South Florida Sun Sentinel. March 11, 2024.
Editorial: Start flexing some veto muscle, Gov. DeSantis
They sabotaged the Commission on Ethics. They protected rogue cops from civilian review boards. They invited unqualified chaplains into public schools.
They declared open season on bears, left outdoor workers unprotected from record heat, prohibited local living-wage laws and raised small loan lending rates by more than a third.
That’s just some of the damage the Florida Legislature packed into its 60-day session.
It’s doubtful that any group of lawmakers ever left such a mess for a governor to clean up. The list of bills that Gov. Ron DeSantis needs to veto is long.
A sneak attack on ethics
If he doesn’t veto the ethics bill (SB 7014), he’ll be remembered as the governor who destroyed ethics enforcement in Florida’s state and local government.
A sneak attack amendment, sprung on lawmakers and the public and never heard in any committee, requires citizens who file sworn complaints to base them “upon personal knowledge other than hearsay.” As the commission has never been allowed to initiate its own cases, it now will rarely have any to investigate. The rule would also apply to local ethics boards in Palm Beach County and elsewhere.
Those with “personal knowledge” of misconduct are usually only those who commit it.
The bill also allows public figures who are attorneys to hide conflicts of interest under the pretext of lawyer-client confidentiality. There’s no justification for that.
Florida politicians have resented the prying eyes of an ethics agency since Gov. Reubin Askew (1971-1978) demanded its creation and gave it permanence in the state Constitution. Lacking the nerve to ask voters to repeal it, the Legislature has resorted to sabotage instead.
Only four of 40 senators voted no. All four are Democrats: Jason Pizzo of Hollywood and Lori Berman, Tina Polsky and Bobby Powell of Palm Beach County. Twenty-six Republicans and two Orlando Democrats, Linda Stewart and Victor Torres, voted yes. Suspiciously, six of 12 Democrats shirked their legislative responsibility and didn’t even vote.
This session was long on hyper-partisanship and short on courage whenever a deplorable bill came up, which was often.
Proselytizing in schools
That’s clearly the case with the volunteer chaplains bill (HB 931). It passed the House 89-25 with four Democrats foolishly in favor (including Rep. Lisa Dunkley of Sunrise, who even co-sponsored the bill), and the Senate, 28-12. If DeSantis approves, Florida will be the second state to encourage religious proselytizing in public schools, in a triumph for the Christian nationalism movement and a blatant violation of the First Amendment.
As in Texas, the other state to approve of this, the bill is optional: County school boards will decide whether to have chaplains. All 67 should say no. Otherwise, they’ll have to decide who to let in. The Satanic Temple, which actually opposes religion in school, has said it would apply. Scientologists are sure to follow. Santeria? Wiccans? All are recognized religions. For any school board to pick and choose would invite lawsuits.
DeSantis shouldn’t pass the buck to school boards. He has the power to kill this dangerous bill.
A number of lowlights
Other bills that deserve vetoes include:
HB 601, the Republican Party’s gift to its preferred labor unions, pre-empts complaints against law enforcement and correctional officers by prohibiting local civilian review boards. Nobody but police agencies themselves will be accountable to the public other than through lawsuits. Less than four years after George Floyd’s murder, not one state senator voted against this shameless bill.
Reportedly crafted by lobbyists for the Chamber of Commerce, HB 433 is another assault on home rule. Its worst features bar any local living wage laws as well as heat protection for outdoor workers, as Miami-Dade was considering. The living wage ban was the legislative equivalent of a hidden ball trick — to get through two Senate committees, that language was removed, only to be added back in again on the Senate floor. The bill calls on the state to adopt heat regulations if the feds don’t do so by July 1, 2028. That’s four more unconscionable years and no telling how many more dead workers.
HB 1347, a direct assault on poor people, raises consumer loan interest ceilings from the already usurious rate of 26.4% to 36% for loans of $5,000 or less.
HB 87 is a pretext for people to kill black bears if they “reasonably believe” their lives or property are in danger. To bears, we are the invasive species. The bill is dangerous to both bears and people and unforgivably loosely written. The Humane Society says it will create an unlicensed year-round bear hunting season.
That’s not even the full extent of the veto-worthy pile. This Legislature outdid itself in proving the logic of the metaphor that laws are like sausages — it’s best to not see either of them being made.
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Miami Herald. March 6, 2024.
Editorial: For abuse at Florida’s Dozier school, no sum — not even $20 million — can compensate
The state Senate unanimously approved a plan Monday to compensate the survivors of the waking nightmare known as Florida’s Dozier School for Boys.
Compensate? Somehow that seems like an inadequate concept in a case where children in a state-run (now long closed) reform school were raped, beaten and tortured — abuse that went on for decades, from 1940 to 1975. Some kids simply didn’t make it out alive.
How exactly do we go about compensating for that?
Dozier is notorious, and rightfully so. As the abuse there became widely known, it caused international shock. A Pulitzer Prize-winning book was written by author Colson Whitehead about the “White House Boys” — a reference to the white house on school property where the abuse often took place. They’ve been traveling to Tallahassee for years trying to get the state to fully own up to the wrongs perpetuated in its name.
A documentary filmmaker has been recording their dogged efforts. Reporters, including those at the Miami Herald, have been writing about Dozier for years as the awful details of what happened there emerged.
Imagine the courage it took for the survivors to testify in Tallahassee about the terrible experience of being sent to Dozier, where dreadful things happened — boiling water was poured on them, they were beaten with a leather strap, they feared being raped by staff members at night.
There have been half-measures to make amends in the past. In 2017, lawmakers allotted $1.2 million for reburials and memorials for Dozier victims. An official state apology was issued, too. Weak tea, that stuff, when you balance it against what the survivors testified about.
Now, it seems, there will be money. A lot of it. Though lawmakers have been at odds for years about compensation, this Legislature decided to set aside a big sum — $20 million — for former students who attended the boys school in Marianna or the Okeechobee School, another state reform school that was created to take the overflow from Dozier.
Senate bill sponsor Darryl Rouson (D-St. Petersburg), has repeatedly filed legislation seeking to create a fund for the school’s victims in the past but it never got anywhere until now.
There probably aren’t that many former students to claim the money — 300 to 400, by some estimates. Those who attended the vote Monday were in their 60s, 70s and 80s. They hugged each other and cried when the measure passed. It now goes to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.
No doubt some of those tears were for those who couldn’t be there. Some in their group have died during the many years it has taken for Florida to reach this point. And then there are the others: Investigators found remains of dozens of students buried at the site of the school. Some former students have never been located at all. How many tears for them, children branded as “incorrigible” — who then had to pay for that label with their lives?
In 2011, the Dozier school was shuttered — after 111 years of operation.
There will be safeguards for handing out the money, assuming this measure is finally approved. The state will want reasonable proof of attendance during those years, among other things.
But this isn’t new territory. In 1994, Gov. Lawton Chiles signed a bill to create a fund for victims of the Rosewood massacre, an attack in which white Floridians burned down a predominantly Black town and drove residents out.
Richard Huntley, 77, from Orlando, told the News Service that he was at Dozier from 1957 to 1959. He was sent there when he was 11. He’s been advocating for the victims for a decade and a half.
The money, he said, “won’t heal everything and make you forget everything, but at least we can say we won.”
Last month, as the compensation plan was working its way through the Legislature, he vowed: “I will bring all of my dead brothers on my shoulders; if I’m raised up they will be first. I promise I will do my best that they will never be forgotten again.”
Compensation. It’s the right thing to do. It’s been a long time coming. And it’s about all we can do, as a state. But, in this case, there’s really no sum — not even $20 million — that can adequately do the job.
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Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel. March 8, 2024.
Editorial: 10 good deeds by the Florida Legislature
They return to Tallahassee every year. They are old and gray now, and they move a lot more slowly. But their crusade for justice remains as strong as ever.
They still carry the scars of the emotional, physical and sexual abuse they suffered at the state-run Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna from 1940 to 1975.
Seven years ago, the Legislature issued a formal apology to the White House Boys, as they are known, for the name of the notorious shack where they were brutalized at the school for juvenile delinquents.
This year, lawmakers allocated $20 million to a fund to compensate victims of the atrocities at Dozier and at a state-run school in Okeechobee County (Senate Bill 24).
Many Dozier victims fled abusive homes only to be abused again in the state’s care. Some were buried in unmarked graves on the grounds of the school in the forested woods, an hour west of Tallahassee.
Reparations have taken too long, and the money is a pittance compared to the decades-long level of abuse.
But it’s a step forward, and it culminates years of work by Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat, and other lawmakers. It stands as one of the better decisions by a 2024 Legislature that too often showed very misplaced priorities.
As the annual 60-day session ends Friday, here are nine more good deeds by Florida lawmakers, most of which must yet be approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Balloons: They make us smile, but they harm the environment. Balloons litter the landscape, can kill birds, and take years to biodegrade. Anyone who intentionally releases a helium-filled balloon is subject to a $250 fine under the state’s litter law. Kids age 6 or younger would be exempt from prosecution (HB 321).
Condo corruption: Condo owners would gain easier access to association documents, such as covenants and rules. Condo boards must improve transparency, condo board members must undergo continuing education and could be criminally prosecuted for kickbacks or fraud, and the state will randomly audit condo boards’ books. Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley of Fleming Island, who also championed last year’s mandatory reserves law, has worked tirelessly on condo reform for years and won praise from senators in both parties (HB 59, HB 1021). Linda Stewart sponsored the Senate version.
Condo safety: In a strong example of bipartisan teamwork, the popular My Safe Florida Home program will expand to condos, making money available for owners to harden their units and seek relief from rising insurance costs. The state budget includes $30 million for the pilot program. That is a lot of money, but it won’t nearly meet the demand. Spearheading this effort were Republican Rep. Vicki Lopez of Miami and Democrat Christine Hunschofsky of Parkland (HB 1029).
Criminal histories: In a small but notable departure from its usual tough-on-crime stance, the Legislature passed a law that prevents barbers or cosmetologists from being denied state licenses for a criminal record more than three years old (other than a forcible felony). The current law requires a five-year review. (HB 133). Like most bills on this list, it passed both houses unanimously.
Home loans: Lawmakers are adding desperately-needed consumer safeguards to a statewide program riddled with problems known as PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy). PACE can no longer operate in any county without its approval, and new guidelines will ensure that people don’t get trapped by long-term, high-interest loans. As we editorialized in November, stronger state oversight of PACE was needed and this is a good start, as too many homeowners have been harassed by contractors who use strongarm sales tactics. (SB 770).
Jeffrey Epstein: Too much secrecy still obscures the horrific case of Jeffrey Epstein, such as how the serial sexual abuser avoided more serious punishment for his pattern of crimes against teenage girls and young women. A new law, already signed by DeSantis, w
ill lift the veil of secrecy and make public the grand jury testimony in Epstein’s 2006 Palm Beach County case (HB 117).
— Political ads: Google requires it; so do other states (Pennsylvania, for one). Florida, too, will require 12-point disclaimers on political ads that use artificial intelligence or A.I., a rapidly-emerging trend fraught with risks. DeSantis used A.I.-generated images of Donald Trump in an ad that drew much attention, and criticism (HB 919).
— Rape kits: DNA evidence in sexual assault cases, known as rape kits, must be safely retained and stored anonymously for 50 years after collection in all cases, even when no one is prosecuted, to give victims time to change their minds or to solve other crimes. The final version of the bill was sponsored by Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando (SB 764).
— Sickle cell: Any expansion of health care access and research is good for Florida. The Department of Health’s Office of Minority Health will oversee a new sickle cell research and treatment grant program to advance treatment of the disease. Sickle cell patients could also opt-in to a state registry (HB 7085).
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Palm Beach Post. March 12, 2024.
Editorial: Florida homeless crisis swells: new bill set to torment the unhoused if passed
Florida lawmakers this month legislated a response to homelessness that addressed neither its causes nor results and which will only cause more pain in its failure. The bill, HB 1365, essentially orders cities and counties to snatch the homeless off city sidewalks, streets and park benches — of questionable legality at best — without providing additional resources to help with social services or housing, the real need.
The superficiality of this legislation, which would take effect in October, seems aimed only at assuaging the discomfort of those annoyed by the presence of homeless individuals. The governor should veto it.
Homelessness is many problems in one: There are homeless veterans, families and children, each with their own causes and challenges. There’s alcoholism, substance abuse, mental illness. And above all, there’s a lack of affordable housing, and high rents that put many of us a paycheck or two away from sleeping on a city bench, in a park or car or under a noisy overpass of an I-95 exit ramp.
As Diana Stanley, CEO of The Lord’s Place in West Palm Beach, puts it: It’s like, “if you don’t see them, then you don’t have to help them.”
According to a legislative analysis of the bill, the United States last year had an estimated 7.6 million homeless people, including more than 30,000 in Florida. According to Stanley, roughly 2,500 to 3,000 live in our county.
It’s not like removing the homeless hasn’t been tried. But arresting people for the crime of having nowhere to go has never been a solution, and inevitably further burdens municipalities with the cost of lawsuits. Even the homeless have rights, it turns out.
In 2019, faced with complaints by downtown shopkeepers and neighborhood residents, and after a handful of violent crimes, West Palm Beach went to the trouble of playing cloying children’s songs on a recorded loop 24/7 to discourage sleeping near the city’s Great Lawn. After a wash of bad publicity, officials stepped up a series of more-humane approaches, from sending outreach teams to link the willing with social services, to help with housing programs, or to provide transit fares to those whose out-of-town families agree to take them in.
Palm Beach County, its municipalities, nonprofits like The Lord’s Place and St. Ann’s Place, philanthropists and volunteers have been addressing the problem of homelessness. So it’s not clear why anyone thinks what’s needed is a heavy-handed state law that provides no help — just an unfunded and unnecessary mandate that localities must prohibit “public camping and public sleeping.” If they wish to designate a location for the homeless to camp, they need state permission and inspections by the Florida Department of Children and Families.
The politics behind all this? A tough-guy Governor who says he’s going to keep Florida from turning into another San Francisco. “We need to prohibit camping on all city streets, sidewalks, and parks,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “We just can’t live like that in Florida.”
HB 1365 passed by a vote of 82-26 in the Florida House and 27-12 in the Senate. But if the Governor really wants to help, instead of signing it, he should redouble efforts to fund housing, mental health care and addiction treatment.
Stanley, who is among those who’ve helped the homeless for decades in Palm Beach County, says, “If you want to make a difference, we have to have financial support to provide all services necessary to empower people to know they have a different purpose in life.”
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