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Florida PTA everychild.onevoice Legislative Update April 16, 2010 It was a rather tumultuous and eventful week at the Capitol. While the entire Capitol was on tenterhooks awaiting the Governor's decision on SB 6, there were several important education bills that passed out of committees. As you are aware SB 6 was vetoed by the governor. To read his veto message, please go to http://www.flgov.com/pdfs/20100415_veto.pdf. Thank you for responding to our alerts. Your voices made the difference. Please take a moment to thank the Governor. You can email him at Charlie.crist@myflorida.com or call him at 850-488-7146. Constitutional Amendment SJR 2550/HJR 1399 which bear the title Religious Freedom passed Senate and House committees on party lines and moved to their last committee of reference, the Rules committee. These identical bills repeal the No Aid clause in the Florida Constitution that prohibits the use of state funds, directly or indirectly, to aid churches or sectarian institutions. In addition, the proposed bill adds language that will read "An individual may not be barred from participating in any public program because that individual has freely chosen to use his or her program benefits at a religious provider." This creates confusion and may mislead voters into believing that it is truly about religious freedom. If this passes, it opens the door wide for vouchers to be reinstituted, further depleting funds for public education. The bills will have to pass with a 3/5ths majority in each House and then receive a 60% majority vote at the ballot box in November. Please watch for our alerts and respond to them as it is vital that this bill be stopped as soon as possible. The texting bills are making progress and it appears that there will be a consolidation of the bills, to incorporate texting, use of hands free device and other provisions. Both SB 316, the booster seat bill and SB 1096 Civics Education were placed on the Special order Calendar in the Senate and will be up for debate and discussion on the floor. Budget There has been little movement on the budget. The Federal Medicaid funds that the Senate factored into its budget may not be available and this means major revisions to the senate version during conference. The Seminole Compact, also factored in by the senate has cleared the senate floor and been sent to the House. The House and Senate announced named their conferees and scheduled an organizational meeting 10:00am on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Please click on the links below to see the list of the conference committee members from each House. Senate Budget Conferees http://bit.ly/9XygRg House Budget Conferees http://bit.ly/bqbP43 For bill updates please go to: FPTA Legislative Report http://www.floridapta.org/Legislative%20Information/FPTA%20 Legislative%20Report-Apr%2016.pdf 2010 Bills http://www.floridapta.org/Legislative%20Information/2010%20 Bills-Apr%2016.pdf Thank You |