More than three point seven million people voted for Democratic Attorney General Candidate Sean Shaw. He championed gun control and worked as a consumer advocate before running. Now he says he’s not going away. Shaw has formed a committee calling itself People over Profits to continue what he started on the campaign.
“We’re still fighting. Just because you lose an election does’t mean you stop believing in in why you ran. And just because I didn’t win an election doesn’t mean those people who voted for and supported me aren’t going to have someone championing these issues. We’re gonna be up here, and that’s what’s this is about” says Shaw.
Shaw tells us he has no plans to run for another office anytime soon.
Florida’s could soon be dispensing medical marijuana to patients in pre rolled cigarettes. A House Committee today approved making smokable pot available.Governor Ron Desantis had called for the change, and As Mike Vasilinda tellsus, lawmakers are following his lead.
Police were the first to object to smokable marijuana. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri spoke for Sheriffs in January 2017.
“We don’t think there should be smokable marijuana.”
Now the man who authored the ban, State Representative Ray Rodriquez, is changing his tune.
“This PCB would allow the smoking of medical marijuana in the form of a pre-rolled, filtered marijuana cigarette” said Rodriguez before the House Health and Human Services Committee which he chairs.
The push was not without opposition. Tampa mother Ellen Snelling came to tell of her daughters addiction and recovery.
“She started smoking marijuana. She went on to pills. There were long nights when I wondered if I would ever see my beautiful daughter again.”
But North Florida veteran John Goodson, who said he was under the influence as he spoke, was one of several who say smoking pot
saved their lives.
“Ever since I started cannabis, I’ve got off three blood pressure medications. I got off my anxiety medicine” the veteran told the committee.
Allowing smoking passed with just two no votes. One was Jacksonvilles Clay Yarborough.
“I have concerns that long term, this will lead to recreation use. It’s more of a foot in the door” says Yarborough.
And it was very clear that this change wouldn’t be happening but for a new Governor said chair Rodriquez.
“Well, clearly, the bill is because the Governor has called on the legislature to bring a piece a legislation that he can support.”
Governor Ron Desantis has asked for the smokable legislation by mid March. An appeals court has said it will wait for the governor before ruling on a lawsuit that declared the no smoking provision unconstitutional.
A freshman state lawmaker from Broward County has filed a complaint with the House Speaker, accusing another member of bullying, and verbal intimidation. The lawmaker, Anika Omphroy, goes on to say she fears retaliation. The alleged confrontation took place at a Democratic function in Orlando over the weekend. The member she complains about, Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, is openly gay. He says he is stunned by the allegations.
Rep. Carlos. G. Smith
“I can have a reasonable conversations with any Democrat, and Republican, about any issue. Even when we disagree, but I also do so in a professional and respectful manner. And the allegations she’s putting forward are simply not true, but I want to hear from her and I want to hear more about why she feels the way that she feels” says Smith.
The House Speaker has opened a “workplace harassment” investigation. Omphroy did not respond to our inquiries and was not at her office this morning. More than a hundred people were in the room when the incident was said to have occurred. At least one other lawmaker says she saw the interaction and it was not intimidating.
Florida Democrats say the approaching anniversary of the Parkland School Shooting is a time to promote legislation which they say will curb gun violence. They are proposing more than a dozen bills.Rep. Margaret Good of Sarasota wants to institute universal background checks on all gun purchases, including those between individuals, which are now exempt.
“After the Parkland shooting, I researched policies to prevent gun violence, and found that ninety-six percent Floridians support requiring background checks with virtually every gun purchase. I also learned that in states that require background checks, there are fewer instances of gun related crimes” Says Good.
Others bills include an assault rifle ban, red flag legislation allowing family members to tell a judge someone in their family is dangerous and should have their guns taken away. They also oppose, as does the Florida PTA, a plan to arm teachers.
“Eighty seven percent of mass shooters sowed signs of crisis.Seventy eight percent revealed their plans ahead of time. And yet Florida still falls at the bottom of mental health funding. We need to do better. And we must not, and should not, take the easy way out by arming our teachers” says Daniella Thomas of the Florida PTA
Most of the ideas were rejected by the Legislature’s GOP majority last year.
A Florida Senate committee is expected to approve major changes to a state law allowing homeowners to sign over their rights to third party contractors. The practice is being blamed for doubling the number of lawsuits against Insurace companies, and people who remediate water damage are at the center of the dispute.
In response to the public records request, Citizens has declined to provide individual claims data, citing privacy concerns. It has yet to respond with a general picture of settlements before and after a law suit has been filed.
Dozens of small business owners who specialize in restoring water damaged homes have been walking the Capitol with a proverbial target on their back.
Josh Reynolds, who owns WrightWay Emergency Services in Nokomis is the President of the Restoration Assn. of FL.He says the target is on their backs for a reason.
“You know, we fight the insurance companies.. we just don’t accept what they are willing to pay” says Reynolds.
Josh and like companies are being blamed for driving up insurance costs. Citizens alone says lawsuits filed by third party vendors are responsible for an average two hundred forty-four dollar rate hike coming this year.
“Some of them call it a scam” says State Senator Doug Broxson. He says it’s only going to get worse.”
“Are the people of Florida willing to pay, potentially double their premium in ten years if you don’t fix this?” Asks Broxson.
Broxson’s bill would allow homeowners who sue to collect their attorney’s fees, but not third party contractors.
But if your roof gets blown off, lawyers like Margaret Gardner say no one’s going to fix it if they aren’t guaranteed getting paid.
“If you can’t get your roof replaced, every time it rains, even with tarping, eventually you’re going to get more water intrusion“ she says.
Fighting back, the contractors have asked for detailed information about more than a quarter million Citizens claims paid over the last five years. They think it will tell a story of Citizens being penny wise and pound foolish.
“And I think afterwards you’ll see that most contractors are able to recover between seventy and one hundred percent of their bills after litigation” says Josh Reynolds.
The restoration specialists admit that they’ve got a few bad actors in their business, andtheir solution is to create a system of licensing …license them, which they say will drive the bad guys out.
There’s just one problem. The theme of this legislature is less regulation, not more.”
In response to the public records request, Citizens has declined to provide individual claims data, citing privacy concerns. It has yet to respond with a general picture of settlements before and after a law suit has been filed.
And late Monday, The Florida Supreme Court agreed to hear an assignment of benefits case arising out of Port St. Joe.
Governor Ron Desantis campaigned against allowing cities and counties to buck federal immigration authorities, and ending the practice was a theme of his inaugural address.
“We will stand for the rule of law. We will not allow sanctuary cities” DeSantis said shortly after being sworn in.
Late this afternoon, lawmakers may take the first step in fulfilling that promise. Right now only 27 Florida counties cooperate with federal authorities when it comes to people here illegally. Legislation being heard by the Flordia Senate Judiciary committee would require all 67 counties to notify the feds when they arrest someone here illegally says sponsor Joe Gruters.
“It’s trying to do what’s right for all of Florida, in trying to put bad guys away and make sure there is cooperation across the board. We’re not, this is not an immigration la. This is not to punish people. This is to try to follow the law as it exists,” says the Sarasota State Senator.
Under the bill, local authorities would have to hold someone for 48 hours, enough time
Says the sponsor, to allow the feds to pick the individual up.
The Federal government legalized hemp in its Farm Bill passed in December, but here in Florida hemp cultivation and some of its byproducts like CBD remain in a legal grey area.
Gabe Suarez owns Natural Life an expanding chain of CBD dispensaries in Florida.
“It’s tremendous the amount of benefits it [CBD] has,” said Suarez.
The Federal Farm bill passed in December authorized states to begin cultivating hemp and regulating its byproducts like CBD, but Florida’s laws are vague went it comes to hemp, which has led to law enforcement raiding some stores like Natural Life’s Tallahassee location.
“We’ve had other stores in other cities and other counties hassle free with no issues operating like it’s any other business,” said Suarez. “So it’s very inconsistent.”
While Suarez says he tests all of his products for quality, Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried says the absence regulations in the state have led to some products containing harmful chemicals.
Some cases are more extreme.
“They call it ‘spicing’. Where they’re taking the hemp and adding all this hallucinogenic activity to it and the consumer’s going and buying this,” said Fried.
A bill filed for the 2019 Legislative session aims to set a regulatory framework for hemp cultivation and CBD quality control in Florida.
“We want products to be fresh from Florida, manufactured here, used here and shipped elsewhere so people will realize the products we produce in Florida are high quality,” said House Sponsor Rep. Ralph Massullo.
Massullo says the cultivation of hemp could be a cash cow for Florida farmers.
The bill also would require CBD products be independently tested and have a stamp of approval from the FDA.
CBD suppliers like Suarez, who are already going the extra mile to ensure quality, say it’s a win-win proposition.
“Force everybody else to take the initiative that we’re taking into providing a safe and quality product that is what it says it is at the end of the day,” said Suarez.
If the bill becomes law, companies that don’t comply with the new standards will be barred from the industry for five years.
Newly elected Lake County State Representative Anthony Sabatini is under fire for appearing in black face 14-years ago when he was in high school.
Florida Democrats have called for his resignation, but the freshman representative is refusing, saying there was nothing mean-spirited or racial about it.
He and his best friend were just switching places for the day.
“Me and one of my best friends, to this day, who happens to be black, we thought it would be a funny prank if we dressed as each other, so I brought my clothing and he brought his. And he wore my clothes and I wore his, and the whole class everybody laughed. Of course, at that time, without realizing it, I did something that now is kinda outrageous, and you can’t do, I darkened my skin. He was totally okay with it and nobody took it seriously,” said Sabatini.
Sabatini says most media reports are taking the picture out of context.
A coalition of State Colleges and the Florida Economic Development Council want to educate Floridian’s on the importance of economic development.
State Senator Joe Gruters issued a proclamation declaring February 11th through the 15th Florida Economic Development week.
The campaign will focus on raising the public’s awareness of how economic development contributes to the state’s business climate, job growth and quality of life.
“Economic Development in all its various disciplines is vital to Florida’s competitiveness and prosperity. FEDC and our higher education partners believe that as an engine for progress economic development should be recognized through a dedicated week of emphasis,” said FEDC Chair Crystal Stiles.
The coalition put a high emphasis on using State colleges to train and retain skilled workers in the state.
Florida has some of the highest insurance rates in the nation and according to the industry they are rising, because of abuses in what is called assignment of benefits, or AOB.
Changing the law could impact how you get your home repaired after it’s been damaged.
After Michael hit Panama City, Jasmin Tolbert told lawmakers that contractors were knocking down her door.
“Trying to get me to sign forms so they could help me,” said Tolbert.
Those contractors wanted her to sign was an assignment of benefits, giving the contractor the right to bill the insurance company directly.
Signing that form has lead to the doubling of lawsuits over the last 5 years.
“The primary driver of abuse is the way attorneys get paid,” said James Lynch with the Insurance Information Institute.
Called one way, most legal fees fall on the insurer.
“The resulting costs are like a hidden tax on consumers,” said Lynch.
One proposed change would continue to protect homeowners in their fights with insurers, but place the potential for paying legal fees on contractors who accept an assignment of benefits.
“And that if you assign you benefits to a third party, that third party does not get the benefit of that one way attorneys fees,” said Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier.
Water restoration companies say the problem is lowball estimates from insurance companies.
“Right now, the insurance companies are paying on average around 20 to 25 percent of what the estimates are,” said Josh Reynolds with Right Way Emergency Services.
Both sides agree that only a small number companies and lawyers are abusing the system.
The restoration people who say they are the good guys, say regulate regulating their industry more would weed out the bad apples.
“They probably don’t have the educational; training, probably don’t have the financial ability to train their people in mold, so absolutely, you get rid of them,” said Foyt Ralston with the Florida Association of Retail Specialists.
Depending on which way lawmakers go, how much you pay for insurance and whether or not you get your home repaired could be at stake.
Without being able to bill insurance companies directly, many contractors won’t risk taking on big jobs without a guarantee of getting paid, or getting paid up front.
Democratic lawmakers are pushing Legislation the would allow family members to ask a court to take away a relatives gun if they believe there’s a risk to themselves or others.
The expansion of the state’s red flag law is drawing concerns from 2nd Amendment advocates.
The state’s ‘Red Flag’ gun safety law allows law enforcement to ask a court to take away a persons fire arms if they’re a danger to themselves or others.
State Senator Lori Berman has filed a bill that would allow family members to do the same.
“Who better to determine that someone is at risk than someone living close to them,” said Berman.
Kate Kile with Mom’s Demand Action says family members could act as a first line of defense.
“Families know best what’s happening in their own systems and they can be observing and watching these incremental changes that may be happening,” said Kyle.
There aren’t exact numbers for how many times the red flag law has been used by law enforcement since it took effect in July, but Senator Berman estimates it’s been invoked 400 times in Broward county alone.
Former NRA President Marion Hamer says the current law is already open to potential abuse by law enforcement.
She worries adding in family dynamics would increase that risk.
“You don’t want family members using a piece of legislation to be vindictive or vengeful or just plain mean,” said Hammer.
Senator Berman says those concerns are overstated.
“I don’t think a family member would really want to go to court and subject themselves and their family to that unless they were really afraid of a true danger,” said Berman.
The Legislation would also prohibit a person from keeping a gun in their home if they live with someone who has had their right to own a firearm revoked, unless it is either disabled or kept in a locked safe.
Because families were intentionally left out of the original law, it’s highly unlikely Democrats will be able to force it through this year.
Amendment 8 was the only constitutional amendment kicked off the 2018 ballot.
It would have put term limits on school board members, but the Florida Supreme Court ruled another proposal it was bundled with mislead voters.
Now lawmakers want to see if the issue can stand on its own in the 2020 election.
The amendment would limit school board members to eight consecutive years in office.
It got its first thumbs up from a House Committee Wednesday.
Sponsor Anthony Sabatini says school board term limits are overwhelmingly supported by Floridians.
“82% across the board want the term limits, and so we’ve seen it with a lot of the constitutional amendments over the past few years, particularly marijuana, some of these other topics,” said Sabatini. “It’s important that we listen to what the people want.”
In 2018 90% of school board incumbents won re-election, with many running unopposed.
Currently in Florida only counties that have a charter system are able to set term limits for school board members.
Duval county is the only that has chosen to adopt them.
Chris Doolin, with the Small School District Council Consortium says instead of forcing term limits statewide, the constitutional amendment should instead give local governments the authority to decide for themselves.
“So that what happens in Dade or Broward isn’t what’s mandated for Dixie or Leavy or Lafayette or anywhere else in the state,” said Doolin.
Others suggested 8 years was too short a term, saying they’d support a 12 year limit.
“Peer reviewed research also shows that people reach their peak performance in any position at about ten years,” said Representative Jennifer Webb.
A similar constitutional amendment proposed in the Legislature last year would have set a 12 year limit, but it failed.
A bill that aims to create harsher penalties for criminals who kill or seriously harm police k-9’s cleared its first House committee Wednesday.
Sponsor Representative Josie Tomkow says the legislation comes in response to a police K-9 named Fang that was killed in Jacksonville late last year.
“He was a 3-year-old bomb detector and patrol dog with the Jacksonville sheriff’s office. Fang was the 98th police dog killed in the line of duty in the past four years across the country and the second police dog killed in our area in four years,” said Tomkow.
Currently the crime is a third degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison or a $5,000 fine.
If passed, criminals would face up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Police drones may soon be used for monitoring traffic, taking photos of crime scenes and even crowd control under Legislation that cleared a House committee Wednesday morning.
Currently drones can only be used by law enforcement to search for missing persons, chase suspects and prevent imminent damage to life or property.
Bill sponsor Representative Clay Yarborough says it’s caused confusion in some situations for law enforcement.
“In October of 2017 down at the University of Florida was Richard Spencer. You had a Sheriff and law enforcement there who were unsure whether they could use drones because it was not specifically laid out in the law. So this would help to address situations like there where it clearly would help to have that aerial perspective,” said Yarborough.
Some lawmakers had concerns that the expanded list of uses might be exploited.
Yarborough says existing law addresses those issues.
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