FLORIDA LEGISLATURE 2008 -- REGULAR SESSION BILL TRACK
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida maintains a permanent legislative office at the state capital in Tallahassee. During the sixty-day Regular Session, which convened on March 4, the ACLU will be tracking over 200 bills and will actively lobby, often with coalition partners, approximately 50 bills.
Legislative Committee, Regional Offices & Local Chapters
The legislative staff counsel (Larry Spalding) and the director of public policy (Courtenay Strickland) in conjunction with project staff preliminarily determine which bills will be tracked during the Regular Session. The ACLU of Florida legislative committee, composed of board members representing the state?s 18 chapters, work with the legislative staff in Tallahassee and the executive director (Howard Simon) to identify bills with civil liberties implications and to prioritize legislation that will be the subject of the ACLU lobbying effort.
Our legislative program will benefit tremendously this session from the expansion of the ACLU of Florida regional offices (now located in Tampa, Pensacola, Melbourne, Orlando and Jacksonville) and additional staff for specialized areas of concern (public policy, voting rights, racial justice, church/state, reproductive freedom, and lesbian & gay rights). We also anticipate significant grassroots participation at the chapter level under the direction of our field coordinator (Kileen Marshall) based in Miami, as well as significant grassroots activism in conjunction with coalition partners such as the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) and the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC).
The legislative office, as we do each regular session, benefits from the assistance of interns from the Florida State University College of Law who perform assigned research and legal writing assignments to fulfill their pro bono requirement at the law school. Additionally, this regular session ACLU can call upon the expertise of Glenn Lang, a Tallahassee Chapter board member and former Florida Senate staffer, who has volunteered not only to draft talking points and amendments to bills, but also to testify on some key measures for the ACLU.
Civil Liberties Bill Track
Major issues before Florida Legislature 2008 are:
- Adopting an FY 2008-2009 budget with approximately $2 billion less in projected revenues than appropriated for the current fiscal year.
- Addressing the continuing crisis in property insurance, particularly in areas which are subject to severe wind and water damage from tropical storms and hurricanes, andÂ
- Property tax relief not addressed by Amendment 1 passed by the voters in January 2008.
Although these are areas of concern to all Floridians, they do not raise significant civil liberties issues. Nonetheless, there are many bills filed this session which are of critical interest to the ACLU.
Note: All bills listed in this bill track can be viewed at Online Sunshine (www.leg.state.fl.us)
Reproductive Rights
- Healthy Teens Act (HB 449, SB 848)
- Prevention First Act (HB 385, SB 780)
- HPV Vaccine (HB 1309, SB 2566)
- Omnibus Anti-Choice Bill (HB 257, SB 2400)
- Minor?s Access to Abortion (SB 1504)
- Fetal Homicide (HB 513, SB 2480)
- Alcohol Abuse by an Expectant Mother (HB 25, SB 1104)
Women?s Rights
- Single-Sex Classes in Public Schools (HB 213, SB 242)
- Equal Rights for Men and Women (HB 8001, SB 362)
- Female Inmates with Minor Children (SB 144)
- Sex Trafficking (HB 1151, SB 2028)
Criminal Justice
- Clemency/Restoration of Civil Rights (HB 1115, SB 100 and HB 1117, SB 246)
- Racial Profiling (HB 123, SB 142)
- Complaints against Law Enforcement (HB 123, SB 142)
- HIV Testing in Prisons and Detention Facilities (SB 198 and SB 212)
- Wrongful Incarceration Compensation (HB 1025, SB 756)
- Traffic Stops (HB 777, SB 2786)
- Employment of Ex-Offenders (HB 1455 and SB 2152, SB 7048)
- Public Safety/Sexual Predators (HB 1351, SB 1430 and HB 1107, SB 2490 and HB 1217, SB 538))
- Sexual Offenders and Predators (HB 473, SB 2026 and HB 1333, SB 1698 and HB 755, SB 2236)
- DNA Testing/Offenders (HB 29, SB 472)
- DNA Testing of Mentally Incompetent (SB 202)
- DNA Testing of Arrested Persons (SB 814)
- Criminal Gangs (HB 749 and SB 76, SB 272, SB 404)
- Public Display of a Noose (SB 768)
- Capital Collateral Representation (HB 943, SB 1690)
Gay & Lesbian Rights
- School Safety/Bullying and Harassment (HB 669 and SB 88, SB 462, SB 790)
- Prohibited Discrimination (HB 191, HB 47 and SB 572)
- Companion Registry (HB 361 and SB 714, SB 2550)
- Adoption (HB 45, SB 200)
Church/State
- Religious-exempt Child Care Programs (SB 280)
- Teaching Chemical & Biological Evolution (HB 1483, SB 2692)
- ?I Believe? License Plate (HB 401, SB 2010)
- ?In God We Trust? License Plate (SB 2854)
- Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program (HB 653, SB 1440 and HB 1325, SB 2822)
Voting Rights
- Apportionment and Redistricting (SB 1114)
- Postelection Audits (SB 2544)
- Primary Election (SB 2776)
- Voting Conflicts (HB 1343, SB 2780)
Immigration
- Reporting on Immigration Status (HB 73)
- Human Smuggling (HB 107, SB 624)
- Illegal or Undocumented Aliens (HB 577, SB 1086)
- Illegal Immigration ((HB 821)
- Enforcement of Immigration Laws (HB 159, SB 540)
- Illegal Aliens (HB 571)
- Aliens/Unauthorized Employment (SB 124)
- Security and Immigration Compliance Act (SB 388)
HIV/AIDS
- AIDS Education in Public Schools (HB 153, SB 128 and SB 646)
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing (HB 1035, SB 1648)
- HIV/AIDS Awareness License Plate (SB 2392)
Become Involved
This list represents a significant sampling of the bills that the ACLU will be tracking this regular session. We invite you to become an active member of the ACLU of Florida lobbying effort during Florida Legislature 2008. If you are not already a subscriber, join the hundreds of ACLU members who receive Legislative Alerts. Legislators respond when they hear from their constituents. Make your voice heard for the protection of civil liberties.
Larry Helm Spalding
ACLU Legislative Staff Counsel
LarryACLU@aol.com
Courtenay Strickland
ACLU Director of Public Policy
CStrickland@aclufl.org
