Halfway through the 2013 legislative session, many major issues have yet to be resolved, News Service of Florida reports. The thorniest may be the House and Senate disagreement on what to do about covering 1 million low-income uninsured in lieu of Medicaid expansion. As the Times/Herald Bureau reports, that issue cost the House Republican leaders the Democrats’ support for the budget.
Meantime, a ban on texting while driving cleared its last committee and will head to the House floor for a vote, the Lakeland Ledger reports. Similar measures have been unsuccessful in the past.
Also, a House committee approved a ban on abortions based on gender or race, the Palm Beach Post reports. One Democrat voted for it, and two Republicans voted no. That committee also approved a measure to expand the definition of homicide to include an unborn child at any stage of development.