SKIDMORE WANTS TO PUMP THE BRAKES ON TEEN PASSENGERS

By KEITH LAING, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, Nov. 21, 2008…..So you are 16-years-old and you’ve just been handed a driver’s license.

What’s the first thing you do? Offer your uncool, unlicensed friends rides, of course!

Not so fast though. A bill filed in the state House of Representatives this week could put the brakes on teenagers shuttling their friends around for a few years.

The measure (HB 7), introduced by Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Boca Raton Democrat, would prohibit new teenage drivers from having other teens as passengers for the first six months they are on the road. After that, teens would be allowed to have up to three non-adult passengers in the car with them.

Skidmore said the bill would help young drivers familiarize themselves with being behind the wheel alone.

“Our hope is that it will give our young drivers an opportunity to focus on driving defensively without distraction so they can pay attention to all the things (happening) on the the road that they’ll have to deal with,” she said.

Skidmore said it is hard for any new driver to adjust to the speed and quick decisions necessary for driving on busy roads. Having friends along for the ride can often make that overwhelming adjustment even worse, she said.

“All those things can easily become a tragedy if you’re not focused,” she said.

The Department of Highway Safety reported nearly 25,000 accidents involving drivers under 18 years old in 2007, with 267 of them involving fatalities. The highway safety department compiles traffic accident statistics at the end of every year.

Skidmore said she was not blaming teenage drivers for their recklessness. Instead, she said, she was giving them a framework to grow out of it.

“When you turn 16, or however old you are when you first get your license, you have an overwhelming feeling of freedom, excitement and opportunity,” she said. “We forget to impose upon our children the responsibility and caution that goes along with it.”

Skidmore said she expects opposition to the bill to come from lawmakers who believe decisions about teenage driving are best left to parents. However, Skidmore said many parents have asked for a measure like the one she is proposing.

“This is a rule many parents impose on their children, but they discover that many of their children’s friends don’t have the same imposition on them,” she said. “They’d like to see something across the board.”

Skidmore compared the measure to laws already on the books setting age limits for smoking and consuming alcohol.

“These are things we teach our children, but they are so important to society, we also have laws about them,” she said.

Already, Skidmore’s bill has fans in the American Automobile Association. Kevin Bakewell, senior vice-president of AAA’s Auto Club South, said the motorists’ club supports passenger restrictions for teenage drivers. In fact, Bakewell said Skidmore’s proposal was probably a little too lenient.

“Three (passengers) is probably a bit much,” Bakewell said. “One or two is the most it really should be, unless you’re talking about siblings.”

Any teenage passenger restriction would have to exclude family, Bakewell said, because many families rely on older licensed teens to ease the transportation burden and cart younger brothers, sisters and cousins around.

Still, Bakewell said gradually allowing teens to have passengers would be one of the easiest ways to reduce the danger of them getting too distracted behind the wheel.

“That’s one of the biggest missing components…that will do the most good and save the most lives,” Bakewell said.

–END–
11/21/2008

WEEKLY ROUNDUP – CAPITOL CLIFFNOTES

(Recap and analysis of the week in state government)

By KEITH LAING, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, Nov. 14, 2008…….The Legislature may not be in session yet, but this week, for the 35 new representatives who managed to get themselves elected this year, class certainly was.

With the glitz and glamour of the campaigns behind them, newly elected lawmakers got down to business. First on their agenda though, was learning where the bathroom is. With that essential piece of business taken care, the freshmen representatives got the Capitol version of “Governing for DUMMIES” this week.

The House newbies learned to file bills, had official photos taken for the clerk’s manual, heard from Capitol veterans and introduced themselves to each other.

For the legislators-in-waiting, the whole hand-holding affair was probably a world away from the campaign they just won, when they ran the show. But the new lawmakers can be forgiven if their introduction to the seniority-laden Legislature felt a little like a college orientation. Incoming speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin, told them that feeling was normal as he welcomed them to the backbench.

“You have good ideas, but (it may seem) nobody’s paying attention to them,” Sansom warned. “There comes a time in your freshman year, you really want to know, ‘Should I even be here? Is anyone even listening?’ Don’t get frustrated.”

After hearing from Sansom this week that it was normal for them to be feeling like 18-year-old college freshmen in a city that teems with them, the new legislators also learned that it was not OK to act like 18-year-old college freshmen. The new members got lessons on decorum, protocol, and even were cautioned by Sansom against getting too acquainted with Tallahassee’s night life choices. Like freshmen being watched by residence hall assistants, the freshmen lawmakers may be being watched by journalists, Sansom told them.

They also attended orientation sessions on major issues, from the budget to property taxes, to health care to education.

The House’s freshmen 35 were also briefed on the open meetings laws, ethics laws, and various reporting requirements, such as what they must disclose about their personal finances. There were also sessions planned on working with the press and lobbyists.

But while they spent three days this week learning the Capitol ropes, the new members won’t get their office space assignments, or parking spaces, until next month. Until then, they will work – and park – where the member they succeeded did. Sansom told the members he’d meet with them about committee assignments, and hoped to make those assignments by mid-December

HOW THEY GOT HERE

The freshman representatives are joining a House that looks strikingly like it did before Nov. 4.

Legislative Democrats spent this week trying to figure out how they managed to have such a lackluster Election Day while Democrat Barack Obama swept into the White House with Florida’s help.

They had one plausible idea: New, young voters, excited about the Obama candidacy, simply didn’t vote for Democrats down the ticket. That was likely true, an analysis of voting patterns by The News Service of Florida this week showed. In the 10 Florida counties where Obama did the best, he got 22.6 percent more votes than Democratic state House candidates.

But the analysis identified a potential flaw in the Democrats’ “get your own coattails” argument. People also appeared to have gone out and voted for John McCain and left in about the same percentages. In the 10 counties where McCain won by the largest margins, 22.2 percent failed to vote for the Republican legislative candidate in their area.

There was some evidence the Obama effect hurt Democrats most in the counties where they typically do well. In counties like Miami-Dade and Broward counties, there was more Democratic drop off than Republican drop off. But overall, the vote fall-off did not have a D or an R beside it.

Spending money to get into office was also a bi-partisan phenomenon. Candidates from both parties raised and spent millions to get into office. In fact, many of the state’s top campaign fundraisers have more money left in their accounts than their opponents spent. The top 10 House fund raisers raised $4.7 million and spent $3.9 million to usher themselves into office. Meanwhile, successful Senate candidates spent $7.5 million to defeat opponents, some of whom offered only token resistance.

WHAT THEY’RE FACING

Now that the new legislators are here in Tallahassee, they may want to get comfortable because the freshmen may be joined by their veteran colleagues much sooner than anticipated. Concerns mounted this week over the state’s fiscal condition and the state’s chief financial officer renewed her call for a special session.

State officials have estimated that they could be facing more than a $1 billion hole in the 2008-2009 state budget and revenue estimators are scheduled to meet next Friday to release the latest state numbers on how much money is coming in to the state’s checkbook.

That’s why Sink said lawmakers need to call a special session to tackle the budget hole now instead of waiting until the spring session to figure out a way to deal with the expected shortfall, while simultaneously planning for the following year’s budget.

“You can’t look at these numbers and not be alarmed,” she said.

Even Sansom, who has consistently said a special session would not be necessary, hedged, if only a bit. Sansom said he doesn’t believe there’s an immediate need for a special session, but acknowledged that could change if revenue estimates are dramatically lower when lawmakers receive them later this month.

“On the 21st of November, we’ll see what might be necessary. We’ll just make decisions from there,” Sansom said. “I’m not hitting a panic button.”

It may be time to reach for the panic button on the housing market, however. Florida’s housing woes continued into October as foreclosures sped at a pace nearly double that of a year ago and four Florida cities remained in a dubious “Top 10″ list of most distressed areas, a national group reported this week. One out of every 157 housing units in Florida received a foreclosure filing in October, up 13 percent from September and 80 percent higher than October 2007, according to RealtyTrac, which tabulates foreclosures nationwide.

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO HIT THE GROUND RUNNING

Despite the clear need for everybody to actually do some governing, some in the state were already thinking about the next election this week. Emboldened by President-elect Obama’s victory in Florida, the first by Democrat in 12 years, Democrats in Florida are already beginning to ponder if they can unseat Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez in two years.

A website has already popped up urging Chief Financial Officer Sink to make a bid for the governor’s mansion in 2010.

“She is undeniably one of the Florida Democratic Party’s rising stars,” the website DraftAlex.com says of Sink, who, along with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is one of only two Democratic officeholders elected statewide.

However, while Obama’s optimism may have won the day for Democrats this year, when it comes to Florida’s 2010 races, hope may be fleeting for the Dems. Several post-postmortems on Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s failed bid for the White House say that the Arizona senator lost Florida the day he chose not to tap Crist as his running mate.

Crist, who was speculated to be a finalist for the spot on the Republican ticket and is widely credited with McCain’s win in the Florida Republican primary, ran four points higher in 2006 than McCain did against Obama. The self-proclaimed “people governor’s” approval ratings have reached as high as 60 percent.

That’s why some have argued that Sink – or any other Democrat eying a statewide run – would be better off targeting Sen. Mel Martinez in 2010 than Crist.

A recent statewide poll of officeholder’s approval ratings, conducted by Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University, showed Martinez at 37 percent. That’s not quite a bad as outgoing President George W. Bush’s numbers, but incumbents below 50 percent approval are usually regarded as vulnerable.

If you think it’s too early for 2010 talk, you’re going to love what went on in Miami this week. There, Republicans held what basically amounted to the first cattle-call of the 2012 presidential race: the Republican Governor’s Association annual meeting. It’s only a week removed from the 2008 election, and Obama hasn’t even been inaugurated yet, but more importantly for Republicans still smarting from losing the White House they’ve held for two terms, it’s only 3 years and 2 months until the next Iowa caucus.

Several names often tossed around as future leaders of the party, including, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Florida’s own Crist were spotted in Miami this week, and they weren’t there for the tan. Crist, in particular, was making the case for moderation in the national Republican party, arguing that the party should follow his bi-partisan example in the Sunshine State.

The “people’s governor” certainly drew a crowd in his own right, but there was no bigger star in Florida this week than Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The former vice-presidential nominee made her return to the continental U.S. with her trip to Miami this week, and she came back with a bang. Palin, who had been reticent to speak to the media during the campaign, talked to anyone who had a microphone this week, conducting several national interviews from Miami. Palin also held a press conference and delivered a speech entitled “Looking to the Future,” which clearly includes her leading the party in four years if she has her way.


STORY OF THE WEEK: At long last, the campaign is over. Now the real work begins. But first, someone please explain why some elevators go to the 22nd floor and some don’t. And why in the world are there two Capitols?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Tallahassee is not your home. It is a place you come and do business for people in the state of Florida……Don’t get disconnected from your district, don’t get disconnected from the people that sent you here,” incoming House Speaker Ray Sansom to the 35 freshmen legislators who undoubtedly would like to get as comfy in the Capital as can be for as long as voters will have them.

–END–
11/14/2008

MINORITY VOTERS TURNED OUT BY OBAMA HELPED PASS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BAN

By KEITH LAING, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, Nov. 5, 2008…..Spiking turnout among black and Hispanic voters may well be one of the reasons Barack Obama won Florida – and the presidency – Tuesday, but it also may be the reason Florida’s constitution now bans same-sex marriages.

Obama, who personally opposes gay marriage but supports domestic partner rights for same-sex couples, crested to victory in the race for Florida’s 27 electoral voters with lopsided support from African-Americans and Latinos, groups that made up a combined 27 percent of the 7.9 million voters in Florida this year.

Opponents of the marriage amendment had argued the measure would take away the very rights Obama has said he supports, but exit polls conducted by CNN Tuesday showed a higher percentage of blacks and Latinos supported the ban than did whites.

In the final analysis, 71 percent of black voters voted in favor of the amendment, as did 64 percent of Hispanics. By comparison, 60 percent of whites voted yes on Amendment 2.

In Florida, 96 percent of African-Americans voted for Obama, who also won the Hispanic vote here, 57 percent to 42 percent.

Had Florida voted down the marriage ban, it would have joined Arizona as the only state to do so, though that state reversed its decision with another referendum Tuesday. A proposition in California to overturn a state Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage remained too close to call Wednesday afternoon, though similar trends can be observed in both states.

Unlike Florida though, Arizona’s electorate was much more Latino than African-American – 16 percent to 4 percent – but combined, the groups voted 55 percent to 45 percent in favor of banning marriage. In California, support among minority voters for banning gay marriage was even higher. There, blacks and Latinos made up 28 percent of the 9.8 million voters, and they broke for the ban by margins of 40 percent and 6 percent respectively.

The data suggest that had minority voters not backed the socially conservative amendment while supporting Obama – who had been cast by opponents as the most liberal presidential nominee in history – Amendment 2 might not have reached the 60 percent threshold needed in Florida to amend the constitution, said Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac’s polling institute.

“Barack Obama’s ability to bring out more black and Hispanic helped get him elected, but it may have also helped the marriage ban,” Brown said. “If you assume Barack Obama brought out a disproportionate share of African-American and Hispanic voters, that may have put it over the top.”

Quinnipiac’s last poll on the marriage ban put it just shy of the 60 percent threshold, so the combination of high minority support and late-breaking undecided voters could have easily made the difference.

But the Yes2Marriage campaign, which first pushed the amendment onto the ballot and then campaigned for its passage, said Wednesday that it was not surprised to see the marriage ban passing during an election in which the national Democratic ticket carried Florida for the first time in 12 years.

“Sixty-five percent of African-Americans said they would vote yes, so we’re not surprised that a historic number of (minority) voters came out to vote for the amendment and vote for Barack Obama,” Yes2Marriage spokeswoman Leslie Steele said.

But Steele added that she thought the marriage ban would have passed even without the help of the new Obama voters.

“Did it play a part? Sure,” she said. “But I think it would have passed anyway. Floridians agreed with us on the issue of marriage being between one man and one woman.”

Incoming House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin, agreed, saying Wednesday that Floridians were ideologically inclined to back an amendment like the marriage ban.

“Florida is still a conservative state in how it sees government and how it sees families,” Sansom said. “I think
we saw that in the House races, the Senate races and in the amendments that passed. If you look at the amendments that passed, they were family orientated and they were property tax related.”

Sansom pointed to the margin of victory for the marriage ban as proof of the conservative tilt he still sees in Florida despite Obama’s victory in the state.

“Sixty-two percent of anything is an overwhelming majority,” Sansom said. “It’s very difficult to get over 60 percent of anything.”

–END–
11/5/2008