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Legislature Session Ends With Whimper, Not A Bang

Special Interest Bills Shelved During Tight Session

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ― As Florida lawmakers head back to their districts after a grueling 2008 legislative session, many are wondering if bills that didn't pass this time around, either for lack of support or lack of time, will be worth resurrecting in the future.

While a measure that creates a small business council to look out for small businesses when state agencies are writing rules passed, another that would have established a statewide standard for construction cranes and would have barred local governments from adopting their own rules failed as did a bill that would have required all restaurants to keep an ample toilet paper in each restroom stall.

In education, bills that would have allowed teachers to easily criticize evolution as spelled out in the state's new education standards, delayed class size reduction requirements by two years to 2010-11, required schools to expand sex education beyond "abstinence only" programs and a measure that would have banned students from wearing low-riding pants that expose their underwear all failed. However, lawmakers were successful in pushing back the time at which the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is given in the spring and in recalculating what role the FCATS would play in determining high school graduation rates.

Operators of South Florida's jai alai frontons and horse & dog tracks failed to get the tax break on slot machine earnings they were seeking.

A number of bills that addressed healthcare also ended up stalled or on the chopping block when the session came to a close. One of those bills would have expanded a Medicaid pilot program that put patients into health care networks by adding nine more counties to the program, including Florida's largest county, Miami-Dade.

Other measures that failed would have required health insurance policies to cover treatment for certain mental illnesses, expanded a program that provides donated drugs to needy cancer patients and would have required any woman seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound scan and have the image shown to her unless she signed a waiver. Another bill that failed would have required health facilities to tell rape victims they were eligible for emergency birth control pills and made the same drugs easier to get for any woman.

Legislators approved a measure that will require travel agencies that offer trips to Cuba or other countries on the U.S State Department's terrorist nation list will have to register with the state and carry bonds of $300-thousand.

A bill that failed to pass during the session would have would have required public employers and contractors to check the immigration status of new hires and for police to notify federal authorities of any illegal immigrants they arrest or detain. On a related note, another bill that failed would have required prisons and jails to check inmates' immigration status and report anyone not in the country legally to federal authorities.

Budget shortfalls put an end this year to tax "holidays" for back to school supplies and hurricane supplies. Another measure that failed would have placed a constitutional amendment on the ballot to cap annual property tax increases at 1.35 percent of a property's taxable value.

By the end of the session, there was not enough support to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would limit state revenue increases to 1 percent of the present level with allowances for inflation and population growth; the measure would have also allowed the Legislature set revenue caps for local governments.

Finally, before they hit the road, lawmakers passed only two transportation proposals. The first will outlaw motorcyclists from popping wheelies and increases penalties for all motorists caught driving more than 50 miles per hour above the speed limit. The second bans the introduction of new specialty license plates which nixes proposals for a new Christian "I Believe" specialty license plate and a "Confederate Heritage" specialty license plate.

Also on the "no go" list; a measure that would have allowed police to give drivers a $60 ticket for having replica bull testicles hanging from their vehicles, a bill that would have allowed police to ticket motorists for sending text messages while driving, and prohibited smoking in vehicles occupied by minors.

A bill that that would have required car booster seats for children ages 4 through 7 also failed as did a bill that would have allowed police to pull motorists over for failing to wear a seat belt. Currently they can only issue a ticket for failing to wear a seat belt if a driver is stopped for another violation.

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