Looking ahead to this week

Andrew Duffell, president, Research Park at Florida Atlantic University

In 2017, not surprisingly Florida courts received an “F” from gavelgap.org due to the lack of representation of women and persons of color on the bench. However, in this August’s primaries, three black judicial candidates will seek election to the Palm Beach County circuit courts. This marks the first time in the county’s history that three black attorneys seek election to the circuit courts without prior gubernatorial appointment. It is encouraging that well qualified candidates are stepping forward to heed the call for a balanced and fair judiciary, one that reflects all the communities which they serve.

Richard Stark, member, Florida House of Representatives

Adults who were adopted as children have been denied access to their original birth certificates for many years. Half the states have now opened access, but Florida — with several hundred thousand adult adoptees — lags behind. Adoptees come from all walks of life, and famous adoptees include President Gerald Ford, actress Melissa Gilbert, and now one person of notoriety, Nikolas Cruz. In this era of DNA testing, open adoption and social media, the days of shame and secrecy are behind us, and it is time that the laws change.

Michael De Lucca, president, Broward Regional Health Planning Council, Inc.

Affordable housing is worse in South Florida than anywhere else in the country. It was reported that South Florida has the nation’s highest number of renters who are burdened by the rent they pay. With that said, 36 percent of renters are spending more than half of their income on their homes. Broward County will be exploring ways to increase the sock of affordable homes and the Coordinating Council of Broward is recommending the county support an increase in the minimum wage and living wage ordinance. If wages do not rise, all of these efforts may not be enough.

Anna Fusco, president, Broward Teachers Union

With the state Legislature diverting instructional funds to school safety programs, the Broward School District is facing a $15,000,000 deficit which will mean likely cuts to classroom needs, potential layoffs and class size increases, as well as no raises for hard-working teachers and other employees. The governor and Legislature simply shrugged their shoulders and call it a local problem. Although a raise in taxes is never popular, it may be time for Broward to increase the millage rate for schools, currently, the lowest in the region. Broward voters need to step up to the plate and put additional funds into the kind of quality education Broward kids deserve.

Ted Deutch, member, U.S. House of Representatives

The NRA is hardly the honest representative of responsible American gun owners. But beyond its mean-spirited behavior, it may also be inappropriately using foreign donations for its political activity. This would be a violation of federal election law, and the FBI and Federal Election Commission are reportedly investigating. This week, as we marked the anniversaries of the Virginia Tech and Columbine mass shootings and remember the victims, I’m asking Congress to hold hearings and determine whether the NRA is illegally using foreign donations in its political activity to prevent meaningful action on gun violence in America.

Eleanor Sobel, former member, Florida Senate

Logrolling is alive in the CRC but not as a popular sport in Florida. “I’ll vote for your proposal if you vote for mine. “Logrolling” or “horse-trading” in politics has led to ballot amendments people would usually support, such as civic literacy, with terribly removing local government control of charter schools (Amendment 8). Some amendments seem unrelated such as prohibiting electronic vaping from public spaces and banning offshore oil drilling (Amendment 9) but can be justified under the umbrella of clean-air or environmental protections. Voters will nix these amendments because they are bundled together or should not be in the constitution.

Tim Ryan, member, Broward County Commission

Florida voters may be overwhelmed with 17 proposed constitutional amendments on the 2018 ballot. Among them are 12 proposals from the Constitutional Revision Commission — which meets every 20 years to recommend changes to the state constitution. Unfortunately, several CRC amendments bundle unrelated ideas. For example, a requirement for civics education in public schools is paired with a pro-charter schools proposal. Voters might just reject all proposals out of confusion or cynicism over the CRC’s efforts to slip conservative dogma into Florida’s constitution. It’s an unfortunate waste of the rare opportunity to make needed changes to our state’s fundamental governing document.

Chuck Shaw, chairman, Palm Beach County School Board

I hope the story this week will be the upcoming start of high school graduations throughout the state. I wish we would look at the future for these kids and talk about their goals for college, a career, the military or other dreams. I wish we would talk about the ways we can ensure they can get into a college and even pay for it. I wish we would talk about a state Legislature that spends its time planning for the future. I wish we would talk about the creation of jobs for our young people. I wish our politicians would work for public policy quality and not re-election and campaign dollars.