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Committees of the Florida House and Senate each voted to abolish the state’s no fault auto insurance law today. The system has resulted in many fraudulent claims, and no one is sure if the reform will end the fraud.

Adrian Groham was T-Boned by an uninsured driver with two kids in the car. She quickly exhausted the ten thousand dollars in Personal Injury Protect insurance that she carried.

“My daughter was airlifted and we were brought to the hospital. All that was gone.

It was nothing else to pay for that” says Groham.

Adrian was brought to the Capitol by lawyers favoring legislation ending Personal Injury Protection. It would be replaced with a requirement for two and a half times more bodily injury coverage. Sponsor Erin Grall says even with more BI, rates should still go down.

“Decrease of about eight percent or 81 dollars per policy” Grall told the committee.

But advocate Mark Cederberg says higher coverage limits will cause more to go without insurance,

“And who’s going to get hit the hardest with having to pay for that increased BI coverage? It’s gonna be the people who can least afford it” said the Orlando Attorney.

A skeptical Jared Moskowitz voted yes…but had this surprisingly candid remark.

“I just cant think of an example where government has sone something with the intention of lowering insurance rates and its had that intended purpose” quipped Moskowitz.

While the trial lawyers and the insurance companies seem to be pointing fingers at each other, a third group says what’s really needed is a deadline for insurance companies to pay claims.

Legal reform groups say little will change with the bill.

William Large is the CEO of the Florida Justice Reform Institute.

“You’re gonna have a litigation system that has a pot of silver under it be replaced by a litigation system that has a pot of gold underneath it” says Large.

The legislation easily passed.

A timetable would force lawyers to settle weak cases quickly lowering legal fees.

Fracking opponents at the Capitol are angry bi-partisan legislation to ban fracking is not moving They blame campaign contributions from big energy companies, ,and are calling on lawmakers to hear the bill. Dr. Ron Saff likened pro racking arguments to those of the cigarette industry.

“Just as there is no safe cigarette, there is no such thing as safe fracking using acids or other dangerous chemical. Communities that have fracking nearby are outraged at the massive amounts of air pollution and contamination of their drink water, which threatens the health of anyone living nearby” Saff told reporters at a news conference.

More than 70 local governments have banned fracking.

The Florida Senate has approved a massive water bill by a vote of 36 to 3. The legislation allows a reservoir to be built to avoid discharges that fouled waterways on both coasts last summer. The fix is not cheap.

Algae fouled water on both the lower east and west coasts let summer, caused by discharges from Lake Okeechobee, gave Florida a black eye world wide. The legislature’s response: A one point five billion dollar plan to deepen existing reservoirs to hold billions more gallons of water. Sponsor Rob Bradley says it can’t be allowed to happen again.

“If you’re the vacation Capital of the world and you’re selling beaches and rivers and springs, and toxic discharges are happening in those waterways, that’s not a good calling card” says Bradley.

The water would be treated before being released to the south, to flow into Florida bay.

“So, the reason it hasn’t happen so far is because this is a really hard thing to do” added Bradley.

The plan has the blessing of the Sierra Club.

“It will rehydrate the Everglades, reduce the discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie. Help recharge the acquirer for the eight million people in South Florida, and get clean fresh water to Florida Bay to help address the sea grass die off” says Sierra Club lobbyists Dave Cullen.

One provision of the bill has Democrats concerned there’s a hidden agenda. Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez says it would violate a long held believe in Florida when it comes to water.

“There’s a concern it might take us in the direction of privatizing water, which is a huge concern. Um. You know Florida has a long tradition of water being a public utility” says Rodriguez.

While supported by environmentalists, they are are objecting to the use of 200 million dollars in Amendment one money for phase one of the project. Voters dedicated that money to land and water conservation.

The plan is the brainchild of the Senate President. There is no House companion, but sponsor Bradly says miracles can happen when pushed by the right people.

Wednesday will mark the first time every member of the State House will cast a vote on ending millions in economic incentives sought by the Governor. Rick Scott has made it almost his singular job to save the incentives.

On the opening day of the legislative session, Rick Scott spent most of his State of the State address pleading with lawmakers not to end his jobs incentives agency.

“Ket’s remember, we’re talking about people’s jobs” Scott reminded lawmakers.

In the four weeks since the session began, Scott has made more than two dozen trips, crisscrossing the state talk about jobs. This is what he had to say in Pensacola last Friday.

“And it would be completely shut down. And here’s what’s frustrating, Your House members have done it.”

On the eve of the first vote, Scott was more subdued than usual about the outcome.

“So we’ve got four weeks of session.I’m optimistic that at the end of session when I get the budget it will fully fund Enterprise and Visit Florida” Scott told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

The Governor’s success is part of his problem.

“Wages are continuing to rise all across the state.”

Florida has crated more than 50 thousand jobs since the year began…all without incentives.

And when the House cases its first votes on Wednesday, we’ll know if the Governor’s frequent trips have had any impact at all.

House Speaker Richard Corcoran has been leading the charge against incentive funding.
“I think where the members are, they’ve researched it, they know exactly what they were voting for, and exactly how they were voting, and I think they are very confident that what we are ding is stopping the waste of taxpayer money and picking winners and losers that don’t deliver on jobs, and don’t deliver on the capital investments” says Corcoran.

The Senate so far has been siding with the Governor, but after this week, the horse trading begins and everything is on the table,

In 2014 three out of four voters said they wanted increased funding for land and water conservation when they approved Amendment One, but lawmakers and environmentalists have differing ideas about what that means.

Four point two million voters said said they wanted dedicated funding for land and water conservation in 2014. That was more votes than any of the four statewide elected officers up for election that year got, including the Governor,

And for the third session in a row. Aliki Moncrief, one of the organizers behind Amendment is disappointed.

“Florida Forever funding is at zero in the House right now and its at 15 point 2 million in the Senate. 15.2 million is what it got last year and the year before, and its obviously a lot less than the hundreds of millions of dollars it used to get in the past” says Moncrief.

But State Senate Rob Bradley  says lawmakers are moving closer to what environmentalists are seeking.

“We want to have a roust problem for dealing with problems like the Everglades. Like the St. Johns River, like our springs” says Bradley.

Plans for Everglades restoration are taking a big part of the land money, and environmentalists agree.

And the question environmentalists are asking lawmakers: What part of Land Acquisition Trust Fund don’t you get?

Cash that used to come from General revenue but now comes from the trust fund is now being used for law enforcement efforts at the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and at the Forestry Service.

“They didn’t say compliance assistance for polluting entities. They said Land Acquisition trust Fund” emphasizes Moncrief.

On the bright side, Amendment One organizer Moncrief says their are signs lawmakers are slowly paying more attention but at the current rate, it could take decades before voters intentions are fully honored.

Environmentalists are working on several amendments they hope will be offered whenThe House and Senate will discuss the budget on Wednesday.

Avon Park State Representative Cary Pigman was charged with DUI back on March 21st as he headed home from a week of legislating. Today the Highway Patrol released video from two dash cams. Pigman can be seen weaving on the turnpike, crossing over the white line on the right side of the road and then over correcting by moving into the left lane. Once stopped, the lawmaker denied drinking, even though an open bottle of wine was found on his front seat.

Pigman did agree to breathalyzer tests and blew 1.4 and one point 5. A point 08 is the legal limit. Following the arrest, Pigman resigned his committee chairmanship but remains a member of the state House.

One hundred motorcyclists revved their engines in the State Capitol plaza to remember their fallen and lobby legislators. As Jake Stofan tells us, safety legislation is at the heart of the annual tradition.

Bikers roll up each year looking for resolutions to problems they consider unjust.

Above all else they want to see stricter penalties for drivers that injure or kill bikers on the road.

“It’s not just an accident. You’re killing somebody that has a family,” said James “Doc” Reichenbach, President of  American Bikers Aiming Towards Education (ABATE), “It may be the bread winner of the family, it may be one of the kids.”

As it stands now, motorists often are only issued traffic tickets for fatal accidents.

“What’s a human life worth to you… it”s hard to say, but at least more than like a $98 ticket,” said ABATE member, Roy Steel.

To put a spotlight on the issue each year,  the names of fallen bikers are read aloud on the Old Capitol steps.

A bell is struck for each name called.

This year, 54 bikers were recognized.

According to a 2016 survey published by AAA, Florida leads the nations with the highest number of traffic fatalities involving motorcycles.

Along with stricter penalties, ABATE is also asking lawmakers to ramp up public information campaigns on motorcycle awareness.

“It’s important to be aware, be around of your surroundings and let other people, motorists know that we’re out here and to be careful,” said Steel.

Bikes say progress on their agenda has been slow, they believe their voices are being heard, but not soon enough for the 54 bikers who died this past year.

There are  currently bills in both the House and the Senate that would give motorcyclists a protected status on the road.

The House and Senate budget proposals include some major cuts to state colleges aimed at remedial education and performance funds.

State colleges are facing over 50 million in cuts currently proposed by state lawmakers.

College presidents estimate tens of thousands of students state wide could be impacted.

“It’s not that the services will go away,” said President of Florida State College at Jacksonville Dr. Cynthia Bioteau, “They just won’t be as readily available and in fact they will be group services as opposed to individual services.”

The cut could reduce the amount and quality of remedial education services like tutoring, a service some students need to succeed.

“It just wouldn’t set people up well and people might get overwhelmed and a lot of people do use the tutoring recourses that are here at TCC,” said Delaney Stoner, a student at Tallahassee Community College.

The reason the colleges say they need so much to bring incoming students up to speed academically, is because many of them are coming back to class after years of working.

“It’s important to be able to provide that hope and reach out to these people and tell them, we can help them get up to speed so they can compete and perform at the college level,” said President of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, Dr. Carol F. Probstfeld

Some state colleges are facing the reality they might have to make cuts to their top programs.

“The ones that put folks right to work, the ones where we have 100% job placement, those are the ones that are going to be impacted,” said President of Palm Beach State College, Dr. Ava L. Parker.

As it stands now, community colleges service three times as many students as universities in the state and have only a quarter of the amount of funding.

“It’s obvious that the Florida college system is the back bone of our education and training in the state of Florida,” said Dr. Ed Meadows, President of Pensacola State College.

If these cuts become law, College Presidents worry it will be Florida’s work force that will pay the ultimate price.

The most severe budget cuts would result in a 5% total reduction in funding for state colleges.

A bill moving through the legislature limits local government interference with the installation of next generation wireless technology, but  a company trying to pull a fast one in rural Jefferson County east of the Capital, picked a fight with the wrong homeowner.

It was dusk on St. Patricks Day when Nikki Little saw a work crew pull up in front of her 250 acre spread in rural Jefferson county, The crew dug what was to be a base for a 75 foot cell tower.

“And I said, I’m not gonna have a pole here” Nikki told us.

The next day when Nikki saw the tower delivered, she took matters into her own hands, blocking the crew from installing it with her car.

“And he said, Mam, do you realize that this wheel on this will crush you and your vehicle? I said not me cause I’ll get out on the side and I need a new vehicle anyway” says Little.

Frantic, Nikki called city and county officials, In the end building officials say the company was not clear what it was building and the planning department dropped the ball, believing it was permitted a utility poll, not a cell tower.

Monticello Vice ViceMayor Troy Avera says the company jumped the gun by not giving residents  a thirty day notice to protest.

“It was March the tenth they pulled the original permit for the utility poll, and on March 17th they started riffing” says Avera, a family friend.

A Stop order was issued and a county truck replaced Nikki’s vehicle to keep the work from being completed. Nikki says that didn’t stop the company.

“They were still trying two days later to unload more equipment. so I came out and blocked them again.”

On Thursday, the County Commission killed the tower.

Not only is the cell tower dead, the County wants the shaft removed.

And had the tower been installed, it would have been  so close to the road it could have been a safety hazard. Nikki believes she not only saved the view from her House,  but maybe even a life.

While the wireless bill moving through the legislature doesn’t deal exactly with what happened to Nikki Little, County officials say it is the reason they, not the legislature, need the final say on what is built where. We reached out to Mobillitie, which bills itself as the largest privately held telecommunications infrastructure company in the US. They provided the following statement:

”Transport poles are the future for communities that seek intelligent ways to increase coverage and capacity quickly and efficiently for citizens. This approach delivers high-bandwidth connectivity without digging up roadways and laying costly fiber optic lines. Furthermore, transport pole deployments are essential for next-generation services like 5G; and as urbanization continues to trend, transport pole deployment is essential for delivering advanced connectivity services in environments where dense populations amplify network congestion issues.”

Advancing 5G infrastructure will usher in the next wave of technology such as self-driving cars, drones, sensor networks, IoT and more. Here, and elsewhere, Mobilitie is committed to working closely with local jurisdictions to obtain the appropriate permits and entitlements for our technology deployments. These solutions not only deliver the connectivity needed today, but also anticipate the needs of the ever increasingly connected communities of tomorrow.” – Mobilitie

County Commissioners from across the state were in the state Capitol today speaking out against legislation they believe will erode local control.

House bill 17 has county commissioners worried.

The legislation would strip local governments of their ability to regulate business.

Commissioners think the effects would be far reaching, devastating, and jeopardize the uniqueness of each county.

“We are extremely different and extremely diverse. To think that there is a one size fits all bill, just totally would limit the advantages,” said Escambia County Commissioner, Grover Robinson.

Sponsor, Representative Randy Fine argues the differences in regulations between counties have become too extreme.

“We are not the United Counties of Florida. We are not the United Towns of Florida,” said Fine, “I understand that local politicians want to run their areas like little empires, but that’s not how the framers intended things to operate.”

But Commissioners believe it’s local government, not the state that knows what’s best for individual communities.

“We work closely with the people. That’s who we’re here to serve and all of a sudden we wont be able to serve our people and more,” said Donna Fiala, a City Commissioner in Collier County.

Although commissioners believe the bill would strip them of their ability to pass new business regulations, Fine Disagrees.

“The bill does not limit the ability of local government to pass regulation,” said Fine, “What it does is it limits the fields upon which they can make regulations.”

But opponents insist it would harm, not help local business.

“They certainly don’t like it when the Federal Government intrudes on State issues and we certainly don’t need the state to intrude on local issues,” said Pinellas County Commissioner, Kenneth T Welch.

The legislation has cleared one committee and has one more stop before a vote in the full House.

Along with house bill 17 they oppose five other bills that strip their authority.

Sirius XM and other digital streaming services charge a fee to listen, but should they be required to pay artists who recorded music before 1972. That’s the question that was before the Florida Supreme Court today,  brought byformer members of the band The turtles.

This 1967 performance by the Turtles has garnered over six and a half million views on YouTube. Not a dime has gone to the artists.

Now, two of the founding band members, know as Flo and Eddie, are suing Sirius XM for not paying a royalty every time they play one of the turtles songs.

“This is simply high tech piracy. the fact thats now copied in bits, there’s no license for that” Flo and Eddies attorney, Henry Gradstein told the justices.

Sirius told the states high court that since the recording was made before current Federal copyright laws, the mere purchase of a record entitled them to play it for others for free,

“When this state said by statute, when you sell a record, you’re giving up all your rights”explained Sirius Attorney John Hacker.

The suit was originally filed in Federal court, the State was asked to sort out what common law had to say about ownership.

At one point during the argument, the court asked Do people even know what these are today?”

Justice Fred Lewis questioned whether the law has kept up with these digital times.

“That audio can be used for profit, just as though it were copied. Just as though that record were reproduced” said the Justice.

Afterwards both attorneys rushed to catch a plane.

Gradstein had these parting words:  “Everyone who has a financial stake, except of the composers, in the record is not getting paid.”

Hanging in the balance could be tens of millions due virtually every artist who recorded before 1972 .Making all of them  “So Happy together”

Several justices were critical of the Turtles claims, suggesting no court has every upheld their position.

A half dozen families who lost someone to a tragic traffic week were in the state Capitol today, pushing for tougher texting legislation. The bill has been stymied by legislative leaders. Gwendolyn Reese lost her niece, Devon in 2015. She came from St. Petersburg to work in Devon’s memory.

“Someone described driving while texting or distracted by using your phone like having two to three drinks of alcohol. You can’t drive under the influence. You can’t drive while drinking, so why should you be able to drive while texting when the degree of distraction i is equal” said Reese.

Reese says she doesn’t know for sure if tougher texting penalties would have saved her niece, but says they would have improved her chances.

The Centers for Disease Control says suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States.

Today was Suicide awareness day at the State Capitol. Advocates, mental health professionals, and people who have been impacted by the suicide of a loved one spoke to lawmakers to raise awareness for the issue and help drive policy.

UF Psychiatry Professor and suicide prevention advocate Dr. Rajiv Tandon says succeed is especially preventable here in the sunshine state.

“Any given day on average, nine people in Florida die of suicide. Twice as many people die because of suicide as because of homicide and suicide is the second leading cause of death in the second decade of life” says Tandon.

Advocates say Florida does not spend enough on mental health for college aged students, but noted there are some improvements proposed in the Governor Rick Scott’s 2017 budget plan.