United States: Florida Government And Politics Weekly Update

Around the State

High-level Department of Children and Families staff resign. Several top staff at the Department of Children and Families resigned in the wake of the investigation of the death of a 10-year-old foster child. Resignations include Walter Cook, who was responsible for the state's child abuse hotline; Jason Dimitris, Chief of Staff to the department secretary; and David Fairbanks, Assistant Secretary of Programs. The child was found dead inside a pest control truck on the side of I-95 in West Palm Beach; her twin brother is in critical condition with acid burns. The foster parents, Jorge and Carmen Barahona, have been charged with first-degree murder for the death of the child as well as attempted murder for the abuse of the other child.

Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of Oxycontin, offers to fund startup of prescription drug database. On Wednesday, Purdue Pharma offered the state $1 million over two years to start up the state's stalled prescription drug database. The database had been tied up in a vendor dispute in the Department of Administrative Hearings until Tuesday, when the bid protest was dismissed. While the Florida House is proposing to eliminate the database, the Senate President would like to see Governor Rick Scott use the funds to startup the database. Gov. Scott, however, repeated his opposition to the program based on the lack of full funding and the potential release of patient records in the event of a database breach. The Department of Health is expected to award a contract to the winning bidder by early May.

Legislature

Focus on Rules: Legislative Calendars explained. Article III, s. 7 of the Florida Constitution requires that bills be read three times, on separate days, before passage by either chamber of the Legislature. Reflecting the "three readings" requirement, the Legislature generally organizes bills by Calendars — the Second Reading Calendar (referred to as "2R"), the Special Order Calendar (referred to as "SO"), and the Third Reading Calendar (referred to as "3R"). Rule 10 in the House and Rule 4 in the Senate generally govern these Calendars of the Legislature. A bill is placed on the Second Reading Calendar after having passed out of all of its committees of reference. A bill is placed on the Special Order Calendar by direct action of the relevant legislative committee that sets the Special Order Calendar. Once a bill on the Special Order Calendar is read on the floor of the relevant chamber and any amendments are acted upon, the bill is placed on the Third Reading Calendar. After the third reading on the floor, amendments may be taken up, the final form of the bill is debated, and a final "roll call" vote of the chamber is taken. Incidentally, the first reading of a bill is usually a non-event, accomplished by publishing the bill title in a journal of the relevant chamber.

Senate votes to place amendment on 2012 ballot prohibiting mandatory purchase of health insurance. On Wednesday, the Senate voted out S.J.R. 2, an amendment to the Florida Constitution that would, among other provisions, prohibit individuals from being compelled to purchase health care coverage. The bill is a direct challenge to President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which contains an "individual mandate" requiring the purchase of health care coverage. The bill next goes to the House for consideration. Once voted out of the House, the amendment will be filed with the secretary of state, as constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislature do not require approval of the governor.

Schools stripped from open-carry firearm bill. Sen. Greg Evers, who sponsored S.B. 234, which allows concealed weapons permit holders to openly carry their firearms into grade schools and universities, agreed to amend the bill on Wednesday to drop schools from the bill. The amendment was sponsored by Sen. Paula Dockery in the Criminal Justice Committee. The concession by Sen. Evers comes after committee testimony in late February from Robert Cowie, whose daughter, Amy, was accidentally shot to death in January at a Florida State University fraternity. Mr. Cowie is a personal friend of Sen. John Thrasher, the chair of the Rules Committee, who opposes allowing firearms on campus. The bill is scheduled to be heard again in the Criminal Justice Committee on Monday afternoon for a final vote.

House proposes to end prescription drug database. The House Health and Human Services Committee voted out two proposed committee bills on Thursday that will repeal the state's prescription drug database and prohibit the dispensing of controlled substances by physicians. Chairman Robert Schenk stated that he wanted to "cut the problem off at the source" and that more than 80 percent of the oxycodone dispensed in the United States comes from Florida. Republican committee members expressed concern that physicians would be unable to directly administer necessary medications in their offices under the proposal, while Democrat members questioned why the proposal eliminated pain clinic regulations and punished legitimate physicians. In particular, Reps. Paige Kreegel and Ronald "Doc" Renuart argued that the proposal should only ban the dispensing of specific drugs, while Rep. Ari Porth argued that the proposal attacks the problem in the wrong way by punishing good physicians. In reaction to the House proposal, the Senate President's office noted that a repeal of the prescription drug database "will not pass the Senate."

Teacher quality bills on the fast track. H.B. 7019 and S.B. 736, House and Senate bills that dramatically reform teacher contracts, evaluations, and pay, sped through the Legislature during the first week of session. On Thursday, the House Education Committee voted H.B. 7019 out of its last committee of reference, clearing the bill for the floor. Meanwhile, the Senate voted out S.B. 736 on the floor of the Senate and "immediately certified" the bill to the House, ensuring immediate delivery of the bill to the other chamber. The bills are nearly identical in substance and will likely be taken up together on Tuesday afternoon in the House, where the speaker has scheduled a session meeting block from 2:45 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. Once passed out of the House, Gov. Scott is expected to quickly sign the final legislation.

House Medicaid proposals scheduled for a first hearing. Today, the House will be taking up its Medicaid reform proposal in draft form for the first time this session. The bills differ from last year's proposal in that medical loss ratios are abandoned in favor of the "achieved savings rebate." The rebate will allow plans to retain up to 7.5 percent of revenue as pre-tax income, and any revenue above nine percent (or 10 percent for plans that meet certain quality measures) must be refunded to the state. In addition, the proposal requires plans to include all providers in a region that are classified by the Agency for Health Care Administration as "essential providers," which include, at a minimum, federally qualified health centers, statutory teaching hospitals, trauma centers, hospitals located at least 25 miles from any other hospital with similar services, specialty children's hospitals, faculty plans of Florida medical schools, and regional perinatal intensive care centers. The House proposal still differs significantly from the Senate proposal, S.B. 1972, by employing far fewer regions (seven, instead of 19) and discarding the use of medical loss ratios. In addition, the House proposal does not include any of the tort reforms proposed by the Senate and does not provide for the state to pull out of the federal Medicaid program if the federal government does not approve the waivers necessary to implement the reforms.

Auto insurance fraud bills emerge in the Legislature. Proposals to fight rampant auto insurance fraud in central and south Florida have emerged in the House and Senate. In the House, Rep. Mike Horner has filed H.B. 967, which revises the statutory schedule of charges for auto insurance personal injury protection (PIP) benefits, as well as caps the amount of attorney fees that may be recovered regarding a dispute over PIP benefits, among other changes. The companion in the Senate is S.B. 1694, sponsored by Sen. Garrett Richter. A more comprehensive proposal, H.B. 1411, has been filed by Rep. Jim Boyd. Rep. Boyd's proposal, among other provisions, expands the use of the "long form" crash reports for accident investigations, expands the authority of an insurer to investigate potentially fraudulent claims, and authorizes an insurer to provide a premium discount to policyholders who select a preferred provider organization for their PIP benefits. The companion in the Senate, S.B. 1930, is sponsored by Sen. Bogdanoff.

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