Backroom Briefing: A new twist on abortion debate

By JIM SAUNDERS AND JIM TURNER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, February 9, 2017......... The abortion wars are back in Tallahassee.

But while the usual script involves Republicans proposing abortion restrictions, Democrats raising myriad objections and the resulting laws ending up in court, a House bill that drew debate Thursday takes a somewhat-different approach.

The bill (HB 19), sponsored by freshman Rep. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, would create a new avenue for women to file lawsuits against doctors who perform abortions. Such lawsuits could be filed by women who have been injured because of abortions or who have suffered emotional distress because doctors failed to obtain what is known as "informed consent" before performing the procedures.

The lawsuits would not be treated as medical-malpractice cases, which would free them of some requirements that make pursuing malpractice claims more difficult.

"This bill is about empowering women to bring valid claims against negligent physicians and to look at what is the remedy for failure to give proper informed consent, which really is a very different way to look at what's happening and how some women are not being given a true picture of what the decision they are about to make could or would do to their future," Grall said before the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee voted 10-6 to approve the measure.

But subcommittee member Sean Shaw, D-Tampa, questioned why such cases should be handled outside of the medical-malpractice system.

"This bill will certainly have a negative effect on a woman's ability to get this procedure done," Shaw said. "Not only will it have a chilling effect on her ability to find someone to do it, it also creates a cause of action for a specific procedure that is totally foreign to current law. It would be something that we would be creating, it would be something new when, in fact, if we need to change the med-mal statute, then let's do that."

The debate also drew in Mark Delegal, a lobbyist for The Doctors Company, the state's largest insurer of physicians. Ordinarily, insurers stay out of abortion battles. But Delegal urged lawmakers to oppose the bill, pointing to an overhaul of the medical-malpractice system in 2003 that he said has brought down insurance rates for doctors.

"A lot of the elements that are in the law that were criticized today were designed to bring that (malpractice system) under control," Delegal told the subcommittee. "I think this is bigger than the abortion issue. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a malpractice bill that indicts the current system. And I think that's pretty serious in light of the substantial progress we've made."

Rep. Jay Fant, R-Jacksonville, also raised a concern about the bill becoming a "bonanza" for trial lawyers --- another group that doesn't often get publicly involved in abortion debates.

"As I read the bill, it's hard for me to discern whether this is a life bill or a bill for the industry, that is the trial-bar industry," said Fant, who voted for the measure.

Grall, however, said the bill is not a "Trojan horse."

"This bill is about women remaining safe and providing a real remedy for the most vulnerable," Grall, an attorney, said. "It is not an indictment of the entire medical malpractice statutes. It is not an attempt to undo the good that has come from that for the state of Florida over the last 13 years."

PUTNAM LOOKS TO 'SINK THE KAYAK TAX'

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam asked for help Wednesday to sink the possibility of new fees on canoes, kayaks and other non-motorized vessels.
 
"There's a plan afoot to impose new fees on paddle boards, kayaks and canoes," Putnam said in an email blast early Wednesday. "Really?! What's next? A tube tax on Ichetucknee? A surfboard tax in Cocoa? This has gone too far."
 
Putnam's email contained a link to a petition against the "kayak tax." Nearly 2,000 people put their names on the list by Thursday morning, with some calling the fee proposal "ridiculous" and "unenforceable."
 
"We don't have enough wildlife officers to enforce important laws aimed at preserving wildlife and habitat," wrote Ron Tomlin.
 
"What next floats and swim floaties!" wrote Saundra Roach.
 
The Non-Motorized Boat Working Group, an advisory committee for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Boating Advisory Council, has considered fees, possibly around $20, on certain types of vessels including canoes, kayaks and stand-up paddleboards.
 
The advisory group meets for the final time on May 17, with the council meeting the next day.
 
The group wasn't able to reach a consensus on the topic while meeting last week.

Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Nick Wiley has tried to tie an anchor to the proposal.
 
"Last week, a group of citizens and stakeholders charged to make recommendations to FWC's Boating Advisory Council considered a proposal for expanding vessel registration to non-motorized boats in Florida," Wiley said Wednesday in a statement. "The FWC appreciates the work of this advisory group, but we are not supportive of increasing fees on Floridians or visitors who participate in non-motorized boating. The FWC greatly values our boating community and will continue to work hard to keep Florida's standing as the boating capital of the world without increasing costs and fees."

TWEET OF THE WEEK: "So many people need to learn the skill of waiving in support." --- Kathy Mears (@MearKat00), chief legislative affairs officer at Florida State University and former legislative staffer, referring to the practice of expressing support for bills without making sometimes-lengthy comments during committee meetings.