Pam Bondi and 22 other attorneys general are demanding that Urban Outfitters quit selling accessories they say is glorifying drug use and “undermining” efforts to combat prescription drug abuse.

The trendy company is targeting the hipster crowd with a line of products that riff on prescription drugs, including a set of syringe-shaped shot glasses along with shot glasses, beer “koozies” and coasters that look like prescription pads.

The Rx-line appears to be as focused on booze as drugs. The prescription-pad coasters bear the label “Al Koholic, M.D.” whose address is on “Brewskis Lane” in “Sloshville, NY.” The beer koozie, also “prescribed” by “Dr. Koholic, Al,” appears to be a prescription bottle for “BOOZEMIN.” And the “prescription shot” glasses are printed with the “Rx #: VRY-NBR8TD” with a quantity “As many as you can stomach” and refills: “Sure!”

But for Bondi, whose made fighting prescription drug abuse her top issue since taking office in 2011, and the other top lawyers, the kitschy barware isn’t a joke.

“Profiting from a ‘prescription line’ that is contrary to Florida’s efforts to combat prescription drug overdoses and drinking is unacceptable. We are calling on Urban Outfitters to forgo a few sales and help us save a lot of lives,” Bondi said in a statement.

The products “demean the thousands of deaths that occur each month in the United States from accidental overdoses,” Bondi and the AGs from 22 states and Guam wrote to Urban Outfitters CEO and Chairman Richard A. Hayne in a letter dated today. “These products are not in any way fun or humorous but make light of this rampant problem. We invite you to pull these products from your shelves and join with us to fight prescription drug abuse.”

Read the attorneys general message here or after the jump.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi has sued BP and Halliburton for more than $5.4 billion for lost revenue to the state caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blast.

“We know BP has caused a tremendous amount of damage to our state,” Bondi told reporters at a press conference this afternoon. “Millions of barrels of oil were spilled into our Gulf for months and months during the height of tourism season in our state. There is no doubt in my mind that BP must be required to compensate our state for our losses.”

Bondi said she offered the oil giant a deal 90 days ago but received no response. She filed the lawsuit on Saturday, the three-year deadline for lawsuits for damages. The 86-day gusher clotted the Panhandle’s pristine beaches and emerald waters with oil at the onset of the region’s tourist season.

“We had hoped BP would do the right thing and work with us…yet that hasn’t happened,” Bondi said, adding that the state “did not even receive a response” from BP. “It’s astonishing to me considering the harm BP has caused our state and our people. Floridians deserve better and we are going to receive it from BP.”

Bondi said the bulk of the $5.4 billion she is seeking is based on anticipated future losses, mainly sales and use taxes, corporate taxes and documentary stamp taxes from a drop in real estate transactions.

GOP legislative leaders vowed that $200 million from a mortgage foreclosure settlement will be spent on helping homeowners but said they do not know yet how they will divvy up the money.

“We’re not going to be spending this money on members’ favorite projects that have nothing to do with the crisis. The idea is to focus the resources on helping the people who are in the greatest needs,” House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said at a press conference Thursday with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

Weatherford pledged to work with Bondi, who wrangled with the legislative leaders for months over control of Florida’s $334 million settlement made in March as part of a national agreement between attorneys general and the nation’s five largest banks.

“You’ll be hearing from us,” Bondi, standing beside Weatherford, promised.

A legislative committee last week finalized Bondi’s request for $60 million of the settlement. More than half of the money will go to first-time homebuyers for down no-interest payment assistance. The rest is earmarked for housing counseling, legal aid and the courts to help a backlog of foreclosure cases.

Bondi and lawmakers struck a deal in November that handed her control of the $60 million and put the legislature in charge of the bulk of the funds – $200 million – to be spent on “housing-related programs.” They won’t finalize their spending plan until the end of the legislative session in May, more than a year after the settlement was reached.

Bondi, praised by both legislative leaders for her office’s work in reaching the settlement with the banks, said she’d like to see the money spent on:
_ Foreclosure prevention;
_ Neighborhood revitalization;
_ Affordable housing;
_ Home buyer or renter assistance;
_ Additional legal assistance;
_ Counseling.

Flanked by Bondi, Weatherford told reporters on Thursday that the money will not be used to replace funding already spent on housing-related items.

“There’s no intention to do a bait-and-switch on this,” Weatherford said, adding that the leaders and Bondi had developed a trust “to use these funds to help the people who were actually harmed.”

Dr. Joseph Bondi, father of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, has died at age 76, following a long battle with leukemia.

Bondi, a Tampa native, died Tuesday. He had been a school teacher, administrator and college professor, and served on the Temple Terrace City Council, including a stint as mayor from 1974-78.

“My beautiful Daddy went to heaven yesterday,” Pam Bondi said Wednesday. “He was surrounded by all his family. He fought a great fight with leukemia.”

Joseph Bondi is survived by his wife of 52 years, Patsy, two daughters and a son. A service is scheduled for Sunday at Christ our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Temple Terrace.

Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the Mitt Romney- Paul Ryan ticket for women voters Tuesday, saying the Republicans’ themes on jobs and the economy should resonate for all voters.

Bondi, who has campaigned in Virginia and New Hampshire for Romney, told the Florida delegation at the Republican National Convention that under President Obama, women have suffered job losses that have endangered their families.

Meanwhile, she said Democrats have sought to distract women voters “with ridiculous distractions that don’t make sense.”

While Bondi did not expand on how the Republican ticket’s support for stricter abortion laws was being twisted by Democrats, she said the economy was the top issue on the minds of women voters.

“Every woman I speak to, cares about the same thing,” Bondi told delegates at the Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor.

“The only way to stop it is to get Mitt Romney in the White House and Barack Obama out of it,” Bondi said.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and former Gov. Jeb Bush have been named part of the Republican National Convention lineup for Wednesday’s third night of the event.

The economy — and soon-to-be Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s ability to fix it — will be a central theme of the night. The GOP mantra for Wednesday will be “We Can Change It,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

Priebus said the Wednesday night program “will show that the Romney approach is both optimistic and achievable.” 

Bondi and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens are scheduled to share an early evening stage, shortly after 2008 presidential nominee John McCain addresses the gathering.  Bush will be on a little later, amid vice-presidential runners-up Rob Portman and Tim Pawlenty, who will speak before Romney running mate Paul Ryan takes the stage.

 

With Democrats fueling campaign talk of the Republican Party’s alleged war on women, a leading Florida GOP group Wednesday launched its own campaign to promote Republican women candidates and officeholders.

The Florida Federation of Republican Women announced its 2012 Women to Watch list, headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Lieutenant Gov. Jennifer Carroll, the first women elected to the posts in Florida.

 The goal of the campaign is to help women candidates find role models and campaign strategies based on the success of those Republican women already in office, said Cindy Graves, president of the federation.

“As in the case of the attorney general and lieutenant governor, each ran completely different campaigns as one was a political newcomer and the other a seasoned politician running as part of a ticket, but both campaigns were well organized, well funded and driven by confident women candidates who not only worked tirelessly but utilized every resource available and built huge consensus among Republicans and ultimately won,” Graves said.

The effort’s web site is here: www.ffrw.net 

 Florida Republicans are pushing back even as Obama campaigns in Colorado where in prepared remarks he is expected to criticize rival Mitt Romney for being out of touch with female voters and looking to “turn back the clock on decades of progress” with his policies.

Obama is scheduled to be introduced by Georgetown University Law School graduate and health care advocate Sandra Fluke, who gained national attention earlier this year after being ridiculed by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh in March called Fluke a “prostitute” and “slut” after she testified before Congress in support of full insurance coverage for birth control, even if a church-affiliated employer objects. He later apologized.

Obama is expected to emphasize Tuesday the role the Affordable Care Act will play in promoting women’s health. Polls show Obama heavily favored over Romney among women in key swing states including Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

 

 

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will have a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, the GOP announced this morning.

Also added today: Texas tea party sensation Ted Cruz, the former solicitor general who just won the state’s GOP Senate primary; recall-surviving Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose battles with public employee unions have made him a conservative hero and labor target; Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno; and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens.

Said GOP Chairman Reince Preibus: “These five remarkable individuals will bring a diversity of experiences and perspectives to the convention stage in Tampa, where they will voice their support for Governor Mitt Romney. They have each served the public in their own impressive ways, and they all share a dedication to the Republican principles of individual opportunity, responsible government and personal liberty.”

Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Jeb Bush are among the speakers the GOP announced Monday and Tuesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday on the Affordable Care Act intensifies focus on the measure’s Medicaid expansion — with states given authority to shun the added coverage outlined by the federal law.

Medicaid already absorbs about almost one-third of Florida’s $69.9 billion state budget. Gov. Rick Scott and Republican leaders in the Legislature have warned Florida taxpayers can’t afford to underwrite any expansion in a program serving poor, disabled and elderly Floridians.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a former Republican congressman, was among the first to lash out at the decision.

“Unconstitutional or not, the so-called ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’ is the wrong policy for reforming health care and the wrong direction for America,” Putnam said. “Individual liberties and the doctor-patient relationship took a step back today.”  

 Despite his longheld opposition, Scott last week reiterated his earlier stance that the state would comply with the law, following the Supreme Court’s ruling. Still, he said he remained “optimistic” the sweeping legislation would be overturned by justices.

Now the focus is on the fate of Medicaid, which already absorbs $21.4 billion of Florida’s $69.9 billion state budget. State taxpayers pick up $9.7 billion of the program, with the remainder covered by the federal government.

State officials said Florida taxpayers will have to pay $121.2 million more next year, mostly to cover the enrollment of those already eligible for coverage but who have stayed out of the program for various reasons. The Affordable Care Act’s mandate is likely to bring these Floridians into Medicaid.

But cost of annual coverage is expected to reach an additional $473 million by 2016.

But health care advocates have argued the Affordable Care  Act is worth the extra cost. Florida has 4 million have no health coverage, among the largest populations in the nation without coverage.

Workers losing jobs and health coverage during the economic downturn swelled the ranks of low-income, elderly and disabled Floridians covered by Medicaid from 2.1 million in 2007 to 3 million this year, with the number forecast to grow to 5 million by 2020 under the new law.

Under the law, the federal government would absorb all of the initial expansion costs, but states will have to start paying a percentage in 2016 if they want to draw federal dollars.

 The states’ share for those becoming eligible under the new law would max out at 10 percent in 2020, but even that, state officials say, is expected to cost an extra $1 billion in Florida.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld key provisions of the 2010 federal health care overhaul Thursday, dealing a major defeat to Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Republican leaders, who have been clamoring for justices to kill the law.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater initially issued a statement praising the high court for striking down the law’s central provision – that citizens must obtain health insurance. But Atwater quickly recalled his email when it became clear the court upheld the mandate.

Scott is expected to respond to the ruling close to noon.  Attorney General Pam Bondi, who also spearheaded Florida’s role in challenging the 2010 federal  law and attended March arguments in the case, also plans to speak then.

Scott, Bondi and other members of the Florida Cabinet were meeting as the state’s Clemency Board when the ruling came down Thursday.

Florida Republican leaders, however, are likely to hail the court’s decision that states cannot lose all Medicaid funding if they fail to embrace the law’s sweeping expansion of the program serving the poor, elderly and disabled.

Scott and leaders in the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature have clamored for Congress to grant the state’s Medicaid block grants, a call that is expected to be revived with Thursday’s ruling. Scott has already urged Congress to repeal the 2010 law, a push that is certain to play a pivotal role in this fall’s presidential race.

Block grants would allow states to design their own health programs for low-income, elderly and disabled residents, that  fit within their own budgets.

Critics, however, see block grants as merely a tactic by states seeking to cut benefits.

Although states’ rights is a key part of the challenge raised by Florida and 25 other states to the federal health care overhaul, a similar argument failed to sway a majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices ruling Monday in a Montana campaign finance case.

The argument already failed to move Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who declined a request  to have Florida join 22 states and the District of Columbia siding with Montana in urging  justices to allow it to structure its own unique finance law.

Florida, however, is a lead plaintiff in the effort to overturn the federal health care law, on similar states’ rights grounds.

Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, was among those urging Bondi to intercede in the Montana case, especially given Florida’s aggressive defense of states’ rights in health care.

“I was surprised Florida isn’t on that list,” Clemens wrote Bondi in a letter last month. “If corporate interests are allowed to use the Citizens United decision to encourage corporate corruption and patronage at the state level, the likely outcome is that average, everyday citizens will lose their voice.”

 Bondi’s own website says the state’s motive for challenging the federal health care law as unconstitutional is because the measure exceeds federal authority and infringes on individual liberty and states’ rights. Her office has said it did not see a need for Florida to intervene in the Montana case. 

Justices ruled 5-4 Monday that Montana could not ignore the 2010 Citizens United decision, which ruled that the First Amendment bars limiting independent political spending by corporations and unions. The court ruled such expenditures “do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”

 

 

 

 

With former Gov. Jeb Bush and other big-name Republicans backing Rep. Connie Mack‘s Senate bid and polls showing him with a sizeable lead over his GOP rivals, the Mack campaign says a debate of Republican candidates would only help Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

So Mack has turned down invitations from The Orlando Sentinel and The Tampa Bay Times to participate in debates with GOP rivals George LeMieux, Mike McCalister and David Weldon. And Mack has effectively said no to an invitation from Leadership Florida to participate in a July 24 Republican primary debate in Tallahassee.

“We are prepared and willing to debate Sen. Nelson and feel that at this point any such Republican primary debate exercise would only serve to benefit Sen. Nelson, which no Republican wants to see,” Mack spokesman David James said today.

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An independent audit of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility resulted in an extra $64 million for more than 7,400 victims whose claims had originally been denied by former administrator Ken Feinberg.

More than half of the money will be going to Floridians whose claims were erroneously rejected, according to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. As a result of the audit, the Justice Department approved $37.7 million for 4,450 Florida individuals and businesses whom Feinberg turned down.

The U.S. Justice Department released the preliminary audit findings Thursday, one day before the second anniversary of the massive explosion that killed 11 oil rig workers and spewed an estimated 206 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It took more than 85 days for engineers to finally stanch the oil flow from BP’s Macondo well that devastated coastal wetlands, stained Florida Panhandle beaches, killed wildlife and shut down commercial fishing in the Gulf for extended periods of time.

The initial findings of the audit were released The audit, released by the U.S. Justice Department today, found that overall Feinberg did a fine job distributing more than $6.2 billion – less than half of the $20 billion BP set aside to pay for damages caused by the spill – to more than 220,000 claimants over 18 months.

“While our independent evaluation did uncover instances in which errors were made in the claims evaluation process, in general, the GCCF appeared to have consistently applied its protocols and methodologies in processing claims,” BDO Consulting auditors wrote.

The audit found that Feinberg’s GCCF denied about 60 percent of the claims. Initially, claims were denied because the types of businesses trying to get paid were not eligible for payment or because claimants failed to provide required financial documents. During the second part of the claims process, the majority of claims turned down were rejected because they could not document that their financial losses were caused by the massive Deepwater Horizon oil blast.

Feinberg made changes to the claims process in response to problems identified by his workers, likely adding to some of the inconsistencies in payments, the auditors found.

But they praised him, given the “complexity and unprecedented nature” of Feinberg’s task.

“The GCCF was designed to respond, and did respond, with urgency to the economic difficulties of those most likely affected by the Spill. However, because of the complexity and unprecedented nature of the task undertaken by the GCCF, it was inevitable that some claimants and stakeholders would have concerns about its operations. While hundreds of thousands of individual and business claimants received payment without litigation over the two years immediately following the Spill, many others have sought an alternative to the GCCF. We hope
that all those who have been genuinely affected by the Spill, ultimately receive an appropriate resolution to their claims,” the auditors wrote.

Claimants encountered a variety of problems, including being denied even though the companies they worked for had been approved. Others complained that about inconsistency. In some instance, employees who worked the same shift at the same restaurant received different treatment.

Bondi, one of the Gulf Coast state attorneys general who pushed for the audit last year, specifically wanted the audit to include an investigation into the discrepancies.

“I had always wanted an audit in order to bring transparency to the claims process, and thankfully Floridians will now receive the millions in relief that they deserve,” Bondi said in a statement.

UPDATE: The Florida Supreme Court has set April 20 for oral arguments on the revised Florida Senate maps submitted for review today by Attorney General Pam Bondi. The Senate has hired former Supreme Court justice Raoul Cantero at $675 an hour to help sell its maps to his former colleagues.

The revised Florida Senate maps are now in the hands of the Florida Supreme Court after Attorney General Pam Bondi sent them to the high court for review today. And the group that backed the “Fair Districts” constitutional amendment responsible for the Court’s rejecting the original maps also filed their competing plan, saying the Senate’s modifications still don’t meet muster.

Bondi waited less than 24 hours to send the original maps – rejected by the Court last month – but hung on to the revamped districts for more than a week. She had until April 11 to deliver them. The Court has 60 days to act on the plan, and can approve it or reject it and replace it with one of its own or another, such as the Fair District’s proposal.

Democrats complained that Bondi’s delay was intentional and part of a Republican strategy to pressure the Court and the U.S. Justice Department into hurried scrutiny of the proposed districts. Candidate qualifying for the November elections begins on June 4, meaning political wannabes may be filing to run in districts that may not exist by the time the election rolls around.

Also today, the groups that backed the constitution’s new “Fair Districts” amendment – the League of Women Voters, the National Council of La Raza and Florida Common Cause – submitted their own version of the Senate’s 40 districts they say are more likely to comply with the amendment that, among other things, bars lawmakers from crafting maps that protect incumbents.

While the Court signed off on the Florida House’s redrawn 120 districts, the justices found the original set of Senate maps “rife with objective indicators of improper intent” and tossed out eight of the 40 Senate’s proposed districts.

“The Court gave the Senate a second chance, but the Senate just did exactly what it has done in every redistricting cycle – drawn districts to protect themselves and their political allies rather than protecting the voting rights of all Floridians. That is why we felt compelled to propose an alternative plan,” LWV president Deirdre Macnab said in a statement.

A week after the Florida House approved the Legislature’s latest attempt to redraw Senate districts, the plan Tuesday still had not been forwarded by Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi to the state Supreme Court.

Bondi’s delay is raising concerns among Democrats — who say it’s part of a larger GOP strategy to heighten pressure on the court and U.S. Justice Department, which also must approve the state plan. Candidate qualifying is set to begin June 4, and the timetable for the reviews already comes close to hitting that deadline.

 ”Florida Republicans efforts to delay the court’s review of the maps is nothing more than a Hail Mary pass,” said Florida Democratic Party spokeswoman Brannon Jordan. ”After the Florida Supreme Court’s historic rejection of the first state Senate map, Republicans are not confident their second gerrymandered map can withstand court muster so they are stalling.”

The week that has passed since the special session ended with a redrawn Senate plan represents a marked contrast to Bondi’s speed in sending both a House and Senate redistricting proposal to the court in February.  Under state law, Bondi has 15 days to act after legislative approval.

But when the first plans were approved, Bondi sent the maps to justices about 24 hours after the final vote in the Senate. At that time, Republican legislative leaders had talked of fixing any failings the court might find in the maps while the Legislature was still in session.

Instead, justices unanimously approved the House plan. But they rejected the Senate’s proposal in a 5-2 decision also made public March 9, the last day of the regular session. The special session which ended last Tuesday was called by Gov. Rick Scott for lawmakers to redraw the Senate map.

House Redistricting Committee Chairman Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said he has “no idea” why Bondi has held the revamped plan a week.  Bondi’s office said the attorney general has until April 11 to file a petition with justices.

“We will file the petition by the deadline,” said Bondi spokeswoman, Jennifer Meale.

Weatherford said he is confident, “it will not have an effect on the (qualifying) deadline.”

But Democrats say the clock-eating approach fits a pattern.

Attorneys for the Republican-led Legislature have already sought — unsuccessfully — to have a trial delayed until after the November elections on the lawsuit filed by Democrats and allied organizations challenging proposed congressional district boundaries.

Last week, Bondi joined with House and Senate attorneys in asking federal officials to begin their review of the new Senate plan — even before it goes to the state Supreme Court.

 But Democrats think that request, likely a longshot, may be mostly public relations. They say it’s intended to blunt accusations that Republicans are stalling  in hopes courts will adopt the current map to avoid adding chaos to the candidate filing period.

“I don’t know if the Justice Department will look at the Senate map,” Weatherford said. “But now there’s nothing stopping them.

“The Supreme Court could look at it, too, even before it’s sent by the attorney general. It’s all online,” Weatherford said. 

 

The U.S. Justice Department was sent the Florida Senate’s latest attempt at redrawing its own political boundaries Friday in a bid to have the plan approved by the state’s scheduled June 4 candidate qualifying period.

The Senate map, endorsed this week by the House, still must go to the state Supreme Court, which then has 30 days to act on the proposal. Justices rejected the initial Senate rewrite, forcing a 15-day special session which ended with Tuesday’s House vote.

But federal officials have their own 60-day window to review the proposed map. In light of the advancing date for candidates to file papers, attorneys for the House, Senate and Attorney General Pam Bondi, are clearly hoping the Justice Department review will overlap with that of Florida’s high court.

“In light of the imminent qualifying period, prompt consideration is requested,” the attorneys concluded.

The state is already in uncharted waters with the Supreme Court rejecting the first Senate plan as favoring incumbents and packing minority voters into districts.

Justices had validated legislative maps drawn by lawmakers in each of the previous 10-year redistricting cycles dating to 1972, when the court was first brought into the process.

Florida’s Democratic U.S. House delegation signed a letter to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi today expressing “grave concern” about the handling of the Trayvon Martin case more than a month after the unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford.

“We remain troubled that this incident occurred on February 26, 2012, and yet Mr. George Zimmerman has not been arrested,” says the letter signed by the six Florida Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Read the text of the letter after the jump…

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Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi have appointed a special prosecutor to take over the investigation of the shooting of Trayvon Martin, responding to increased pressure from national civil rights leaders outraged over the killing of the unarmed black 17-year-old by a neighborhood watch volunteer whom local authorities have not charged with any crime.

Scott and Bondi asked State Attorney Angela Corey of Jacksonville to take over for Seminole County State Attorney Norman Wolfinger. The appointment came the same day Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee temporarily stepped down amid outrage over his failure to charge George Zimmerman with any crime in the Feb. 26 shooting. Wolfinger said in a letter to Scotthe was stepping aside “in the interest of public safety” and to “avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.” The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating the case.

Scott also announced the formation of a task force headed by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, who is black, to look into the use of the state’s first-in-the-nation “stand your ground” law, which allows individuals to use deadly force to defend themselves when they feel threatened. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, and Lee said he lacked evidence to arrest him.

Several black lawmakers, including Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens who represents the district where Martin lived with his mother, had asked Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, to appoint special legislative committees to look into the law. Yesterday, both leaders said they did not believe the committees were yesterday. But today, Scott said they have agreed to suggest appointees to the task force.

Scott’s announcement of the task force comes two days after Scott held an impromptu meeting with about 50 black lawyers and civil rights leaders who marched to his office demanding he create such a panel to look into racial profiling.

Read Scott’s statement regarding the “Citizen Safety and Protection” task force after the jump.
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A year after creating a prescription drug “strike force,” Florida is moving from the “Oxy express” to a role model for the nation in cracking down on pill mills and illicit pain pill distribution, according to Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey.

The state’s Drug Enforcement Strike Force Teams, initiated by Scott with $800,000 last March, have seized almost 500,000 pills, 59 vehicles, 391 weapons and $4.7 million, according to Scott’s office. And they’ve made more than 2,150 arrests, including 34 doctors.

The dent in the illicit prescription drug trade comes from a combination of Scott’s “strike force” and tough laws – including restrictions limiting rogue doctors’ dispensing of drugs and the amount of drugs per patient they can prescribe – pushed by Bondi. Scott, Bondi, Bailey and a host of law enforcement and health officials boasted of the success at a press conference this afternoon.

“We have a long way to go,” Bondi, who testified before Congress on the issue last week, said, adding that the efforts have made a “tremendous difference in the war on prescription drugs.”

Last year, 90 of the country’s top 100 Oxycodone-purchasing doctors and 53 of the top 100 purchasing pharmacies were located in Florida. The number of doctors dropped 85 percent to 13 and the number of pharmacies went down to 19. And the number of pain clinics in the state has gone down from 800 to 508, according to Scott’s office.

And an interim report shows a nearly 8 percent drop in the number of people who prescription drug-related deaths in Florida from January through the end of June last year compared to the same six-month period the previous year.

From January 1 through July 1 last year, 1,173 people died with at least on prescription drug in their blood. The previous year, the 1,268 people died, a 7.9 percent decrease. Scott’s “strike force” was only in effect for half of that period and many of the restrictions on prescribing had not yet gone into effect. And the state’s prescription drug database was not yet up and running – that didn’t go online until October.

“This is a good news day,” Scott said, saying the drug force has had a “dramatic impact” over the past year. “People know now we are clearly the model.”

The crackdown on drug pushers is turning around the state’s reputation as the drug capital of the country, Bailey said.

“In one year, we’ve gone from being known as the Oxy-express to being a role model for other states dealing with this problem,” he said. “While we have made tremendous strides, we’re just getting started. Prescription drug trafficking remains a significant concern for Florida law enforcement.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi today joined six other GOP attorneys general in a lawsuit against President Obama’s administration over a controversial mandate requiring employers to offer health insurance offering free birth control.

Bondi and Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas are accusing the White House of violating freedom of religion with the requirement, a hot-button issue in the GOP presidential primary.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Nebraska, mirrors one filed this week by Ave Maria University, a small Catholic college near Naples, claiming its religious liberties are being violated by the administration’s order that its employees receive health insurance with no-cost contraceptive coverage.

“Government has no business forcing religious institutions and individuals to violate their sincerely held beliefs. This lawsuit is about protecting religious liberty and the rights of conscience, our most basic freedoms as Americans,” Bondi said in a press release.

Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include a Catholic High School, Catholic Social Services and a nun.