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Capitol: Needle Exchange? Guns in Schools?

A bill that would put at least one armed person at public schools passed with bipartisan support in a House committee, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Schools would have to hire an armed guard unless the principal designated an employee with a concealed weapons permit to bring a gun on campus. A similar measure has stalled in the Senate. 
 
In other legislative news: 
 

  • A ban on abortions has stalled in the House, but three other bills affecting abortion have passed committees, the Sunshine State News reports.
  • A House committee passed a bill that would authorize the Department of Health to run a clean needle exchange  for drug users in Miami-Dade County, the Associated Press reports. There’s still a bill in the Senate that would legalize the practice in all counties.
  • The Senate passed a bill that would allow children in foster care to do many things that other children are allowed to do, including going on field trips and sleeping over at a friend’s house, the Tampa Bay Times reports. A similar bill has already passed in the House, and Gov. Scott is expected to sign the bill into law.
  • Both the House and Senate health budgets are done and will have to go to a committee for reconciliation. The $31.3 billion budget advanced by the House Health Appropriations Subcommittee, which covers six agencies, can be found in themeeting packetfor March 27. The Senate's version, which covers five agencies, comes in at 30.77 billion. It can be found in theSenate panel's meeting packet.

 

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.