is top down. They do what the leadership tells them to do. This thing was going to roll to the governor’s mansion, the governor though says he the people’s governor and that’s why these calls and emails can work,” said Aronberg.

Friday Morning Special Education Teacher Margaret Wood picked up the phone.

Her calls to the governor’s office went straight to a voicemail box already filled to capacity. Her attempts to tell the governor that if he signs the legislation she’ll end her 33 year career were unsuccessful.

“The bill says that if you have bachelors, masters, or a PHD, it’s all the same. We’re in education, how can education not matter? I just find it insulting. I will retire,” said Wood.

The Florida Education Association says their members will be pushing for a veto the whole way.

“We hope that he listens to the people of Florida as they call in and tell him what they think of this bad legislation,” said Pudlow.

Crist says he wants to do what’s right for the Children of Florida without consideration of his political future but teachers are voters and his signature on the bill will cost him at the ballot box.

Before the bill passed last night the governor had already received 87-hundred emails from people opposed to Senate Bill 6 and just eight in favor of the bill. Add today’s action and the calls, emails, and faxes total more than 20-thousand.

Florida loses an estimated one billion dollars each year in uncollected taxes on internet sales. Florida TaxWatch, business groups, social service advocates and lawmakers from both parties want to change Florida’s tax code to give the state a better shot at collecting the lost revenue. Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, a Democrat, and Senator Evelyn Lynn, a Republican, are sponsoring legislation that would the bring Florida’s tax code into compliance with that of more than 20 other states to make it easier for shoppers to know what’s owe.

“We could immediately, if we pass this, this year, we can start collecting next year, when we run out of stimulus money, we could start collecting 40 million dollars a year, that’s absolutely imperative to our state,” said Lynn.

Tax is collected on internet sales by companies with one or more offices located in Florida, but if you buy something from stores like Ebay or Amazon.com you have to download a tax from the Department of Revenue’s website fill it out and send in your tax money.

A deal to allow the Seminole Indian Tribe to keep blackjack and Vegas-style slots at most of its Florida casinos is upsetting owners of other gaming businesses. The parimutuels say the deal gives the tribe an unfair advantage and as Whitney Ray tells us, it could lead to thousands of layoffs.

The Seminole deal to secure 400 million dollars for the depleted state budget and a billion over five years is two steps closer to reality. A House committee passed the gaming deal through Thursday morning, and the Senate gave it tentative approval around noon.

If approved the tribe could keep blackjack at five of its casinos and Vegas-Style slots at all seven.

Dog and horse track owners are afraid the deal will take away from their business. The Associated Industries of Florida is lobbying for a level playing field on behalf of its parimutuel clients.

“This deal that has been cut with the Seminoles is not enough money and it’s not going to give enough games to the parimutuel industry for them to survive,” said AIF President Barney Bishop.

While the parimutuels fight for a piece of the pie religious groups want to see the whole compact defeated. Bill Bunkley with the Florida Baptist Convention says the deal will cost the state more in the long run for social programs and criminal justice.

“For every dollar the state takes in, we understand from credible studies, the state will pay out three dollars in social benefits, that’s why I say it’s a losing bet,” said Bunkley.

But with a 3 billion dollar budget gap, it’s a gamble lawmakers are apparently willing to take it. A final vote on the compact is likely to come early next week.

Senate Bill 6 is slated for final passage late this afternoon, although the debate could go long into the evening.  Legislation to change the teaching profession in ways it has never seen, including tenure and basing pay on student performance, continues to barrel its way through the state legislature.  GOP leaders are refusing suggested changes from Democrats and their own members and As Mike Vasilinda tells us, opponents’ only hope of stopping the bill is a veto from Governor Charlie Crist.

It is a tactic most Capitol observers haven’t seen used often.

Republican leaders used a quorum call on each of thirteen votes on amendments. The idea is to discourage members from leaving the chamber or not voting on an issue.

The bottom-line message…don’t take a walk, don’t vote for any changes. Rep. Julio Robaina is one of the few Republicans who bolted from his party.

“I know that a lot of members were told that their projects or other bills that were important to them were on the line,” Robaina said.

Some votes were delayed while members were rounded up.

Majority Leader Adam Hasner did the rounding up.

“Every vote needs to be counted, every member needs to be on the floor,” Hasner said. “So that their constituents know how they’re voting on the issue.”

But what happens when the bill gets here is still anybody’s guess.

Crist caught lawmakers by surprise when he first raised the possibility of a veto on Wednesday.  Now he says his mind still isn’t made up.

“I just want to weigh it out and continue to listen,” Crist said.

But is a decision he will have to make quickly. He’ll have seven days once the bill lands on his desk.

Republican leadership in the House thought they had an agreement with the governor and are not happy that a veto is a possibility.

Today is Senate President Jeff Atwater’s birthday, but before the legislative leader blows out all 52 candles, retired state workers want to give him their birthday wishes. Today they held a birthday party for Atwater complete with cake outside the Senate Chamber. Atwater didn’t show, but the retirees are getting their message out anyway. They want Atwater to fight cuts to health insurance benefits the House passed last week. Senator Al Lawson is helping them get their message to leadership.

“Health insurance for a family is over a thousand dollars a month. The average pay for state employees who are retires is around 14-thousand dollar a year, so the health insurance subside is just a small portion that we pay, that the state gives to retires to help with retirement who are not on Medicare,” said Lawson.

The House budget cuts the subsidy by about 150 dollars a month. The cut is expected to save between 40 and 200 million dollars annually, but recent developments with the Seminole Gaming compact could pump enough money into the state coffers to help lawmakers to restore the subsidies in their final budget proposal.