What are lawmakers doing?

Maxwell: Are you paying enough attention to Tallahassee? Take a test and find out.

We’re entering the final week of Florida’s legislative session — the time when so much manure gets shoveled, Tallahassee backs up like an unattended outhouse.

Have you been paying attention? Here’s a quiz.

(Keep in mind: Things can always change during the final days.)

The Florida House voted for the largest school-voucher expansion in American history — at a cost of more than $1 billion. Unfortunately, some voucher schools in Florida have made headlines for using this money to hire high school dropouts as teachers and make other shoddy decisions. To ensure your tax dollars are legitimately spent and that children are properly educated, House members decided this year to require all voucher schools to do what?

A) Hire certified teachers

B) Accept students with disabilities C) Publish students’ test scores

D) None of the above.

ANSWER: D. Democrats tried to add some accountability, transparency and equality measures. Republicans rejected all them all, saying parental-choice provides enough accountability.

Legislators are furiously working on a last-minute deal to expand gambling in Florida. More casinos. More games. Also sports betting. About how many states already have legalized sports betting? A) 80%

B) 60%

C) 40%

D) 20%

Answer: B. The Miami Herald reported that 29 states, plus Washington, D.C. already allow sports betting. This proposal could allow the biggest expansion of casino gambling in Florida history. Now, lawmakers sometimes float gambling deals they know won’t pass, just so gambling lobbyists keep giving them campaign cash. But this year, Tom Brady and the Trump family are also reportedly pushing for more casinos. So GOP leaders seem more interested.

Republican leaders are talking about raising the salaries of some of the state’s most underpaid employees, including public defenders, prosecutors and the lowest-paid workers. (Good for them.) Florida Politics reported Senate President Wilton Simpson wants to raise the minimum starting salary for all state employees from $8.65 an hour to what? A) $10

B) $11

C) $13

D) $15

Answer: C. This issue will probably settled during their last minute budget-hashing.

Florida will allow guns in more places if Sen. Joe Gruters, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, gets his way. Gruters says he doesn’t believe in gun-free zones. That’s why he sponsored Senate Bill 498, which would repeal Florida’s ban on guns inside where?

A) Churches

B) Synagogues

C) Religious schools

D) Legislative meetings

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A bill that could’ve led to genital inspections of teenagers in an attempt to ban transgender females from girls’ and women’s high school sports teams appears dead. Senate sponsor Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, had second thoughts about whether her bill “respects the inherent dignity of each person.” House Republicans, however, had no such concerns. They passed the bill. In doing so, how many examples did they cite of transgender teens causing problems in high school sports in Florida?

A) 67

B)9

C) 1

D)0

In the Senate, Republicans and Democrats united to recommend raising Florida’s unemployment benefits, which are among the lowest in America. But House Republicans objected after Gov. Ron DeSantis said he didn’t like the idea. What is the range of unemployment benefits currently offered in Florida?

A) $38 to $275 a week

B) $108 to $375 a week

C) $208 to $475 a week

D) $308 to $495 a week (To learn more about that, see today’s editorial: “Meet the politicians who broke their promise to support better unemployment benefits.”)

Despite all the bogus claims about election fraud last year, the only criminal election charges involved a former legislator who authorities say offered a buddy $50,000 to stage a sham campaign to confuse voters in a South Florida Senate race. State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, filed an amendment that would make it a crime to bribe or threaten someone into running a campaign. Who supported that bill?

A) Democrats

B) Republicans

C) Democrats and Republicans D) Nobody

Five years ago, former House Speaker Richard Corcoran vowed to stop using tax dollars to subsidize tourism advertising, saying it amounted to “corporate welfare” for theme parks. The next House speaker, José Oliva, also objected to funding Visit Florida. Altogether, how many times in the past five sessions did legislators actually zero-out funding for Visit Florida?

A) 5

B)3

C)1

D)0

If you care about any of these issues, you can find contact info for your legislators at www.leg.state.fl.us