Proposed legislation in the Florida state Senate that would privatize 29 prisons and correctional facilities in 18 Florida counties won approval in the Senate Rules Committee Wednesday afternoon in Tallahassee, and now will be taken up by other committees in the Legislature.
Only Democrats Chris Smith and Gwen Margolis objected to the measure moving on.
The legislation was actually approved last year, but it's inclusion as a proviso in the state budget was found to be unconstitutional by a circuit court judge last September. That ruling is on appeal, but the Senate Rules Committee, chaired by John Thrasher, is attempting to push it through again this year.
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2012.