News Service of Florida

The hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday, but U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard approved a continuance until Dec. 13 because the state’s lead lawyer was diagnosed this weekend with pneumonia.

The bills would direct the Florida Department of Health to develop a program that would contract with vendors to “increase water safety in this state."

Currently, the state park system mostly follows the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act, which bars smoking inside buildings.

Lawmakers, including Rep. Karen Gonzalez Pittman, R-Tampa, have filed proposals that would allow Medicaid beneficiaries with “serious mental illness” to avoid a practice known as step therapy in receiving medications.

The proposals would direct state agencies to maintain a website that provides “information and links to public and private resources for expectant families and new parents.”

The state Office of Insurance Regulation matched a 15.1 percent decrease requested in August by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which makes rate filings for the industry.

Under the proposal, each “offsite” pharmacist would be able to remotely supervise up to six pharmacy technicians.

The Senate Health Policy Committee will hold a workshop Tuesday “to begin the process of fine-tuning ideas, putting pen to paper, and of course, hearing more input from stakeholders.”

The Florida Health Care Association wrote to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services warning that most facilities could not meet the “arbitrary and unfunded mandates."

A federal judge will hear arguments in Jacksonville on a request for a preliminary injunction that would require Medicaid officials to reinstate coverage to people dropped during the "unwinding."