Marijuana, guns and conservation on agenda for 2015 Florida legislature
By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE (Reuters) - Florida's legislature convened on Tuesday with lawmakers expected to grapple during the 60-day annual session with measures including allowing concealed guns on college campuses and permitting doctors to prescribe medical marijuana. Discussion of casino gambling, a now-perennial clash between out-of-state gambling interests and entrenched family resort companies like Walt Disney Co, will also stir controversy in the next two months. In addition, lawmakers will likely argue over how approximately $1 billion a year in real estate and land development taxes should be spent on conservation. The spending, mandated by a constitutional amendment approved by voters, could go to such projects as Everglades cleanup and beach restoration. For a third straight year, Democrats are trying to expand the state’s Medicaid program by accepting about $50 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years — extending healthcare for about a million poor people — but Republicans who control the legislature remain opposed to anything derived from President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Governor Rick Scott, a conservative Republican narrowly re-elected last November, opened the legislative session with a plea for lawmakers to cut taxes and hold down college costs while outlining his $77 billion budget. Scott will propose $673 million in tax reductions, including cuts in cell phone and cable TV levies, and a lowering of taxes on corporate profits. Committees in both chambers have also approved bills to set the 2016 Florida presidential primary on March 15, moving it from a late January date used in the past two presidential years in defiance of rules of both national parties. A shooting incident at Florida State University on Nov. 20 in which two students were wounded and the gunman killed triggered renewed interest in repealing the exemption of college campuses from the state law allowing gun owners to get concealed weapons permits. University presidents and faculty organizations have spoken out strongly against allowing guns on campus, but the National Rifle Association is pushing the proposal. A medical marijuana constitutional amendment fell short of the required 60 percent voter approval last November, but a new public petition drive is underway to put a similar measure on the 2016 state ballot. The state’s five-year, $1 billion casino compact with the Seminole tribe runs out on July 1. Legislators will debate proposals to expand banked card games and slot machine gambling beyond the tribal reservations, pitting major gambling companies against Disney's family-oriented attractions. (Reporting by Bill Cotterell; Editing by David Adams and Eric Beech)
