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Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Choosing Sides

This is the part of the legislative session where the House and the Senate’s honeymoon — especially one as dubious as this year’s — begins to face its first serious test. The opening weeks and the easy compromises have been sent to the governor for his signature. It gets harder from here.

The biggest fight is always how to divvy up tens of billions of dollars in state spending in a way that makes as many people as possible happy. Already, battle lines on a spending plan are becoming clear and revolve around Gov. Rick Scott’s two priorities. The House has fully embraced Scott’s call for $1 billion in tax cuts, though the chamber has reconfigured them a bit; the Senate has taken up the governor’s proposal to create a $250 million “Florida Enterprise Fund” to boost economic development incentives.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are finally taking votes on bills that could become bargaining chips later in the process. Legislation dealing with guns, transportation services like Uber, and a controversial method of drilling for oil and natural gas advanced out of the House or the Senate this week.

And Floridians themselves will face a high-profile question this November, in addition to that pesky question about which presidential candidate will win the nation’s largest swing state: whether or not to allow patients with a variety of illnesses to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

LESS MONEY, MORE SPENDING

Technically, legislative budget-writers had less to work with when they sat down to craft spending plans than Scott did when he released his proposal months ago. Economic forecasters recently lopped nearly $400 million off the amount they expected to be at the Legislature’s disposal.

Because of the vagaries of the state budget process, though, House and Senate spending plans released Friday were heavier than the proposal Scott put forward. The governor’s plan for the budget year beginning July 1 checked in at $79.3 billion. The House landed just short of $80 billion. The Senate overshot that by nearly $1 billion.

In addition to the split over Scott’s priorities, the two chambers were apart on whether to ease up on local education property taxes — which provide the bulk of the increase allowing state leaders to promise record school funding this year — and an array of other issues, ranging from hundreds of millions of dollars to relatively small projects.

One of the biggest differences, though, would be Scott’s ideas on incentives. Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who chairs the Senate subcommittee dealing with economic development, announced early in the week that he would back the governor’s proposal.

“I think it’s important that we acknowledge the priority of creating jobs and that we all try to work in that direction and we acknowledge that we do it collaboratively,” Latvala said.

For its part, the House was busy trying to figure out how to provide about $1 billion in tax relief to Floridians — a joyous chore in an election year.

Several House Democrats expressed concern about the size of the package, but some of the same members also pitched additional items — lifting the sales tax on bear-proof trash cans and gym memberships — that they’d like added to the legislation, which is expected to swell to more than $1 billion as it advances in the coming weeks.

The proposal unveiled by House Finance & Tax Chairman Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, matches Scott’s price tag but includes less in permanent, or recurring, cuts than Scott proposed. It would meet Scott’s call for a 1 percentage-point reduction in a tax on commercial leases starting July 1, 2017 and would permanently eliminate a tax on manufacturing machinery that is set to return in 2017.

Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, expressed concern with the $1 billion figure, as state revenue projections have changed.

“I do think it’s quite a lot of money, and I think we have to balance this against making sure we’re funding our education, our health care, our safety,” Berman said.

Gaetz said while he shared Berman’s “caution,” he views past cuts as having helped the growth of the state’s economy, which has seen tourism and home building grow the past six years.

“We do continue to cut taxes, we continue to be aggressive in cutting taxes, by $1 billion, but we do so within this tax package for finite periods of time, so that if the revenue position does change, or oscillate, or dip, that we have the opportunity to have that revenue to come back into the picture,” Gaetz said. “But for now I want to put $1 billion back into the pockets of Floridians because I think that is the best way to stave off some of the leveling we see in this state.”

There could be even more changes coming to the tax-cut proposal. Gaetz’s father — Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville — floated the idea this week of lowering local education property taxes as part of the same discussion.

“If we do nothing and simply allow the formula to take effect and approve the governor’s proposal, there’s a $500 million property tax increase in the state of Florida,” Gaetz said. “Pretty hard to sustain that kind of an increase when we’re talking about tax cuts.”

GAS, GUNS AND GETTING A RIDE

There was no shortage of controversial legislation on the House and Senate floors this week. House members approved a bill that would bar local governments from imposing moratoriums on the oil and gas drilling method known as “fracking” while requiring the state Department of Environmental Protection to undertake a wide-ranging study that would include looking at potential risks and economic benefits of the process.

Fracking has been blamed for everything from poisoned water supplies to earthquakes. All the more reason to have a state agency look at it and decide what needs to be done, Republicans said.

“Wishing for a zero-risk process or some absolute safety is not possible,” said Rep. Cary Pigman, R-Avon Park. “I acknowledge that oil and natural-gas production is an untidy process. So is all of mining, so is farming, so is industry, yet our society needs energy, we need food and we need the finished products made from natural resources.”

Democrats were more skeptical.

“Why would we even want to consider a bill that is going to potentially poison our drinking water? What we’re doing is we’re injecting toxic fluids in the ground,” Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton said. “What’s wrong with us here? I mean, something’s going on. And you know what’s going on, this fracking bill is really called the anything for money bill.”

The House bill dealing with ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft also spurred debate, but passed fairly easily.

The Senate, meanwhile, spent a chunk of its floor time this week on guns. By a 24-12 vote, members signed off on a measure (SB 344) that would alter the burden of proof in “stand your ground” self-defense cases. Democrats contend the proposal will put an end to cases before all of the facts are fully revealed.

“It potentially stops an investigation cold after the last man standing tells his side of the story,” said Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner of Tampa. “The dead do not have the opportunity to rebut the tale told by the survivor. In cases where there are no witnesses, this bill stacks the deck against the justice for the dead.”

The bill stems from a Florida Supreme Court ruling last year that said defendants have the burden of proof of showing they should be shielded from prosecution under the “stand your ground” law. In “stand your ground” cases, pre-trial evidentiary hearings are held to determine whether defendants should be immune from prosecution. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Rob Bradley, would place the burden of proof on prosecutors in the evidentiary hearings.

“I think it’s simply incorrect to suggest that this bill will result in an otherwise guilty individual going free,” Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said. “If the state has sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute a defendant in a jury trial, the state will prevail in the immunity hearing before a judge, and the judge will permit the case to go to trial.”

The Senate unanimously passed a second measure (SB 130) — dubbed the “backyard range” bill — intended to restrict the recreational discharge of firearms in certain residential areas.

LIGHT IT UP

It wasn’t really a surprise that backers of a medical-marijuana citizens initiative got enough petition signatures to get on the ballot again this year, but it became official this week. Prominent Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan, who has pushed the constitutional amendment, sent an email to supporters Wednesday announcing that the petition drive was successful.

“This effort cost millions of dollars — but it needed to happen. … Medical marijuana is coming to Florida,” Morgan wrote in his email.

But opponents quickly promised to wage another campaign to deny the measure the support of 60 percent of Florida voters, the remaining hurdle for getting the language added into the Constitution. A 2014 initiative led by Morgan failed to reach 60 percent.

“It legalizes pot smoking in Florida under the cynical guise of helping sick people. Marijuana is not medicine, it is an illegal and dangerous drug,” said Tre’ Evers, a spokesman for the anti-marijuana “No on 2″ campaign, in a press release. “The fact is that wherever pot smoking has been legalized under the guise of ‘medical marijuana’ it has proven to be a farce, a ruse, de-facto legalization.”

STORY OF THE WEEK: The House and Senate rolled out spending plans for the budget year that begins July 1, setting the stage for completing the one duty lawmakers are required by the Constitution to fulfill every year.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I can recall as a youngster that if you misbehaved or disobeyed you’d often hear, ‘You’re going to end up in Marianna.’ You sort of grew up thinking that must be one hell of a hellhole.”—Former Gov. Bob Martinez, talking about legislation that would establish a memorial and allocate $1.5 million for the reburial of bodies removed from the site of the former Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, where students allegedly suffered brutal abuse.

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

Free Showing Of ‘War Room’ Sunday In Molino

Highland Baptist Church on Highway 95A in Molino will present a free showing of the movie War Room today at 5 p.m.

Cantonment Woman Charged With Assaulting Girlfriend, Two Deputies; Threatening To Kill Deputy

A Cantonment woman is facing a long list of charges after allegedly choking her girlfriend, destroying her cell phones, escaping from deputies, assaulting two deputies, threatening to kill a deputy and even tossing in a bomb threat involving ISIS.

It all started about 4:00  Thursday afternoon in the 1500 block of Pauline Streeet were Celeste Nicle Roberson, 24, allegedly got into an altercation with her live-in girlfriend. While driving home from a funeral, the girlfriend said Roberson attacked her and kept turning off the vehicle and pulling the emergency brake. She allegedly threw the girlfriend’s cellphones and other personal items out of the car window.

They then traveled to the Cantonment Post Office on South Highway 29 where Roberson attacked her girlfriend, placed her in a choke hold. pulled her hair and beat on her in the parking lot. They then traveled north on Highway 29 until the girlfriend stopped the vehicle and tried to leave Roberson by the road. Instead, Roberson jumped on the hood and held on to the windshield wipers until they arrived at a gas station at Highway 29 and Beck’s Lake Road in Cantonment. Roberson then took the vehicle keys and began walking north of Highway 29.

Responding Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies took Roberson into custody. Deputies reported that she became violent inside back of the cruiser, kicking and screaming, and somehow managed to get her hands from her behind her back to the front of her body. After deputies removed her and attempted to re-adjust the handcuffs, Roberson escaped and ran northbound. She was subdued by deputies about 30 yards away in a turn lane of Highway 29. Four deputies struggled to get her handcuffed again, according to an arrest report.

She then threatened a deputy that was placing her in the back of a patrol vehicle, saying, “You’re dead…” Deputies were forced to push her inside the vehicle in order to close the door. She continued to yell obscenities and make threats, according to an arrest report, saying “I hope you got kids too because they dead too”.

Roberson continued to violently bang her head inside the vehicle cage. Deputies were forced to remove her from the vehicle and her place her in leg irons.  In the process, she began to kick a deputy repeatedly in the chest and spit into his eye.

While being transported to the jail, Roberson continued to make threats against a deputy, threatening to harm him and his family. She said stray bullets would find his family “and having a box placed in my front yard that will blow up in my Face. Roberson state she knew all about ISIS,” the deputy wrote in his report.

Roberson was charged with battery, two counts of criminal mischief, petit theft, resisting arrest without violence, escape, two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and corruption by threat against a public servant

$5 Blowout Book Sale Today

The West Florida Public Library will hold a $5 Blowout Book Sale today.

Attendees can pay $5 for a brown paper bag and stuff it will all the books that will fit. There’s no limit to the number of bags that can be purchased.

Contributions will be used to support the West Florida Public Library’s efforts to build community and improve literacy.

The sale will be Saturday, January 30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the West Florida Public Library Main Branch at 239 North Spring Street.

Tate High Drama To Present ‘Brigadoon’ Saturday And Sunday

The Tate High School Drama Department will present the popular musical Brigadoon  in the school cafetorium Saturday at 7:00 p.m.and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.  Tickets are $7 at the door.

Brigadoon tells the story of  American tourists Tommy and Jeff who get lost on vacation in Scotland and stumble into Brigadoon, a mythical village that appears for only one day every 100 years. No outsider can stay in Brigadoon unless they fall in love, and no resident can ever leave or the village will vanish forever.

But when Tommy falls for a village girl, he is forced to choose between returning to the world that he knows—or taking a chance on life and love in the mysterious Brigadoon.

The stage play became a popular MGM movie starring Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse.  The Tate Drama Department is presenting a full-staged musical for the 19th straight season.

Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Blue Angels To Fly Over 2016 Super Bowl

The Blue Angels are slated to perform a flyover of the 2016 Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, Feb. 7.

The Blue Angels will open the football game with their signature six-jet Delta formation, immediately following the national anthem.

The football game is set to pit the National Football League’s Denver Broncos against the Carolina Panthers. More than 70,000 spectators are expected to attend the football game, which draws more than 114 million viewers worldwide.

The Blue Angels are currently training in California for the 2016 air show season and are scheduled to fly 65 demonstrations at 33 locations throughout North America in 2016, which is the Blue Angels 70^th anniversary year.

The mission of the Blue Angels is to showcase the pride and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country through flight demonstrations and community outreach.

NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.

Patchy Fog, Cloudy But Warm Sunday

Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:

Tonight: Patchy fog after 10pm. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 49. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday: Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. South wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Sunday Night: Patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers after 9am. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 75. South wind 5 to 10 mph.

Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 9am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. South wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Tuesday Night: Showers and thunderstorms. Low around 61. South wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Wednesday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 43. North wind 5 to 10 mph.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 56.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35.

Friday: Scattered showers. Sunny, with a high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Friday Night: Scattered showers. Mostly clear, with a low around 33. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Saturday: Scattered showers. Sunny, with a high near 57. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Science And Engineering Fair Results

The results of the 2016 West Panhandle Science and Engineering Fair were announced his week an awards ceremony held at University of West Florida. The annual Science and Engineering Fair is a partnership of the College of Science and Engineering and the Escambia and Santa Rosa County School Districts.

Students who qualified to compete at the Florida State Science Fair will have an asterisk  by their name. Grand winners (two senior winners) are eligible to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair, May 8-13 in Phoenix, AZ, and won $6000 scholarships from the University of West Florida. Junior Grand winners are eligible to compete at State.

Winners of specific events in the high school and middle school categories were:

Animal Sciences

1^st place – Skyler Flynn & Chase Creech – WFHS *

2^nd place – Serena Green, Grace Menzies & Kayla Lycus – BTWHS

Behavioral & Social Studies

GRAND – 1^st Place – Patricia McAuley, Holley Meany & Lauren Beall – PHS *

2^nd Place – Lillian Wiggins & Virginia Beall – PHS *

3^rd Place – Delaney McCall & Carly Fraser – PHS

Biomedical & Health Sciences

1^st Place – Eva DeSoi – PHS *

2^nd Place – Wesley Delware – EHS

3^rd Place – Ariana Evans – BTWHS

Cellular/Molecular Biology & Biochemistry

1^st Place – Sohail Mirza – PHS *

2^nd Place – Kinan Alsheikh & Carla Dias – PHS *

HM – MacKenzie Sutt & Elizabeth Teets – BTWHS

Chemistry

1^st Place – John Dixon & Justin Liu – PHS *

2^nd Place – Daniel Duong – BTWHS (* Senior Alternate)

3^rd Place – April Mendez – BTWHS

HM – Raymond Brown – EHS

HM – Rebecca Weatherspoon – BTWHS

Earth & Environmental Sciences

1^st Place – Kelly Wu – PHS *

2nd Place – Jonathan Billingslea – PHS *

3^rd Place – Reid Harwell – PHS

HM – Alexis Evans & Miya May – BTWHS

Engineering

GRAND 1^st Place – Alexander Pope – PHS *

2^nd Place – Matthew Arellano, Teri Laird & Sarah Quinlan – EHS

3^rd Place – Dakota Davison & Bailey Wilson – EHS

Environmental Engineering

1^st Place – Elleon Forty & Jeffrey Sutherland – PHS *

Intelligent Machines, Robotics & System Software

1^st Place – Geneva Anderson – WFHS *

2^nd Place Dina Razek, Drew Jimenez & Kareem Bataineh – PHS *

HM – Olivia Stanhope – WFHS

Mathematics & Computational Sciences

1^st Place – Omari Harris – BTWHS

HM – Henry Kimberi – WFHS

Microbiology

1^st Place – Greer Coffey  & Emily Dawson– BTWHS

2^nd Place – Jennifer Dean & Heidi Neumann – PHS

Physics & Astronomy

1^st Place – Xuan Ho & Joseph McCormack – PHS *

2^nd Place – Jacob Ferris – PHS (* Senior alternate)

3^rd Place – Rachael Chase & Samantha Cherry – EHS (* Senior Alternative)

HM – Amy Peterson – BTWHS

Plant Sciences

2^nd Place – Ashlyn Whittington – BTWHS

3^rd Place – Kyndall Rideau – BTWHS

Animal Sciences

1^st Place – Dana Amin – Saint Paul *

2^nd Place – Sarah Hamilton – Saint Paul (*Junior Alternate)

3^rd Place – Mariah Mack – Bellview Middle

3^rd Place – Cody Thomas – Ernest Ward Middle

HM – Kyla Brewer – Holley Navarre

Behavioral & Social Sciences

1^st Place – Hannah Meyers – Saint Paul *

2^nd Place – Emily Wentzel, Hope Fell & Lauren Lacour – Saint John’s *

3^rd Place – Gisel Martinez – Holley Navarre

HM – Seth Menzer – Holley Navarre

Biomedical & Health Sciences

1^st Place – Kaylee McDonald – Holley Navarre

2^nd Place – Madeline Mauzy – Holley Navarre

3^rd Place – Olivia Coleman – Holley Navarre

HM – Zhikembria Williams – Bellview Middle

HM – Mya Clegg – Bellview Middle

HM – Darah Schumpert – Holley navarre

Cellular/Molecular Biology & Biochemistry

1^st Place – Brooke Rayborn – Holley Navarre *

2^nd Place – Zachary Oestmann – Holley Navarre *

HM – Logan Wallace – Holley Navarre

HM – Lauren Miller – Holley Navarre

Chemistry

1^st Place – Mary Beloat – Holley Navarre *

2^nd Place – John Middleton – Saint Paul

3^rd Place – Emily White – Saint John’s

HM – Jessica Olson – Holley Navarre

HM – Jasmine Galvez – Saint Paul

Earth & Environmental Sciences

1^st Place – Chase Turner – Holley Navarre *

2^nd Place – Darcy Sullivan – Saint Paul *

3^rd Place – Meghan McGilley – Saint Paul

HM – Peter Mougey – Saint Paul

Engineering

1^st Place – Quin Baker, Jr. – Saint Paul *

2^nd Place – Katherine Fey – Holley Navarre (* Junior Aternate)

3^rd Place – Cameron Lange – Holley Navarre

HM – Mya Hamilton – Holley Navarre

Environmental Engineering

1^st Place – Claire Han – Brown Barge Middle *

2^nd Place – Kaleb Barrett – Holley Navarre

3^rd Place – Nathaniel Merrill –Gulf Breeze

Intelligent Machines, Robotics & System Software

GRAND 1^st Place – Regan Rudzki – Holley Navarre *

GRAND 1^st Place – Ravi Raj – Brown Barge Middle *

3^rd Place – Maddox DeMars – Holley Navarre

HM – D.Connor Vickery – Holley Navarre

Mathematics & Computational Sciences

1^st Place – Chance Cunningham – Holley Navarre *

HM – Mikael Patriarca – Bellview Middle

Microbiology

1^st Place – Payden Mouritsen – Brown Barge Middle *

2^nd Place – Mary Galloway – Saint Paul *

3^rd Place – Angelia Morris – Holley Navarre

HM – Olivia West – Saint Paul

HM – Callista Salazar – Holley Navarre

Physics & Astronomy

1^st Place – Kori Vertz – Warrington Middle *

2^nd Place – Timmy Hodges – Saint Paul *

3^rd Place – Julianna Cannon – Holley Navarre

HM – Meredith McGhee – Ernest Ward Middle

Plant Sciences

1^st Place – Isaiah Gurule-Rat – Saint John’s *

2^nd Place – Lillian Sylvia – Holley Navarre (* Junior Alternate)

3^rd Place – Austin Anderson – Holley Navarre

HM – Noah Buenaflor – Holley Navarre

Additional  Special Awards were also announced to include:

American Chemical Society–$100 to Sr. and $50 to Jr. Chemistry & Biochemistry for outstanding achievement in chemistry.  The winners for chemistry are Senior: team project of John Dixon & Justin Liu (PHS); junior, Mary Beloat (Holley Navarre). The winners for Biochemistry are senior, Sohail Mirza (PHS) and junior, Brooke Rayborn (Holley Navarre)

American Meteorological Society–A certificate of outstanding achievement in the field Meteorology is awarded to Jasiana Edwards (Holley Navarre), Miya May (BTWHS) and Alexis Evans (BTWHS).

American Psychological Association — The world’s largest association of psychologists, works to advance the creation, communication, and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives. A certificate for outstanding research in psychology is awarded to Patricia McAuley, Holley Meaney, and Lauren Beall (all PHS).

American Society of Civil Engineers/Pensacola Branch — Supporting this science fair for the first time this year, presented  with the following awards:

1^st place Sr. Division: Alexander Pope- $50 gift card and medal (PHS)

2^nd place Sr. Division: Jeffrey Sutherland & Elleon Forty – medals (PHS)

3^rd place Sr. Division: Bailey Wilson & Dakota Davison – medals (EHS)

1^st place Jr. Division: Claire Han-$50 gift card and medal (BBMS)

2^nd place Jr. Division: Quin Baker – medal (St. Paul)

3^rd place Jr. Dividsion: Ezra McKenna – medal  (Holley Navarre)

ASM Materials Education Foundation—Provided an award for the most outstanding exhibit in materials science. A certificate & a medallion for the best materials engineering project is awarded to Alexander Pope (PHS).

ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives: Recognized two Sr. projects for striving to find innovative solutions to humanity’s most challenging problems.  Geneva Anderson (WFHS) and Kelly Wu (PHS)will receive a certificate and will be nominated to enter for the Grand Prize, a trip to Arizona for the 2016 Sustainability Solutions Festival.

Association for Women Geoscientists: Awarded a Certificate of Achievement to recognize a female student whose project exemplifies high standards of innovativeness and scientific excellence in the geosciences was presented to Darcy Sullivan (St. Paul).

Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International: Awarded projects for their excellence in the categories of EAEV, ENMS, IMRS, and PHYS.  Each of the top three projects will receive $15 iTunes Cards. Top 3 will compete for a $500 award for the best project from the Three Rivers, East Panhandle and West Panhandle regional fairs. The top projects: Alexander Pope (PHS), Geneva Anderson (WFHS), Jonathan Billingslea (PHS).  Additionally, five more projects earned certificates of merit. Certificates were presented to: Kareem Bataineh (PHS), Drew Jiminez (PHS), Dina Razek (PHS), Ezra McKenna (Holley Navarre), Regan Rudzki (Holley Navarre), Samantha Cherry (EHS), Rachael Chase (EHS), Maddox DeMars (Holley Navarre) .

Judge Issues Split Decision In Horse Track Regulatory Fight

Gambling regulators overstepped their authority with a proposed rule that would require jockeys to wear white pants and protective garb such as helmets and boots specifically designed for horse racing, an administrative law judge decided Friday.

But regulators’ proposed rule requiring horse races to begin from a box or gate and establishing minimum lengths and widths for horse tracks should stand, Administrative Law Judge E. Gary Early ruled in a 33-page order.

The order came in a case involving Gretna Racing, a tiny Northwest Florida track operated by the Poarch Creek Indians of Atmore that received the nation’s first pari-mutuel permit for rodeo-style “barrel racing.”

The state Division of Pari-mutuel Wagering spent two years crafting the rules aimed at reining in barrel races, which were stopped by a different administrative law judge in 2013.

Regulators in 2011 granted a pari-mutuel license to Gretna Racing for the rodeo-style barrel racing, which, in turn, allowed the facility to open a more-lucrative card room. An appeals court later ruled that the state erred in granting the barrel-racing license. After the ruling, the state and Gretna Racing entered an agreement authorizing “flag drop” races in which two riders compete against each other but without any obstacles in the arena.

The proposed rules, published last summer, set up standards for track shapes and sizes and established new requirements for jockeys, aimed at barrel racers — mostly women — affiliated with the Gretna track.

The North Florida Horsemen’s Association — which represents about 200 owners, trainers and riders in the barrel racing industry linked with the Gadsden County facility — challenged the rules, resulting in Friday’s order.

The association’s lawyer, Donna Blanton, had questioned a proposal that would require all races to begin from a starting box or gate, which would put an end to “flag drop” races. The rule would impose a “significant adverse economic impact” on the riders, owners and breeders, Blanton wrote in the 44-page complaint filed last year.

The rule is designed to “appease industry participants who seek to have quarter horse racing defined in such a way that supports their form of quarter horse racing to the exclusion of all others,” Blanton argued. “The satisfaction of special interests cannot serve as a logical basis for the track rule.”

The proposed rule also established that each race must have at least five entrants with a minimum of two contestants.

Quarter horse breeders, owners and trainers affiliated with other tracks have complained about the barrel-racing and flag-drop races, which have also set the stage for the Gadsden County to potentially begin operating slot machines.

Early ruled that state law gave the agency authority “specifically tailored to the adoption of standards for racetracks, race meets, and races.”

“Without the ability to set track and race standards, the legislative authority in (the statute) would have little purpose or meaning,” he wrote.

In contrast, state law does not give the agency — a division of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation — the power to craft rules pertaining to jockeys, Early wrote.

The proposed rule required that jockeys demonstrate riding ability, including switching the riding crop from one hand to another while maintaining control of the horse in a stretch drive.

The proposed rule also required jockeys to wear white pants, “unique racing colors,” and protective vests, helmets and boots “which have been specifically designed for horse racing when riding in races or when exercising horses.”

But nothing in state law gives the agency the authority for that rule, Early wrote. Instead, the statute regarding occupational licenses only deals with information necessary to establish “the identity and good moral character of an applicant for an occupational license,” he wrote.

Representatives of the North Florida Horsemen’s Association could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Friday’s order is the latest in a series of rulings about state gambling regulations.

Last month, Administrative Law Judge Robert E. Meale ruled that the Division of Pari-mutuel Wagering overstepped its authority with rules that would have placed additional requirements on jai alai operators.

David Romanik, a lawyer who is a part-owner of the Gretna track, questioned Early’s decision upholding the track rule.

Romanik said that “everybody will be able to comply” with the track regulation, but he didn’t rule out an appeal.

“It’s not really the end-of-the-world type stuff. It was really more a matter of principle that, for the first time ever, the division is now starting to dictate policy to management as to how to run a private business, which is what these tracks are,” he said.

Regulators are entitled to establish rules regarding wagering, drugging of animals and the integrity of jockeys, Romanik said.

“But how big your track is and how many horses should be in the race? What does the Division of Pari-mutuel Wagering know about that? They know nothing. That’s why they’ve never regulated it before,” he said. “To me, that’s the biggest error in this ruling — now allowing the division to start regulating into an area of someone else’s private business.”

The Florida Supreme Court, meanwhile, is poised to decide whether slot machines should be allowed at the Gretna track in a case that could have wide-reaching implications.

The Supreme Court accepted jurisdiction in the Gretna Racing case after a split appellate court ruled in October that Gretna Racing cannot have slot machines without the authorization of the Legislature, even though voters in the county approved slots in a referendum.

The Supreme Court’s decision also will likely affect gambling operations in at least five other counties — Brevard, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach and Washington — where voters have approved authorizing slots at local pari-mutuels.

Man Charged With Online Solicitation

Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, along with investigators from the Escambia and Okaloosa County sheriff’s offices today arrested William Burton Allen, 42, of 6774 Murphy Cassidy Road, Milton,  on one count of computer pornography online solicitation of a parent, one count of transmitting harmful material to a minor and one count of unlawful use of a two way communications device.

Allen  was arrested after soliciting an undercover FDLE agent, who he believed was the mother of a 14-year old female juvenile, for sex. Allen had been communicating with the undercover agent by email and text messages since October 2015.

Anyone with information concerning this investigation is urged to contact the FDLE Pensacola Regional Operations Center at (800) 226-8574.

Allen is being held in the Escambia County Jail with bond. The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, 1st Judicial Circuit.

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