Overtime Looming For Lawmakers; Won’t Be Able To Wrap Budget By May 1
April 16, 2015
Ending weeks of speculation, Republican legislative leaders Wednesday acknowledged they won’t be able to wrap up budget negotiations before the scheduled May 1 end of the 2015 session.
“I don’t see a way to end the session on the 60th day,” Senate budget chief Tom Lee told The News Service of Florida.
“I would agree,” House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, told reporters later Wednesday when asked about Lee’s comment.
Uncertainty about the federal government’s funding of the Low Income Pool, or LIP, program is at the heart of the impasse. The program funnels money to hospitals and health providers that provide care for large numbers of uninsured and low-income Floridians.
Gov. Rick Scott’s administration, federal officials and House and Senate leaders have waged a public war over the LIP negotiations, which President Obama’s administration declared Tuesday are tied to an expansion of Medicaid.
The Senate included $2.2 billion for a modified LIP program in its budget plan and set aside another $2.8 billion in federal Medicaid-expansion funding to create a program that would help low-income Floridians buy private health insurance.
The House spending plan does not include money for the LIP program, with key lawmakers saying that including the money would be premature. And House leaders, including Crisafulli, have rejected outright proposals to expand coverage through Medicaid or the proposed Senate program.
Scott sent Obama a letter earlier this year stating he would not use any money from the state’s general-revenue fund to make up any shortfalls, should the federal government reduce or cease its contribution to the LIP program.
The battle over the health-care issues has erupted in a flurry of memoranda and e-mails sent by Crisafulli, Senate President Andy Gardiner, the Scott administration and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and has cast a pall over the 2015 session in a year when lawmakers expected to have a $1 billion budget surplus.
“I’m trying to keep the conversation civil, keep it focused in the present. But there is a huge policy divide here. And I don’t see how you bridge it in the time that we have available. In fact, you cannot bridge it in the time we have available. So the only question now in my mind is, are we in extended session or are we in special session?” said Lee, a Republican from Brandon who served as Senate president when the LIP program was first established nearly a decade ago.
Crisafulli said it is too early to tell whether lawmakers will extend the current session or pack up and come back some time later to reconcile the budget. Lawmakers must pass a new budget before July 1, when the new fiscal year starts.
Because of the schism over health-care spending, legislative leaders have not yet determined the overall allocations for each area of the budget. Crisafulli said an extended session would be possible in the unlikely event that budget negotiations were already underway by May 1.
“But if we’re not, there’s no reason to kid ourselves. We’ll finish up the business that we have on the policy and then we can come back and do a budget at a later time,” he said.
Other Medicaid-related concerns may also deepen the health care divide.
Lee said he is waiting for more information about the Medicaid program, which now enrolls nearly all beneficiaries in managed-care plans.
“We have mounting actuarial evidence that the Medicaid managed care rates in Florida are actuarially unsound. That’s a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar problem on top of the backfilling that would make LIP whole,” he said.
Florida schools will also have 15,000 more children than originally anticipated, meaning that lawmakers will have to come up with more money to meet Scott’s priority of funding education at record-high levels, Lee said.
“So we’re getting a lot of additional news as the session progresses that’s making it much, much more difficult to resolve our differences,” Lee said. “And that’s kind of what gave rise to doing a budget that’s lean and mean. The challenge with that is sometimes it’s hard to pass a budget that funds nobody’s priorities. What’s the motivation to hit the green button?”
One way to resolve the budget divide would be “if nobody gets what they wanted,” Lee said.
“The (Senate) president doesn’t get a health care solution. The governor doesn’t get his tax cuts. And we put $2 billion in reserves and wait and see what the federal government says. We would have a budget in place. We would just have $2 billion in reserves. And we could come back here and we could deal with tax cuts and health care funding at the appropriate time. That is an option that we could certainly consider collectively,” Lee said.
But Crisafulli made clear he doesn’t want to dip into reserves to cover health-care expenses.
“I’m not interested in using reserves. Reserves are something that are there for that day that comes along that you’re not prepared for, whatever comes along, whether it be hurricane season. It could potentially be an irresponsible move to hit the reserve fund in a magnitude that would affect that,” he said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
House To Back Experimental Drug Bill For Terminally Ill
April 16, 2015
The House appears poised to approve a bill that could help clear the way for terminally ill patients to use experimental drugs — but the measure will not include medical marijuana.
House members Wednesday took up the bill (HB 269), filed by Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, and could approve it as early as Thursday. Dubbed the “Right to Try Act,” the bill would help make available experimental drugs to people who have terminal illnesses and are expected to die within one year.
The measure spurred debate Wednesday when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, offered an amendment that effectively would have allowed those patients to also have access to medical marijuana. Gaetz said the proposed amendment would follow the underlying premise of the bill that terminally ill patients should be able to make decisions.
“I want to give them less government,” Gaetz said. “I want to get out of the way and see what happens.” But Gaetz withdrew the amendment after Pilon and other lawmakers expressed concern about adding the medical-marijuana issue to the bill.
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Florida Wildlife Officials Support Black Bear Hunts
April 16, 2015
Black bears are closer to being placed on the state’s wildlife hunting calendar for the first time in more than 20 years.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission agreed Wednesday to allow hunting for black bears during one week this fall, due to a growing number of bear and human conflicts across the state. The commission made the decision after hearing more than two hours of comments for and against the proposal.
The hunt, which is planned to begin Oct. 24, will be formally set at the commission’s June meeting. The hunt will last at least two days, with the timeframe shortened as quotas are reached in different regions of the state.
“Of the 41 states that have black bears, 32 of them already allow hunting in some form or fashion,” said commission Vice Chairman Brian Yablonski of Tallahassee during the meeting at Florida A&M University. “And all those states have managed to do it in a way that is sustainable and that works to preserve and keep a healthy, thriving bear population.”
Speakers opposed to reviving bear hunts told commissioners that the proposal won’t reduce conflict between the animals and humans. Instead, opponents contend the state should consider relocating problem bears and that people need to be held more responsible for leaving out unsecured food and trash that attracts bears.
Jennifer Hobgood, a wildlife abuse campaign manager with the Humane Society of the United States, said the goal of reducing the state’s bear population by about 20 percent a year is unsustainable without knowing the actual number of bears in the state.
“The FWC may cite calls to the agency as an index of public tolerance, but such a narrow assumption fails to account for Floridians’ genuine support for bear protection and for non-lethal conflict mitigation programs,” Hobgood said.
Florida has an estimated 2,500 black bears in four regions — the eastern Panhandle, Northeast Florida, east-central Florida and South Florida — where the hunts would be conducted. Each area had more than 200 bears by a 2002 estimate.
The agency is undertaking updated bear counts that should be available for two of the four regions this summer, which will allow the agency to adjust harvest numbers, said Diane Eggeman, director of the commission’s Division of Hunting and Game Management.
People attending the meeting Wednesday were greeted on the Florida A&M University campus by about a dozen protesters, including one in a bear suit.
Leslie Carlile, a retired middle-school teacher and a proud “Florida cracker” from Tallahassee, said the state should consider alternatives, such as sterilization of bears, as the state’s growing human population will continue to encroach into wildlife areas.
Proponents claim the hunt will help conserve the overall black bear population.
Allan Tucker, a hunter from Tallahassee, said the increase in conflicts is a “direct result of the social experiment called halting bear hunting.”
“We have created a generation, or multiple generations, of welfare bears who are no longer scared of humans, but instead look at humans as a place to get food,” Tucker said.
National Rifle Association Southeastern Regional Director Al Hammond said the state needs to employ all options to manage the bear population to both lower interactions with humans and reduce vehicle-bear collisions.
Hammond also suggested the state lower the hunt permit fee from $100 to $50 for Florida residents.
“We truly don’t have a track record of what the harvest will be, and we do want hunter participation,” Hammond said.
The permits are $300 for non-Florida residents.
There would be a one-bear-per-hunter limit, with daytime hunts prohibited within 100 yards of any game-feeding stations. Hunters would be allowed to use bows, crossbows, muzzle loading guns, rifles, pistols, revolvers and shotguns.
Commissioners said the high profile nature of the proposal has only heightened efforts to clamp down on people leaving trash and dog food unsecured in communities encroaching upon wildlife habitat.
Commissioner Liesa Priddy of Immokalee said approval of the hunt will not decrease other efforts to manage human-bear conflicts.
“I’d rather see more bears in the environment and hunting than the amount of bears we’re euthanizing, because we’re bringing them into the neighborhoods,” added Commissioner Ron Bergeron of Fort Lauderdale. “I don’t think any person should have the right to endanger their neighbor.”
The proposal, which would set a “harvest objective” of about 200 black bears, is intended to reduce the risk of dangerous interactions between bears, which were removed from the state’s threatened list in 2012, and the state’s growing population.
The state agency claims the bear population has been steadily and rapidly growing the last 15 to 20 years.
Black bears were placed on the state’s threatened list in 1974, when there were between 300 and 500 across Florida. At the time, hunting black bear was limited to three counties. In 1994, the hunting season was closed statewide.
Meanwhile, the state has recorded a 400 percent increase in bear-related calls over the past decade.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Pictured: Protesters gather outside the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting in Tallahassee Wednesday, sowing their opposition to a proposed black bear hunt in the state. Photo by Tom Urgan, NSF, for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Tate, Jay Advance In Baseball Districts; Tate Baseball Beats Pace
April 16, 2015
SOFTBALL DISTRICT PLAYOFFS
District 1-7A
Tate 9, Crestview 0
The rain held off long enough for the Tate Lady Aggies advance to the District 1 -7A championship game by defeating the Crestview Bulldogs 9-0 on Wednesday night at Niceville High School.
Tori Perkins led with way with a strong performance on the mound by throwing another no hitter and striking out 13. Lauren Brennan blasted a 2-run homer in the sixth to help solidify the win. Savannah Rowell had 3 RBI and a run; Perkins had three RBI; Hayden Lindsay was 2-3 with two runs and a triple.
The Lady Aggies (21-4) advance to the championship game Friday at Niceville at a time to be determined based upon weather.
District 3-1A
Jay 16, Freeport 6
The Jay Royals advanced to the 3-1A district championship with a 16-6 win over Freeport in the semifinals Wednesday. Jay exploded in the fifth with 12 runs. Avery Jackson 3-3, 2R, 4 RBIs 2B; Kolby Bray 2-4, 2R, 3RBIs; Dana Blackmon 3-5, 2R, RBI; Michaela Stewart 2-5, R, RBI, 2B.
BASEBALL
Tate 6, Pace 3
Tate beat Pace Wednesday, 6-3. Trace Penton 1-4, RBI; Hunter Worley 2-2, 3 RBI; AJ Gordon RBI; Branden Fryman 1-3; Mark Miller 1-3, Sawyer Smith 1-2.
FHP Seeks Information In Highway 97 Hit And Run
April 16, 2015
The Florida Highway Patrol is seeking a hit and run driver after a crash Wednesday afternoon on Highway 97 near Dogwood Park.
According to the FHP, 56-year old Patricia M. Bruner of Bruck, FL, was southbound in a 2012 Land Rover on Highway 97 approaching White Ash Road when she was rear-ended by a purple or maroon 2002-2005 model Dodge Ram traveling at a high rate of a speed. The pickup continued south following the 3:15 p.m. crash.
The force of the impact caused the Land Rover to leave the roadway and come to rest in a field. Burner and her passenger, 83-year old Thelma J. Bullard of Defuniak Springs, were transported by ambulance to Sacred Heart Hospital with minor injuries.
The pickup truck will have front end damage, according to the FHP. Anyone with information on the truck is asked to email joshuatucker@flhsmv.gov or dial *FHP from their cell phone.
Submitted photos for NorthEcambia.com, click to enlarge.
Search Continues For Suspect In Century Double Shooting
April 15, 2015
Authorities are still looking for a suspect wanted in connection with a double shooting March 26 in Century.
Deputies are searching for 28-year old Brian Keith Sanders (pictured, but deputies said his head is now shaved). He is wanted on charges of aggravated battery, deadly missiles, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and criminal mischief. Deputies said he should be considered armed and dangerous and not approached.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Jay Hospital emergency room the night of the shooting alerting them that two gunshot victims had arrived in a private vehicle seeking treatment. The gunshot victims advised that they were shot on Jefferson Avenue in Century. Both victims were shot in the shoulder or upper-arm area, and they were treated and released .
They were apparently shot while in a vehicle that was discovered on Mayes Street at Jefferson Avenue. It appeared that the driver’s window of the Chevrolet Impala had been shot out.
Anyone that knows the whereabouts of Sanders is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or CrimeStoppers at (850) 433-STOP.
NorthEscambia.com exclusive photos, click to enlarge.
Arrest Made In 2014 Escambia Homicide
April 15, 2015
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest in the August 20, 2014, murder of Tyler Evans, whose remains were found in the area of Weller Avenue and Bradfield Road.
Tony James Leamon Stroud, 23, was charged with premeditated murder. He is being held in the Escambia County Jail without bond.
The Sheriff’s Office said “exhaustive investigative work” by Major Crimes investigators, along with witness testimony and forensic evidence, led to the arrest.
House Closes Door On Liquor, Groceries Debate
April 15, 2015
A House committee slammed the door Tuesday on a proposal to relax an 80-year-old state law that requires liquor stores to be stand-alone facilities.
The Regulatory Affairs Committee voted 11-7 against the measure (HB 107), which would have allowed a door to be the only barrier between a liquor store and other retail goods. Wal-Mart and Target were among those pushing the measure as a way to increase convenience for shoppers. Target views allowing people to buy liquor with groceries and other goods as part of its business model, which includes a push for smaller “express” locations in downtowns. The legislative proposal was initially filed to eliminate the law requiring separate liquor stores.
The bill drew opposition from independent liquor stores, some county sheriffs and Lakeland-based Publix, which argued the company’s business model has been to separate its liquor stores from the main grocery operations.
by The News Service of Florida
Scott Signs Bill To Scale Back Student Testing
April 15, 2015
Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday signed a wide-ranging bill aimed at rolling back the number of tests given to public school students, capping off a discussion that saw Florida Republicans ease back at least slightly on a longstanding principle of the state’s education-reform movement.
Scott’s office announced that he had signed the high-profile measure, following up on weeks of legislative wrangling and his own campaign promise to review the level of testing in schools.
“I agree with many teachers and parents who say we have too many tests, and while this legislation is a great step forward, we will keep working to make sure Florida students are not over tested,” Scott said in a statement issued by his office.
The legislation (HB 7069) was the most closely-watched education bill of the 2015 session.
It puts a hold on the use of student test data for school grades, teacher evaluations and student promotion to fourth grade until the new Florida Standards Assessments can be independently validated. It also scraps a law requiring school districts to come up with end-of-course tests in classes where the state doesn’t administer such exams; caps the amount of time students can spend on state and school district tests at 45 hours a year; and reduces the portion of a teacher’s evaluation tied to student performance from the current 50 percent to one-third.
While over-testing was already a key concern heading into the session, the issue was fueled by technical problems with the online platform used by some of the assessments. American Institutes for Research, a non-profit group that signed a six-year, $220 million deal with the state to develop the standardized tests, has accepted responsibility for the problems. The bill signed by Scott outlines how any damages paid by AIR should be distributed.
Groups on both sides of the normally heated testing debate backed the final product.
“This morning, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a bill into law that achieves ‘fewer, better tests’ for Florida students,” wrote Patricia Levesque, executive director of the Foundation for Florida’s Future, in an open letter. “But it actually does much more than that. It’s a bill that refines policies while sending the resounding message that Florida will measure what matters — student learning.”
Levesque’s group was founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush and is a strong supporter of the state’s accountability movement, which some critics blame for the testing craze.
Meanwhile, the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said it sent a letter to the governor Tuesday, before Scott’s announcement, calling for him to approve the bill.
“In short, we support this legislation as a first step, but hope that you will continue the effort to make sure that Florida’s education accountability is built to serve the learning needs of children and the legitimate data needs of the adults that serve them,” wrote FEA President Andy Ford.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Florida Dept. Of Corrections Revamps Policies On Use Of Force
April 15, 2015
Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Julie Jones plans to bar the use of chemical agents on prisoners with histories of respiratory ailments and is changing procedures to reduce the use of force on severely mentally ill inmates.
The changes to the policy regarding inmates with respiratory ailments, such as asthma, come after reports of at least two prisoners dying as a result of complications from preexisting breathing-related medical conditions. The inmates had been gassed by guards.
In one case first reported by The News Service of Florida last month, Rommell Johnson, an inmate at the Northwest Florida Reception Center, died in 2010 after being gassed with noxious chemicals less than five hours after being treated for an asthma attack. The state later paid his family $175,000 to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit against the prison and a nurse who worked at the prison the night Johnson died.
Three months later, Randall Jordan-Aparo, who suffered from a chronic blood condition that caused respiratory problems, died after being repeatedly gassed by guards at Franklin Correctional Institution. Reports last summer of the inmate’s death, stumbled upon by investigators probing corruption at the prison, unleashed a floodgate of news stories and inquiries into questionable inmate deaths.
Jones, who took over the agency earlier this year, said she decided to change the policy after being questioned about it by The News Service of Florida.
“It’s not anything that’s happened on my watch, or even recently. But looking at history can help generate policy. And if we can keep an incident like any of those we’ve talked about in the past from happening again, that’s a good thing,” Jones said during an interview Tuesday. “I’m going to be very clear in our policy that if the health care folks say that you can’t use chemical agents, you’re not going to use chemical agents. Period.”
Current policy requires medical staff to certify that chemical agents, which cause respiratory distress and can be lethal for asthmatics, may be used on inmates who have certain medical conditions. Although Johnson was treated for a severe asthma attack around 2 p.m. on June 3, 2010, a nurse working a later shift gave guards permission to use the highly concentrated pepper spray, according to incident reports.
Under the new policy Jones is in the process of implementing, chemical agents could no longer be used for inmates who have histories of breathing problems.
“Certainly that is good news for people whose respiratory tract has been compromised. It’s long overdue, but it’s certainly a welcome change in policy,” said Florida Justice Institute Executive Director Randall Berg, who represented Johnson’s mother in the lawsuit against the state.
Jones also intends to change the way mentally ill prisoners are handled when they create disturbances. As a result of federal court rulings, state policy already bars the use of chemical agents on severely mentally-ill inmates, including those diagnosed with psychotic, bipolar or major depressive disorders. But use of force involving “hands-on” physical force is allowed.
Jones made addressing issues regarding mentally ill inmates, who make up about 17 percent of Florida’s 100,000 prisoners, one of her top priorities after taking over the agency in January.
Jones, who called the policy change “huge,” plans to require mental-health workers to conduct crisis interventions to determine the extent to which an inmate’s mental health diagnosis is related to his or her disruptive or maladaptive behavior, according to an internal document obtained by The News Service of Florida.
If the crisis intervention does not calm the inmate and the mental-health staff decides the prisoner’s underlying illness is the root of the problem, “the inmate will be placed in a level of care commensurate with his assessed mental health needs,” the draft policy directive written by Department of Corrections Director of Mental Health Services Dean Aufderheide reads. If the behavior is not related to the inmate’s mental illness, use of force can be used but with the oversight of the mental-health personnel, Jones said.
“So where we have these difficult inmates, rather than automatically using use of force if they’re making a disturbance, I want to have them evaluated with mental-health care staff first. If it’s a mental-health crisis, it should be a medical response, not a security response. Right now, security is responding to everything,” she said.
Guards now must undergo eight hours of “critical incident training,” one of a series of reforms implemented by Jones’ predecessor, Mike Crews, as part of an effort to “change the culture” of the beleaguered corrections system. Jones also said Tuesday she intends to increase staffing levels at the state’s 10 mental-health units as part of her reworking of contracts with private health-care vendors.
Berg called the mental-health changes “a significant shift in policy” that should eliminate excessive use of force by corrections officers on mentally ill inmates acting out on their diseases.
But, he cautioned, policy changes alone won’t make prisoners any safer.
“There’s a huge gap between writing policies and following policies. That’s where the proof is in the pudding,” he said.
Jones’s new policy directives come as lawmakers grapple with their own proposed fixes for the prison system.
On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved a dramatically altered plan aimed at curbing corruption and purging prisons of rogue guards.
House Criminal Justice Chairman Carlos Trujillo’s revamped plan (HB 7131) would require specialized training for guards to handle mentally ill inmates “in non-forceful ways,” create a pilot project that would require guards working in mental-health units at Union Correctional Institution to wear body cameras and split the state into five corrections regions — an increase of two — headed by directors who can serve a maximum of four years.
The Senate approved a separate plan that would create an independent oversight commission to police prisons, now handled by the agency’s inspector general who works for Gov. Rick Scott’s inspector general. Both plans contain similar elements dealing with oversight of chemical agents and making it easier for inmates to file grievances.
Trujillo, who met with Jones for an hour Monday, called his bill a work in progress but was adamant about shaking up the corrections agency.
“You have organizational issues, structural issues, and personality issues,” Trujillo, R-Miami, said, adding that most of the state’s 22,000 corrections employees are hard-working and honest.”But that 2, 3, 4 percent, whatever that number is, they are so bad that they’re casting complete doubt on the integrity of the system.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida