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Governor Rick Scott failed to meet a deadline to file an appeal in a case challenging his plan to test welfare applicants. Two federal courts have already ruled against the Governor. The Supreme Court as his last option, and now the case is over. Democrat Arthenia Joyner claimed victory.

“So it’s been a waste, and finally he woke unrealized that this was a big waste of time and hopefully he stop this suit he still has in place that deals with state workers.”

Scott has wanted to randomly test all state workers. A federal court has said no, but did rule Scott could test some high risk employees, Which ones are still being negotiated and must be approved by a federal court.

Pregnant women are not currently protected under the states civil rights laws, but State Senator Geraldine Thompson wants that to change.

“We have women who, for example, work for parcel companies where they are required to life 50 pounds, which they can do. And even though they were able to lift 50 pounds, they were forced to take unpaid leave at at time when the needed the medical benefits for prenatal care and to take care of their children.”

The legislation is yet to get a hearing in the Senate.

If you are unlucky enough to be ordered to evacuate in an emergency, you may soon be able to carry a concealed weapon while you are leaving under legislation approved by a House Committee at the State Capitol today. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, it was one of two self protection measures to pass.

Floridians haven’t been ordered to flee a hurricane since Wilma in 2005, but if or when another storm hits, lawmakers want you to be able to protect yourself.

“By your vote the bill is reported favorably” said the Chair of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee.e

Legislation allowing evacuees to carry a concealed weapon without a permit cleared a House Committee.

“You want to be protected when you are being evacuated, but you also don’t want to leave your valuable items in your residence when you are leaving” says State Representative Heather Fitzenhagen of Ft. Myers.

Florida sheriffs opposed the bill last year. Now Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri

says the addition of two provisions make the bill easier to swallow. “And they can only carry concealed without a permit for 48 hours, but they still have to be in that immediate and urgent movement away from the evacuation area” says Gualtieri.

Clovis Watson was one of only two of the 13 members to vote no. He worries that coupling concealed carry with Stand your Ground could be deadly. “With this bill, ,I just think it is a bill that will arm a lot of people at a very vulnerable time and bad things can happen.”

The committee also approved another way for you to protect yourself.

This is a slung shot says Rep. Neil Combee. They’ve been illegal since the Civil War, but that could soon change. “The last thing I want is young people, women who feel some comfort from carrying one of these to be guilty of a crime” says Combee.

Ironically, slung shots could be legal before hurricane season starts June first. Concealed carry wouldn’t take effect until July.

The Senate version of the evacuation bill also cleared a State Senate Committee today buy a vote of 5 to 1.

Legislation requiring every county to issue civil citations to juveniles first arrest for a non violent misdemeanor squeaked through a House committee today over the opposition of law enforcement. First approved in 2010, the citations are optional for police, but seven counties have issued none. The Reverend Bernice Powell Jackson told lawmakers the current system leads to unfair treatment.

“In Hillsborough County, for instance,  we had a young man who was arrested for an offense that if he had lived in Pinellas County right across the bay, he would not have. He would have received a civil citation. So thats not fair, thats not equity in our justice system” says Powell Jackson.

Prosecutors, Sheriffs, and Police Chiefs objected to the mandatory nature of the bill. They were promised more flexibility before the legislation comes up in a second committee.

Several dozen Planned Parenthood volunteers were in the Capitol today protesting legislation that would restrict abortions. One bill would outlaw them altogether, while another requires doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Elizabeth Lee came to object to legislation requiring a 24 hour waiting period before the procedure can be performed.

“Women should not be subjected to mandated state counseling on laws that are introduced and passed with the intent to shame, coerce, and judge them. Senate Bill 724, proposing a 24 hour mandatory delay on women seeking an abortion does not offer any health benefits for women. Implicit in this bill is the assumption that women who decide to have an abortion don’t carefully the decision” says Lee.

Planned Parenthood says it will be in the Capitol every week until the end of the session in May, fighting against andy restrictions.

9 aides to the Governor and Cabinet met today but refused to discuss an upcoming vote changing how agency heads are reviewed or hired and fired. Citing a law suit over the firing of FDLE commissioner Gerald Bailey in December, the aides are party to a law suit alleging they violated the Open meetings law by discussing the decision behind closed doors. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam expects a full discussion next week.

“It’s my expectation, based on the outcome of our last Cabinet meeting that we will discuss the reform proposals that I’ve put out there. Not only for the Cabinet’s discussion, but approval of reforms for the appointment process for future Cabinet agency heads, and stronger oversight of Cabinet responsibilities” says Putnam.

Rick Scott has refused to appoint a special investigator to look into the firing of the FDLE Commissioner. Putnam expects many involved to be disposed in a lawsuit filed by 14 media organizations.

Sweeping legislation to protect prison guards who report abuses and to protect inmates from officers and their supervisors cleared it’s second committee in the State Capitol today. The legislation seeks to change a culture of “us against them” prevalent among middle managers who order retribution against inmates. Sponsor Greg Evers of Baker says change is needed.

“They order certain types of punishment to these inmates, and they are expecting the correction officers to do the right thing, yet they are forcing them to cross that line.”

The legislation makes it a crime for officers and their superiors not to properly take care of inmates. It was inspired after an inmate was left in a scalding shower for more than an hour. He later died.

Legislation approved this afternoon by a House Committee would prohibit people from using a single sex bathroom of a sex other than the gender listed on a person’s drivers license. The bill is designed to keep people under going gender modification from picking and choosing which bathroom they want to use. Nadine Smith of Equality Florida opposed the bill, saying it could lead to lawsuits and fistfights.

“Because its poorly thought out, I don’t think you or anyone else wants to be asked to produce a drivers license when they are entering a rest room by somebody looking to invoke this law” says the equality Florida Director.

9 Republicans voted for the bill. Four Democrats against. Equality Florida says the legislation will open the door for anyone to sue a business because they did not monitor who was using which restroom.

Governor Rick Scott painted a picture of an improving economy during the annual State of the State address to open the legislative session, but Democrats and others say Scott is wearing rose colored glasses.

Governor Rick Scott entered the legislative chamber to modest applause that subsided before he reached the speakers platform. Once there he outlined a five point plan for improving Florida.

“Floridians can spend their money better than government can” says Scott.

Scott has proposed cutting cell phone and cable taxes saving average families just over  40 dollars a year. He wants to hold the line on graduate tuition.

Third,  Scott wants to invest in job training.

“Fourth, we recommend a historic increase in K-12 funding to above the historic level” he comntinued.

His final point was a nod to three out of four voters who approved money for land conservation.

“The final thing we must do to outcompete the world is keep Florida beautiful.”

Never did Scott say precisely what he thought the state of the state was, so we asked Republican Representative Clay Ingram.

“We’re good, we’re on the way up” says the Pensacola Republican who was elected the same year as Scott.

While the Governor called for making dreams come true, Senate Democratic Leader Arthenia Joyner of Tampa and other Democrats say that can’t happen without adequate health insurance.

We begging. People are begging, Please expand Medicaid so I can be insured because one’s dream can’t come true if they aren’t healthy” says Joyner.0

And activists presented their own five point plan which included health care and better paying jobs. Rich Templin of the AFL-CIO took issue with the quality of jobs the Governor takes credit for creating,

“Why didn’t he point out that sixty percent of all those jobs created do not pay a living wage” says the labor activist.

One truism of 60 day legislative sessions is the few, even Governors, get everything they seek.

While the Governor is calling for tax cuts, it is local taxpayers who could see higher property tax bills to pay for education spending. Under the Governor’s plan increased cash from rising property values would pay for school increases, handcuffing local officials from lowering millage rates as values rise.

There was no smooth roll out of Florida’s new computer based testing this week. As Matt Galka tells us, lawmakers will have their hands full figuring out how to remedy the situation over the next two months.

More than half of Florida’s school districts reported some sort of problem with the new computer based standardized testing on Monday – prompting delays and suspensions of the assessment.  Senator Bill Montford says it was a predictable disaster.

“We knew this would happen for two years. It’s not surprising it’s disappointing,” he said.

The state’s department of education gave the all clear to resume testing Tuesday morning. There were far less problems reported on day two. Florida’s Speaker of the House said that despite technical glitches. The state would not be backing down from testing.

“I acknowledge there are legitimate concerns that have been raised about testing in this state, and we will address those concerns. But, we will not retreat from accountability,” said House Speaker Steve Crisafulli.

A variety of factors – including technical readiness and the amount of time schools devote to testing – have prompted calls for a suspension of the test. At the very least, lawmakers say this year’s exams should be a beta test and not count towards school grades.

“If you’re a student in the classroom and you saw everything going on around you and knowing that it was sort of a disaster. Putting myself in those student’s shoes, I think we have to keep that option on the table,” said House Education Committee member Clay Ingram.

House Democrats say it may end up being a good thing the testing debacle happened a day before the start of legislative session

“We’re hearing if around the state right now, school districts are up in arms, the people are up in arms, and I think that type of uproar is really important, the timing couldn’t be better,” said House Democratic Leader Mark Pafford.

Lawmakers have 59 more days to try and figure it all out. House Speaker Steve Crisafulli said he had not heard any calls to suspend the test, and was still waiting to talk to the Education Commissioner about why there were so many glitches.

Food deserts are defined as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Today, the Senate Agriculture Committee in Tallahassee approved giving grocery businesses located in low income areas tax breaks of two thousand dollars or more if they stock healthy produce. State Senator Dwight Bullard offered the bill because he says even those with less money need to eat healthy.

“We want to be able to have some sort of grocery or vegetable option somewhere within ten or fifteen minutes of where they live, by foot, and we’re not seeing that in a lot of places, In rural communities naturally they area expands, but we still want something where they don’t have to drive 20, or 30 or 45 minutes away from home just to go to a good grocery store” says the Miami Democrat.

Only stores with sales of 15 million or less can qualify for the tax break.

Lobbyists, parents, and medical professionals packed a hearing at the State Department of Health to speak on proposed rules for the growing of low thc marijuana known as Charlotte’s Web. January first was a legislative deadline for having the rule ready, but challenges continue to delay the medicine. Bridget Bateman came to speak up for her soon to be 8 year old son Preston.

“Seizures since six months old. He was first diagnosed with infantile spasms, and has morphed into what they call med resistant intractable epilepsy. “

Q:”And you think this offers hope?”“ I do” says Bateman, who son turns 8 this week.

Orlando MD Minh D.Le  told the panel he has seven patients using the drug successfully in Colorado. He asked business interests delaying the rule to put patients ahead of money.

“The law was created for the children, not for the businesses, the greedy money hungry people out there. Yes, you have to sustain a business, but when you start something up, its high risk, high rewards.”

Today’s hearing was a workshop. The rule could take effect in about a month if there are no new challenges. Even then, the substance isn’t likely to be available for patients until the end of the year.

From one end of the state to the other, schools experienced trouble logging in to the first ever computer based standardized test. The troubles come as lawmakers are poised to consider reducing the amount of testing in Florida. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, today’s problems are fueling the calls for less testing.

Escambia County in the extreme western panhandle couldn’t log on to the Student Assessment test. Testing was postponed until Tuesday at the earliest. In the Tampa area, 18 middle schools couldn’t log on..and so the story went across the state. Last week Commission Pam Stewart told us. “We’re ready. The test is ready.”

But A Statement from the Department of Education now reads in part:

“This is a 90-minute test; students have a two-week window, plus a makeup window, to complete the test.” It goes on to say Stewart “is looking into any reported issues to determine the cause and will work to immediately resolve it.”

A handful of bills had already been filed before the first day testing debacle. Now lawmakers here are saying we told you so. State Senator Bill Montford is a former school superintendent. “ This is a problem with the exam itself. This is a problem with the lack of infrastructure. And this is a problem that is not unanticipated and its not unexpected.”

Montford has legislation that allows the test to be taken, but not count the results this year.

“Only a couple of school districts that I’ve heard from have been able to give it. All the rest of them have had difficulties. And this is a good clear indication that we need to slow down.”

Dwight Bullard goes further. He has a bill abolishing state standardizing testing all together. He would replace it with nationally standardized tests given once a year.

“Iowa Basic, Stanford Achievement” are examples says Bullard.

Before the delays, thousands of parents were planning to opt their kids out of the test. More are likely to do so.

Superintendents across the state have been warning of problems for the last two years. In 2012, when the state upgraded the FCAT, emergency action to lower the grading scale was taken to keep hundreds of schools from failing.

Should Confederate soldiers from Florida be recognized as Veterans enshrined in the state’s hall of fame? Matt Galka first told us about the story earlier this month, and now tells us the NAACP is saying no.

We first brought you the unique story of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans asking Florida’s Governor and Cabinet to let Confederate soldiers into the state’s veterans hall of fame earlier this month.

“Don’t tell me about he’s a rebel and he did all these other kinds of things. Poppycock! He is an American Veteran, recognize him,” said H.K. Edgerton, an African-American supporter of the Confederates.

The request to put Florida soldiers who fought for the South caused the Governor and Cabinet to delay the inductions of this year’s class.  But the NAACP is saying there’s nothing to think about.

“It’s very much a slap in the face,” said NAACP Tallahassee Chapter President Dale Landry

Landry is a US Army veteran who says the Hall of Fame’s rules are very clear.

“The requirement was that you had to be honorably discharged from the United States Armed Forces. The Confederate Army was not a part of the United States Armed Forces,” he said.

The NAACP argues that if you let confederates in, where do you stop?

“The Japanese military, the Japanese army, the Japanese navy, you see? The Germans, the Nazis. I’m sorry but that’s the same to me,” said Landry.

Floridians that fought for the stars and bars that could be nominated for the class include former Governor Edward Perry, David Lang who helped form the National Guard, and former U.S. Senator Samuel Pasco.

The NAACP has launched on online petition opposing Confederate soldiers inclusion in the Hall of Fame.

A dust up between solar advocates and a state Senator is erupting on the eve of the annual legislative session. The fight is a window into the often unintended consequences in state politics. At the center is legislation that would allow greater use of solar resources, but advocates worry utilities could end up being the big winners.

Under Florida law, only regulated utilities can see electricity. The regulation has thwarted stores like Publix who want to install solar on their rooftop, then sell what power they don’t use to stores next door. State Senator Jeff Brandes has filed legislation that would allow just that.

“It’s something that I think is the right policy for the state of Florida. It shouldn’t be illegal to sell power” says Brandes.

But a part of Brandes’s bill has the solar community’s hair on fire. The bill allows utilities to “recover the full actual cost of providing services” which some says would allow utilities to hike the rate for connecting a business to the grid. Susan Glickman of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is hoping the bill is withdrawn.

“We don’t want something thats going to put onerous charges on people who want to put solar up” says Glickman.

Glickman’s group is also part of a coalition circulating petitions.

This proposed constitutional amendment allows the sale of excess solar, but it makes no mention of utilities being able to charge you more for hookup. Glickman would prefer the ballot measure over legislation.

“We think the ballot measure is a clear shot to getting the kind of policy that they have in other states.  Again, we are one of only five states that don’t allow this” says Glickman.

That the fight is even happening…in the public…is a testament to how far clean energy advocates have been able to move the legislative priorities in what has been a utility dominated arena.

Campaign records show Florida Power and Light gave more than a million dollars to the Republican Party of Florida Last Year. Duke Energy contributed just over a quarter million to the RPOF. The totals don’t contributions to individual legislators.