Palm Beach State College is positioned to draw $6.5 million for its new and controversial Loxahatchee Groves campus under state budget decisions reached late Saturday by House and Senate negotiators.

Also set to be included in the state’s $74-billion-plus spending plan is about $3 million for water projects across Palm Beach County, including $1 million for utility upgrades in financially-strapped Belle Glade and $400,000 for drainage work in Riviera Beach.

“We’ve pretty much wrapped up the numbers portion of the budget,” said Senate Budget Chief Joe Negron, R-Stuart.

Negron and his House counterpart, Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, will continue efforts tomorrow to reach consensus on legislation and technical provisions needed to implement the budget for the year beginning July 1.

Lawmakers have been flush with cash this spring for the first time in seven years, and it showed in Saturday’s homestretch negotiations. When the House and Senate offered rival lists of utility projects and college and university building efforts, Negron and McKeel found money to finance them all.

Among spending getting the go-ahead is $1.3 million for environmental improvements on the Loxahatchee River and $475,000 for seagrass, reef and other work on the Lake Worth Lagoon.

But the Palm Beach State College money has the potential to have the biggest effect on the county.

PBSC has been working on getting a fifth campus for five years and, with Saturday’s budget agreement, looks close to landing state cash to accomplish that goal this year in Loxahatchee Groves.

Whatever is approved by lawmakers, remains subject to review by Gov. Rick Scott. He hinted this week that he may freely wield his veto pen after lawmakers vote on the budget — which is expected Friday, the legislative session’s final scheduled day.

PBSC spokeswoman Grace Truman earlier told the Post that school officials feel they have made a strong case for receiving state funds.

“We’ve had the money proposed before, even had it vetoed once, but when we spent $4.5 million last fall for the land, I think that showed our commitment to the new campus,” Truman said.

But a petition drive by almost 300 Loxahatchee Groves residents opposing expansion, and the commercial development it will bring, continues to cloud the site.

Opponents want the expansion put to a voter referendum. But the town clerk has ruled the petition failed to meet terms of the town charter. The clerk’s ruling is now subject of a lawsuit by a residents group opposed to the campus.

After six years without a raise, state workers will have a little more money in their pockets under salary increases signed off on by House and Senate leaders Saturday evening.

Under the plan, state employees who earn less than $40,000 will get a $1,400-a-year pay hike. Those earning more than $40,000 will see $1,000 increases. The average state worker salary in 2010 was about $48,000, but that includes highly paid employees such as university presidents and agency heads.

Senate budget chief Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said the $1,400 raises, about 3 percent, will go to the bulk of the state’s nearly 100,000 workers, who he said earn less than $40,000 a year.

The deal also includes one-time bonuses based on merit and performance of between $500 and $600 for about 35 percent of state workers, Negron said.

“Both sides wanted to recognize the fact that our coworkers in state government not only here in the Capitol but all throughout Florida work hard every day. We appreciate their contribution to state government to our fellow citizens,” Negron said at a Saturday evening meeting with his House counterpart Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland.

State workers last got a pay bump in 2007 with $1,000 bonuses. Their last salary increase was a 3 percent hike the previous year.

The latest deal inched lawmakers closer towards closing out negotiations over the $74 billion budget before the session ends on Friday. Gov. Rick Scott’s spending plan had included merit-based raises only. And lawmakers still haven’t conceded to his demand for $2,500 across-the-board hikes for teachers.

Negron also did a turn-around on what was considered to be a settled item regarding license tags. Last night, the House and Senate agreed to put out to bid a contract for the tags which have been manufactured by PRIDE, a private company that uses inmates, for the past three decades. The House had wanted Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises Inc. to keep the contract.

But Saturday morning, Negron said the Senate changed its mind thanks to intense lobbying by some of his colleagues.

“One of the benefits of the conference process is it enables all of us to take a final look at each of these issues and get input from members of the conference both from those who are able to be here in person and also those who are able to talk to us by phone,” Negron said.

He said “a number of senators” called to say that PRIDE has “a long and distinguished track record of working with inmates helping them to gain employment skills, life skills and other things they will need when they complete their sentence to become productive members of society who can get and keep jobs.”

Negron didn’t elaborate about the availability of post-incarceration license tag-producing jobs.

Negron and McKeel were expected to meet late Saturday evening to discuss water and beach renourishment projects.

Gov. Rick Scott’s legislative agenda headed further into the ditch Friday night, as the Senate finally bent to the House’s will and accepted a 3 percent tuition increase for college and university students.

Scott has long opposed a tuition increase. And he had an ally in the Senate for the course of the legislative session, even as the House pushed for a 6 percent hike.

But as the two sides labored into a second weekend on differences in a $74-billion-plus spending plan, the Senate finally offered to meet the House halfway, recommending a 3 percent boost. The House accepted.

Senate Budget Chief Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and his House counterpart, Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, also agreed to $70 million for Everglades funding, settling on the Senate’s starting position and slightly more than Scott requested in his budget proposal.

Scott also continues to face a challenge from lawmakers on his bid for $2,500-across-the-board teacher pay hikes.

Negron and McKeel agreed to meet Scott’s $480 million pot of money for the raises, but they want the money distributed based on job performance and to include a larger pool of instructional personnel that would shrink what goes directly to teachers.

The two sides plan to continue talks tomorrow.

The House approved its state-financed plan Friday to extend health insurance to more than 100,000 Floridians, shunning billions of dollars available from the federal government for a more ambitious effort backed by Gov. Rick Scott and the state Senate.

The House 71-45 vote broke along party lines, with Democrats opposing the measure (CS/HB 7169) as unworkable and driven by ideological opposition to President Obama’s federal health care overhaul.

The House debated the measure for six hours over two days, with many Republicans ridiculing the promise of federal dollars as unreliable. But Democrats said the House plan was useless.

“This bill is wrapped in a beautiful box,” said Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville. “But when you open the box…it’s filled with empty promises.”

Still, Republicans said those criticizing the legislation were missing their best chance to help low-income Floridians. With the Legislature entering its final seven days, the House and Senate have deadlocked over relying on federal Medicaid dollars to cover uninsured.

“If you vote no on this bill, you are voting to deny Floridians the opportunity to buy health insurance,” said Rep. John Wood, R-Winter Haven.

The House proposal would extend health coverage to 115,000 parents, children and disabled Floridians living below the federal poverty line and cost state taxpayers $237 million annually.

Called Health Choices Plus, the House plan would cost low-income Floridians $300 a year, letting them choose from a variety of insurance options supplemented by $2,000 annually in taxpayer contributions.

A family of three earning less than $19,530 would qualify for coverage. But critics say out-of-pocket costs would prohibit many poor from taking part.

Unlike the Senate proposal, Health Choices Plus wouldn’t cover childless adults.

The Senate’s Healthy Florida would cover families with income up to 138 percent of the poverty level, or $26,300 for a family of three, along with single adults earning as much as $15,586. Like the House plan, it also would require those in the program to pay modest monthly fees and co-payments.

The Senate proposal positions Florida to receive $51 billion in federal aid over the next decade, while costing state taxpayers $3.5 billion. The House plan would cost Florida taxpayers more than $2 billion in the same period, while covering one-tenth of those without coverage.

Florida has almost 4 million uninsured residents, one of the largest populations in the nation.

The Senate plan has been praised by supporters for helping cover many low-income workers in the state’s tourism, health care and service industries who currently have no health insurance.

Scott this week began hinting to lawmakers that he may wield his veto pen heavily — killed coveted spending priorities, if they fail to embrace his legislative agenda.  Scott’s salesmanship on the health insurance plan, however, has been low-key.

But Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, said the Republican governor should retaliate if he is sent the House health insurance proposal.

“Gov. Scott, this Legislature has failed you,” Waldman said Friday. “This House of Representatives has failed you.”

Waldman said, “You need to veto this budget and send us back here to do our job.”

Florida welfare recipients won’t be allowed to use state-issued debit cards at strip joints, liquor stores or casinos under a bill on its way to Gov. Rick Scott, who is certain to approve the measure.

The Florida Senate unanimously approved the measure with no debate this morning.

House sponsor Jimmie Smith, R-Inverness, says the bill (HB 701) is needed to comply with a federal law banning the use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or “TANF,” at liquor stores, gambling locales or places that specialize in adult entertainment, including porn shops. Smith said needs to act before Feb. 14 or risk losing out on 5 percent of the funds for the program.

The bill (HB 701) which bans the state’s poorest-of-the-poor from using the debit cards at liquor stores, adult entertainment establishments – including porn shops – and other gaming establishments.

“This is a victory for Florida taxpayers who can now know that their hard-earned tax dollars are truly being used to help needy families get back on their feet so they can become independent and self-sufficient,” Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins said in a statement.

The federal “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012” requires states to maintain policies to prevent cash assistance “from being used in any electronic benefit transfer transaction in any liquor store; any casino, gambling casino, or gaming establishment; or any retail establishment which provides adult-oriented entertainment in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state for entertainment.”

TANF recipients receive debit cards, or “EBTs,” which they can use to get cash from ATMs or to make purchases. Unlike food stamps, there are no restrictions on what items can be bought with the cards.

A year before the federal law was passed, a Florida representative proposed similar restrictions in response to a television expose, later substantiated by state officials, that found that of 1.3 million transactions totaling nearly $202 million over a two-year period in Florida, about $93,000 was drawn at places with liquor licenses, strip clubs or gambling sites.

The opening prayers delivered in the Florida House have become what critics call the “J.C. moment,” said Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, who Friday told Speaker Will Weatherford that many Jewish members are offended by frequent references to Jesus Christ.

“I can’t tell someone how to pray,” Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, told Waldman before the start of Friday’s session.

The House opening prayers are typically given by clergy from around the state, who are invited by individual lawmakers.

Before speaking, those giving the prayer are provided a one-page guide from House administration suggesting they refrain from “preaching or testifying to the public.”

They also are urged to “be especialy sensitive to expressions that may be unsuitable to members of some faiths.”

Waldman said he and other Jewish House members have heard enought. He said Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, whose wife is a rabbi, typically enters the House chambers only after the prayer is completed — to avoid an uncomfortable moment.

“There’s just statements about the father, son and holy spirit,” Waldman said. “It’s just not non-denomination. I don’t care that it’s optional. That shouldn’t be the limit test. It should be inclusive. And it’s not inclusive.”

Weatherford said he would consider the criticism.

Complaints about the style of prayer delivered in the House and Senate have cropped up before.

One of the most contentious periods occured in 1997, the first year Republicans controlled both the House and Senate since Florida’s Reconstruction period.

Orlando evangelist William Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, that year delivered benedictions before the Senate and a joint session of both legislative chambers in which he attacked abortion, divorce and cited Jesus Christ as, ”the true God, the only God.”

Jewish legislators were joined by several non-Jewish moderate and liberal lawmakers in tarring the prayer as ”insensitive.”

Amid the criticism, then-House Speaker Daniel Webster’s staff researched prayers delivered during the previous Democratic House Speaker’s two-year tenure and found 11 instances where Jesus was mentioned, none of which apparently drew any objections.

Drivers can continue to crank up the volume as loud as they like after the Florida Senate killed an attempt to revive a ban on loud music on a tie vote.

Some lawmakers wanted to reinstate a 1990 law struck banning drivers from blasting radios, tape decks or other devices at a volume that can be heard 25 feet away or more. The Florida Supreme Court last year struck down the law, ruling that it is unconstitutional.

This year’s proposal tweaked a problem in the law that included an exemption in the noise ban for vehicles broadcasting commercial or political messages, such as ice cream trucks or campaign vehicles. The ban violates the First Amendment by restricting certain kinds of speech while not restricting others, the court found. The latest plan would have expanded the ban to all types of vehicles.

The 19-19 vote on the measure (SB 634) came after an at-times tongue-in-cheek debate on the merits of rocking out in your car.

Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, called the proposal a “crime prevention” measure because when loud music rattling car windows at times “makes you want to kill somebody.”

The measure would have made playing loud music a primary offense, which rankled Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah. Lawmakers just approved a measure that would make texting and driving a secondary offense, meaning drivers could only be penalized if they are pulled over for something else.

“That kills people. This doesn’t kill anyone,” Garcia objected.

Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, sponsored the texting and driving ban and spoke against the noise prohibition.

“It’s life. I don’t intend to pass a law that says you can’t ruin your own hearing if you want to,” she said.

And Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, said making the prohibition a primary offense could open the door for giving law enforcement an opportunity to harass youngsters.

“Twenty-five feet is such a short distance to end up pulling over one of our young people and then something else escalates,” Gibson said. “You all remember when you were growing up maybe when you got your first car and you turned that radio up a bit, turned it up a little bit more.”

But Sen. Wilton Simpson, said that the loud music can be a distraction that can keep drivers from hearing ambulance sirens.

“This is a serious bill with serious implications,” he said.

Already deadlocked on health insurance and a pension overhaul, Florida lawmakers added another bit of tension to the Legislature’s homestretch, with the House budget panel Friday opening the session’s final week by breaking ranks with the Senate on a plan to cut vehicle tag and title fees.

The House Appropriations Committee rejected the Senate’s proposal to eliminate a 26-year-old tax break for the insurance industry to cut $220 million in motorist fees paid by Floridians. The Senate’s plan would erase half the 2009 increases that had been imposed by lawmakers hustling to patch a recession-drive budget hole.

Instead, the House would phase-in the reductions over five years, starting by a modest $44 million cut next year. Drivers would save about $2.40 next year on vehicle registrations, under the House plan — which leaves the tax credit untouched for the powerful insurance industry.

Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, defended the House stance, saying it was important to not eliminate anything that could hurt job creators in Florida. Since 1987, the insurers have drawn a 15 percent tax credit on the insurance premium tax as an incentive to open offices in Florida.

Senate Budget Chief Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said the industry now looks “robust” and the tax break is no longer needed.

Gov. Rick Scott grumbled some and hinted Thursday at vetoing some hometown spending sought by top lawmakers if the Legislature fails to act on his legislative proposals.

Scott’s biggest pitch — drawing Medicaid dollars to expand health care for low-income Floridians — looks doomed in the House. The House also has allowed to languish Scott’s push to eliminate the sales tax for manufacturers buying new equipment.

Meanwhile, House and Senate budget negotiators also have dismissed Scott’s $2,500 across-the-board teacher pay raises. They want to hand out the dollars solely based on merit.

“In the budget, for the first time since 2006, we have a surplus. I want to make sure we spend the money well,” Scott told reporters. “So, I would expect, like I did the last two years….I want to make sure we get a good return on our investment.”

Asked if he has targeted some spending already, Scott said, “There’s a lot of projects in there. I’m going to look at them closely. Legislators, I’m sure will want to come explain some spending. I have my priorities. I want to do the right thing for this state.”

Florida House and Senate leaders have reached a deal on campaign finance and ethics reforms, Senate Ethics and Elections Committee Chairman Jack Latvala announced on the floor this morning.

The agreement doubles the current $500-per-election cycle campaign contribution limit for local and legislative candidates and hikes the limit to $3,000 for statewide candidates and Supreme Court justices up for merit retention.

The bill (HB 569) also does away with committees of continuous existence, or “CCEs,” and replaces them political committees that can accept unlimited contributions.

The ethics and campaign finance reforms are the top priorities of House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who wanted the campaign changes, and Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

The Senate had balked at raising the contribution limits after Gov. Rick Scott, who spent more than $70 million of his own money financing his 2010 campaign for governor, indicated he did not support lifting the caps.

But Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, said Wednesday his chamber agreed to the changes to get the House to pass the ethics proposal.

The new campaign limits put back caps in place before lawmakers imposed the lower amounts at the urging of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1992.

Latvala called the deal far better than the original House plan, which would have hiked the contribution limits to $10,000.

“You’re not going to be able to take money out of politics,” he said.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing corporate money to flood campaigns with cash means that “we are heading in the direction of unlimited money in politics,” Latvala, a veteran campaign consultant, said. “So the best we’re going to be able to do in the long run is provide the transparency to go with that, to have good reporting.”

The measure would also require more reporting of campaign finances, including daily reporting in the final week leading up to an election “where a lot of the monkey shines go on,” Latvala said.

The proposal would also allow candidates to “rollover” $20,000 after a campaign ends and hold onto that amount for up to two years.

Palm Beach County Democratic Sens. Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth and Joseph Abruzzo of Wellington cast the only “no” votes in the 37-2 tally.

“I couldn’t see myself going back to Palm Beach County and telling people that I voted to double the campaign contribution limits. I think that puts more money in the system and that’s the opposite direction that people want us to move in,” Clemens said.

And, he said, the allowing candidates to carry over $20,000 “puts challengers at a tremendous disadvantage.”

Lawmakers are expected to take final votes on both measures today and send them to Scott, meaning he would have just seven days to act on the bills. Scott has 15 days to act on bills received after the legislative session ends.

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.

After earlier taunting Texas and attempting to tempt New York businesses to move to Florida, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday shifted his focus toward Illinois — urging businesses to buy a one-way ticket to the Sunshine State.

“My number one priority is to continue to make Florida the number one destination for business so we can continue to create jobs and opportunities for Florida families,” Scott said after sending an open letter to Illinois business. “My ‘One Way’ campaign is a great way to let businesses in Illinois, and around the world, know that they are welcome in Florida.”

In his “Dear Illinois Business Owner” letter,  Scott touted Florida’s “incredible economic turnaround.” He also said Illinois companies should look to leave home to flee high taxes and unemployment.

Here’s what Scott wrote:  Illinois letter

Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, and Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, publicly urged Gov. Rick Scott to sign into law a bill (SB 718) revamping the state’s alimony laws.

“You have to be able to move on. Divorce sucks anyway. And Florida law shouldn’t make it suck worse,” Workman told reporters at a press conference this morning.

Workman said Scott is expected to receive the bill today. Scott will have seven days to act on the bill, which would become law without his signature if he does not veto it before then.

Groups on both sides of the issue – the Family Law section of the Florida Bar and Florida Alimony Reform – have launched dueling petitions asking Scott to veto or sign the bill. The Family Law section opposes the measure, saying it puts women – who are more likely to receive alimony – at a disadvantage. The alimony reform proponents have been trying for years to get the law changed because they say current law is unfair and forces some spouses to pay alimony for life to their exes even if they have been married a short time. More than 2,200 people have signed online petitions asking for the veto compared to about 6,000 in favor.

Workman said he is not concerned that Scott will veto the bill but “want to make sure this bill has a fair shot of being signed” and that the governor reads nearly 6,000 stories sent to him from families supporting the changes.

“I hope he can see that laws need to be updated. They need to be gender-neutral. They need to be blind to the sex of the individual and they need to be fair and just,” he said.

Stargel, who said she has been married for 29 years, said she sponsored the bill because she saw “a system that was abusive” to both spouses.

“What we’ve done is put in a framework that makes it fair for everybody,” she said.

The measure effectively does away with permanent alimony and eliminates alimony for people married less than 11 years. Florida Department of Health statistics for the past five years show that the average length of marriage in Florida that end in divorce last less than 10.5 years.

The measure would also:
_ Generally prevent alimony payments from lasting longer than one-half the length of the marriage.
_ Set a formula for alimony payments based on the income of the payer and the length of the marriage.
_ Allow ex-spouses who retire to end or reduce alimony.
_ Give judges now responsible for determining the amount of alimony discretion only in special circumstances.

Budget conferees working on education — the biggest-ticket item in the state’s $74-billion-plus spending plan — effectively abandoned efforts late Monday toward reaching a final agreement.

The House’s push for 6 percent college and university tuition increases, and the Senate’s demand that state scholarship programs including Bright Futures funding avoid any cuts were among a handful of areas dividing House and Senate negotiators.

Public school funding does look generally on track to receive slighly more than a $1 billion funding increase next fall. Gov. Rick Scott had sought a $1.2 billion increase, that had initially been matched by the Senate.

“We made a good faith effort…and I thought we could get there,” said Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, the House’s lead negotiator on schools, after a final round of talks yielded no overall agreement late Monday.

Scott and the Senate are rejecting any talk of tuition increases. And the House earlier reduced its 6 percent demand to 4 percent — only to ratchet its tuition proposal back up to 6 percent in its final offer as it sought agreement in other education areas.

Fresen’s counterpart, Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said the two sides had settled plenty of lesser matters. But big policy differences still divide lawmakers.

Next stop: Budget chairs, Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, will take a stab at the work for a few days, beginning tomorrow evening. They’ll have a chance to rope into their deal-making a wide range of spending differences in environmental, economic development and health and human service programs.

Lawmakers have to button-up the budget by early next week for the session to conclude on time, May 3.

After hearing horror stories about an elderly woman who was raped in a nursing home and others who died as a result of neglect by caregivers, the Florida Senate Rules Committee signed off on a measure making it harder to sue nursing homes for punitive damages.

The bill (SB 1384), backed by nursing-home investors and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, would require judges to hold evidentiary hearings before determining whether claims for punitive damages can move forward. Critics of the proposal say it also makes it nearly impossible to sue corporations or executives, possibly opening the door for poor care. Another provision in the bill would bar plaintiffs from using state or federal reports citing nursing home problems, called “surveys,” as the basis for making a claim.

Kenneth Thurston told the committee about how his mother was raped by a fellow nursing home resident with a violent criminal history in 2001. Thurston, the former CFO for the state Medicaid program, said that the nursing home industry has fought any attempt at making patients safer.

“Who benefits from this legislation? Whose rights are being subordinated and who’s being protected?” Thurston said.

Florida Alliance for Retired Americans lobbyist Barbara DeVane, who’s been lobbying for 41 years, called it the worst bill of the 2013 legislative session.

“This bill in all of these 41 years is the worst example of what I call vulture capitalism,” DeVane told the Rule Committee Monday afternoon.

Corporations and investment groups are buying nursing homes and reducing staff to cut costs, DeVane said.

“They don’t have enough time to turn the residents so they get the bedsores. They don’t have the time to take them out of their feces. They don’t have enough time to give them water and food and they become dehydreated and die,” DeVane said. “You need to have that threat of a punitive damage out there so that they can be punished.”

But Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said that Sen. Bill Galvano’s proposal simply requires plaintiffs to show that they have a right to punitive damages and that their case is likely to succeed.

“Rather than permitting someone to make wild allegations or unsupported types of allegations, Sen. Galvano is suggesting that there be a sufficient basis in the record. That’s not an undue burden,” Simmons said.

Lawyer Steve Watrel, who represents families and patients in lawsuits against nursing homes, argued that the measure protects executives.

“There’s going to be no way to claim punitive damages against corporate officers and corporate owners,” he said.

No punitive damages in nursing home lawsuits have been paid in more than a decade.

Backers of the bill contend that the change is needed to encourage businesses to invest in Florida nursing homes.

Galvano said the bill has nothing to do with staffing levels or standards of care in nursing homes and does not raise the standards already in place to win a claim.

“This bill does not bar claims against nursing homes…What this bill does is looks at the threshold to get into the realm of a punitive damage claim, one that requires clear and convincing relevant admissible evidence,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said. “Let’s not use this bill as a pedestal to argue about ratios or standards. See it for what it is. There is a game that is being played with regard to discovery to get into a claim. Almost every one of these claims…is to get into the discovery leg of the litigation.”

The measure, approved by a 12-3 vote, now goes to the Senate floor for a full vote.

House and Senate budget negotiators were slapped Saturday by a leading tea party group for beefing up the pool of money given Gov. Rick Scott for luring companies to Florida.

Lawmakers are working through the weekend on settling differences in $74-billion-plus spending plans.

Late Friday, House and Senate conferees agreed to set aside $79.2 million as economic incentive cash controlled largely by the Republican governor — who is actually seeking $173.7 million for the fund.

The Senate had earlier low-balled the House on the issue — proposing a mere $20 million while the House recommended $73 million in its budget proposal.

But the Senate’s sudden turnaround brought a swift response from Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group founded by the conservative Koch brothers. AFP also warred with Scott last year over his support for legislation advancing alternative energy.

“Hopefully, the Senate will rethink their decision to increase funding for these handouts, a program that amounts to little more than corporate welfare,” said AFP’s Florida director, Slade O’Brien. “Giving out taxpayer funded incentives to companies that are coming to Florida or expanding their existing business is not a proven way to encourage jobs.”

Lawmakers have been citing concerns about such giveways, especially since the recent collapse of the Treasure Coast’s Digital Domain Media Group.

Digital Domain drew $20 million in state incentives — part of $130 million it received in overall government aid. Among the losers was the city of West Palm Beach, which gave the company $2 million to begin a program locally with the Florida State University film school.

The company defaulted on loans and investments last fall, and closed its main operation in Port St. Lucie.

Marathon runner and Boston University alum Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, reflected on the bombings just blocks away from his old residence.

Rader, an avid runner who’s completed two marathons and many half-marathons, said he watched four of the Boston races while a student at the university. Rader said the course passed by his home on Beacon Street.

“I cheered people on, not only the people in the lead but the average people who train for the Boston marathon. It’s a race you have to qualify for. You just can’t run it,” he said.

Rader likened the bombings to the type of attacks Israelis encounter on a daily basis.

Rader, who is married to a rabbi, has been to Israel 10 times and lived there for a year, including the time when former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995.

“It feels like being in Israel to a small degree where you know that bad things can happen in public places. This is what Israelis live under 24 hours a day seven days a week,” he said. “Can you imagine the realm of possibilities if this is the way that terrorists are going to target innocent people? It’s very scary.”

Rader said that runners are physically and mentally exhausted after running the 26.2-mile race.

“When you run a marathon your body takes several days to recover, sometimes a week.
You can’t go up and down stairs after you run a marathon. You’re in a very weak physical state. And a lot of those folks who finished were then walking in that general area when the bombs went off. From a running perspective, it’s like a double physical injury all at once. It’s so traumatic. It really makes me scared in any kind of crowd now because you’ve got to be very, very careful about what people are going to do,” Rader said.

Rader recalled his first marathon, which he said he didn’t properly train for like many first-time racers.

“I was dead at 18 miles. I had a friend who met me at 21. I couldn’t talk. When I was finishing that last half mile I was actually crying because I was so overjoyed that I did it.
I’ve done a lot of things and haven’t teared up like that. But it was such a great physical accomplishment that…such a few of us do. You’re in such a delirious happy state by finishing,” he said.

The Boston University alumni association sent e-mails to members after the event, including this one sent Tuesday:

Dear Alumni and Friends:

Our hearts and prayers go out to those impacted by the Boston Marathon bombings. We just learned that among those injured were two BU students, including one who was killed. The names of these members of our BU family are being withheld, but we can relay that the severely injured student is in stable condition. Words cannot express the sense of loss felt by the entire BU community.

We know that all BU alumni around the world are deeply saddened by this news. There has been an enormous tide of support for Boston, the University and those whose lives have been changed forever.

You can find up-to-date news at BU Today along with a statement from Boston University President Robert Brown. We also encourage you to continue to support one another by sharing experiences, words of encouragement and offering support to those in need on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you again for your continued support as our University and our BU family unite, recover and grow stronger during this time.

Your BU Alumni Association

The Florida House passed two measures backed by anti-abortion advocates the same day the activists set up shop in the Capitol to garner support for a “personhood” ballot measure.

The House yesterday unanimously approved a measure that requiring that infants born alive after botched abortions receive emergency care and be transported to a hospital, a rare event because third-trimester abortions are outlawed.

The bills debated on the House floor Thursday were more emotional with just two male GOP lawmakers joining Democrats in opposition. Rep. Daphne Campbell, D-Miami, was the lone Democrat voting against it.

A measure (HB 845) that would require physicians or health care professionals who perform abortions to swear in writing that the reason for the procedure is not based on the race or gender of the fetus elicited a heated response from black Democrats.

The bill carries a $10,000 penalty for performing a race- or gender-based abortion, something bill sponsor Charles Van Zant, R-Keystone Heights, said is becoming a new industry in the U.S. Democrats said Van Zant failed to prove that the practice is prevalent in Florida or elsewhere.

Arguing in favor of the bill, Rep. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, angered his black colleagues by saying the bill is intended to end discrimination because the abortion rate for black women is five times that for white women and “is the single largest cause of death in the African American community.”

Rep. Mia Jones, a black Democrat from Jacksonville, said that lawmakers who want to address race discrimination and disparity should fund preventive care and other programs for minorities.

“So today when you say that you’re standing against race and gender discrimination, we tell you that’s a bold-faced lie,” Jones said.

Rep. Darryl Rouson, a black Democrat from St. Petersburg, said he was “insulted by some of what I’ve heard, including the issue of race and the attempt by a colleague to make someone feel guilty because of genocide.”

“If we want to do something about genocide we can do something in the Department of Corrections. We can do something in the Department of Education,” Rouson said. “I can think of some pro-life stuff we can do that will help the plight of people.”

Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, was among five Republicains who voted against the measure, which passed by a 71-43 vote.

Thursday’s debate on the issue was probably the last for the session. With less than three weeks left, a companion bill has not been heard in any Senate committee.

The House also passed the “Unborn Children of Violence” by a 74-43 vote. Critics of the “Unborn Children of Violence Act” approved 74-43 by the House Thursday say the measure could open the door for “personhood” in Florida. The measure (HB 759) would make it a separate crime would make the death of an “unborn child” at any stage of development a separate crime from any offense committed against the mother, even if the perpetrator was unaware that the woman was pregnant.

And it would change the words “viable fetus” and “unborn quick child” in vehicular homicide law to “unborn child,” which Democrats said is akin to more controversial “personhood” proposals attempting to elevate the status of a fetus to that of an adult human being.

Proponents say the measure would put Florida in line with federal law and 36 other states.

“We’re here to say an unborn child that can be just a fertilized egg…is sufficient to charge somebody with a serious felony. That’s just outrageous,” said Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek.

But, without using the word “abortion,” Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, argued that the measure is has nothing to do with the emotionally charged issue.

“I’ve heard this bill characterized in a lot of ways that simply aren’t there. I know we have a division in understanding, my friends who are pro-choice and my friends who are pro-life like me. Their issue is it’s about the role of government. For us it’s a matter of life and death.
But this bill is not about that choice,” said Baxley, a former executive director of the Florida Christian Coalition.

The bill holds criminals accountable for harming “a mother and her child and their future and their dreams,” Baxley said.

“Do not let the political correctness and the pressure of others about some other issue deter you from that clear vision about what this bill does,” he said.

Personhood Florida education director Brenda MacMenamin, who lives in Port St. Lucie, was in the Capitol gathering petitions for the “Florida Pro-Life Personhood Amendment” prior to the debate. She also chairs the ballot initiative committee.

North Dakota lawmakers last month passed the nation’s first “personhood amendment” that defines life as beginning at the moment of conception.

“We protect all innocent human life no matter what the age, the race, the creed or the ability,” MacMenamin said. “This is the rhetoric that ended slavery and gave the black race their personhood.”

“We’re here to say an unborn child that can be just a fertilized egg…is sufficient to charge somebody with a serious felony. That’s just outrageous,” said Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek.

But, without using the word “abortion,” Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, argued that the measure is has nothing to do with the emotionally charged issue.

“I’ve heard this bill characterized in a lot of ways that simply aren’t there. I know we have a division in understanding, my friends who are pro-choice and my friends who are pro-life like me. Their issue is it’s about the role of government. For us it’s a matter of life and death.
But this bill is not about that choice,” said Baxley, a former executive director of the Florida Christian Coalition.

The bill holds criminals accountable for harming “a mother and her child and their future and their dreams,” Baxley said.

“Do not let the political correctness and the pressure of others about some other issue deter you from that clear vision about what this bill does,” he said.

Hager and Pilon were again the only Republicans to vote against the measure.

For the second straight year, the Florida House approved legislation Thursday that would prohibit foreign laws from being incorporated into family court judgments or civil contracts — a move condemned by Muslim groups that lobbied lawmakers earlier this week.

The measure (CS/HB 351) has languished in the Senate, where it died last year. But it sparked heated debate on the House floor before winning approval 79-39.

“This is a proposal by somebody who is nothing more than a bigot,” Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, said of Arizona lawyer David Yerushalmi, founder of an organization called the Society of Americans for National Excellence.

“It’s an anti-Muslim law…This is very poor public policy,” Waldman said.

Yerushalmi has been advocating the legislation nationwide. It would prohibit Florida courts from signing off on family law agreements or civil contracts that comply with such religious codes as Jewish Halakha or Islamic Shariah.

Dozens of Muslim activists came to the Capitol earlier this week to urge lawmakers to defeat the legislation.

Supporters, however, said the measure was designed only to bolster the role of the federal and state constitutions in guiding legal decisions.

“There is nobody here out to get anybody,” said Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando.

Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, told House members, “There are four things I come here to protect: faith, family, freedom and opportunity. This legislation is not about religious freedom. If it was, I’d be on the other side.”

Rep. Irv Slosberg sweetened his trademark slogan for a traditional gift exchange with his fellow state reps on the House floor this morning.

Inside clear plastic baggies imprinted with white stars Slosberg dropped on members’ desks were red, white and blue M & M’s stamped with “Let Irv Serve,” “District 91,” “2013,” or a flag.

The Boca Raton Democrat told Post on Politics last week that he’s known throughout the Capitol and back home for two things – his “Let Irv Serve” campaign motto and his dogged pursuit of seat belt laws. Slosberg’s daughter Dori was killed in a traffic accident in 1996.

As part of his campaign schtick, Slosberg also gave away “schlepper bags” and corned beef sandwiches. Slosberg was elected to the House in 2000, lost a bid for the state Senate in 2006 and returned to the House in 2010.

He called the customized M & M’s a “neat idea” he got from his girlfriend, who ordered the sweets online. It’s a tradition for members to give each other small gifts during floor sessions, Slosberg said.

“Rep. Rooney gave a bottle of beer. Some gave chocolate. Some gave a bottle of rum. This is my gift,” Slosberg said. “Let Irv serve.”