Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Quietly Getting Ready For The Session
March 2, 2013
When Carlos Carbonell, the CEO of the company charged with building the House’s smart-phone app, decided at a press conference to demonstrate the video stream that would soon show live action on the House floor, there ended up being a slight echo in the room.
The app was providing streaming video of the press conference.
It was a lot like that over the last week: plenty of signs that the annual legislative session was about to get started, but little happening that actually demanded attention.
Gov. Rick Scott spent much of the week dashing around the state, whether working at spring training in Lakeland or touting his initiative to get rid of sales taxes on manufacturing equipment. Many lawmakers spent a few last, fleeting days in their home districts. And the courts were still in action, much to the chagrin of Scott and supporters of drug-testing welfare applicants. Artifact thieves had a bad week as well, after 13 people were hit with more than 400 combined felony charges.
Foreshadowing echoes of what will get started on Tuesday: Scott pitching his ideas to lawmakers, hopes that new laws will pass muster with the courts, and some people undoubtedly left unhappy with what’s happened on state property. All of it captured on live, streaming video.
COURTS ON DRUG-TESTING LAW: NEGATIVE
Even as legislators were preparing to get started on the 2013 session, some of their old handiwork looked like it could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta struck down a law requiring drug testing of applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Scott vowed to take the measure to the highest court in the land.
“The evidence in this record does not suggest that the population of TANF recipients engages in illegal drug use or that they misappropriate government funds for drugs at the expense of their own and their children’s basic subsistence,” the court wrote in a 38-page opinion. “The state has presented no evidence that simply because an applicant for TANF benefits is having financial problems, he is also drug addicted or prone to fraudulent and neglectful behavior.”
Scott, whose administration has undoubtedly gotten used to the mechanics of court appeals over the last two years, promised another.
“Welfare is 100 percent about helping children,” said Scott, who along with the Republican-controlled Legislature, approved the law. “Welfare is taxpayer money to help people looking for jobs who have children. Drug use by anyone with children looking for a job is totally destructive. This is fundamentally about protecting the well-being of Florida families.”
The judges were just the latest in a line to have turned back, at least temporarily, some aspect of policy passed by Scott and the Legislature in the first half of his term. And critics were once again giddy at having done in court what they couldn’t do during the legislative debate.
“The state of Florida can’t treat an entire segment of our community like suspected criminals simply because they are poor and are trying to get temporary assistance from the government to support their families,” said Maria Kayanan, an ACLU of Florida attorney and lead counsel in the case.
In state court, the online travel industry scored another victory
The 1st District Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 ruling, said companies such as Expedia and Orbitz cannot be forced to pay local tourist-development taxes on part of the money they collect from customers. The majority found that the disputed amounts relate to reservation charges — not to the actual amounts paid to rent hotel rooms — and described the companies as “conduits.”
SEQUESTER THIS
Looming over the entire week was something that wasn’t about to happen in Tallahassee, but something that was happening hundreds of miles away, in a city where lawmakers spend even more time arguing than they do at the state Capitol. In Washington, D.C., Republicans and Democrats couldn’t figure out what to do about the sequester.
The sequester is a series of cuts set to hit domestic and military programs in the haphazard fashion, slicing tens of billions of dollars in federal spending in a more or less across-the-board manner. And Florida stood to get hit hard as the deadline for stopping the sequester came and went with no agreement.
A White House report released during the week listed the toll for Florida: 31,000 civilian Defense Department employees furloughed, a $183 million hit; reductions for Air Force and Army operations in the state, along with a possible cancellation of $135 million for aircraft depot maintenance in Jacksonville; and $54.5 million for K-12 education funding.
A dip in consumer confidence in the state would be even worse if the cuts kick in, said Chris McCarty, director of the University of Florida’s Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
President Barack Obama and Congress agreed to the sequester in an effort to force a deal between the two on spending and taxes, but about all the two parties could agree on was that they were disappointed that the sequester was kicking in. And a fair number of them thought it was so bad that members of Congress shouldn’t get paid.
“No one should get paid for inaction,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., announcing his support for legislation cutting congressional pay while federal workers are furloughed. “And Congress clearly hasn’t done the job to avert the sequester.”
Scott agreed, but took things a step further.
“I don’t believe Congress or the President should continue to get paid while they haven’t solved this problem,” he said.
MULLING OBAMACARE
There was no blockbuster decision like Scott’s declaration last month that he would support the optional expansion of Medicaid under the federal health-care law Obama signed in 2010, but there were signs that the Legislature was prepared to go along with another of the law’s provisions.
Faced with the possibility of huge penalties under the Affordable Care Act, a Florida House committee charged with looking at the impact of “Obamacare” appeared likely to support offering health-insurance coverage to about 8,700 temporary state workers.
Members of the committee Thursday unanimously expressed support for the move, which would affect temporary employees in state agencies and the higher education system who work an average of 30 or more hours a week. If Florida doesn’t start offering coverage to those workers, it could face fines of about $320 million.
Officials said the coverage would cost an estimated $35.6 million during the upcoming 2013-14 fiscal year, only a fraction of the potential fines.
“You either play their (the federal government’s) way or you get hit with a significant penalty,” committee member John Wood, R-Winter Haven, said.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi said she was against Scott’s endorsement of Medicaid expansion, becoming the second member of the Cabinet to speak out, after Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
“I am opposed to this dramatic expansion of Medicaid, because of the ultimate cost to Florida’s taxpayers and because I don’t think our state should surrender even more control over health care to the federal government,” Bondi said in an email Tuesday.
CFO Jeff Atwater also criticized the expansion Friday.
GUN FIGHT?
Meanwhile, with the final days ticking off the clock for lawmakers to file their bills, a few proposals that could be highly controversial were added to the fray.
Perhaps most prominent was a set of gun proposals, coming from either side of the aisle.
Rep. Neil Combee, R-Polk City, marked the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by filing legislation to clarify that those firing warning shots could be protected from harsher penalties that they could otherwise face under criminal gun laws.
Co-sponsor Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, the original sponsor in 2005 of the state’s “stand your ground” bill, and a member of a task force that examined the law in the wake of Martin’s shooting, said Combee’s bill is based upon a task force recommendation to clarify Florida’s 10-20-Life law regarding displaying a firearm.
“There is an edge there with the law if you fire a weapon or display a weapon, you could be charged with a felony,” Baxley said.
The man who shot Martin has said he was acting in self defense and should be covered by the law.
Meanwhile, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, filed a measure asking school principals to decide which teachers and staff can carry concealed weapons while at work. Conservatives nationwide and in Florida have called for arming teachers and guards after the December shooting in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults. But some educators are nervous about proposals to allow firearms into schools.
Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, filed a bill that would impose a 4 percent fee on dealers’ sales of guns and ammunition, with the money going to mental health treatment. It wasn’t clear whether the bill would get any traction in the GOP-dominated Legislature.
Bills were also filed to add a consumer advocate to the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. board of directors (Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami); ban committees of continuous existence (Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater); and overhaul the state’s pension plan without closing off the traditional pension to new employees (Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby.)
STORY OF THE WEEK: A federal appeals court strikes down a law allowing the state to drug-test applicants for public assistance.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If we can make people drive to Georgia and Alabama and South Carolina to buy fireworks that are illegal in the state of Florida, then certainly we can make them drive to get crack pipes and marijuana pipes.”–Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, on a bill banning drug paraphernalia
By The News Service of Florida
Dewey James Bondurant, Sr.
March 2, 2013
Mr. Dewey James Bondurant, Sr., age 87 of Flomaton, passed away on February 28, 2013, in a Florala, AL, health care facility.
Mr. Bondurant, Sr. was a native of Flomaton and returned in 1952 coming from Round Lake, FL. He was a veteran of the United States Air Force having served in WWII where he was awarded the American Theater Ribbon, Victory Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. During his working years, he was self-employed in the forest industry and owner of D.J. Bondurant Lumber Company, Inc. He was a Christian and attended the Flomaton First Baptist Church where he served as a deacon.
Mr. Bondurant, Sr. is preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Ola Bell Bondurant.
He is survived by his sons, Dewey (Irene) Bondurant, Jr. of Flomaton, John (Teresa) Bondurant of Flomaton, Mark (Melody) Bondurant of Flomaton, Maxi (Tammi) Bondurant of Cantonment, Farris (Becky) Bondurant of Milton, and Dee (Michelle) Bondurant of Valdosta, GA; brother, Alfred Bondurant of Panama Canal; sisters, Juanita Howell of Pensacola Willean Sales of Monroeville, Jewel Dean of Flomaton, Dawn Printy of Pensacola; 15 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, March 2, 2013, at Flomaton First Baptist Church from 10 a.m. until a noon service time with Dr. Jerry Keese, Rev. Dustin Stockstill and Rev. Earl Lee officiating.
Interment will follow in Flomaton Cemetery, Flomaton.
Pallbearers will be Jim Bondurant, Dietrich Bondurant, Jason Bondurant, Chandler Bondurant, Adam Bondurant and Hunter Bondurant.
Myrtie Vickery
March 2, 2013
Myrtie Vickery, 81 of Cantonment, passed away on February 27, 2013.
She was preceded in death by her parents Wilson and Minnie Chason of Altha, FL, and a brother Howard Chason of Marianna, FL.
Myrtie is survived by her daughter Freida Harris of Cantonment and a son Jerald (Susan) Vickery of Bogia; granddaughters, Nikki Kight and Chelsea Vickery of Cantonment; great-grandchildren Heather Harris, Courtney Boyett and Willow Jade Fleming all of Cantonment; great-great grandchildren Elijah Bianchi, Leighana Meadows and Chason Reilly Harris all of Cantonment; brothers Lawrence Chason of Marianna and Aubrey Chason of Altha; sisters Ruby (Marlin) Flanders of Altha, Ruth (Robert) Wood of Altha, Doris (George dec.) Bates of Altha, Irene (Larry) Sessions of Hortense, GA, Rachel (Troy) Collins of Crawfordville, FL, Juanita (Aaron) Mathis of Altha, Jean (Larry) Hilson of Headland, AL; many nieces and nephews; the descendants of Charlie and Lizzie Vickery. All were much loved by Myrtie and she was much loved.
Visitation will be on Monday, March 4, 2013, from 1-2 p.m. at Cottage Hill Baptist Church with the funeral to start at 2 p.m. at the church. Burial will follow at Eastern Gate Memorial Gardens.
Leo Henry “Bud” Lank
March 2, 2013
Leo Henry “Bud” Lank, 85, of Molino left us early Saturday, February 16, 2013, at West Florida Hospital. He was born in Detroit, MI, on October 24, 1927, to Leo and Eva Lank and grew up in Media, PA.
He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife of 52 years, Mary Logan Lank, and many beloved friends. Left to cherish his memory are his brothers, Richard Lank of Media, PA, Robert Lank of Houma, LA, daughters, Sydney Sulpizio (Anthony) of Secane, PA and Debra Hodges of Pensacola; grandchildren Anthony Sulpizo (Mackenzie) of Secane, PA, Alicia Schubert (Jim) of Glenolden, PA, Blake Hodges (Christina) of Pensacola; and several great-grandchildren.
Leo, or “Bud” as he was known to those who loved him, proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946 aboard the destroyer, U.S.S. Furse of which he was a plank-owner. Following his military service he began his career with the Chemstrand Corporation in research and development, which later became Monsanto. He was employed there from 1947 until his retirement in the early 90’s Following his retirement, he pursued his love of traveling including touring the country extensively. He could also be found playing a round of golf with his friends at Solutia Golf course. He also enjoyed tending to his home and property and visiting his neighbors in the Molino and surrounding community. One of the highlights of his life was attending the Veteran’s Memorial in 2011. He returned to Florida with a renewed since of patriotism.
The Family of Bud Lank would like to acknowledge Jeanette Barkley for her love, companionship and memories. You meant so much to him. The family would also like to thank his friends in the Molino community for all their help through the years and to Betty Hale, a part of our family since day one.
Services will be held at Barrancas National Cemetery on Friday, March 8th, 2013 at 1:15 p.m. A celebration of his life will be held following the service at 2191 Chance Road, Molino.
Waters & Hibbert Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Curtis R. Simmons
March 2, 2013
Curtis R. Simmons, age 81 of Pensacola and formerly of Jay, went to be with the Lord on Thursday, February 28, 2013.
He was a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force and loved what he did. He was a loving husband, father, and grandfather. Curtis loved fishing, camping, spending time with his grandchildren, and working in his garden.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Henry and Katie Mae Simmons; brothers, Howard, Clyde, and Earl Ray Simmons and his sisters, Addie Morris and Elsie Diamond.
He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Debra Simmons; children, Curtis II, Heather, Crystal, Robbie, Randy, Tony, Janice, Debbie, Terry, and Glenda; 23 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; sister, Annie Lou Carle; brothers, Doug and Cecil Simmons and numerous nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held from 12-1 pm at Jay Funeral Home on Saturday, March 2, 2013. Funeral services will begin at 1:00 pm with Brother Earle Greene officiating services.
Burial will follow at Cora Baptist Church Cemetery.
Active pallbearers will be Curtis Simmons II, Jon McArthur, Tony Simmons II, Tony Brown, Richard Diamond, and Tony Simmons. Honorary pallbearer will be Jonathon Hicks.
Jay Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Glenn “Buddy” Hadley
March 2, 2013
Glenn “Buddy” Hadley, 68 of Perdido, AL, passed away Thursdaym February 28, 2013, in Mobile. He was retired from Standard Furniture, born in Lottie, AL, on June 03, 1944, to Doil and Sadie Hall Hadley. He was a member of the Lottie Baptist Church.
He is preceded in death by his father, Doil Hadley.
Survivors are gis wife, Pearl Lore Eddins Hadley; his Mother, Sadie Hadley Johnson both of Perdido; two brothers, Dallas Hadley of Perdido and Larry Hadley of Atmore; and a number of nieces and nephews.
Services will be Tuesday March 5, 2013, at 2 p.m. from the Atmore Memorial Chapel with Rev. Chris Pruitt and Rev. Henry Wilson officiating. Interment will follow in Brown’s Cemetery in Perdido.
Family will receive friends, Tuesday March 5, 2013, at Atmore Memorial Chapel from 12:30 p.m. until 2 p.m.
Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home and Atmore Memorial Chapel are charge of all arrangements.
Betty Annette Flowers Merrill Norris
March 2, 2013
Betty Annette Flowers Merrill Norris, 74 of Atmore, passed away March 1, 2013.
Funeral Services will be held Tuesday, March 5, 2013, at 10 a.m. from the Atmore First Assembly of God Church with Rev. Don Davis officiating. Burial will follow in Mothershed Cemetery.
Visitation will be held Monday, March 4, 2013, from 6-8 p.m. from the Johnson-Quimby Funeral Home in Atmore.
Highway 164 Bridge Closed Due To Structural Deficiencies
March 1, 2013
Highway 164 was closed Friday afternoon from Velor Road to Pine Barren Road. The Highway 164 bridge between those intersections will be closed for about 60 days for repairs.
Officials said the bridge was inspected earlier this week, and a decision to close the bridge due to structural deficiencies was made Friday after the inspection report was completed.
The Highway 164 bridge is located in an area between Walnut Hill and McDavid. The concrete on wood piling bridge was constructed 55 years ago.
Pictured top: The Highway 164 bridge closed Friday afternoon is constructed out of concrete on wood pilings. Pictured below: The bridge was closed Friday afternoon for about 60 days following a failed inspection. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Log Truck Overturns In Atmore
March 1, 2013
A log truck overturned as it turned off South Main Street in Atmore just before noon Friday, spilling its load into the Arby’s parking lot. The accident happened as the truck driver attempted to turn into unnamed road between Arby’s and KFC. There were no injuries. Photos by Annie Wiedel for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
FORTUNE Magazine: International Paper One Of America’s ‘Most Admired’
March 1, 2013
International Paper announced Thursday that it has once again been named by FORTUNE magazine as the No. 1 company in the Forest and Paper Products sector according to FORTUNE’s annual report of “America’s Most Admired Companies”.
This is International Paper’s tenth time in the last eleven years to top the Fortune list within this category. Out of the nine key attributes on which companies are judged International Paper took the top spot in seven of those categories within its industry. Those categories included, people management, quality of management, financial soundness, quality of products and services, global competitiveness, use of corporate assets and innovation.
“This is well-deserved recognition and a reflection of International Paper’s 68,000 talented employees around the globe,” said John Faraci, chairman and chief executive officer. “Managing through an uneven global economy while continuing to generate solid results is what good execution is all about. Congratulations to all of our employees.”