The Senate wants to expand Medicaid for 800,000 Floridians. The House has thrown a tantrum and walked out.
What passed
ABORTION: A 24-hour waiting period for an abortion. Exceptions for survivors of rape, incest, domestic violence or human trafficking if women could prove their circumstances with a police report, medical record or similar documentation.
GAY RIGHTS: A 38-year-old ban on gay adoption, declared unconstitutional in 2010, was taken off the books.
BEER: Legalized growlers, 64-ounce containers often used by craft beer enthusiasts. The bill also eased regulations on craft breweries.
JUVENILE JUSTICE: If police catch a juvenile committing his or her first misdemeanor, they issue a citation instead of making an arrest. The bill is modeled on successful citation programs in Broward County.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING: This crackdown increases penalties for solicitation. A second offense would now be a felony, and any offense after that would be a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
HIV TESTING: Broward and Miami-Dade counties are among the highest nationally in new cases of HIV. This bill would change how informed consent is given to people about to undergo an HIV test, making it easier for them to get tested on site.
GRANDPARENTS RIGHTS: Grandparents denied visitation rights could go to court and petition for those rights under certain circumstances.
SCHOOL TESTING: A bill to limit the amount of standardized tests in Florida schools was among the first that the governor signed.
BASEBALL DEAL: One of the last bills out of the Senate approved a land buy in Palm Beach County for the development of a spring training baseball complex.
What failed
GAY RIGHTS: A bill that would have allowed adoption agencies to deny prospective parents based on that agency's religious or moral convictions failed to pass. So did a bill limiting public bathroom use by transgender people.
GUNS IN SCHOOLS: This bill would have allowed school superintendents, with the permission of their school boards, to appoint designees to carry concealed firearms in elementary, junior high and high schools.
GUNS ON CAMPUS: A repeal of the ban on carrying concealed weapons on college campuses.
RIDE-BOOKING: App companies like Uber and Lyft are still without a state regulatory structure after bills imposing insurance, background checks and vehicle inspection checks died.
WATER: One of the House's chief priorities, development of a plan to protect and help clean the state's water resources, failed to pass in the Senate.
GAMBLING: A massive gambling bill never made it out of the House. A separate bill that would have extended the Seminole tribe's agreement with the state failed as well.
DISABLED STUDENTS: A series of bills that would create a pathway to independence for disabled children was a top priority for Senate President Andy Gardiner. Although bills that created savings accounts for medical needs of disabled children passed, the rest of Gardiner's bills failed to get through the House.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA: A bill to expand medical marijuana to all forms of cannabis, rather than the low-THC version legalized last session, went nowhere in either chamber.
TEXTING WHILE DRIVING: A big push to make texting while driving a primary offense — allowing police to pull drivers over for it — came to nothing.
ONLINE TICKET SALES: An attempt to ban the use of computer software to buy large amounts of tickets online to be sold in the secondary market never made it to a vote.
ALIMONY: New guidelines for alimony payers, including the end of permanent alimony, passed the House but never got a vote in the Senate.
WRITE-IN CANDIDATES: A bill requiring write-in candidates to live in the district they want to run in at the time they qualify for office passed the House but died in the Senate.
FLORIDA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION: A bill that would have reined in Florida's governing body of high school sports — and allowed high-school athletes to pick what school they wanted to play at in many instances — passed the House but never made it out of committees in the Senate.
SHACKING UP: It is still illegal in Florida to cohabitate without being married. A repeal of the antiquated law made it to the floor of the Senate, but never even made it to its first committee hearing in the House.
CHARTER SCHOOLS: Although a variety of proposals to bring more accountability to charter schools were discussed, none made it to a vote.
In limbo
BUDGET: The House and Senate left Tallahassee without agreeing on a budget. Increased education funding is all but certain, but just how much remains in question.
TAX CUTS: Gov. Rick Scott's top priority of $673 million in tax cuts, mostly through a $470 million cut in cable, telephone and satellite taxes.
MEDICAID: The Senate wants to expand Medicaid for 800,000 Floridians. The House has balked.
LIP: The Low Income Pool is a $2.2 billion program that pays hospitals and other providers for care for the poor and uninsured.
Source: Sun Sentinel
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