Key Vote: Puerto Rico Democracy Act

Puerto Rico Democracy Act

- Vote Passed (223-169, 1 Present, 37 Not Voting)

The House approved this bill to establish a two-stage process to determine Puerto Rico's political status. The first step would be a referendum on the question of whether to maintain or change Puerto Rico's current status as a commonwealth. If a majority of Puerto Ricans were to vote for a new status, then a second vote would be held to ask residents whether they favor statehood, full independence, independence with a special political association with the United States, or to retain the current commonwealth status. The legislation goes to the Senate.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted YES......send e-mail

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Key Vote: IMPROVE Acquisition Act of 2010

IMPROVE Acquisition Act of 2010

- Vote Passed (417-3, 10 Not Voting)

The House overwhelmingly passed this measure that would require the Defense Department to develop a system with specific metrics, including targeted schedules and cost objectives, for the acquisition of weapons, information technology and services. It would also direct Defense Department officials to set up a system by 2017 to reward organizations that meet objectives and penalize those that do not. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw voted YES......send e-mail

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Key Vote: Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010

Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010

- Vote Rejected (56-42, 2 Not Voting)

The Senate failed for a third time last week to approve this procedural motion and begin floor debate on this legislation to overhaul financial regulations. However, it appears the Senate will proceed to floor debate this week and begin voting on amendments to the bill.

Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES......send e-mail

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Sen. George LeMieux voted NO......send e-mail

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Key Vote: Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act

Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act

- Vote Passed (403-11, 3 Present, 13 Not Voting)

The House voted to move forward with a bill to sanction Iran by approving this motion to appoint House members to a conference committee with the Senate. The House version of this bill focuses on imposing sanctions on multinational companies that deal with Iran's petroleum sector, while the Senate's broader version would prohibit the U.S. government from purchasing goods from companies that are subject to sanctions under existing law and expand sanctions on foreign companies investing more than $20 million in Iran’s oil and gas sector.

Rep. Ander Crensh aw voted YES......send e-mail

or see bio

Key Vote: Confirmation Lael Brainard, of D.C., to be an Under Secretary of the Treasury

Lael Brainard to be an Under Secretary of the Treasury

- Vote Confirmed (78-19, 3 Not Voting)

The Senate confirmed Lael Brainard as the Treasury Department’s under secretary for international affairs. Her nomination had been held up over concerns that she allegedly failed to pay property taxes on time.

Sen. Bill Nelson voted YES......send e-mail

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Sen. George LeMieux voted YES......send e-mail

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Court limits harsh terms for youths

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole for crimes other than murder, in a significant 5-4 decision that says imposing such sentences violates the Constitution's prohibition on "cruel and unusual" punishment.

The court's 5-4 decision — which says that an automatic life sentence for a young offender who has not committed murder violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment — wipes out laws in 37 states.

It means that the 129 juveniles now serving time under such laws will, at some point, have an opportunity to make a case for parole.

Most significantly, the decision — signed by the nine-member court's four more liberal justices and Anthony Kennedy, the conservative who votes with the liberals the most — emphasizes that young criminals are different from adults. And not just when it comes to the death penalty, which the court made off-limits for juveniles in 2005.

"A life without parole sentence improperly denies the juvenile offender a chance to demonstrate growth and maturity," Kennedy wrote for the majority in the decision that found life without parole disproportionally harsh.

Supreme Court Rules 'Sexually Dangerous' Can Be Held Longer Than Sentences

A 7-to-2 majority of the Supreme Court ruled today that Congress has the authority to pass a law allowing federal prisoners who have been deemed "sexually dangerous" to be held beyond the date of their original sentence.

The law, a provision of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, was passed in 2006. A lower court had ruled that Congress overstepped its boundaries in passing the law.

But Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the majority, found that the Constitution grants Congress the authority to enact the law.

"The statute is a necessary and proper means of exercising the federal authority that permits Congress to create federal criminal laws, to punish their violation, to imprison violators, to provide appropriately for those imprisoned, and to maintain the security of those who are not imprisoned but who may be affected by the federal imprisonment of others," he wrote.

Breyer wrote, "Congress routinely exercises its authority to enact criminal laws in furtherance of, for example, its enumerated powers to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, to enforce civil rights, to spend funds for the general welfare, to establish federal courts, to establish post office, to regulate bankruptcy, to regulate naturalization and so forth."

Gov. Charlie Crist Signs New Unemployment Benefit Legislation

With the state's unemployment rate still over 12 percent, Gov. Charlie Crist today signed into law Senate Bill 1736 to extends eligibility for the Extended Benefits (EB) program.

The EB program is for job seekers who have exhausted all other benefits and qualify for the extension.

"As Florida's economy continues to recover, these federally-funded benefits will provide critical financial assistance to job seekers and their families," said Crist. "These funds will also provide a significant impact to Florida's economy, infusing millions of dollars to our local communities."

The new law provides for payment to individuals through June 5, and was funded through the federal stimulus package. It's value is estimated at $128 million.

"These Extended Benefits will provide financial support to more than 100,000 Floridians in need," said Agency for Workforce Innovation Director Cynthia Lorenzo. "This new law will also strengthen the reemployment focus of Florida's workforce system by allowing our agency to better link unemployment compensation beneficiaries with job opportunities."

Garden Helps Jacksonville City Leaders Provide Dignity, Respect to the Dead

Last fiscal year, 241 people were ultimately approved for the program and became indigents of the city. That included 213 adults and 28 infants.

Once indigents are cremated, their names are held for at least four months to allow family members to claim them.

It costs Jacksonville more than $1,100 for each indigent cremation and another $35 if the remains have to be scattered. The money comes from the city's general fund. They also take care of final respects for many veterans, but their family has the choice of having them buried or cremated.

Crist signs red light camera bill

Gov. Charlie Crist signed a red light camera bill into law on Thursday that will allow Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford to install red light cameras at some of the most dangerous intersections in the city.

Crist's decision to sign the law was never really in doubt. Groups like AAA Auto Club South opposed the bill, arguing that it was more of a revenue grab than a safety issue. The state will get at least 50 percent of the revenue from people fined, it's more on a state road, even though the local governments will actually be installing the cameras and enforcing the law.

Rep. Corrine Brown Introduces Legislation to Ban Offshore Drilling Near Florida

Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., on Wednesday introduced a bill to the U.S. House of Representatives to "permanently prohibit the conduct of offshore drilling on the outer Continental Shelf of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico."

The "East Coast and Gulf Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2010" comes on the heels of a massive oil spill spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf near Louisiana each day.

Personal conflicts biggest cause of murders in U.S.

Guns are the most commonly used weapons in both murders and suicides, according to the analysis of data from 2007 released on Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The pattern that stands out the most is we see a lot of intimate partner violence, mental health problems and substance abuse," said the CDC's Debra Karch, who led the study.

Some of the findings from the report:

* Firearms were used in more than 50 percent of suicides, with hanging or suffocation accounting for 23 percent and poisoning 18 percent.

* Firearms were used in 66 percent of homicides and 80 percent of murder-suicides.

* Suicide rates were higher among people aged 45 to 54 -- a shift from previous years when the highest rates of suicide were among those over 80.

* Murder rates were more than three times higher among males than females. One third of women who were murdered were killed by a current or former spouse or partner, compared to five percent of men killed by intimate partners.

* Blacks made up the majority of homicide deaths and had the highest rate of homicide of any racial or ethnic group.

* Military suicides were frequently linked to a physical health problem.

Tax bills in 2009 at lowest level since 1950

Amid complaints about high taxes and calls for a smaller government, Americans paid their lowest level of taxes last year since Harry Truman's presidency, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data found.

Individual tax rates vary widely based on how much a taxpayer earns, where the person lives and other factors. On average, though, the tax rate paid by all Americans — rich and poor, combined — has fallen 26% since the recession began in 2007. That means a $3,400 annual tax savings for a household paying the average national rate and earning the average national household income of $102,000.

Wal-Mart Gives $2 Billion to Fight Hunger

The Wal-Mart Corporation announced plans Wednesday to contribute $2 billion in cash and food to the nation’s food banks, one of the largest corporate gifts on record.

Over the next five years, the giant retail company will distribute some 1.1 billion pounds of food to food banks and provide $250 million to help them buy refrigerated trucks, improve storage and develop better logistics.

Study: 1 in 7 U.S. Babies Born to Moms 35+

While most women giving birth are doing it within the context of marriage, researchers said a record 41 percent of births were to unmarried women in 2008. That's up from 28 percent in 1990, according to the study, "The New Demography of American Motherhood." The trend crossed major racial and ethnic groups.

Nearly 14 percent of mothers of newborns were 35 or older two years ago - and only about 10 percent were in their teens. The age trend was reversed in 1990, when teens had a 13 percent share of births.

Today, one in seven babies is born to a mother at least 35 years old. In 1990, one in 11 had a mother in that age group.

Most mothers of newborns (54 percent) had at least some college education in 2008, an increase from 41 percent in 1990. Among mothers 35 or older, 71 percent had at least some college education.

32,000 Duval properties owe $65 million in taxes

Jacksonville's 2009 property taxes came due April 1, and a month later, the owners of some 32,000 properties still hadn't paid. That means there's a 3 percent penalty on their tax bills, and if they don't pay by May 26, their tax debts can be sold as "certificates" to investors. Here are the top 10 biggest delinquent tax bills:

Owners of more than 32,000 Duval County properties fell into delinquency when they missed the April 1 deadline to pay a combined $64.8 million in property taxes.

The delinquent bills ranged between $17 and $516,000, according to records obtained by the Times-Union.

The top 10 in delinquent Duval County property taxes owes $2.9 million for the 2009 tax year. Of the 10, six are apartment complexes.

Ranked by who owes most, developer Jay McGarvey's Old San Jose on the River project is No. 1, with $561,109 in overdue property tax.

Jacksonville may hire private company for building inspections

About 85 Jacksonville building inspectors could be the next group of city employees replaced by private contractors.

A city committee will decide Thursday whether to send out proposals to see if any businesses could provide the same service at a lower cost to taxpayers.

The proposal is part of a sweeping look at city services that Chief Administrative Officer Kerri Stewart has said could result in hundreds of city jobs being outsourced.

The building inspection division has about 100 employees and a budget of just more than $10 million, Skipper said.

The Information Technology contract, Dix says, will be $200,000 a year more expensive. City officials say they’ll save $300,000 the first year.

Eight Business-Busting Oil Spills

Damages from the spill, Kotok said, could run between tens of billions to hundreds of billions of dollars.

At least some of the cleanup costs should be covered by the $1.6 billion Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a fund created in 1986 and funded through a tax on oil companies since 1990, following the Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster.

Only two were in the US.

Bills that passed in 2010 Florida Legislature

Legislation that passed during the 2010 session of the Florida Legislature, which ended Friday, would:

ABORTION

- Require women seeking an abortion in the first trimester to pay for an ultrasound exam and view the live image unless they can prove they are victims of rape, incest or domestic abuse.

BALLOT ISSUES

- Place on the ballot a state constitutional amendment to loosen class size limits by requiring them on a school average basis.

- Place on the ballot a state constitutional amendment sponsors say will clarify, but opponents argue would undermine, a pair of citizen initiatives that would curtail gerrymandering of legislative and congressional districts.

- Place on the ballot a state constitutional amendment that would bar Floridians from being forced to obtain insurance coverage, a measure inspired by the new federal health care overhaul although legal experts say it cannot override federal law.

- Place on the ballot a nonbinding straw poll asking if the federal government should balance its budget without raising taxes.

BUSINESS & CONSUMERS

- Exempt from sales tax books, clothing, shoes, wallets and bags costing less than $50 and school supplies costing less than $10 during a three-day back-to-school sales tax "holiday" Aug. 13-15.

- Roll back an increase in the unemployment compensation tax paid by employers, though that will mean borrowing millions from the federal government to cover jobless workers - money that will have to be paid back in the future.

- Give financial aid to the ailing space industry and tax breaks to the film and entertainment industry and buyers of yachts, aircraft and machinery; offer a tax credit to businesses for hiring jobless workers.

- Reinstate parental waivers that exempt theme parks, go-cart tracks and other businesses from liability if their children are inured after the Florida Supreme Court had prohibited the waivers because there was no law allowing them.

- Make it harder to win slip-and-fall lawsuits by requiring a victim to prove a business knew or should have known a dangerous condition had existed for a sufficient time to have it fixed or removed - or that it was a foreseeable hazard.

- Crack down on rogue debt collectors by making it easier to regulate the industry and increasing punishments.

CRIME

- Bar sex offenders from coming within 300 feet of schools, day care centers, parks and playgrounds and prohibit them from wearing Santa Claus suits or other costumes attractive to children while preventing the state from labeling someone a sex offenders for having consensual sex with a minor if there was less than a four-year age difference between perpetrator and victim.

- Tighten screening of caregivers who work with children, the elderly and disabled to weed out convicted criminals.

- Add homeless people to the list of victims covered by Florida's hate crimes law that can result in increased penalties for attacks.

- Require youth sports coaches to undergo criminal background checks.

DRUGS

- Require retailers to track over-the-counter sales of ephedrine, which can be used to make methamphetamine.

- Require commercial pain management clinics to register with the state and let only doctors with special training dispense controlled substances.

- Ban the sale of smoking pipes, bongs and other paraphernalia commonly used for smoking illegal drugs as well as tobacco except at stores that mostly sell tobacco products.

EDUCATION

- Expand a private school voucher program for low-income students supported through business tax credits by increasing its annual spending cap, adding more revenue sources and increasing the value of each scholarship.

- Expand eligibility for private school vouchers for disabled students.

- Require middle school students to take a civics class and pass an end-of-course test.

- Increase high school graduation standards by requiring more math and science and replacing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT, for those subjects with end-of-course exams.

- Encourage, but not require, school districts to hold ceremonies, assemblies or other academic scholarship signing day events to match the hoopla that surrounds the signing of college scholarships by football players and other athletes

- Bar schools from infringing on religious freedoms of teachers, staff and students.

- Prohibit schools from using mechanical or manual restraints on disabled students that restrict their breathing or secluding them in rooms that don't meet fire marshal's rules.

ELECTIONS

- Revive and repair a law ruled unconstitutional last year that required certain nonpolitical organizations to register with the state and comply with financial reporting requirements if they simply mentioned a candidate or an issue.

ENVIRONMENT

- Ban the personal ownership of Burmese pythons and six other species of nonnative giant reptiles.

FIREARMS

- Prevent adoption agencies from asking prospective parents if they have firearms in the house.

- Prohibit lawmakers from raiding a trust fund for the state's concealed weapons permitting program.

GAMBLING

- Endorse a 20-year compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that guarantees the state about $1.3 billion over the first five years and more later in exchange for the expansion of gaming at the tribe's casinos.

GOVERNMENT

- Enact a state budget of $70.4 billion for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

- Ask Congress to call a constitutional convention to pass a federal balanced budget amendment.

- Raise liability limits for the state and local governments from $100,000 to $200,000 per person and from $200,000 to $300,000 per incident on claims that can be paid without legislative approval.

- Cap fees of outside lawyers hired by the attorney general's office at $50 million.

MOTOR VEHICLES

- Authorize the use of cameras to ticket red light runners.

- Create new specialty tags that support surfing ("Endless Summer"), fishing ("Catch Me, Release Me") and horse enthusiasts ("Florida Horse Park"), as well as the Fraternal Order of Police and the Florida Diversity Foundation.

New taxes coming to tanning salons

To help pay for health care reform, tanners will be taxed 10 percent of the total cost of any indoor tanning service - whether it be in a tanning bed or booth - that uses one or more UV lamps to induce skin tanning.

A late addition to the federal health care bill, the "tan tax" is estimated to collect $2.7 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

For regular tanners such as Cheryl Robinson, who visits Four Seasons Tan a few times a week, the tax means the monthly package she purchases, which runs about $40 and allows her unlimited access to the salon's beds, will cost about $4 more.