State employee drug testing revived

Two weeks ago, a House committee voted down an unconstitutional bill expanding the Drug-Free Workplace Act to authorize state agencies to require all state employees submit to random, suspicionless drug testing on a three-month rotating basis. HB 1205 by Rep. Jimmie Smith (R-Lecanto) is an attempt to extend, legislatively, to all state agencies, an executive order issued one year ago by Governor Rick Scott, which was mostly stayed when the ACLU challenged the constitutionality of random, suspicionless drug testing of public employees in Executive Branch agencies as a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches by the government. One of the Governor’s top legislative priorities for this year, HB 1205 was then reconsidered and passed the same committee, House Appropriations, last Tuesday largely on party lines. It also passed the House State Affairs Committee on Friday in a strict party line vote. The bill heads to the House floor next. The Governor has, through his attorneys, been lobbying House members heavily on this bill bringing into question whether agency compliance would in fact be voluntary.

Attack on women’s health services pushed through House and Senate committees

A couple of weeks ago, we saw the temporary postponement of an omnibus anti-choice bill that would require abortion care providers to comply with a host of intrusive and burdensome regulations not imposed on other health care providers. Last week we saw the revival of both versions in the House and the Senate in the final week of committee meetings. SB 290 by Sen. Anitere Flores (R-Miami) and HB 277 by Rep. Rachel Burgin (R-Riverview) would require abortion clinics to be wholly owned and operated by a doctor or group of doctors and would impose a 24-hour waiting period before a woman can get an abortion. The Senate version was heard in Wednesday’s meeting of the Health Regulation Committee where a host of amendments designed to slow down the measure by Sen. Eleanor Sobel (D-Miami) were debated and withdrawn. With little public testimony and no debate, the committee voted along party lines, with one Republican dissenting, to pass the measure. On Thursday, the House’s Health and Human Services Committee woke up to a midnight amendment to HB 277 merging language from another bill relating to “fetal pain” into the body of this bill. The amendment was adopted without objection and after about an hour of debate, the committee voted along party lines to pass HB 277 out of its final committee. The House version now heads to the floor for second reading while the Senate version still has two more committee stops. However, look out for SB 290 to be withdrawn from those committees in the final weeks of session and put on the floor for debate. The two measures will have to be identical in order to be sent to the Governor for signature.

Silver lining of the week: Protection for pregnant inmates clears final committee

HB 367 by Rep. Betty Reed (D-Tampa) would ban the use of restraints on incarcerated pregnant women during labor, delivery, and post-partum recovery. A unanimous vote of the members of the House Judiciary Committee on Friday sends the measure to the House floor for debate and final passage. The measure passed the full Senate unanimously earlier this session and has recently garnered support from a broad spectrum of interest groups, including the Florida Mobile Midwives, the PACE Center for Girls, the Florida Catholic Conference, Planned Parenthood, the Florida Sheriffs Association, and the Department of Corrections.

Media Roundup:

• DREAM act bill killed in the Florida Legislature http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/17/2647759/dream-act-bill-killed-in-theflorida.html#storylink=cpy
• Renegade legislators seem to be a dying breed http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/renegade-legislators-seem-to-be-a-dyingbreed/1216112
• Following outcry, legislative immunity bill dies in House committee http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/civil/following-outcry-legislative-immunity-bill-dies-in-housecommittee/1216308
• Access to the courts (editorial) http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/20/2651907/access-to-the-courts.html#storylink=cpy
• Florida House panel advances bill allowing random drug testing of state employees http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/florida-house-panel-advances-bill-allowing-random-drug-2191020.html
• Anti-abortion measure passes Senate committee, moving in House tomorrow http://www.postonpolitics.com/2012/02/anti-abortion-measure-passes-senate-committee-moving-inhouse-tomorrow/
• Some inmates given long sentences as teens would be eligible for release in 15 years under proposed bill http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/some-inmates-given-long-sentences-as-teens-would-beeligible-for-release/1216632
• Senate approves $71 billion state budget; now come negotiations with House http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/senate-approves-71-billion-state-budget-now-comenegotiations-with-house/1216780
• Andy Gardiner secures 2015-16 Senate presidency http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2012/02/andy-gardiner-secures-2015-16-senatepresidency.html

Coming up in the final stretch:

• URGENT ACTION NEEDED The Senate companion to the House’s state employee drug testing is to be heard in Tuesday’s (February 28) meeting of the Budget Subcommittee on General Government Appropriations. Please call the members of the subcommittee and remind them that the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Tell legislators that they cannot legislate away our 4th amendment rights! Urge them to vote NO on SB 1358 by Sen.Alan Hays, R-Umatilla. To find members of the subcommittee and their contact information, click here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/BGA/
• Rep. Jimmie Smith’s (R-Lecanto) state employee drug-testing bill will be debated on the House floor and then voted on for final passage. Call your Representative and tell him/her that working for the state does not mean you check your constitutional rights at the door. Urge your Representative to vote NO on HB 1205. To find your state Representative, click here: http://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/representatives.aspx
• Rep. Rachel Burgin’s (R-Riverview) bill to unfairly regulate abortion providers will be heard on the House floor. Sen. Flores’ companion bill is likely to be withdrawn from its committees and debated on the Senate floor. Call your Representative and Senator and tell them to “TRUST FLORIDA WOMEN!” Urge them to reject HB 277 and SB 290. Click here for contact information: http://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/representatives.aspx http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/Find Or, follow the links in the ACLU-FL Action Alert: https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4133
• Sen. Gary Siplin’s (D-Orlando) “school prayer” bill will soon be heard on the House floor. (It already has passed the full Senate.) Call your Representative and remind him/her that students already have a constitutionally protected right to voluntarily pray on their own time in school. We do not need Tallahassee legislating away the religious rights of our school children. Tell them to vote NO on SB 98. Click here to find your representative: http://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/representatives.aspx