Florida Legislative News forwarded from State Legislative Trustee - TopicsExpress

Florida Legislative News forwarded from State Legislative Trustee Darrin Brooks......... From THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA PRAGMATIC DEMOCRATS BACK CRIST By DARA KAM Hundreds of Florida Democrats fawned over former Gov. Charlie Crist this weekend at their annual conference as the onetime Reagan Republican campaigned relentlessly, receiving a heros welcome more than a week before he officially announces his candidacy for governor. The Florida Democratic Partys conference gave Crist, who wasnt an official speaker, a platform to do what he seems to love best --- pose for photographs, whisper words of encouragement and linger long enough with admirers to create a logjam wherever he went. Whatever issues people want to bring up about Charlie Crist, he is a consummate politician. He knows his people. As a Democrat, I will say that I think he did a lot of fair things for the state of Florida in terms of education. I think we would be way farther ahead in health care in Florida if he were governor. And I think he can beat Rick Scott. And we need a candidate who can beat Rick Scott, Bonnie Sklaren of Gulfport said. BILL WOULD TIGHTEN TEXTING WHILE DRIVING BAN Just months after state lawmakers approved a ban on texting while driving, a South Florida senator filed a bill Friday to try to strengthen enforcement. The measure (SB 322), filed by Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, would allow police to stop motorists for texting while driving and give them citations. The law passed earlier this year only allows enforcement as what is known as a secondary offense. That means motorists can only be cited for texting while driving if they are pulled over for other reasons. The new law took effect Oct. 1, and Sachs indicated at the time she would file a bill for the 2014 session to try to strengthen enforcement. CANDIDATES SEEK OPEN HOUSE SEATS Clearwater Democrat Stephen Sarnoff filed paperwork this week to run in House District 67 and try to replace term-limited Rep. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, according to the state Division of Elections website. Three Republicans also have opened campaign accounts for the seat, including Chris Latvala, the son of Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater. The younger Latvala had raised $90,105 in contributions through Sept. 30. Meanwhile, in the Panhandle, Panama City Republican Jay Trumbull opened an account last week to run in House District 6, which will be open in 2014 because Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, faces term limits. The race has drawn a crowded field, but other candidates have raised relatively little money. The top fund-raiser as of Sept. 30 was Lynn Haven Republican Melissa Hagan, who had collected $12,085 in contributions and loaned $20,500 to her campaign. DEMOCRAT RANKIN OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES FOR CFO Another Democrat has jumped into the race for state chief financial officer, two months after a candidate touted by the party quickly flamed out. William Rankin, a retired Army veteran and former director of asset management for the Ohio State Treasury, officially announced late Tuesday that he would run for the nomination to challenge Jeff Atwater, the Republican incumbent. This campaign is about us, the people of Florida, and bringing the voice of the people back to Tallahassee, Rankin, 53, said in his announcement. We must promote ideas and actions that benefit our economy and restore public trust in our government. Rankin opened a campaign account for the race earlier this month. The first Democratic candidate for CFO, Allie Braswell, dropped out in August after less than a week in the race, following reports in The Florida Times-Union that Braswell had filed for bankruptcy three times in South Carolina and Orlando, though he said the second filing in South Carolina was related to the first. MATHIEU READY TO RUN AGAIN IN HD 36 Pasco County Republican Chairman James Mathieu opened a campaign account Thursday to run in 2014 in House District 36, after watching Democrat Amanda Murphy win the seat this month in a special election. Mathieu lost a Republican primary in September to Bill Gunter, who wound up losing to Murphy. At the moment Mr. Gunter lost, I knew I wanted to run again, Mathieu said after his 2014 paperwork was filed at the state Division of Elections. The District 36 seat came open this summer when former Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, was appointed Pasco County tax collector. Powerful Republicans, including House Speaker Will Weatherford and three expected future speakers, backed Gunter over Mathieu and another Republican, Jeromy Harding, in the primary. Mathieu said he thinks he would have beaten Murphy if he had been the GOP nominee. REGULATORS APPROVE FPL PIPELINE PLANS By JIM TURNER As the states dependence on natural gas grows, regulators on Thursday backed plans by Florida Power & Light to build a two-section, 591-mile Alabama to Indiantown natural-gas pipeline project. Public Service Commission member Eduardo Balbis praised the project as helping the states fuel diversity by reducing the chance of supply interruptions and price fluctuations. The project will add a third major pipeline bringing natural gas to power plants and other customers. I believe this is a good project, Balbis said. Adding this pipeline, having a third come into the state, were going to continue to rely on natural gas and this achieves that mitigation against price fluctuations. AMAZONS CENTERS WILL ADD SALES TAXES TO FLORIDA PURCHASES By JIM TURNER The confirmation by Amazon that it will build a pair of massive fulfillment centers along the Interstate 4 corridor means that sometime in the next two years Floridians will have to start paying sales taxes on purchases from the online retail giant. But even with Amazon eventually joining other businesses located in Florida in collecting the states sales tax, some groups will continue pushing to eliminate an exemption that has allowed out-of-state online retailers including eBay and Overstock to avoid the tax. The Florida Retail Federation, which has long called for ending the exemption, estimates that between $80 million to $90 million a year in sales taxes will be paid once Amazon starts collecting. Amazon announced this week that it would build distribution centers --- or what it calls fulfillment centers --- in Lakeland and Ruskin. The Department of Revenue requires online companies to begin collecting sales taxes once a company has a physical presence in the state, said Renee Watters, a department spokeswoman. That has allowed many out-of-state online retailers, including Amazon, to avoid adding the taxes to online purchases. Floridians are supposed to pay the taxes themselves when they buy from online retailers, but few do. It remains unclear when the tax will be included on the Amazon website. APPEALS COURT TOSSES CHALLENGE TO PIP REFORM By JIM TURNER A three-judge appeals panel Wednesday put the brakes on a challenge to a 2012 state law aimed at reducing fraud in the personal-injury protection auto insurance system. The 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee ruled that an acupuncturist, a chiropractor, two massage therapists, a hypothetical John Doe representing health-care providers and a hypothetical Jane Doe representing motorists lacked standing to bring the case to court. The real parties in interest --- injured motorists whose ability to sue tortfeasors has been impermissibly limited --- are absent from this case, said the opinion by judges Brad Thomas, T. Kent Wetherell and Stephanie Ray. Instead of a hypothetical claim, the plaintiffs failed to offer a factual motorist who is harmed by the law, the judges wrote. The order reverses a March ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis that said the law illegally prevented accident patients from using PIP claims to pay for treatment by acupuncturists and massage therapists and limited services from chiropractors. BILL WOULD REQUIRE FLORIDA TO BUY, FLY U.S.-MADE FLAGS U.S. and Florida flags purchased for public use by the state and local governments would have to be American-made, under a proposal by Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne. The measure (HB 201), filed Monday, would require the U.S. and Florida flags to be made from materials grown, produced and manufactured in the United States. If approved, a person found violating the requirement would face a second-degree misdemeanor. No Senate companion has been filed to the bill, dubbed the All-American Flag Act. A similar measure has previously been proposed in the U.S. House with the intention of stopping the federal government from buying and flying American flags made outside the country. The federal measure was initially filed in 2012 after the Los Angeles Times reported that in 2011 there were $3.6 million in U.S. flags imported into the United States, most from China. Tom (Crash) Woodgeard - West Coast Legislative Trustee