Today begins the last week of the legislative session in Tallahassee (though rumors persist that there may be a special session called to deal with casino gambling sometime later this year).
One of the bigger votes that should come up within the next couple of days is the bill offering in-state tuition at Florida universities for children of undocumented immigrants, sponsored by Jack Latvala. That bill apparently does have sufficient support in the Senate. Of course, like several other bills during this (and I suppose every) session, key legislators often find a way get a measure up for a vote, when it seemingly has already been killed.
Last Friday the Senate appeared to have initially rejected a proposal that would allow Clearwater resident Jose Godinez-Samperio to qualify as a lawyer in Florida, despite his undocumented status. But then they broke for lunch and had another vote, and this time the measure passed. Now that proposal goes to the House.
Last December I attended the annual meeting of the Hillsborough County Legislative delegation, where they vote on which local bills they want to support during the session. I guess I was under the misguided notion that the meeting actually mattered, but that's clearly not the case when it comes to the so-called "Uber bill." That's the legislation being pushed by Hillsborough/Pinellas Republicans Jamie Grant and Jeff Brandes. The bill they proposed last December would have killed the controversial Hillsborough Public Transportation Commission, but was voted down by their local colleagues. That meant the bill was dead and wouldn't come up during the session, right? That's what I and other local reporters wrote at the time. But nooooo! Brandes and Grant have continued to move the bill though the legislature's respective transportation committees, even though it's been met with a lot of skepticism during those hearings.
But with the time ticking until Friday night, there isn't much time for fancy parliamentary procedures. Or maybe there is, if you recall disgraced former House Speaker Ray Sansom and that $6 million in funding he inserted into the budget for his hometown college, for a project that turned out to be a airplane hangar — a measure that his colleagues later would say they couldn't recall voting for.
A huge vote today in the Senate regards Lakeland Republican Kelli Stargel's bill that is the bane of all craft brewers in Florida. Last Friday night one of the most successful of those brewers in the state, Cigar City's Joey Redner, took to the airwaves of MSNBC to condemn the proposed legislation.
You might recall last week that Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe tried to convince his colleagues to rally behind the craft brewers and send a letter to the local delegation condemning Stargel's bill. None did, angering a local Democrat challenging a County Commission incumbent this fall.
And Elizabeth Warren was on ABC's This Week yesterday, where she pointedly did not endorse Hillary Clinton for president.
