Session’s agendas changed after Parkland shooting

TALLAHASSEE When the Legislature convened in January, the Capitol was abuzz with sex scandals, and tax cuts, education reforms and “sanctuary cities” topped the agenda.

That all changed Feb. 14, when 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were in a mass shooting.

In response to the massacre, lawmakers approved a law that included the first gun-control measures in Florida in 20 years, $400 million for school resource officers and mental health counseling, and a program to arm some teachers and school employees to protect students.

The need to find that $400 million delayed a final agree- between the House and Senate on the budget, so lawmakers will return Sunday for overtime and cast a final vote on the $88.7 billion spending plan.

Before the shooting, the only gun bills before the Legislature were measures backed by the National Rifle Association to allow guns at church-run schools and to permit incomplete background checks for certain conkilled cealed weapons passed.

“I’m not looking to spend the rest of time of session talking about gun bills unless it deals with making sure that an individual who’s mentally ill and 19 years old doesn’t get it,” Senate budget chief Rob Bradley, RFleming Island, said the day after the shooting. He was referment permits. Neither