Florida Legislature addresses top-priority bills,

Measures cover sanctuary cities, ethics, insurance, more

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Legislature buzzed with activity Thursday, as each chamber moved forward with toppriority bills, setting the tone for the legislative session in its first week.

The House debated HB 9, which would ban sanctuary policies in cities, ahead of a final vote today. The bill is at the top of House Speaker Richard Corcoran’s agenda, but was decried by Democrats and activists as an anti-immigrant and a political stunt to bolster his future bid for governor, since no Florida cities have sanctuary policies.

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, claimed the bill was unconstitutional because requests from immigration officials to local law enforcement don’t need judges’ approval. “I believe very strongly that if we are going to adhere to the rule of law, we must also adhere to the Constitution,” he said.

The bill allows the Attorney General to seek injunctions against cities that don’t comply with immigration officials, impose fines of up to $5,000 on city council members who approve sanctuary policies and eliminates state grant money for cities in violation of the law.

But Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, defended his bill as necessary to defend the rule of law and ensure cities comply with federal immigration enforcement officials.

“I support legal immigration,” he said. “If that’s going to work and have meaning, we can’t have a parallel system of illegal immigration that people can use with impunity.”

The Senate unanimously passed SB 4, which permanently expands Bright Futures Scholarships to cover 100 percent of tuition for eligible students and gives $300 per semester to students for books. It also expands scholarship programs for low-income students and requires universities to move to block tuition by the fall 2018 semester.

The bill was a top priority of Senate President Joe Negron, RStuart, who stressed the importance of making the changes permanent. Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a similar bill last year, but funding for the Bright Futures expansion was included in the budget. The expansion could go away after this year if the Legislature doesn’t act.

“We have to make these changes permanent,” Negron said. “(The bill) ensures Bright Futures scholarship funding is available for the students who earned it, so they can better plan their investment in an education at one of our excellent colleges or universities.”

The sanctuary city bill was just one of 16 advanced by the House ahead of final votes today, several of which would bring major changes.

Among the bills set for final votes today are measures that would: overhaul Florida’s no-fault car insurance system; ban red light cameras; require local governments to post notices of votes on tax increases; phase out some special taxing districts; ban lawmakers from lobbying for six years after they leave office; restrict future publiclyfunded stadium deals; and require lobbyists to register to influence local governments.

The flurry of legislation signals the intent of Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, to make good on his pledge to push “transformational policy” in his final year in office.

Yet it’s unclear if the House and Senate GOP leaders, who have clashed bitterly the past three years, will be able to reach an agreement on the budget and other issues and end the session on time March 9 or face overtime as it did last year.

Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, was optimistic that the two chambers will work better together this year but admitted election year politics could get in the way of attempts to reach compromises.

“There are tremendous outside forces that may cause a breakdown in our ability to communicate,” he said. “But if we can do what people sent us here to do, which is pass good legislation and stop bad legislation, we will have succeeded.”