Today, a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats in the Florida Senate blocked an effort to take a controversial anti-abortion bill out of committee for a final vote in that chamber.
The state Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee passed a bill Thursday that would allow employers to pay tipped workers, waiters and waitresses, a lower minimum wage than what is currently authorized in Florida.
A bill that would allow universities to increase building fees was temporarily postponed in the state Senate Higher Education Committeee Thursday when state Sens. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, and Evelyn Lynn, R-Daytona Beach, expressed concern.
The Florida Senate yesterday adopted a resolution sponsored by state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, that makes January 2012 ”Pregnancy Resource Center Month.”
Two state lawmakers — one Democrat, one Republican — have come together to file legislation that would require pregnancy resource centers, or crisis pregnancy centers, to protect the private medical information of women who visit them.
State Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, has introduced a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would protect a woman’s access to birth control in Florida, stopping any insurance provider from levying steep co-payments for contraception or creating any waiting periods for services.
In an op-ed for South Florida Sun Sentinel, state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, writes that the GOP-led Legislature is yet again focusing on curbing women’s rights, instead of easing the pain of the state’s economic woes.
State Rep. Franklin Sands, D-Weston, has filed a bill to “collect a modest fee from bottled water companies that derive extravagant profits for the privilege of pumping millions of gallons of water daily from Florida’s springs and other water bodies.” Sands’ filing of House Bill 781 comes after public criticism over water bottling giants’ current ability to extract — without charge — water for commercial purposes.
Not surprisingly, most of Florida’s GOP-led Legislature received high marks this week from the American Conservative Union, one of the oldest and most influential conservative groups.
While intense community organizing and outreach effectively curbed the ability of private entities to withdraw water from the Wacissa River, a state bill filed last month would move to further protect an already strained Florida aquifer from corporate interests.
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