Sayfie Review Roundup - June 27, 2015
Florida's top headlines that attracted the most
readers on Sayfie Review this week
John Kennedy - Palm Beach Post - June 21, 2015
...Working into June on a state budget for the first time in 23 years, Florida lawmakers avoided a government shutdown by approving a $78.7 billion spending plan Friday evening.
But the long battle left a few bruises.
Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders didn't get all they wanted. Talk back in March of almost $700 million in tax breaks got downsized amid a long fight over the Senate's unsuccessful push to expand health coverage for the uninsured.
And the special session that started June 1 after the regular 60-day legislative session ended without a budget will cost taxpayers.
Brandon Larrabee - News Service of Florida - June 22, 2015
...Those who raise the specter of another edition of legislative overtime point to a few key issues, particularly an expected ruling by the Florida Supreme Court on whether lawmakers need to go further in redrawing congressional districts.
"Considering we're going in next year in January into regular session, it leaves a number of months in between that we may have to take additional action. ... I'll just keep my suits fairly clean," said House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach.
But after the Legislature finished its work on the budget Friday, at least one key lawmaker didn't seem worried about the prospect of another special session.
"I don't see that those (issues) would necessitate that at this point. I really don't," said House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes. "I think what it necessitates is those committees that we normally have in the fall in an off-election year are going to be very busy. In order to get ready and prepared for the January session, those committees are going to have to be very productive and very busy."
Former Florida Sen. Durell Peaden of Crestview dies at 69
Steve Bousquet - Tampa Bay Times - June 24, 2015
...Former Florida Sen. Durell Peaden, a well-liked Panhandle legislator who represented Northwest Florida in the House and Senate for 15 years, died Tuesday at age 69. He had suffered a severe heart attack earlier this month while in Pennsylvania.
Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, who is a cousin to Peaden and replaced him in the state Senate, notified his colleagues of Peaden's death on Wednesday morning in an email.
"Doc had a love for his family and his community that was beyond anything. He was a friend. He was a cousin but most of all he was a mentor,'' Evers told the Times/Herald.
When Evers went to him with a problem, Peaden would offer a history lesson and words of wisdom, often mentioning their great uncle in the Whig Party of 1800s. "Things are the same now as they were then,'' Peaden would say. "It just has a different spin."
