From NorthEscambia.com - 157 New Laws Take Effect Today in Florida

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157 New Laws Take Effect Today In Florida
July 1, 2014

On Tuesday, the state’s record-setting, $77 billion election-year budget goes into effect, along with 157 other bills approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

The laws range from the “Florida GI Bill” which is intended to make Florida the most military-friendly state in the nation, to lowering college costs and banning the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.

Also, starting July 1, private information of people involved with animal research at public research facilities will no longer be public, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage or increasing rates based on a customer’s gun ownership, and the state’s unpaid poet laureate position will no longer be a lifetime appointment.

A measure (SB 156) to reduce the cost of motor vehicle registration fees goes into effect Sept. 1, while another 34 bills — including one (HB 59) that creates new penalties for those who harm an unborn child at any stage of development — become law on October 1.

For the year, lawmakers sent 255 bills to Scott, with just one getting vetoed: SB 392, which would have allowed the Florida Department of Transportation to raise the speed on some highways by 5 mph.

Here are highlights of the laws taking effect July 1:

Budget
— HB 5001, the spending plan, the largest in state history, spreads around a hefty surplus, adding new money to public schools, state colleges and universities, environmental projects and child welfare while leaving room for about $500 million in tax and fee cuts that are already being used as a centerpiece for Scott’s re-election campaign.

Military
— HB 7015, called the “Florida GI Bill,” provides university tuition waivers for veterans, pays for military and guard base improvements, is expected to help increase employment opportunities for veterans and allocates $1 million a year to sell the state to veterans. The more than $30 million package requires Visit Florida to spend $1 million a year on marketing aimed at veterans and allocate another $300,000 to a new nonprofit corporation, Florida Is For Veterans, Inc. that would be used to encourage veterans to move to Florida and promote the hiring of veterans.
— HB 559 redesigns 11 military-related specialty license plates and adds a new special use plate — the Combat Medical Badge plate — to the inventory. The law also changes all references of the Korean Conflict to the Korean War and the Vietnam Era to the Vietnam War.

Education
–SB 864, requires school districts to set up a process through which parents can contest the selection of certain textbooks and classroom materials.

— SB 1642, related to the new tests from American Institutes for Research, being instituted in the 2014-15 school year. That plan, modeled on a blueprint developed by Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, would simplify the formula for grading schools. It would also do away with the penalties schools could currently receive for the grades assigned in the 2014-15 school year — a plan meant to provide a transition year as schools adjust to the new standards and tests.

— HB 732 aims to reduce the cost of college by revamping the formula that determines how much families pay for the Florida Prepaid College Program.

— HB 851 allows students who attend secondary school in Florida for at least three years prior to graduation to qualify for in-state tuition, regardless of their immigration status. The law also rolls back the ability of state universities to increase tuition without the approval of the Legislature.

— HB 313 establishes a pilot program that would lead to some public elementary-school students being separated into boys-only and girls-only classes.

Health Care
— SB 224 bans the sales of electronic cigarettes to minors, similar to bans on sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
— HB 5203 creates the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program at the Department of Health to distribute about $60 million a year to cancer centers.

— HB 709 requires the Division of Emergency Management to develop a shelter program for people with Alzheimer’s and other memory-related diseases.

— HB 1131 expands the availability of emergency allergy treatment — epinephrine auto-injectors, emergency medication — to more public place, such as restaurants, sports arenas, theme parks, youth sports leagues and camps.

— HB 1047 defines viability as the stage of development when the life of a fetus is sustainable outside the womb via standard medical measures. It would require physicians to conduct exams before performing abortions to determine if fetuses are viable, and if so, abortions generally wouldn’t be allowed.

Guns
— SB 424 prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage or increase rates based on customers owning guns or ammunition.

— HB 523 allows tax collectors’ offices to handle concealed-weapon license applications.

— HB 525 expands a public-records exemption that shields the identities of people who apply for and receive concealed-carry licenses from the state.

Charities and Marketing
— HB 629 gives consumers more information about what charities are doing with their contributions — especially those that raise large amounts of money. The law bars groups that broke laws in other states from soliciting money in Florida, bans felons from raising money for charity, increases reporting requirements for larger charities and requires information from companies that solicit donations for charities by phone.

— SB 450 adds unsolicited text messages to the “Do Not Call” program designed to prevent Floridians from receiving unwanted calls from salespeople.

On the Road
— HB 7175, a wide ranging transportation measure, includes a one year ban on local governments installing new parking meters and time-limit devices along the right-of-way of state roads. The law also authorizes a study to determine if the state can get revenue from such devices installed along state roads.

— HB 7005 adds sanitation vehicles and utility service vehicles to the requirements of the Move-Over Act; requires non-school buses to use “reasonable means” to not impede or block traffic when picking up or dropping off passengers; requires the words “Sexual Predator” be marked on the front driver licenses and identification cards of people designated as a sexual predator; and allows judges to order twice-daily breath tests instead of ignition interlock devices for repeat DUI offenders.

Food Safety
— HB 7091, a wide-ranging measure that further outlines the duties of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, specifies that food permits are not transferable to a different location or owner and authorizes the state agency to close a food facility if the department finds it poses an immediate danger or threat to public health.

Constitutional Conventions
— HB 609 sets a framework for how Florida would select delegates to an Article V Constitutional Convention.

Law Enforcement
— SB 522 and SB 524 require notification of the county sheriff when a sexual offender is released from the Civil Commitment Center; and require colleges and universities to notify students when a sexual predator is on campus. Two related bills — SB 526 and SB 528 — go into effect Oct. 1. Those bills increase sentences for adult-on-minor sex offenses and registration requirements for sex offenders.

— SB 102, the Aaron Cohen Act, increases penalties for drivers who leave the scenes of serious accidents. Cohen, a 36-year-old bicyclist, was killed in a 2012 hit-and-run accident on the Rickenbacker Causeway in Miami-Dade County.

— HB 227 allows James Joseph Richardson, 78, to finally receive a $1.2 million payment for the 21 years he wrongly served in prison after his seven children died of poisoning.

— HB 955 allows a person required to take a safety course due to a boating violation to do so online, and specifies that those who must take the course because they were convicted of operating a vessel after consuming alcohol under the age of 21 must take the course at their own expense.

Juvenile Justice
— HB 977 is intended to help foster children get driver’s licenses and auto insurance by requiring the Department of Children and Families to contract with a non-profit organization that will set up a three-year statewide pilot program to help children in the foster-care system take driver’s education courses and get licenses and insurance.

— HB 7055 creates criminal penalties for abusing or neglecting teens of all ages in the Department of Juvenile Justice’s custody and requires DJJ to provide the Legislature with annual reports on the outcomes for all its programs.

Human Trafficking
— HB 7141 directs the Department of Children and Families to inspect and certify “safe houses,” where victims can find shelter and services, and establishes services in parts of the state where none exist. Another measure (HB 989) that increases criminal penalties when children are victims of trafficking takes effect Oct. 1.

— HB 1065 establishes guidelines for suspending licenses or denying applications and sets up background screening for people involved with massage establishments.

Ethics
— SB 846 requires lobbyists at Florida’s five water management districts to register and disclose their clients and elected municipal officials to take annual ethics training courses. It also allows the state ethics commission to open an investigation when an official fail to file financial disclosure reports.

Sports
— HB 231 expands to Major League Soccer all-star games an admissions-tax exemption that already applies to events such as all-star games hosted by Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and the National Football League.

— HB 773 is a wide-ranging measure that amends regulations regarding boxing, kickboxing and mixed-martial arts. For example, a participant would have their license immediately suspended for failing a urine test or failing to provide a sample.

Public Record Exemptions
Lawmakers provided shade over a number of areas. Among the items removed from public access: personal information of people involved in animal research (HB 993); information relating to security breaches when commercial entities provide notice to the Department of Legal Affairs (SB 1526); certain personal contact information contained in motor vehicle crash reports (HB 865); business information from promoters regarding post-match reports to the Florida State Boxing Commission (HB 775); and forensic behavioral health evaluations filed with the court confidentially (SB 256).

I don't get the point of doing a pilot program to segregate boys and girls in schools?

dreamsglore wrote:

I don't get the point of doing a pilot program to segregate boys and girls in schools?

Hi dreams. Good to see you. I don't either, unless they're trying to offer something in public schools that people have been pulling their kids out to send them to private schools for. I would think that people send their kids to private schools for a better education though, not to separate them from the opposite sex.

I don't know... that's the only reason to do it that I can come up with.

Hey Riceme! Good to see you too. What are you doing in Alaska? Don't tell me your campaigning for Sarah Palin? LOL!

dreamsglore wrote:

Hey Riceme! Good to see you too. What are you doing in Alaska? Don't tell me your campaigning for Sarah Palin? LOL!

LOL. Yeah, "I can see Russia from my porch!" What an embarrassment she is. I came up here for work after things went to hell in renewables. One of my cousins has lived up here for over 20 years, so I have family up here.

It gets mighty damn cold up there and they have grizzlies.Yikes! I heard it's very expensive to live there. True?

It can be extremely expensive in the winter, depending on your living situation. If you rent and your landlord does not pay for your heating fuel (provided that you have a Toyo stove and not a wood stove) or if you're a home owner and don't have a wood stove, winter is very, very expensive. And it's pretty easy to get part time, crappy jobs up here, but they don't give away good jobs.... they are very hard to get. And winter is the slow season, so if you have one of those crappy jobs, that's when you're likely working part time and making the least amount of money. So, yeah... winter can be pretty tough, financially.

Hell, even if you have a wood stove it's tough. My cousin's cabin is about 2300 ft^2 and he has three Toyo stoves that he keeps on at about 55-degrees (one is under the house to keep the plumbing from freezing... how would you like to have to pay for that??) and he still burns about 12 cords of wood each season. That's a helluva lot of wood.

The cold doesn't really bother me, but yeah... it get's colder than a witch's tit.

riceme wrote:

It can be extremely expensive in the winter, depending on your living situation. If you rent and your landlord does not pay for your heating fuel (provided that you have a Toyo stove and not a wood stove) or if you're a home owner and don't have a wood stove, winter is very, very expensive. And it's pretty easy to get part time, crappy jobs up here, but they don't give away good jobs.... they are very hard to get. And winter is the slow season, so if you have one of those crappy jobs, that's when you're likely working part time and making the least amount of money. So, yeah... winter can be pretty tough, financially.

Hell, even if you have a wood stove it's tough. My cousin's cabin is about 2300 ft^2 and he has three Toyo stoves that he keeps on at about 55-degrees (one is under the house to keep the plumbing from freezing... how would you like to have to pay for that??) and he still burns about 12 cords of wood each season. That's a helluva lot of wood.

The cold doesn't really bother me, but yeah... it get's colder than a witch's tit.

I'm not familiar with Alaska-type cold, but it seems that I would want to build on grade, not with the floor above the ground where the cold can get under it.  The slab foundation would have to be immense to withstand the freeze/thaws up there.  Maybe even run a grid of pipes in the slab and use heat from the wood stove(s) and circulate heated fluid (water?) throughout the slab to keep things warm and keep pipes from freezing in the slab.

One of these would be great up there.  These stoves have a tremendous amount of mass that acts as a heat sink.  People sleep on them.  Masonry Heaters... sometimes called Russian Heaters... work better and more efficiently than wood stoves.  They take up a lot of room though.  The downside?  It takes a long time to start radiating heat.  The upside?  Heat radiates for many hours after the fire has gone out. Also, the Masonry Heaters last much longer than wood stoves.

A short article on Masonry Heaters





One of many types of Masonry Heater designs.

Oh, we call those wood (or coal) boilers and make them out of steel, but I can see the benefits of making them out of masonry if you had those materials available. I have been bugging my cousin to build me a coal boiler since I got here... I want to pay for it in rhubarb pies, of course.   

Coal is suuuuuuper cheap up here. You can get a ton for $120 delivered. No shit.

Pretty much all the land here is in the floodplain, so all the homes are on pylons. I cannot recall having seen a home built on a slab here. You put blueboard under your flooring and then around the skirt of your house to keep the cold out.

But Ricey, steel doesn't have the mass you need for these heaters to radiate heat dozens of hours after the fire goes out.  And steel doesn't last as long as these monstrosities.

I'm sure that the steel heaters coax more heat out of the wood when compared to a standard stove, but I have doubts that they burn as clean as the Masonry Heaters.  I suspect the steel ones still reduce combustion air to make the fire burn longer.  This causes more pollution.  The fire in a Masonry Heater burns hot, fast, and clean and the heat radiates for hours after the fire is out.

I'll bet the Masonry Heaters are expensive and labor-intensive to build.

They don't use bricks up there?

Eric wrote:

But Ricey, steel doesn't have the mass you need for these heaters to radiate heat dozens of hours after the fire goes out.  And steel doesn't last as long as these monstrosities.

I'm sure that the steel heaters coax more heat out of the wood when compared to a standard stove, but I have doubts that they burn as clean as the Masonry Heaters.  I suspect the steel ones still reduce combustion air to make the fire burn longer.  This causes more pollution.  The fire in a Masonry Heater burns hot, fast, and clean and the heat radiates for hours after the fire is out.

I'll bet the Masonry Heaters are expensive and labor-intensive to build.

They don't use bricks up there?

I understand, E... that's why I said that I could see the benefits of using masonry to build one. The innards are the same with the combustion chamber and gassification chamber... they burn wood (or coal) far, FAR more efficiently than a wood stove does. I don't think the masonry style would really work up here. You can't exactly wait around all day for your stove to heat up when it's -40F.

Brick / masonry is very expensive here, as it is on the West Coast (anywhere west of Kansas). It's really an East Coast thing. You see very old masonry in places like San Francisco and Seattle, but it's rare. We build stick homes because lumber is cheap and plentiful... probably same reason you all build brick homes. Oh, well that and we don't have hurricanes or tornadoes. And stick homes hold up better to earthquakes,   

-40? Are you serious? I couldn't function in cold like that. How do you breath outside?

dreamsglore wrote:

-40? Are you serious? I couldn't function in cold like that. How do you breath outside?

I am as serious as a heart attack. You breathe just like normal... just try not to have to hang out outside for long periods of time when it's that cold. I almost froze to death the first time I saw the Northern Lights because it was -40 out and -- as it turned out -- it was the most brilliant showing of the season and I was completely and utterly transfixed by them and could not tear myself away from where I was standing outside my cabin watching them.

I was talking to a friend in Dallas this past winter on a really cold day up here and he was telling me that he'd intended to change the oil in his truck that day but it was too cold so he was going to skip it. I asked him what the temperature was and he told me it was 60-degrees. I said, "F*** you, man! It is ONE HUNDRED degrees colder than that here today... ONE HUNDRED! For reals.... I have to use a pry bar and a framing hammer to open the hood of my truck! Go change your oil!" I totally shamed him into doing it. Tee hee!