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Legislative
Session - Week 5 Report
April
4-8, 2005
GOVERNOR
AND LEGISLATORS HONOR POPE JOHN PAUL II
In commemoration of Pope John Paul II,
Governor Bush has ordered flags over the Capitol to fly at half-staff on
Friday, April 8, on the day of the Holy Father's funeral.
Representative Traviesa (District 56, Brandon) and Senator Fasano (District 11, New Port Richey) filed identical resolutions in their respective chambers in honor of Pope John Paul II, remembering his exemplary life of daily courage as a common man who adored his God, who through and for Him dedicated his life and soul to love, compassion, mercy, and service of others, and who in so doing changed the world forever. Click here to view House Resolution.
LIFE AND DEATH Women's Health and Safety Act HB 1041 (Bean), revises requirements for abortion clinics performing abortions after first trimester of pregnancy; requires abortion clinics to develop policies to protect health, care, and treatment of patients. This bill is on second reading on the House floor, was temporarily postponed as the time set aside for house business was about to expire. In order to fix some technical issues, eight amendments have been filed by the sponsor. The bill is now listed as unfinished business and will probably be taken up next Tuesday when the House is in session.
Its companion, SB 1862 (Dockery), was heard in the Senate Health Care Committee and passed 6-3. Excellent testimony was provided by Department of Health Secretary, John Agwunobi; Dr. Randy Armstrong, an OB-GYN doctor from Tampa; and a woman affected by abortion. The next committee stop, Judiciary, has not released their agenda for the meeting scheduled next Tuesday. Please thank your Senators who supported this bill: Fasano, Jones, Peaden, Pruitt, Saunders and Siplin. (Senator Atwater was excused from this committee meeting.)
Parental Notice of Abortion HB 1659 (Kottkamp) provides that notice shall be given by physician who will perform termination of pregnancy procedure and that violation of notice requirements by physicians shall be considered medical malpractice; provides minimum age requirement for minors who petition for waiver of notice. This bill, which received strong supportive testimony by parents, was reported favorably by the House Civil Justice Committee, 4-1 and has one more committee stop in the Justice Council.
The Senate companion, SB 1908 (Dockery), is now a committee substitute after adoption of a series of amendments and final vote of 7-1 in the Senate Judiciary. The next stop is the Senate floor and the agenda for next Wednesday has not been released. Senators Aronberg, Baker, Campbell, Clary, Posey, Villalobos and Webster should be thanked for their support of this legislation.
HEALTH Health Care Advance Directives, CS HB 1345 (Homan)/SB 2308 (Crist) The House Health Regulation Committee approved HB 1345, removing highly objectionable provisions that would create a new class of persons - essentially the disabled - for whom nutrition and hydration could be withheld when incompetent.
In adopting that amendment, the committee also added provisions that could be problematic, saying that "the surrogate has no authority to override the principals wishes if these are expressed in a valid living will." This is generally good, but would be problematic when a person has changed his or her mind about wishes and told the surrogate, but not executed a new living will. The Conference has related this concern in testimony to the House Health Regulation Committee and is working with the sponsor to improve this language.
It is anticipated that SB 2308 will be amended to mirror the House language. HB 1345 goes next to the Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee; SB 2308 is in Health Care.
We continue to recommend that persons complete advance directives, ideally appointing a health care surrogates and providing information to guide the surrogate in decision making, as can be found in the Catholic Declaration on Life and Death.
EDUCATION HB 227 (Greenstein), unanimously passed out of the Future of Florida's Families Committee earlier this week. The bill is designed to ensure and increase children's' access to the federal Summer Good Services Program in all of Florida's counties. The program would allow counties to contract with faith-based entities to provide food for children, regardless of whether they attend a public or private school, during a 4--day period over the summer. The Florida Catholic Conference continues to support HB 227 and the senate companion, SB 752.
Scholarship Accountability SB 2 (King), received favorable passage from the Government Efficiency Appropriations Committee. The bill was significantly amended to include the following:
--employees of participating nonpublic schools are to undergo nation-wide criminal background checks; --random site visits at private schools by the State Auditor General to verify the physical address of the schools, enrollment and attendance of scholarship students; --students are to enrolled in the schools on a religious natural basis; --religious schools are to be terminated from the McKay and Corporate Tax scholarship programs if the Florida Supreme Court declares the Opportunity Scholarship Program as unconstitutional
The Florida Catholic Conference, which has neither expressed support nor opposition of SB 2, is evaluating both SB 2 and the House companion, HB 1163.
Florida Catholic Conference
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