Secretary of State Ken Detzner, Florida’s top election official, said his aides are on the ground in Palm Beach County trying to figure out what went wrong with last week’s Wellington elections in which elections supervisor Susan Bucher‘s office certifiedtwo wrong winners in local races.

Detzner, who took over the post last month, said his office is working with Bucher and Dominion Voting Systems, the vendor of the election voting and tabulation equipment Bucher blames for the erroneous results.

“We have people on the ground in Palm Beach working with the supervisor’s office to evaluate what the problem is, number one. That’s the first thing we have to do,” Detzner said Tuesday morning. “Keep in mind there were 16 municipal elections. Of those, one election appears to have had a problem…The question is to determine where the problem was. And until I hear back from my people, we’re not going to make any conclusions or any ideas of what happened until I hear back from them.”

Detzner, whose office certifies all elections hardware and software, said the Dominion technology is in use in Indian River County was recently purchased by Duval County.

The Palm Beach County mishap has sparked a political and legal upheaval in the village of Wellington and appears to be unprecedented since on overhaul in state election laws – in part in response to the county’s infamous “butterfly ballots – in the aftermath of the protracted 2000 recount.

Detzner called the Wellington incident – announced by Bucher Monday – isolated and said he remains confident in the integrity of the November presidential elections.

“Any time there is an irregularity in an election it would cause some concern. Again, I have to look back at there were 16 municipal elections. Fifteen of those went well. There was a problem with one. So I’m going to be reviewing the process, the certification, whether or not there was human error, whether or not it was a software glitch, what it is, and we’ll make corrective actions going forward,” he said. “But I’m confident if you’ve seen the primary results, the primary election results, we did not have any problems. SO I’m confident we have good systems. The supervisors are doing their job. And I’m confident that this might be a very isolated situation and we’ll take corrective action.”

Detzner said it was premature to anticipate any action against Bucher or her office.

“I wouldn’t suggest that in any way until I know what the problem is. That would be very wrong for me to do that,” he said.

Gov. Rick Scott, who appointed Detzner last month, said he was aware of the Wellington problem but not the specifics of what appeared to have gone wrong.

“I feel comfortable that our secretary of state is going to do a good job,” Scott said before this morning’s Cabinet meeting.

When asked if he was concerned about possible election problems in November, Scott said: “I worry about everything. I do worry about hurricanes and wildfires a little more than other things.”

Gov. Rick Scott spoke with reporters this morning about the shooting death of an unarmed Florida teen by a neighborhood watch volunteer that’s put Florida’s “stand your ground” law in the national spotlight.

Scott said he is not concerned that the law is unfair.

“But any time we see something like that we have to review and make sure we’re not giving people the opportunity to use the law unfairly,” he told reporters before this morning’s Cabinet meeting. “You’re heart goes out to a family like that that loses a young man like that. You want to do everything you can to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Scott late last night ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to cooperate in the investigation into Martin’s shooting death that prompted national demands for the arrest of George Zimmerman, who claimed he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense during a confrontation in a gated community in Sanford, near Orlando. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the case.

While Scott did not order an inquiry into the shooting, he asked state investigators to cooperate in part to quell the public outcry.

“I think it’s the right thing,” Scott said before Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting. “Any time there’s a situation where citizens are concerned that the right process is happening I think it can be helpful.”

Authorities in part blame the shooting on Florida’s first-in-the nation “stand your ground” law allowing individuals to use deadly force if they feel threatened. Zimmerman has said he fired the semiautomatic gun because he fired for his life.

The shooting has created a national furor and sparked accusations of racism because Martin was black and Zimmerman is white (his family says he is Hispanic). Al Sharpton is expected to join community leaders in Sanford to discuss local officials’ handling of the investigation.

Scott likened the tragedy to the death of Robert Champion, a Florida A & M University Marching “100″ band member who died after allegedly being hazed by his peers.

“Nobody wants something to happen to a young man like that. I mean, you look at Robert Champion or any of these…You’re heart goes out to a family like that that loses a young man like that. You want to do everything you can to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Scott said.

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet will choose whether to add a part of Florida’s history to the state’s historical resources tomorrow. The price? $580,000.

The panel will decide whether to buy a three-quarter acre parcel adjacent to The Grove, the former home of the late Gov. LeRoy Collins, his wife, Mary Call Collins and their family. The antebellum home was built by Mary Call Collins’s great-grandfather, Richard Keith Call, a two-term territorial governor of Florida.

The Collinses gave The Grove, adjacent to the governor’s mansion in mid-town Tallahassee, to the state, which has first right of refusal on the neighboring properties. The trust that owns the properties received a purchase offer for the two lots, now the site of a law office and a parking lot.

In less than three months, the state’s 100,000-plus workforce will be subject to random, suspicionless drug testing making Florida the first in the nation to impose the policy.

Gov. Rick Scott signed the state worker drug-testing measure (HB 1205) into law today without fanfare or comment.

The new law, a priority of Scott’s which goes into effect on July 1, allows Scott’s agency heads to order the drug tests for up to 10 percent of their workers four times a year. Lawmakers did not include any additional funding for the urine tests, which run from $5 to $40, in the measure (HB 1205) in the state’s $70 billion budget, prompting some critics to question which services agencies will cut to absorb the costs. Workers can be fired if the drug screen is confirmed positive.

As is always done when Scott signs a bill into law, his office issued a release about the drug testing measure late Monday evening. His letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner transmitting his approval did not include any comment on the plan although it has been a priority of Scott’s since he assumed office last year.

Scott issued an executive order mandating the drug tests last year, but backed away from his plan after he was sued by the ACLU and the union representing government workers. Scott in June limited his order for all but corrections officers pending the outcome of the case in which a federal judge in Miami heard oral arguments late last month.

The ACLU and Democratic lawmakers contend the law violates the constitution’s guarantee of unreasonable search and seizure by the government. And some lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Joe Negron of Stuart, objected that workers who drink alcohol the night before could have a positive test result even if they have not been drinking at work. Negron was the sole Republican senator to vote against the measure; three Republican House members also opposed it.

Scott last year also pushed the legislature to pass a law requiring that food stamp and emergency cash assistance applicants pass drug tests before receiving benefits. In October, a federal judge temporarily put that requirement on hold, ruling the drug screens were unconstitutional.

Convicted murderer Richard Franklin is accused of killing a 24-year-old Columbia Correctional Institution Annex prison guard in Lake City late last night, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Franklin is serving a life sentence for his 1995 conviction of the shotgun death of a Bethune-Cookman student. Franklin, now 37, was 20 years old at the time of the crime.

Sgt. Ruben Thomas was stabbed in the neck with a handmade weapon around 10 p.m. last night, according to a DOC press release. Witnesses said Franklin killed him, according to the release. Correctional Officer William Brewer was also assaulted in the incident. Brewer hospitalized and released but requires further medical attention, the release said.

Gov. Rick Scott issued a statement expressing condolences for Ruben’s family and assuring that “Florida is a safe place to live.”

“I am saddened to learn of the tragic death of Sgt. Ruben Thomas last night at the Columbia Correctional Institute annex. My deepest condolences go to his family and fellow correctional officers in Columbia County and across Florida. A second officer, William Brewer, was also assaulted during the attack, and I pray for his quick recovery,” Scott said in the release.

“It is always troubling when members of our law enforcement community lose their lives in the line of duty. These brave men and women dedicate themselves each day to ensure Florida is a safe place to live. We all need to remember the sacrifices and heroic efforts of our officers.”

DOC Secretary Ken Tucker issued a statement calling Thomas a “solid and highly respected” worker.

“The Department is mourning the loss of Sgt. Ruben Thomas. Sgt. Thomas is described as a solid and highly respected member of the Agency and will be remembered in the highest regard. Our condolences go out to his family”, Tucker said. “His death and the wounding of Correctional Officer Brewer is another reminder about the danger Department personnel face every day on the job, and reminds us of the seriousness of our profession.”

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.”

Gov. Rick Scott scored a huge victory late Friday night when the Florida Senate signed off on a last-ditch effort to crack down on personal injury protection fraud.

By a narrow 21-19 vote, the once-again divided Senate agreed to the compromise language passed earlier this evening by the House, and then passed the measure (HB 119) 22-17.

But the vote elicited rebukes from some senators who wanted the upper chamber to stand its ground and refuse to concur with the proposal – crafted largely by insurance industry lobbyists – in a debate highlighted by a stemwinder by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami.

Diaz de la Portilla, a lawyer, repeatedly called the deal a “phoney baloney” attempt to combat fraud and pilloried the House for bowing to powerful insurance lobbyists and the governor, who made PIP reform his top priority this legislative session. Diaz de la Portilla had convinced the Senate in its version of the PIP reform to keep intact “multipliers” allowing lawyers to be paid escalated fees. The compromise did away with that but, in a concession to the Senate, did not cap attorneys’ fees or set an hourly rate.

Growing more incensed as his rant went on, Diaz de la Portilla said that PIP scams aren’t the real fraud.

“I think the House measure that’s been sent over to us and that we’re being asked to concede to, that’s the fraud. It’s a fraud on the consumers of the state of Florida. It’s a fraud on the people who have to buy these policies by law. It’s a fraud on those who are injured in accidents. It’s a fraud because it basically is the Insurance Company Relief Act of 2012. That’s what it is. That’s exactly what we’re talking about,” Diaz de la Portilla said, referring to the package as “phoney-baloney” at least three times to the delight of a bipartisan group of senators surrounding him.

The compromise does not require a set rate reduction, as the Senate plan did, but requires an actuarial analysis by an independent party to back up a detailed explanation of insurers’ rates if they do not roll back by 10 percent by October and 25 percent by 2014.
Sen. Dennis Jones, a Seminole chiropractor who said he is probably the only senator who actually treated a PIP patient, called the bill a “very, very punitive” measure for chiropractors. Patients will now be limited to $2,500 worth of chiropractic treatment, a change from the 24 visits over three months now allowed.

Gov. Rick Scott scored a huge victory late Friday night when the Florida Senate signed off on a last-ditch effort to crack down on personal injury protection fraud.

By a narrow 21-19 vote, the once-again divided Senate agreed to the compromise language passed earlier this evening by the House, and then passed the measure (HB 119) 22-17.

But the vote elicited rebukes from some senators who wanted the upper chamber to stand its ground and refuse to concur with the proposal – crafted largely by insurance industry lobbyists – in a debate highlighted by a stemwinder by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami.

Diaz de la Portilla, a lawyer, repeatedly called the deal a “phoney baloney” attempt to combat fraud and pilloried the House for bowing to powerful insurance lobbyists and the governor, who made PIP reform his top priority this legislative session. Diaz de la Portilla convinced the Senate in its version of the PIP reform to keep intact “multipliers” allowing lawyers to be paid escalated fees. The compromise did away with that but, in a concession to the Senate, did not cap attorneys’ fees or set an hourly rate.

Growing more incensed as his rant went on, Diaz de la Portilla said that PIP scams aren’t the real fraud.

“I think the House measure that’s been sent over to us and that we’re being asked to concede to, that’s the fraud. It’s a fraud on the consumers of the state of Florida. It’s a fraud on the people who have to buy these policies by law. It’s a fraud on those who are injured in accidents. It’s a fraud because it basically is the Insurance Company Relief Act of 2012. That’s what it is. That’s exactly what we’re talking about,” Diaz de la Portilla said, referring to the package as “phoney-baloney” at least three times to the delight of a bipartisan group of senators surrounding him.

Sen. Dennis Jones, a chiropractor who said he is probably the only senator who actually treated a PIP patient, called the bill a “very, very punitive” measure for chiropractors. Patients will now be limited to $2,500 worth of chiropractic treatment, a change from who will now be limited to $2,500 worth of treatment. The House originally wanted to cut chiros out from PIP treatment altogether.

“I know it’s late and I know you all just want to flush something out and go home,” Jones, R-Seminole, said, adding “You’re making a major, major mistake.”

Scott worked lawmakers especially hard on PIP, stepping up pressure as the clock wound down toward the session end Friday. The governor gave hand-written thank you notes to House and Senate members who voted “yes” on the bill.

But Jones wasn’t on that list, especially after calling out Scott before the vote.

“Most people have had their arms bent or twisted or been down to the governors office two or three times,” Jones said.

Sen. Joe Negron, the Stuart Republican who brokered the deal for the Senate and sponsored the chamber’s trial lawyer-friendlier proposal, rejected his colleague’s criticism that the Senate would be giving up too much by taking the House offer.

It isn’t true “that somehow we’ve been run out of the gym by the House and we shouldn’t concur on their message because we passed our bill and by God our bill is better than their bill,” Negron said. “Anytime you have a bill of this magnitude, you’ve got to make principled compromises and find a middle ground.”

Negron then defended his efforts to keep chiropractors in the mix at all.

“The House wanted to take chiropractors, tie two 50-pound cement blocks to their ankles and drop them over the boat into the bottom of the ocean. And they were never going to be heard from in PIP again. I found that very offensive,” Negron, a lawyer, said.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, a former Senate president who pushed alongside Scott for the overhaul, called Senate critics “dead wrong” about the deal.

“The Senate got all its fraud language. The Senate got all its licensure language. The Senate got room for chiropractic care. The Senate did not cap attorneys fees. The Senate did a fine job. The House was very firm on driving the cost drivers of utilization down. They came together with a really solid compromise,” Atwater said.

Atwater said he’s certain premiums will decrease although the bill does not require it.

“I think they’re going to see when that independent study comes down that they’re going to indicate rates need to be coming down. They need to come down now,” he said.

The House has signed off on a last-ditch effort to close out a deal with the Senate on personal injury protection reform, one of Gov. Rick Scott’s top priorities.

But despite frenzied lobbying by insurance company representatives and Scott, it remains unclear whether the deal has enough support in the Senate to get the 21 votes needed to pass. Scott and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater have made PIP fraud one of their primary focuses of the legislative session.

The compromise, passed with a party-line 80-34 vote late this evening, would require patients to seek care within two weeks of a crash, a concession from the House’s original seven day requirement.

The House also agreed to allow up to $10,000 for emergency service coverage as determined by a physician, osteopath, dentist, physician’s assistant or registered nurse practitioner. Of that, $2,500 could be used for non-emergency medical care. Visits to chiropractors would be covered up to $2,500 for certain types of injuries, but would require a referral from one of the other health care providers for others. Acupuncturists and massage therapists would no longer be covered by PIP.

The deal also did away with the House’s original proposal that would have required initial care to take place only at a hospital or emergency room. Instead, injured patients would also be allowed to be seen by private physicians.

And the compromise would require insurance companies to notify claimants within 30 days if they suspect fraud, and gives another 60 days to investigate. One of the more controversial parts of the deal would require those whose claims are being investigated to submit to examinations under oath if their insurance companies ask.

And, in what could be a sticking point for the Senate, the deal would require insurers to roll back rates 10 percent by October and 25 percent by Jan. 1. 2014, or else give a “detailed explanation” to insurance regulators for why the rates were not reduced. The Senate had sought a 25 percent rate reduction.

House Democrats blasted the last-minute amendments, accusing the GOP sponsors of the measure (HB 119) of being pusillanimous and caving to insurance industry pressure, especially over the rate roll-back, which critics said has no teeth.

The measure includes no penalties for insurers who fail to meet the rate reductions, Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, objected.

“The fraudsters are the big insurance companies that wrote this amendment and that are continuing to say now, give us more profit and we’ll give you a Post-it note at the end of the day explaining why we can’t reduce rates,” Randolph said.

Insurance lobbyists huddled into the wee hours Friday morning crafting the measure and were back at it early the same day, with time running out to seal a deal with the Senate that Scott would approve.

With hours until the 60-day session was scheduled to end, Scott stepped up pressure on lawmakers, calling them and ordering them into his office. Scott also pleaded his case through the media with appearances on at least seven radio talk shows before 8:30 a.m. Friday morning.

Scott pushed lawmakers to “get it done” and threatened to call a special session if they did not pass a comprehensive PIP reform.

“If I had to I would (call a special session later on the issue) but there’s no reason we can’t get it done today,” Scott said on WFLA 540 AM in Orlando. “I’m very comfortable they’ll do the right thing.”

Scott’s advisors have said the House would not pass a package the governor did not approve.

“The House has some good provisions,” Scott said. He said he hoped they would “send it back to the Senate and I hope we get it passed today.”
- The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

UPDATE: The House approved a reorganization of the state’s Department of Health on Friday, which includes closing Lantana’s A.G. Holley Hospital in January. The 86-29 vote came following little debate, sending the measure to Gov. Rick Scott, who is expected to sign it into law.

 Holley is the nation’s sole remaining free-standing TB facility.

The Senate signed off on the proposal (HB 1263) earlier with a 31-9 vote. The bill includes a host of changes for the state Department of Health and apparently decides the fate of the 60-year-old facility, which local officials and previous administrations have repeatedly tried to close.

The hospital houses about 30 patients, many of whom are many of whom have drug-resistant TB or are co-infected with HIV, and costs about $9 million a year to operate, bill sponsor Rene Garcia, R-Miami, said.

But Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, warned that the chronically ill patients, many of whom have no place else to go, could pose a danger to the rest of the state if not treated properly.

“These are not only citizens but we have veterans there as well as many people who cannot be out on the street infecting other people with this terrible disease,” Sachs said.

The proposal would require the state’s Department of Health to draft a transition plan by May for steering patients from Holley to community hospitals. Former Gov. Charlie Crist’s administration spent months crafting a similar plan but abandoned the effort. In 2008, the Legislature ordered DOH to find a way to privatize the facility. But no vendors came forward, and two years later lawmakers ordered state officials to find community hospitals to isolate and care for the chronically ill patients.

Lantana town officials also are eager to obtain the 144-acre site, which they hope will prove attractive to a company looking to relocate to the area.

State workers would have to submit to random drug tests after the Senate signed off on a bill pushed by Gov. Rick Scott, certain to sign it into law once it reaches his desk.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure (HB 1205) by a nonpartisan 26-14 vote, rejecting concerns that suspicionless, random drug testing of government workers is unconstitutional, intrusive and demeaning to the state’s 100,000-plus workforce, most of whom have gone without a pay raise for six years.

“There’s been no predicate laid whatsoever on why we need to have this bill,” said Sen. Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican and self-described libertarian, adding that he has been in the legislature for more than a decade.

“I haven’t been running across drug-addled employees who are unable to do their jobs,” he said.

And the measure is overly intrusive, Negron said, because “your urine and your blood are extremely personal body fluids.”

But the bill sponsor Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, argued that public and private sector workers should be subjected to the same requirements and that the screening could help prevent addiction.

And, he said, not requiring the tests could be dangerous.

“What you’re going to create then is a haven for abusers,” Hays said. “Then drug abusers will know they’re safe if they come to work for the state of Florida.”

Scott’s legal team has helped the bill’s House and Senate sponsors persuade lawmakers that the drug screening will be upheld even as they defend the policy in court. The governor is being sued over a drug-testing policy he imposed on state workers last year. After the ACLU and the state workers’ union sued the state, Scott in June quietly reversed his order for all but corrections officers pending the outcome of the case.

Miami U.S. District judge Ursula Ungaro, who heard the case against Scott last week, expressed serious doubts about the governor’s order and “had trouble understanding the circumstances under which the order would be valid.”

The measure would allow Scott’s agency heads to decide whether they want to institute the policy and require that they use money already in their budgets to cover the costs of the tests, which range from $5 to $40.

Gov. Rick Scott is expected to name Peter Antonacci, a former Florida statewide prosecutor and deputy attorney general who has handled high-profile assignments for Republican and Democratic governors, to fill the Palm Beach County state attorney’s job, Tallahassee sources said today.

Scott is expected to make an announcement Friday on a replacement for State Attorney Michael McAuliffe, who is leaving office next week to take a job with billionaire Bill Koch’s Oxbow Carbon.

The appointee will serve through the end of McAuliffe’s term on Jan. 7. Scott last month said he did not know whether he wanted his appointee to run for a full four-year term in November.

The appointment has been a difficult one for Scott. He originally set a Feb. 15 deadline for applications and received five, then extended it to Feb. 22 and received six more. Scott personally interviewed five applicants.

Read The Palm Beach Post’s story here.

College and university administrators could be fined $1 million per incident for failing to report child abuse that takes place on campus under a bill headed to Gov. Rick Scott

The measure was inspired by the Penn State University child abuse scandal. The Florida “Protection of Vulnerable Persons” measure (HB 1355) would impose a fine of up to $1 million for each time any public or private university or college administration knowingly and willfully fails to report child abuse that occurs on campus. If signed into law by Scott, Florida would become the first state in the country with such a law.

The child molestation scandals inspired Rep. Chris Dorworth to sponsor the measure at the request of influential lobbyist Ron Book, whose daughter Lauren is a child abuse survivor and advocate. Her organization Lauren’s Kids works to prevent childhood sexual abuse.

“The bill ensures that the protection of a child is treated as a greater priority than the reputation of an institution,” Lauren Book said in a press release. “It sets a national standard in affirming that child abuse reporting is everyone’s responsibility.”

Last year, former Penn State defensive coordinator Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky was arrested last year on charges that he sexually abused at least eight boys over a 15-year period. After Sandusky’s arrest, the university fired long-time coach Joe Paterno, who died last month, and president Graham Spanier. Athletic director Tim Curley and a vice president stepped down from their positions and are accused of perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse.

The bill also makes the Department of Children and Families’ child abuse hotline the sole entity responsible for handling child abuse reports. Now, the hotline is only required to accept reports if caregivers are suspected of sexually abusing the children. DCF officials say they take all calls and refer calls about abuse other than by caregivers to local authorities. The change would require hotline operators to process all abuse complaints.

The House unanimously passed the measure Friday evening with a 117-0 vote. Yesterday, the Senate approved it 35-4. Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, was among those voting against it. He said the bill goes too far by requiring anyone to report suspected child abuse because different cultures have different standards of what constitutes abuse and what is considered acceptable discipline of a child.

Animal rights groups are asking Gov. Rick Scott to veto a measure that would do away with a nearly 50-year old prohibition on dyeing animals.

Lawmakers passed the bill (HB 1197) this week over the objection of a handful of those who objected that the ban is needed to keep colored bunnies, chicks and ducklings from popping up in kids’ Easter baskets then abandoned months later when their cuteness wears off.

Senate bill sponsor Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said she filed the measure at the request of a pet groomer who wants to be able to dye dogs for competitions.

But PETA and the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida have sent action alert to their members and today asked Scott to use his red pen to kill the bill, saying coloring farm animals for Easter treats is a “death sentence” for the critters.

“Blue and pink bunnies and chicks may appeal to children, who will pester their parents to purchase them, but dyeing these small animals can be a death sentence for the animals as every humane agency in the country well knows,” PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovich said in a press release. Read PETA’s letter to Scott here.

The abandoned animals will crowd the state’s already overburdened animal shelters, PETA argues.

The House last night agreed to the Senate’s plan to revive the Florida Correctional Medical Authority, a watchdog agency responsible for overseeing health care to Florida’s prisoners.

Lawmakers shuttered the agency last year despite concerns that the closing may put the state in violation of a federal court order. Gov. Rick Scott expressed concern that its elimination could “could cause public health and safety risks” in a veto message killing a bill pushed by the House that would have eliminated the CMA, but lawmakers zeroed out its $700,000 budget, forcing the agency to close its doors last summer.

Considered a national model, the CMA was created more than 25 years ago as part of a class action lawsuit. The shut-down came amid a statewide effort to privatize health care for the state’s 100,000 inmates. Scott is now facing two lawsuits over the outsourcing effort.

The CMA until last year consisted of a nine-member panel housed under the Department of Health. Under the new plan, the oversight board will be comprised of seven governor-appointed members, have a budget of about $580,000 budget and six workers who will be part of Scott’s administration but will continue to operate independently.

Senate budget chief JD Alexander cited the elimination of the CMA as an example of a problem with the conference process in which issues get “bumped” to the budget chairmen, who are responsible for ironing out differences on sometimes arcane items in the state’s $70-plus billion spending plan. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said this year he regretted away to do away with it.

The Senate grudgingly approved a measure giving future governors the ability to wipe out a majority of members on panels who help select judges, including Supreme Court judges, and sent it to the House for approval.

The proposal (HB 971) is a compromise with Gov. Rick Scott, who wanted to be able to wipe clean the entire judicial nominating commissions, nine-member panels made up of five gubernatorial appointees and four selected by the Florida Bar.

The House version of the measure would allow Scott to remove effectively fire JNC members picked by his successor Charlie Crist. But the Senate rejected that plan, allowing only members appointed after Scott took office to be affected.

Two Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill, which passed 24-14.

Democratic lawyers complained that the measure would politicize the panels, urging their colleagues excogitate the issue before voting.

“This bill gives too much power to a governor who said he wanted people who thought like him to sit on the judiciary of the state of Florida. And that is exactly what we should not allow,” said Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, a former JNC member.

Giving one governor the ability to control a majority of the panels could erode diversity on the bench, Joyner, who is black, warned.

But bill sponsor Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, called the bill a “middle-of-the-road” solution that keeps both the JNCs from “gaming the system” by sending the governor unqualified applicants. And it prevents the governor from doing the same, Simmons said, by giving him control of only five of the nine members.

“They would only have to have one other person, one of those five, to go along with them in their decision-making,” Simmons, a lawyer, said.

The bill would give judges the ability to work as part-time judges immediately after retiring without losing their retirement benefits.

Governors could fire most of the panelists who help pick judges — a watered-down version of a Gov. Rick Scott priority — under a bill up for a vote as early as Wednesday in the Florida Senate.

The new language is a compromise between Scott and Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, the bill’s sponsor, who said the system is fine as it is but agreed to make a concession to Scott.

Scott wanted to be able to fire all nine members of the state’s Judicial Nominating Commissions, but lawmakers balked, calling it a power grab by the governor that could tip the courts and overly-politicize judicial selection.

The panels send the governor a list of three candidates to replace retiring or resigning judges. Governors appoint five of the nine members of the JNCs; the Florida Bar appoints the other four.

Under the original version of the measure (SB 1570), Scott would have been able to fire all of Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointees to the panels. Current law only allows the JNC members to be removed from their staggered, four-year terms if they have done something wrong.

The compromise would only apply to JNC members appointed after Jan. 4, 2011, the day Scott took office, meaning Crist’s picks are safe until their terms run out.

But the new proposal gives Scott the ability to keep the panels from essentially forcing him to go with their selection by including two unqualified candidates on the list, Simmons, a lawyer, said.

Gov. Rick Scott, insurers, chiropractors, masseuses, acupuncturists and consumer advocates are just some of the “special interests” trying to have a say in a personal injury protection overhaul.

And with the House and Senate still far apart in their proposed solutions and just four days left until the legislative session wraps up, Senate President Mike Haridopolos would not rule out the possibility of a special session on the issue.

The Florida House passed a bill to loosen the grip of massage therapists, chiropractors and acupuncturists last week, keeping alive one of Scott’s top legislative priorities. The Senate version, among other differences, puts fewer time restrictions on treatment but also largely shuts the door on massage therapy and acupuncture.

Stuart Republican Sen. Joe Negron, leading the charge on PIP reform in his chamber, called the differences reconcilable.

But Haridopolos said he’s not sure he’s got the votes to get the proposal out of his chamber at all.

“All I can do right now is try to figure out how it can pass in the Senate. I know the House has been on a little bit different glide path,” Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said, calling Negron’s bill “outstanding.”

“Overall, the fraud component has been handled in a thoughtful manner,” Haridopolos said. “I do support where he stands on massage and acupuncture but I’ve got to get it off this floor.”

Haridopolos said he’d be willing to come back in a special session on the matter, especially because he’s expecting lawmakers will have to come back to Tallahassee anyway to redraw legislative maps. The Senate President is expecting the Supreme Court to reject at least in part the new legislative districts. House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, said he does not want to hold a special session on PIP.

“I’m willing to come back. I think it’s an important issue. It’s not just the justice issue of eradicating fraud. It’s also a financial issue to a lot of families because they’re paying too much for auto insurance. So if we needed to have a special session, you won’t see me object at all,” Haridopolos said.

Hours after the House signed off on a measure that would require state workers to submit to drug tests, the Senate Budget Committee sent an identical measure to the floor for a full vote.

With Scott’s legislative affairs director Jon Costello in the room, the Senate Budget Committee approved the measure with a 12-6 vote this afternoon.
Sen. Joe Negron, a Stuart lawyer, cast the sole Republican “no” vote on the measure.

The measure is indicative of “more and more intrusive activities of our government,” Negron said after the meeting.

“It’s gotten out of hand. The government is just getting more and more into our personal business,” he said.

The proposal (SB 1358) would allow agency heads to fire state workers who fail their first drug test and does away with a requirement that workers who have drug problems receive employee assistance.

Democrats in both chambers have objected that the bill does not include lawmakers in the drug screening. Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, already have the authority to order members of their chambers to submit to the drug tests, but neither leader has done so.

Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, said he sponsored the bill at Scott’s request to rectify the problem created by the lawsuit.

“Unfortunately in today’s society, this is a bill that I feel is very wise public policy,” he said.

But Ron Bilbao of the Florida ACLU said the bill remains unconstitutional, noting that Miami U.S. District judge Ursula Ungaro, who heard the case against Scott last week, expressed serious doubts about the governor’s order and “had trouble understanding the circumstances under which the order would be valid.”

State workers would have to agree to and submit to random, suspicionless drug tests under a measure approved along party lines by the GOP-dominated Florida House.

The bill, a priority of Gov. Rick Scott’s, would allow state agencies to order the tests of up to 10 percent of workers four times a year. Agency heads would have to use the money already in their budgets to cover the costs of the tests for the state’s 114,000 workforce.

Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, tried to amend the bill to require that the governor, members of the Florida Cabinet and the 160 members of the state House and Senate also be required to submit to the urine tests. The bill’s sponsor Jimmie Smith, R-Inverness, dismissed the amendment, set aside over Pafford’s objection, as “political theater.”

But, calling the House an “elitist body,” Pafford chided his colleagues, saying “Shame on you,” for being unwilling to go on the board with a vote on his amendment.

Drug testing government workers is a violation of the constitution’s guarantee of unreasonable search and seizure by the government, Democratic lawmakers argued.

Last week, a federal judge heard oral arguments in a lawsuit over a challenge to a drug-testing policy imposed on state workers by Scott last year. After the ACLU and the state workers union sued the state, Scott in June quietly reversed his order for all but corrections officers pending the outcome of the case.

Scott last year also pushed the legislature to pass a law requiring that food stamp and emergency cash assistance applicants pass drug tests before receiving benefits. In October, a federal judge temporarily put that requirement on hold, ruling the drug screens were unconstitutional.

Rep. Perry Thurston, a lawyer, argued that Smith’s measure goes after the wrong population.

“You pick on people who you can bully around. Tell the lawyers of the Florida Bar as a condition of practicing law you’ve got to submit to suspicionless drug testing. That’s where you change society,” Thurston, D-Plantation, said.

Other Democrats called the proposal (HB 1205) a solution in search of a problem. Only two of 500 Department of Transportion – .004 percent – tested positive for drugs in recent screenings, Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, said.

But a fired-up Smith insisted his proposal (HB 1205) is necessary to combat drug abuse and said it would make Florida a model for the nation.

“People are dying. And then you make an assumption because these are state workers this doesn’t affect their lives,” Smith said. “The state of Florida by taking this vote becomes a laboratory that…eventually leads the way of the entire nation. You will be having the courage, making the difference, for this entire country.”

Smith made his final pitch before the 79-37 vote: “The word is on the street. People are starting to realize it. Drugs are bad.”

A Senate companion bill is scheduled for a vote in the budget committee this afternoon.

In an emotional ceremony, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a bill compensating wrongly-convicted William Dillon $1.35 million for the 27 years he spent behind bars before DNA evidence exonerated him of a murder conviction.

“On behalf of the state of Florida, I apologize for what’s happened to you,” Scott said at the bill signing ceremony. “What I really appreciate from sitting down with you is that you have such a positive attitude.”

Scott signed the bill hours after the Senate gave final approval to the measure (SB 2) with Dillon looking on from the public gallery.

And the ceremony put to rest a 30-year battle waged by Dillon and supporters, including former Florida State University president Sandy D’Alemberte, who also served as president of the American Bar Association.

Dillon thanked his team, including D’Alemberte and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, for whom Dillon’s compensation became a priority.

“There’s so many names I could tell you about that were behind the scenes to make this team…,” a refulgent Dillon said. “The dollars and cents they make sense for my life, but they don’t give me back what was taken from me. But at the same time, it’s such a joy to be here, because my life was gone. I can’t do anything but look forward.”