- April 18, 2024
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+ Scott signs campaign finance bill
Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday signed a campaign finance bill that increased campaign contributions limits but also increased contribution reporting requirements and eliminated all committees of continuous existence, which are fundraising groups that have, in the past, allowed candidates to collect large donations.
New contribution limits are $3,000 for statewide offices and Supreme Court positions, and $1,000 for all other offices (both legislative and county-level). The former limit was $500.
However, campaigns will be required to file monthly reports about donations raised once the bill takes effect Nov. 1.
Before, candidates only had to report their contributions quarterly.
Committees of continuous existence, which have been criticized for their loose rules around how money can be raised and spent, are eliminated under House Bill 569. The bill revokes the certification of current committees and requires that they have a zero balance by September.
“Finally, we have brought some sanity to Florida’s campaign finances laws,” said Will Weatherford, Florida House speaker. “With the help of the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rob Schenck, and our partners in the Senate, (committees of continuous existence) are now history. With more transparency and accountability (in our system), candidates running for office in Florida will now be held to a higher standard.”
+ State workers get first pay increase since 2006
As a part of the 2013-2014 budget approved by the House and the Senate, all state and state university system employees earning a salary of $40,000 or less will be granted a $1,400 pay increase as of Oct. 1. Those earning more than $40,000 per year will be awarded a $1,000 per year increase. The budget has not yet been approved by Scott.
+ Sex offenders to be held without bail until first court appearance
The Florida Legislature passed on May 2 both House Bill 7035 and its companion Senate Bill 1372, which require state courts to hold a defendant who has been charged with anything other than a misdemeanor traffic violation until the court can determine if the defendant was previously convicted of an offense requiring registration as a sexual offender or sexual predator. If so, the defendant will be held until first appearance in court.
Court can also hold defendants until first appearance if they have ever been sentenced as a reoffender after being released from prison, a habitual violent felony offender, a three-time violent felony offender, a violent career criminal or if the state attorney files a notice seeking that the defendant be sentenced as such.
The bill also allows a hold until first appearance if there is “substantial probability that the defendant committed the offense” or if “there are no conditions of release that can reasonably protect the community from risk of physical harm or ensure the presence of the accused at trial.”
+ ‘Revenge porn’ bill dies
A new crop of websites that allow people to post nude photos of their former partners under the banner “revenge porn” have faced national criticism, including a handful of lawsuits filed by victims of the sites, whose photos were posted and linked to their names without permission. A companion set of House and Senate bills that would fight these sites failed in both legislative bodies.
House Bill 787 prohibits using an electronic device to post any photograph or video of a person that depicts nudity and specific information about the subject of the photo for the purpose of harassment. The bill died on second reading before the house. The complementary Senate Bill 946 died in the appropriations committee on criminal and civil justice.
