Tribe to Legislature: You regulate, not ban, Internet Cafes, you lose our cash

As the bill to bring resort casinos to Florida appears doomed, the legislative battle shifts to the debate over whether legislators should regulate or outlaw the slot-machine look alikes operated by the so-called Internet Cafes under a loophole in the state's sweepstake's law.

As that debate moves to center stage, a legal opinion written for the Seminole Tribe of Florida dated Feb. 1 could be a game changer.

"...it is our opinion that SB 380/HB 467 would authorize the play of gaming devices that would violate the Tribe's exclusivity,'' wrote Joseph Webster of the Washington, D.C. firm of Hobbs, Staus, Dean & Walker in a five-page letter to the tribe's general counsel Jim Shore.

Redistricting maps are reshuffling Florida's political landscape

For the last year, Broward Democratic Rep. Marty Kiar planned to run for the state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Nan Rich of Weston.

But when the Senate released its redistricting maps in November, the Davie lawmaker was faced with a choice: run in a district based primarily in Palm Beach County, stay in his safe House district for two more years, or run in an open county commission district.

He chose to stay home and run for county commission. “It’s a nice time to be with my two-and-a-half year old, my new baby and my wife,’’ Kiar said, adding, “I’ve always wanted to serve for local office.”
Kiar is among a growing list of legislators deciding to move to new posts as Florida lawmakers complete their redistricting maps under new rules imposed by two constitutional amendments.

The Republican-dominated House voted 80-39 along party lines Thursday to give preliminary approval to three redistricting maps drawn according to the new anti-gerrymandering standards of the Fair Districts amendments approved by voters.

The amendments prohibit lawmakers — for the first time in Florida history — from drawing the districts with any intent to protect incumbents or political parties and the results have shaken up the political landscape from Tallahassee to Jacksonville and from St. Petersburg to Miami.

The disruption, however, is mostly apparent in the House, where 38 of the chamber’s 120 incumbents are been drawn into districts with another member. The Senate and Congressional maps, by contrast, don’t appear to end the political careers of any incumbents. Story here.

Casino bill in serious trouble on eve of crucial vote

A bill that could bring three mega resort casinos to South Florida appeared doomed in the House Thursday, as backers struggled to cobble together a minimum eight-vote majority on the committee that will consider the controversial legislation on Friday.

If the bill fails to get out of the committee, it “is dead,’’ said Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, the bill’s House sponsor in the House, leaving casino supporters to have to wait until next year to get it approved by the Legislature.

As lawmakers met in an eight-hour floor session on Thursday, Fresen spent the time button-holing members of the Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee, which will hear the bill for the first time Friday.

“I actually don’t think the policy of this is as huge as the politics of it,” Fresen said. “Do the politics outweigh the policy? Maybe. I’ll know what’s going to happen on Friday.”

As proponents counted the votes Thursday, the anxiety among lawmakers was palpable. Lobbyists on both sides kept a constant count, comparing notes after they met with committee members, many of whom refused to publicly commit. Throughout the day the count swung from 8 to 7 in favor of the bill, to 8 to 7 against it. Story here.

Widespread, if not enthusiastic, support for Senate PIP plan

The Florida Senate's plan to reform the no-fault auto insurance program has already achieved what its counterpart in the House has not: unanimous approval from a committee.

Insurers and business groups have sided in favor of the House proposal, while Democrats, consumer advocacy organizations and attorneys have lined up against it. But the Senate legislation received almost universal, if not enthusiastic, support from them all in its first committee hearing Thursday.

Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who sponsored the legislation, said reducing PIP fraud was his primary goal, but he also did not want to penalize people who file legitimate claims and receive treatment from reputable health care professionals.

"Let's make sure that insurance companies are paying them in a timely manner with a reasonable rate," he told the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee.

Read more here.

Bondi says court ruling puts foreclosure fraud investigations in jeopardy

An appeals court has denied Attorney General Pam Bondi's request to allow the state Supreme Court to review a ruling she says limits her ability to fight foreclosure fraud. Because of this decision, seven pending cases are now threatened, Bondi said Thursday.

In December, the state's 4th District Court of Appeals ruled that Bondi does not have the authority to investigate a law firm for alleged fraud under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act because attorneys' work on behalf of lenders did not constitute trade or commerce. She asked the court to certify that its decision in the  Law Offices of David Stern, P.A. v. State of Florida case passes upon a question of great public importance so that she could appeal to the Supreme Court.

She announced Thursday that the appellate judge had refused the request, which precludes her from seeking a higher court's review.

"This decision poses a unique challenge, and the Attorney General’s Office will now assess each of its seven pending investigations into law firms for potential misconduct in foreclosure cases to determine whether there are other avenues through which the Attorney General’s Office can pursue
foreclosure-related misconduct," Bondi's spokeswoman Jenn Meale said in a news release.

Bills to tax online sales advance in Senate

State legislators on Thursday began their push to tax online sales, moving forward on a pair of proposals that would force online-only companies—and people who buy goods on the Internet—to pay the state’s 6-percent sales tax. 

The business community strongly supports the measures, stating that competition from retailers like Amazon and eBay are putting local companies out of business. 

“It’s an issue of fairness,” said Rick McAllister, president and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation. “In our mind, it’s not about the taxes collected, it’s about the competitive nature of our business.”

According to current law, companies that do not have a physical presence in Florida—a store or a warehouse, for example—do not have to collect sales taxes here. With a growing number of states pushing so-called “e-fairness” bills, proponents believe this will be the year that an e-tax law passes.

Rubio on Obama administration's health care rules: "They have made a big, big mistake here."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,  has emerged as one of the leading spokesman for the newest cultural war:  Repealing the Obama administration’s plan to make some religious institutions, such as hospitals and universities, comply with federal law requiring all health plans to provide contraceptives without a copay. 

Rubio introduced legislation this week that would repeal the federal health care requirement. His bill  has the backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, today called the requirement unconstitutional. So did Rubio, in an interview with talk show host Laura Ingraham. Rubio said he hope President Barack Obama’s adminsitration would "realize that they have made a big, big mistake here."

One of the most" cherished constitutional principles, in fact one of the cornerstone ones when this country was founded and framed through the Constitution, was the issue of religious freedom," Rubio said. "And the notion that somehow the government of the United States could come in and not just force you to do it but, more importantly, force a religious organization to pay for something that religion teaches is immoral would be so beyond anything the framers could have imagined. And it's exactly the kind of thing they wanted to prevent when they enshrined that protection in the Constitution."

Rubio, who is Catholic, told Politico earlier today that he and his wife, who have four children, practice the official church policy, which bans contraception. "I can tell you that none of my children were planned," he told Politico. 

They are likely in the minority among Catholics. In a well-cited study from this spring, the Guttmacher Institute found that among all women who have had sex, 99 percent have used a contraceptive method other than natural family planning. The number is "virtually the same among Catholic women," the study found, with 98 percent of Catholic women using birth control at some point in their lives. 

Rubio called his legislation "a common sense bill that simply says the government can’t force religious organizations to abandon the fundamental tenets of their faith because the government says so."

BuzzFeed: Marco Rubio spent $21,000 to research himself

From BuzzFeed:

Marco Rubio isn't running for anything right now, but that didn't stop him from spending more than $20,000 on a top national research firm to check out his own vulnerabilities.

Rubio spent $21,421 for "research consulting" from MB Public Affairs, a well-regarded firm based in Sacramento, according to his most recent campaign finance filing. ...

A Rubio aide confirms that the spending was for research into Rubio himself. The Senator came under intense scrutiny last October when the Washington Post reported that his parents had left Cuba as emigres and not, as Rubio had appeared at times to suggest, as post-Castro exiles. (The post continues here.)

ALEC is alive and well in the Florida Legislature

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a right-leaning, pro-business think tank that prides itself on producing model legislation for Republican state legislators across the country. ALEC's aggressive efforts have spawned a liberal watchdog group, www.alexexposed.org, which claims ALEC is a front for powerful corporate interests that seek to control legislative agendas.

Though ALEC's behind-the-scenes role in Tallahassee is well-established, it's highly unusual that a Florida lawmaker would cite the organization by name in the actual text of a bill -- including the group's mission statement. Rep. Rachel Burgin, R-Riverview, did just that in a bill (HB 685) she filed in November. Two days later, Burgin filed a revised version of the same bill (HB 717) that omitted any reference to ALEC. The bill urges Congress to cut the federal corporate tax rate, but does not suggest what the new rate should be.

Florida College students rally against election changes

While the presidents of Florida's colleges were telling state leaders what was on their minds, a slew of their students rallied in the state Capitol about changes to election laws.

 

STUDENTVOTERS0202wr

The Florida College System Student Government Association thinks recent limits put on the number of early voting days disenfranchise students.

 

"Our lives are very hectic and busy," said the group's president, Sarah Pemberton. "The best way to describe a student is C-C-C, car to class to car. There is no time in between to do many of things our community members can do."