| To our readers: Welcome to the Capitol Buzz. You're receiving this email because you've subscribed to the Buzz newsletter. Every Saturday morning, members of the Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau will round up the biggest stories from the 60-day legislative session until it's over. |
| [PHIL SEARS | Associated Press] |
| Fast-paced session, fast-paced comment |
| By the end of the fourth week of session, some of the most high-profile bills are already passed or on the brink of final approval. That includes a massive tort reform package, a bill allowing people to carry guns without permits or training, a six-week abortion ban and a prohibition on gender-affirming health care for transgender kids. Most of those bills have been fast-tracked and faced only two committee meetings, instead of three, in both the House and Senate. At each stop, dozens of speakers from across the state drove up to Tallahassee to share their thoughts. But members of the public were often limited to just 30 seconds or a minute of testimony. Advocacy group Accountable Florida posted a video showing awkward confrontations between speakers and lawmakers over the time limits in discussions about sweeping legislation that limits lawsuits against insurance companies. The unlisted YouTube video has been viewed 50,000 times. When Farrah Fox went to speak against the bill on March 7, she asked for more time because of a traumatic brain injury she suffered when an off-duty Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy slammed into her car in 2018. “I do ask that I have more than 30 seconds just because I am disabled and it’s hard for me to articulate,” Fox said. “I understand. I’m so sorry, but your 30 seconds can begin now,” said Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton. At Thursday’s Health & Human Services Committee in the House, the last opportunity for the public to weigh in a bill that would bar most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, the committee chairperson warned speakers there could be consequences if they went on too long. Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, said he would be fine having speakers go until the end of the meeting, but that could mean another bill on the agenda, about expanding health care for low-income kids, may not get heard and could be killed. Near the end of that meeting, the last batch of people who had signed up to speak ended up just having their names read out into the record.
There was a notable exception to the public commenting time constraints. At the Senate’s last committee stop for the six-week abortion ban, Fiscal Policy chairperson Travis Hutson, R-Palm Coast, had public comment go on for nearly four hours, with members of the public constantly adding their names to the list and speaking freely.
Fellow senators thanked Hutson for how he ran the meeting, but he said the “president was the one that wanted everybody to be heard.” |
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