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The Florida Senate Rules Committee today approved new rules for training Senators and staff about sexual harassment. The rules come after two resignations last fall. One because of an affair with a lobbyist, the other after multiple complaints from staff and others. Senate Rules Chairman Lizbeth Benacquisto says the training is mandatory and annual.

“Prior to the opening day of every regular session, all Senators shall complete a course at least one hour in length, that addresses workplace harassment, sexual harassment sensitivity, and the proper handling of such issues in the workplace. It’s also states that Senators filling a vacancy complete the course before being sworn into office” Benacquisto told committee members.

Afterward, we asked why the training could be done in private sessions.

“If the training is interactive and gives the opportunity for an individual to ask a question, what do you think about this? You know, they might not be as free to ask that question in front of other people, and it might be about something that is happening to them, and for them to be able to ask those question about whats being done to them in private is appropriate” the Rules Chair told us.

The rule also prohibits retaliation, but at least one Democrat is worried the rule doesn’t specifically spell out what constitutes retaliation.

Legislation approved by a Senate Committee today allows local elected officials to have one on one conversations as long as they don’t agree to something that will later come before them. That’s already the case law, but Sponsor Dennis Baxley says his bill will give officials confidence they aren’t violating the law by clarifying what courts have already decided,

Sot: Sen. Dennis Baxley

R-Ocala

“they’re afraid to have dinner at the same place together. They’re afraid to go to a social event together. That’s inappropriate and dysfunctional, and it needs a level of common sense and I think this bill applies it.”

The bill has been opposed by the First Amendment Foundation in the past because it could open the door to conducting government behind closed doors.

Children under 18 could no longer marry with a parents consent under legislation approved by committee in the state Capitol today. Former Tampa resident Sherry Johnson has pushed for the bill. She was a child bride at eleven.

“I was raped at the age of eight years old, by my mom’s bishop, then by my mom’s husband, then by the deacon at the church. I got pregnant at the age of nine. At the age of ten I gave birth to my daughter. At the age of 11 I was forced to be married to my rapist. And in that relationship, seven years, six children came out of that because I wasn’t able to get a divorce before the age of 18” Johnson told us and the committee.

“Knowing that this is happening continuously in the state of Florida, and there just needs to be a stop to it. We need to look out for our children. It’s very important for us to look out for out children because they can’t protect themselves. They need us to protect them” says Johnson.

Mary McLeod Bethune is one step closer to representing the state of Florida in Statuary Hall in the U-S Capitol. A state Senate committee today approved her to replace Confederate General Kirby Smith. The General only spent time as a child in Florida. Mary McLeod Bethune founded what I now Bethune Cookman University, but University President Herbert Grimes says the founder was much more than an educator.

“We have to consider her as one of the first civil rights advocates. She worked for four different Presidents, from President Hoover, Coolidge, Roosevelt and Truman. She was even involved in helping to craft the charter for the United Nations in 1945. Her work goes beyond just being an educator. It impacted all of this country” says Grimes.

Replacing the Confederate General is expected to cost a little over three hundred thousand dollars, a cost the Univers

Competing bills introduced for this years legislative session would keep the state on standard time or daylight saving time, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, a compromise is

in the works moving the state to daylight saving time so that Floridians could avoid the twice a year spring ahead or fall back.

Daylight saving was enacted in Europe in 1916 as an effort to save coal during the war.    A hundred years later, State Senator Greg Steube thinks it’s outlived it’s usefulness.

“You start talking to more and more people and its like seventy-five or eighty percent of citizens in the state think it’s dumb” says Steube.

In the House, Heather Fitzenhagen is co sponsoring legislation to keep daylight saving all year long.

“And now the way things are when we fall back, it’s too dark when we get home to be able to go out and have the kids play or do their sports, or to grill out” says the Ft. Myers lawmaker.

Mother Sarah Ward has mixed feelings but says like most people, making the change can be stressful.

“When we get to spring, it’s exhausting and it takes a good week or two before we can get back on track” says Ward.

A supporter is newly appointed Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis. He still lives in Panama City…which is in the Central Time Zone.

“I get both times on my calendar for every single event because some times I’m in a different time zone, whether I’m in Pensacola, Panama City, or Miami. Two times are challenging” says Patronis.

Steube also wants to put Florida all in one time zone…The Eastern Time Zone.

Some, including the state’s Agriculture Commissioner, think lawmakers have better things to do.

“Amongst all the things we’re dealing with, that’s never come up” says Putnam.

But sponsors believe the extra hour of daylight in the winter would be a boon to restaurants, tourists and golf courses.

Daylight saving was once the subject of a three day special session of the legislature in 1974. In the end lawmakers did nothing but waster their time. Sponsors say this year will be different.

Governor Rick Scott delivered his eighth and final State of the State speech today to open the annual legislative session. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, he is pushing for the largest budget in state history.

“Let the Governor be received.” Chimed the Senate President.

For Rick Scott, his final State of the State address was bittersweet…evoking rare bit of humor from the Governor.

“I know how disappointed you all must be that you won’t get to hear another great speech like this” Scott said to laughter.

The Governor shared credit for creating a million and a half jobs since taking office.

“The results speak for themselves.”

Scott is also proposing the smallest tax cuts in his 8 years. Just 180 million. He wants a a three week sales tax holiday for hurricane and back to school supplies.

“After the storms we experienced last year, we need to have a longer sales tax holiday so people have time to buy the supplies they need.”

He’s also proposing a cut in the cost to renew a drivers license. From 48 to 20 dollars.

“My dad was a truck driver and if he had  extra money back in his pocket, in my family that wold have been a big deal.”

The Governor is also calling for more protection for sexual harassment victims It comes as two married State Senators admitted to an affair captured on video.

“It’s very important that we all stand together and send a very strong message. Florida stands with victims.”

One of the first fights lawmakers are likely to face is over school funding.

Scott is pushing a nearly 3 percent increase in school funding. He finances it with the case from higher property tax values, but House Speaker Richard Corcoran is drawing a line in the sand.

“The Florida House will never support raising taxes.”

The school funding has the potential to be the most divisive issue of the coming 60 days.

Budget tensions are especially high this session after Hurricane Irma depleted most of the extra tax revenue the state was expecting this year. Economists will make a new estimate in mid February which will determine the final budget numbers.

State of the State Package Script:

Florida lawmakers begin their annual 60 day legislative session tomorrow complicated by a sexual harassment scandal that resulted in resignations, and as Mike Vasilinda

tells us, the political aspirations of some key players.

Governor Rick delivered his first State of the State in 2011. He called for massive budget and tax cuts.

“Government can not afford what some have come to expect” Scott told lawmakers in 2011.

Fast forward 7 years and Scott is seeking a three billion dollar increase…He’s not likely to get all he wants, in part because the state must deal with millions in Hurricane Irma expenses.

“It was a real, a real catastrophic event” says Rep. Ben Albritton. He chairs the House Ag and Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee.

Here’s how he describes the coming budget battle: “We’re gonna have bumps, we’re gonna have bruises. We also going to have some smiles. We’re going to have some encouraging moments and we’re gong to have some tough moments. That’s the way it works.”

While Tuesday is a festive day, it will be complicated by recent allegations of sexual harassment.

State Senator Jack Latvala resigned in December after a damaging Special Masters report.

“This one’s different for a whole host of reasons” Lobbyist Ron Book says of the coming session. This will be his 44th session as a lobbyist.

“Statewide elections cycle, um, divisiveness from a partisan perspective, and then you have the sexual harassment stuff.”

But Senator  Jeff Brandes says the past is the past.
“I think we expect we’re going to get to work on the big issues now. The distractions are behind us” Brandes told us.

Add to the mix the Governor’s likely run for the U-S Senate, the House Speakers chase for the Governor’s mansion, and dozens of lawmakers jockeying for higher office. It adds up to the likelihood that  issues requiring heavy political lift remain on the sideline.

The 87 billion dollar budget proposal by Governor Rick Scott is 18 billion dollars higher than his first budget in 2011, due mostly to an improved economy. He is also seeking the fewest tax cuts of his 7 years as Governor.