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A Look At What Bills Passed And Died In FL

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
State of Florida
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

The Legislature passed 227 bills during the 2015 session that ended early after the House went home three days early. That means more than 1,500 bills died. Here's a look at some that succeeded and some that failed.

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WINNERS

Bills that passed both chambers would:

— Set the presidential primary date as March 15, 2016. Signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

— Require a 24-hour waiting period before women can get abortions.

— Legalize half-gallon refillable beer jugs.

 

— Make revenge porn illegal

— Allow rural mail carriers to drive without seat belts while on their routes.

— Force strip bars and massage studios to post signs alerting customers and employees to a human trafficking help line.

— Create an online voter registration system.

— Require city, county and state agencies to buy Florida and United States flags that are made in the United States.

— Revise the legislative gift ban to allow lawmakers to accept use of a public building or public property if it is being used for a public purpose.

— Allow terminally ill patients to use experimental medicines that have completed the first phase of federal approval.

— Make it illegal to use drones to photograph or record images of people or their property from the air.

— Require websites that sell commercial music and movies to post identification and contact information on their sites.

— Keep confidential police body camera videos that are shot in a house, a health care facility or any place that a reasonable person would expect to be private.

— Make it illegal to impersonate a firefighter.

— Set term limits for appointees to the Public Service Commission.

— Make it illegal to discriminate against pregnant women.

— Allow people without a concealed weapons permit to carry a gun with them during mandatory evacuations.

— Let children who are victims or potential victims of rape and other violent acts secretly record their attackers.

— Create tougher penalties for people who pay for sex.

— Allow active and former military members to tell government agencies to keep private personal information like addresses and phone numbers that would otherwise be public record.

—Repeal the ban on gay adoption that is no longer enforced.

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LOSERS

Bills that died during the session would have:

— Approved a new state budget that covered spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

— Implemented the constitutional amendment that voters passed to designate money for land and water conservation.

— Made changes to the Department of Corrections to address corruption and prison deaths.

— Required the development of a plan to protect and help clean the state's water resources

— Allowed casino resorts in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, let dog tracks end live greyhound racing and keep poker rooms and slot machines, allowed slot machines at tracks located in Palm Beach and Lee counties.

— Created a postsecondary education program for developmentally disabled students and encouraged the employment of the disabled.

— Allowed the medical use of marijuana.

— Allowed school superintendents to designate school employees or volunteers who are current or former military members or law officers and have concealed weapons permits to receive special training and carry weapons for security in public schools.

— Ensured that ride sharing companies like Uber could operate legally throughout Florida.

— Provided tax credits for the film industry as an incentive to come to Florida.

— Allowed concealed weapons permit holders to carry guns on state university campuses.

— Allowed a guardian or estate executor the right to control online accounts, including social media and email, of someone who has died or become incapacitated.

— Regulated hydraulic fracturing drilling for oil and gas.

— Banned people from using bathrooms designated for the opposite sex.

— Allowed private adoption agencies to use religious and moral beliefs to turn away gay couples.