School Prayer Bill Passes Senate

Week Four saw the final Senate passage of SB 98, Senator Gary Siplin’s (D-Orlando) bill allowing for “prayer by popular vote” in schools with a last minute change to the bill to include elementary and middle school students as well as high school students. The bill came under fire from several Democrats on the floor who debated the need and intention of the bill, warning of potential litigation from groups such as the ACLU. Despite being advised that the legislation clearly violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of separation of church and state by authorizing county school boards to establish prayer in public schools, the Senate voted 31 to 8 in favor of the bill. House companion bill HB 317 by Representative Charles Van Zant (R-Palatka) has not been heard in committee.

Anti-Choice Measures Make Headway

Two anti-choice bills cleared another House hurdle with this week with strong opposition from the ACLU and our partners at Planned Parenthood. HB 839 by Representative Daniel Davis (R-Jacksonville) would prohibit abortions at 20 weeks post-fertilization. HB 1327 by Rep. Scott Plakon (R-Longwood) uses race as a wedge to criminalize abortions, and would require a signed affidavit from a physician stating that an abortion is not being performed because of the race or sex of the fetus. These two bills cleared the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on party-line votes and each has one committee remaining in the House.

Prison Privatization Efforts Hit Wall

Expedited efforts to privatize 27 state prisons stalled on the Senate floor with bi-partisan opposition led by Senator Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey). SB 2038 met so much resistance on the Senate floor with several threatening amendments presented that the Senate President did not call the bill for consideration and has not yet called for its placement back on the Senate calendar. In apparent retaliation, Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R-Melbourne) stripped Sen. Fasano of his committee chairmanships and replaced him with members more favorable to privatizing efforts. Time is running short, however, and with SB 2036 – the bill actually creating the rule that would authorize the privatization of public facilities including prisons – still held up in committee and the House companion still not moving, only time will tell what other legislative maneuvers might be used to push this through.

Bipartisan In-State Tuition Sees Spark But No Flame

A bill by Senator Rene Garcia (R-Miami) and Representative Reggie Fullwood (D-Jacksonville) would have allowed citizen children of undocumented parents living in the state of Florida to attend colleges and universities at resident, or in-state, tuition rates. This bipartisan piece is a direct response to current litigation by the Southern Poverty Law Center representing several Florida college students who are U.S. citizens and Florida residents, but are being charged out-of-state tuition rates because their parents do not have legal immigrant status. The bill was heard in the Senate’s Higher Education Committee this week and after much discussion and debate, the six-member committee split the vote and an even 3 yays to 3 nays with one Republican joining Democrats on the affirmative. Unfortunately, a tie vote goes to the nays and the first bipartisan immigration bill heard in the Florida legislature, SB 1018, was dead on arrival.

More Drug Testing

In a clear response to our challenge to Governor Rick Scott’s executive order last session requiring state employees to submit to a random, suspicionless search of their bodily fluids, two members of the Florida legislature are seeking to expand the “Drug-Free Workplace” program so that nearly all state employees, including teachers, are subject to suspicionless drug testing. Senator Alan Hays (R-Umatilla) and Representative Jimmy Smith (R-Lecanto) are sponsoring a measure that would require state employees to submit to random drug tests every 3 months or face disciplinary action, to be referred to a drug or alcohol rehab program at the employee’s expense, and to effectively be discharged or transferred from their current job assignment based on the results. The bill met opposition this week from a group of Pasco County teachers testifying that although they had not received a pay increase in five years, the legislature now wants them to pay for a drug test. Several teachers stood in opposition alongside organizations such as AFSME, AFL-CIO, and the ACLU. The bills have two more committee stops in both the House and Senate.

Media Roundup:

• Conservative Florida lawmakers consider abortion waiting period, other restrictions http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/conservative-florida-lawmakers-consider-abortion-waitingperiod-other/1212773
• Costs of running private prisons hard to quantify http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-capview-column-deslatte012912-20120127,0,4167701.column
• Florida's voting fairness problem http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1213083.ece
• House Democrats: ‘Fetal pain’ bill ‘gives a legal right to a rapist’ http://floridaindependent.com/67000/daniel-davis-fetal-pain-a-legal-right-to-a-rapist
• Committee kills bill that would give illegal immigrants' kids in-state tuition http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/committee-kills-bill-would-giveillegal-immigrants-kids-statetuition?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tampabaycom%2Fblogs%2Fbuzz+%28The+Buzz+%7C+tampabay.com%29
• Retooled ‘foreign law’ bill sparks Sharia debate in Florida House committee http://floridaindependent.com/66995/larry-metz-sharia-foreign-law
• ACLU, Anti-Defamation League denounce state Senate’s school prayer vote http://floridaindependent.com/67405/aclu-anti-defamation-league-school-prayer

Coming Up

This week is the last week for subcommittees to meet. The week of February 13 will be the final week for regular committees to meet. The last two weeks are dedicated to session on the floor. This will have a big impact on the bills we have not seen moving quickly through committees. If a bill has two committee stops left, this week is the last opportunity to have it scheduled. If a bill has three committees left, it is effectively dead. No new bills can be introduced. The House is standing firm on its decision to not allow bills to be pulled from committees, a legislative maneuver that circumvents the established process for hearings, and which is causing the Senate much strife as it debates prison privatization. Look out for emails and alerts from the ACLU on urgent actions that need your participation over the next few weeks.

Action Items:

If you haven’t already, please call or email your Senator and Representative and ask them to oppose the privatizing of prisons and profiting from mass incarceration.
Find your Senator’s contact information by clicking here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/
Find your Representatives contact information by clicking here: http://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/representatives.aspx
Follow this link to read more about the bills: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/

School Prayer clears final Senate hurdle

As expected, SB 98 – Sen. Gary Siplin’s (D-Orlando) bill authorizing school boards to adopt policies allowing for student-led prayer at non-compulsory school events passed its final stop in the Senate Rules committee with 12 “yes” votes and 2 “no” votes. The bill has been placed on the Senate’s special order calendar for Tuesday, January 31, when all 40 senators will debate it on the Senate floor. The House version of the bill, by Rep. Van Zant (R-Palatka), has not been heard in its first committee.

Prison Privatization efforts heat up

This week saw the introduction of two bills that would require the Department of Corrections to privatize the management and operation of certain correctional facilities throughout the state. The Senate Rules Committee, under pressure from public employees and interest groups such as the AFL-CIO and AFSCME, added one additional committee reference so that the bills could be debated once more before heading to the Senate floor. SB 2036 and SB 2038 were heard in the Senate’s budget committee toward the end of the week, but due to overwhelming public testimony, only SB 2038 was voted on. It heads to the Senate floor next week.

Anti-choice wave marks third week in the House

Three of eight abortion bills introduced thus far this session were heard in the House’s Health and Human Services Access committee chaired by Rep. Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala). HB 277 by Rep. Rachel Burgin (R-Riverview) would require all abortion clinics to be wholly owned and operated by a physician or group of physicians and mandate that a woman visit a clinic and be given information by a physician at least 24 hours before an abortion can be performed. HB 839 by Rep. Daniel Davis (R-Jacksonville)  would prohibit abortions beginning at 20 weeks post-fertilization. HB 1327 by Rep. Scott Plakon (RLongwood) would require a signed affidavit stating that an abortion is not being performed because of the child’s race or sex. (There is, of course, no evidence that race or gender selection is occurring. The bill is simply an attempt to use race as a wedge to criminalize abortion, and it is related to the despicable billboards across the country that equate abortion to racial genocide.) These three bills all passed the committee with a vote down party lines. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood led efforts to provide expert and personal testimony from the public before each vote was taken. HB 277 has one more committee stop while HB 1327 and HB 839 have two more. None of the Senate companions of these bills has been heard in committee.

Media Roundup:

• Prisons may be privatized before taxpayers know consequences http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-capview-column-deslatte012212-20120120,0,6203904.column
• More-expensive inmates shifted from prisons to be privatized http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-01-23/news/os-prison-inmates-moved-20120123_1_private-prisonsprivatization-proposal-inmates
• Several counties scale back hours of early voting in primary http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/several-counties-scale-back-hours-of-early-voting-inprimary/1211899
• Fla. Civil Rights Hall of Fame inductees announced http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/23/2603769/fla-civilrights-hall-of-fame.html#storylink=cpy
• Florida lawmakers file new round of anti-abortion bills http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/florida-lawmakers-file-new-round-of-anti-abortion-2123141.html
• School prayer bill on its way to the Senate floor http://floridaindependent.com/65730/school-prayer-bill-on-its-way-to-the-senate-floor
• Fla. could allow random testing of public workers http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_XGR_DRUG_TESTING_FLOL-?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=
• Anti-shackling bill passes unanimously in House committee http://floridaindependent.com/65969/anti-shackling-bill-passes-unanimously-in-house-committee

What to look out for next week:

Prison privatization will certainly continue to move forward quickly as the Senate debates SB 2038 on the floor. The House is slated to debate final state House and Congressional redistricting maps on the floor and vote on final passage. And look out for more anti-choice efforts in the House as subcommittees meet for the final time next week and committees meet only twice more as the session begins to wind down. Stay tuned for ways you can help defend freedom and liberty in Tallahassee anywhere you are.

Action Items:

If you haven’t already, contact your State Senator and urge him / her to VOTE NO on SB 98. Protect the religious freedom rights of Florida’s public school students. Find your Senator’s contact information by clicking here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/
Contact your State Representative to oppose further restrictions on access to abortion. Find your Representatives contact information by clicking here: http://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/representatives.aspx
To read more about the bills, please visit http://www.leg.state.fl.us