Pro-life bills advance in Florida Legislature

TALLAHASSEE (FBW)—Pro-life forces won major victories when two Florida Senate committees advanced parental notification and abortion clinic regulation bills April 6. Meanwhile, committees in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate have adopted widely divergent legislation to implement voters’ approval of Amendment 4, permitting slot machines at pari-mutuel facilities in South Florida.

With Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, “on point for social conservatives’ position” on both bills, Florida Baptist Convention legislative consultant Bill Bunkley praised Dockery’s work in the Senate Judiciary Committee to “champion amendments to fix the damage done to SB 1908 [parental notification of abortion] by unfriendly amendments supported the previous week by the ACLU of Florida and Planned Parenthood of Florida.”

Bunkley said the Judiciary Committee’s action, with the assistance of Sen. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden—and member of First Baptist Church of Central Florida—the parental notification bill is now “back in line with the original thoughts of social conservatives supporting the bill,” which implements the voters’ overwhelming approval last November of Amendment 1 authorizing the Legislature to pass legislation requiring at least one parent to be informed before a minor is permitted to have an abortion in Florida.

Although Sen. Dockery was among nine Republican senators who helped to defeat legislation offered by Sen. Webster intended to save Terri Schiavo, Bunkley told Florida Baptist Witness, “Any doubts about Sen. Dockery’s commitment after the failed food and hydration legislation were very pleasantly dispelled” by her efforts on the parental notice bill.

“She has an excellent grasp of the issues and she will need that expertise to steer the legislation through the turbulent waters of the full Senate, as well as negotiate with House sponsors to get the two bills into conformity,” Bunkley added.

Also April 6, the House of Representatives’ Criminal Justice Committee “easily” approved the parental notice companion bill, HB 1659, sponsored by Rep. Jeffrey Kottkamp, R-Cape Coral, Bunkley said.

In both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Criminal Justice Committee, two members of Tampa’s Idlewild Baptist Church offered testimony in support of the parental notification bill.

Kerri Kinsora and Doug Walters in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee both stressed that they were not professional lobbyists, but were concerned about their children and believed parental notification of abortion legislation was needed.

“I’m very for this bill,” Kinsora told the senators, noting that the responsibility of parents is to guide, defend and teach. “Who loves children more than their parents?” Kinsora asked.

Walters told senators, “I’m just a dad,” rather than a professional lobbyist, and while he may not understand all the nuisances of legislation, he urged the committee to “keep it simple” and adopt the parental notice bill.

Kinsora and Walters were able to testify because they were participating in an annual two-day visit to Tallahassee to educate members about how the legislative process works and to involve Christians in government sponsored by their church’s Issues Committee.

Sen. Dockery also led a successful effort in the Senate Health Care Committee to approve SB 1862, the Women’s Health and Safety Act, which would regulate abortion clinics in Florida in a similar fashion to other medical facilities. The bill is strongly supported by Gov. Jeb Bush.

Although the bill passed by a 6-3 margin, before the vote “supporters of the legislation were uncertain if they had the votes in committee,” Bunkley told the Witness. “We were delighted to have Republican senators Jones, Fasano, Peaden, Pruitt, Saunders and Democratic Sen. Siplin support the legislation.”

Bunkley urged Florida Baptists to contact Sen. Dockery and the other senators who supported the bill to “thank them for supporting this effort in committee.”

Tampa physician Randy Armstrong—also a member of Idlewild Baptist Church—offered expert testimony before the Senate Health Care Committee in support of SB 1862. As an obstetrician/gynecologist with 27 years of experience who works in emergency care, Armstrong told the committee he was in a “unique position” to see the need for the legislation. Armstrong said that the Women’s Center at University Community Hospital in Tampa saw 37 cases in the last six months of women who required emergency care after botched abortions, illustrating the weak health and safety regulations currently in place for abortion clinics.

The companion bill in the Florida House, HB 1041, received initial consideration by the full House and final action is anticipated during the week of April 11, Bunkley told the Witness.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate are working on significantly different legislation to implement voters’ approval last November of Amendment 4. The constitutional amendment authored Broward and Miami-Dade counties to hold local referendums to permit slot machines at pari-mutuel facilities. Broward approved, while Miami-Dade rejected the referendums March 8.

Accordingly to Bunkley, “a more liberal” bill, SB 1174, was approved April 5 by the Senate Regulated Industries Committee which would allow facilities to have an unlimited number of slot machines and would permit Las Vegas style “Class III” slot machines—rather than a maximum of 3,000 (per facility) “Class II,” bingo-style machines currently permitted at Indian casinos allowed by the House bill, HB 1901.

According to Bunkley, other differences between the House and Senate slot machines bills include:

• Tax rate—House: 35-45 percent, based on number of machines; Senate: 30-32.5 percent, based on the facility’s total revenues.

• Hours of operation—House: 14 hours per day during weekdays, 24 hours per day on weekends; Senate: 16 hours per day, every day.

According to The Palm Beach Post, the slots bills also differ in:

• License fees—House: $2.5 million a year and an additional $1,500 per machine, up to $6 million, which would be dedicated to Broward County Schools; Senate: $1 million for the first year and $1,000 per machine in following years.

• Pay-out—House: at least 93 percent; Senate: 85 percent.

Bunkley said it’s difficult to forecast what will happen with the divergent bills.

“These differences will have to be worked out before we will know what kind of gambling we will ultimately have in Broward and possibly later in Miami-Dade,” Bunkley said.