A bill that would end eight years of disputes over red-light cameras is on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist’s desk.

The Senate gave final approval to the measure (HB 325) with a 30-7 vote just before noon. The House passed it last week with a 77-33 vote.

The bill would allow cities and counties to use the cameras, set fines at $158 per ticket and possibly put an end to court cases challenging local governments’ issuance of tickets without a state rule backing them up.

The proposal is Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson’s number one priority because of an accident nearly a decade ago in which several Palm Beachers were killed in an intersection collision.

(more…)

Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, said this morning a bill that would impose penalties for drivers who are texting is not dead.

The Senate approved the legislation this morning in a 34-4 vote, sending it to the House.

“I think we all recognize that texting is a huge safety issue,” Detert said. “People who are talking on their cell phone, they tend to slow down a little, but people who are texting while driving tend to drift into other lanes so while we don’t like to legislate personal behavior, what we’re doing here is legislating personal safety.”

On Monday, House Finance and Tax Council Chairwoman Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said the texting bill won’t get a floor vote in her chamber this year.

The bill would make the first violation of texting while driving punishable by a $30 fine and the second by a $60 fine.

“Send the folks down the hall a message,” Detert said this morning referring to House members. “by voting this bill in a large measure out of the Senate and letting 119 members decide, not just one member, on what to do on this bill.”

Horses rejoice. Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to sign a proposal approved in both chambers this session that increases penalties for horse abuse and illegal sale or marketing of horse meat, as well as bans temporary employees who have been convicted of animal cruelty from working on horses.

_Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, proposed the legislation, writing it with the help of Palm Beach Equine Clinic veterinarian Scott Swerdlin.

“This is truly a Palm Beach home town bill,” Abruzzo said. “The horse community made me aware of some of the abuses occurring and I was disgusted by it.”

The bill (HB 765) is named after Victoria McCullough and Ivonne Rodriguez. McCullough is a horse advocate in Wellington and owner of Triumph Project stables.

Abruzzo said Rodriguez is the owner of a horse in Miami-Dade County that was viciously slaughtered, likely for its meat.

Under the legislation, it is unlawful for any person to transport, distribute, sell, purchase or possess horsemeat for human consumption that is not clearly stamped, marked, and described as horsemeat for human consumption or horsemeat that is not acquired from a licensed slaughterhouse.

Anyone in violation of the provision, will face a minimum mandatory fine of $3,500 and a minimum mandatory sentence of one year incarceration. The same holds true for anyone convicted of abusing a horse.

Gov. Charlie Crist said he hopes to decide whether to run for U.S. Senate as a Republican or as an independent by Thursday. He must file his formal election papers by Friday at noon, or 12 hours before the legislature has to complete its work.

“I’d like to go ahead and get that concluded then look forward to the last day of session,” Crist said.

Crist says he hasn’t made up his mind yet. But it looks like he’s likely to abandon the GOP.

Asked if he thinks the Republican Party has changed, he said, “Things ebb and flow and that’s true of parties and other institutions. And certainly that’s part of what’s happening in Florida.”

The Republican forcing Crist’s hand, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, is planning to file his election papers today. Rubio’s campaign ridiculed Crist for suggesting he’s “listening to the people” about his campaign decision.

“If Crist was truly listening to Floridians, he would hear concerns about increased spending, mounting debt and policies out of Washington that are leading our country in the wrong direction,” Rubio spokesman Joe Pounder wrote to reporters this morning.

“Marco has been listening and as he has throughout this campaign, will be speaking to those critical issues at today’s event. We have yet to hear Floridians express concerns about how Charlie Crist can extend his future as a career politician.”

Gov. Charlie Crist was among the first Florida politicians to raise the once taboo topic of expanding oil and gas drilling in state waters.

But Crist said this morning he’s concerned about the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico where a rig exploded last week off the Louisiana coast. Oil continued to spew from the floor of the Gulf on Monday, expanding the slick toward Florida, Mississippi and Alabama.

“If this doesn’t give somebody pause, there’s something wrong,” Crist said. “This is, as I understand it, a pretty new rig with some modern technology involved.

“As I’ve always said, it would have to be far enough, clean enough and safe enough. I’m not sure this was far enough. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t clean enough. And it doesn’t sound like it was safe enough.”

Crist is planning to visit Pensacola this afternoon to monitor the slick.

The House and Senate unanimously did away with the statute of limitations on sexual crimes against children between the ages of 12 and 15 today, sending the bill to Gov. Charlie Crist for signature.

Palm Beach Gardens attorney Michael Dolce, who was repeatedly raped by his Maryland neighbor at the age of seven, has tried for six years to get the measure passed but the Catholic Church has thwarted his efforts.

Senate bill sponsor Dave Aronberg introduced Dolce, who watched from the public gallery and received a thank-you from Sen. Mike Fasano, who was acting as president of the chamber.

“Michael, on behalf of the Florida Senate, thank you for your good work, my friend, thank you,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said.

Florida’s current laws gave children between the ages of 12 and 16 three years to file criminal charges although studies show that it is often 15 years before victims go public with their accusations.

“Overwhelming. Very, very grateful that we finally said to these monsters time will never protect them. The law will protect our kids first,” said Dolce, who launched a citizen’s initiative called “Protect Our Kids First” to amend the constitution to remove the statute of limitations because the legislature failed to change the law.

Also looking on were influential lobbyist Ron Book and his daugher, Lauren Book-Lim, whose nanny sexually molested her from the age of 11.

“This is a huge deal. It’s just incredible. We’re so excited,” Book-Lim said.

Up to 70 percent of child molesters walk free because of the time restriction that keeps their victims from pressing charges, said Aronberg.

“This bill is a long time coming. Because there is no statute of limitations for the pain of victims. There is no statute of limitations for the shame and humiliation,” said Aronberg, D-Greenacres.

The Senate approved the bill with 34-0 vote; the House passed it earlier today by a 114-0 vote.

Crist has indicated that he would sign the bill into law.

With Republican congressional hopeful Allen West trumpeting an internal poll that shows him edging U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, Klein’s campaign responded this afternoon by blasting West, who was recently endorsed by Sarah Palin.

“Voters in Florida’s 22nd congressional district will have the opportunity to compare Congressman Ron Klein’s record of fighting to protect Medicare and Social Security, creating Florida jobs, and fighting for veterans, to the extreme rhetoric and positions of Allen West and his out-of-state puppet masters like Sarah Palin,” said Klein campaign spokeswoman Sarah Rothschild.

“While Allen West is focused on a poll for the November election, Congressman Ron Klein is working every day to stimulate the economy and on bipartisan solutions that will protect Florida homeowners, crack down on Medicare fraud and impose tougher sanctions on the rogue regime in Iran.”

West campaign manager Josh Grodin offered this take when the poll was released:

“This survey shows that how out of touch the politics practiced and preached by Ron Klein in Washington have become with the citizens of Florida’s 22nd Congressional District. He is clearly in trouble, so I’d be expecting desperation to become an overall theme of his campaign.” 

One of the Derek Black Nineteen has come forward.

Republican state House candidate D.J. DeRenzo says he supported Black’s failed bid for membership on the Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee this month in hopes of “witnessing to Mr. Black a policy of inclusion as opposed to exclusion.”

Black, 21, is a self-described “white person who is concerned about discrimination against white people.” He’s the son of a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard.

The GOP’s 87-19 secret-ballot vote to reject Black prompted an animal-rights activist to e-mail REC members last week trying to identify and embarrass Black’s 19 supporters.

DeRenzo, who calls himself a “Bleeding Heart Republican” and whose campaign Web site includes Spanish and Creole sections, notes he also publicly supported giving Michael Vick a second chance after Vick’s imprisonment for being involved in a dog-fighting ring.

“Love conquers all things,” says DeRenzo. Read his entire e-mail after the jump….

(more…)

The House unanimously approved a bill (HB 7215) today that requires property appraisers to consider situations such as the designation of a cancer cluster when determining the taxable value of a home.

The issue is especially important to residents of the Acreage, where the Palm Beach County Health Department declared a cancer cluster earlier this year.

But Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits said the measure is nothing but “feel good,” legislation that doesn’t change his office’s actions.

“All this does is codify what we already do,” Nikolits said. “This says, ‘Do what you’re already supposed to do.’”

Monday’s vote sends the wide-ranging bill, which deals also with part of property tax and assessment laws, to the Senate.

Nikolits said part of his problem in dealing with the cancer cluster is that there are no defined boundaries for it withing the Acreage _ a 110-square-mile area.

Already, the average sale price of homes in the community has fallen from $395,759 at the peak of the real estate boom in 2006 to $196,847 last year _ a 50 percent drop.

“Values have gone down all over the county,” Nikolits said, adding that he’s not seeing anything out of the ordinary as far as values go in the Acreage.

House and Senate budget chiefs are closing in on a final budget, with lawmakers backing off a plan to cut state workers’ salaries and agreeing to a ban on funding for human stem cell research.

For the first time, lawmakers and other high-ranking state workers would have to pay a nominal fee for their health insurance, from $100 a year.

(more…)

The Florida Senate unanimously approved a measure aimed at getting rid of the pill mill plague spreading from South Florida to the West Coast.

Under the bill (SB 2272), doctors in good standing and others except felons could own the pain clinics, they would not be allowed to advertise and would have to register with the Department of Health and submit to inspections.

More than seven Floridians die every day from overdoses of prescription drugs, bill sponsor Sen. Mike Fasano said.

“This year we want to make sure those pain management clinics are registered and inspected so they stop the killing,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said.

The proposal is one of Palm Beach County’s priorities. The House has yet to vote on its version.

Republican congressional challenger Allen West’s campaign released a poll this morning that shows West with a 44-to-42 percent lead over U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton.

The poll of 400 “likely general election voters” was taken April 18-19 by Republican polling firm Wilson Research Strategies and has a 4.9 percent margin of error. That makes the race a statistical dead heat — which is not good news for an well-financed, well-known incumbent.

The poll found West is known by 49 percent of District 22 voters and, among those who know him, is viewed favorably by 23 percent and unfavorably by 8 percent. Klein is known by 93 percent of voters and has a favorable/unfavorable score of 43/31, according to the poll.

Click here to read the polling memo.

The bill (HB 525) was unanimously approved this morning by the Florida House. A similar measure is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

The proposal would eliminate the statute of limitations on sex crimes against children 16 years old and younger. Gov. Charlie Crist has indicated he will sign the bill.

Rep. Chris Dorworth, the Lake Mary Republican sponsoring the bill, thanked two people for helping push the bill: Michael Dolce, a Royal Palm Beach lawyer who says he was sexually molested by a neighbor when he was 7 years old; and Lauren Book-Lim, the daughter of a powerful Tallahassee lobbyist who was sexually molested by her nanny.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice and frequent swing vote Anthony Kennedy will speak at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch on May 14. Tickets are available only to members of the Forum Club and the Palm Beach County Bar Association.

Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer and the retiring John Paul Stevens have spoken to the Forum Club in the past. Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was a Forum Club speaker as well.

The Palm Beach County GOP voted 87-19 in a secret-ballot vote this month to reject a membership bid by Derek Black, the son of a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard.

Then came the mystery e-mails to committee members.

The source turns out to be animal-rights activist and Green Party member Nicolas Atwood of West Palm Beach, who says he was trying to identify and embarrass Black’s 19 supporters.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

Among the items settled at this morning’s budget negotiations is $250,000 for the state’s 30 rape crisis centers.

Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander made sure the money for the centers that provide emergency services to rape victims made it into Florida’s $69 billion budget after President Jeff Atwater was asked about the item yesterday evening.

Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said at the time that he had dozens of similar requests from advocates sitting on his desk and he had yet to sort through them.

However the other agencies fared, rape victim advocates are calling Alexander, R-Lake Wales, a hero today.

Alexander and House counterpart David Rivera, R-Miami, have finished up their work for today. Atwater and House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, will likely iron out the final differences between their two spending plans by Tuesday.

Here’s our story about the loyalty oath. And another from earlier this week about Republicans beating Crist to the punch.

Joe Budd, the Boca Raton financial planner who narrowly lost a Feb. 2 special GOP primary in congressional District 19, said Friday he’s running again for the heavily Democratic seat.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, won the seat in an April 13 special election with 62.1 percent against Republican Ed Lynch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick. Lynch was the GOP nominee after edging Budd by less than 1 percent in a three-candidate primary.

The period for congressional candidates to pay filing fees and submit necessary paperwork to qualify for the 2010 ballot is next week, from noon Monday to noon Friday.

Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 2-to-1 in the district and Barack Obama got 65 percent there in 2008. Budd will argue to Democratic voters that their “loyalty to the party has been taken advantage of.”

Read Budd’s complete candidate statement after the jump…..

(more…)

Gov. Charlie Crist wouldn’t be the political superstar he is today without the state GOP’s support, former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Al Cardenas said.

Cardenas took over as the head of the RPOF shortly after Crist made his first U.S. Senate bid in 1998. Incumbent U.S. Bob Graham trounced Crist in that race. Two years later, Crist ran for education commissioner and won with 54 percent of the vote.

“When he was given an opportunity to rebuild his political career, the party almost single-handedly funded his campaign for commissioner of education and revived his career,” Cardenas said. “He’s done very well on his own efforts but never independent of what the party’s been able to do for him.”

Based on the RPOF’s assistance to Crist in each of his campaigns, Cardenas said, Crist ought to “either stay in the process and try to win the primary or do what Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan and George Bush and everybody else has done who didn’t win the nomination and support the ticket.”

Florida candidates owe fealty to their parties, Cardenas said.

“There are some states where elected officials do their own thing and the party is not very active and there are others where a majority status has been built on the shoulders of thousands of donors and contributors,” he explained. “We happen to be the type of state where the party literally jump-starts people’s careers. When you live in that environment, you have to have a different loyalty approach to the party.”

Secretary of State Kurt Browning pounding the Capitol halls today with one thing on his mind: saving the state’s libraries.

“This is a good government issue. This is motherhood and apple pies, public libraries,” said Browning.

He’s about halfway there.

State lawmakers originally scrubbed all funding – $21.2 million – for public libraries from the budget.

But during negotiations between the House and the Senate, the House has put in about $11 million and the Senate slightly more with $13 million.

That’s still not enough to reach the $21.2 million required to draw down about $9 million in federal aid. The state and federal funds keep the libraries in small counties alive and help purchase new books and other materials in others.

With the state’s economy in the tank, more and more Floridians are turning to libraries for free Internet access to search online for jobs and assistance.

The extra money for the libraries – about $10 million – is a drop in the bucket for the state’s $68 billion budget.

“I know money’s tough and I know money’s tight but you’re talking about some library systems that are so dependent on those state dollars” including the one in rural Hardee County that happens to be in Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander’s district, Browning pointed out.

“We need to have these libraries funded. So yes, we’re working on it.”