TALLAHASSEE (FBW) – Upcoming state and national elections will likely influence the Florida legislature to a greater degree than normal, Florida Baptist Convention legislative consultant Bill Bunkley told Florida Baptist Witness as he surveyed the early weeks of the 2006 annual legislative session.

Although the Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage has shown little interest in seeking the legislative route of placing its constitutional amendment on the 2006 ballot after the group came up 155,000 petitions short in February for its citizens’ initiative, Bunkley said that political concerns of the Republican leadership in the Florida legislature may result in a “push for legislative action” if they “feel they need to get out their base in the fall elections.”

Constitutional amendments may be put on the ballot by action of the legislature or through a petition.

The marriage coalition announced in February that it was turning its focus to the 2008 election and would continue to seek the necessary additional petitions to put on the ballot the amendment recognizing marriage only between one man and one woman. In the past, the coalition has indicated it would not seek assistance from the legislature to put the marriage measure before voters in order to be able to carefully control the language of the proposed amendment.

Internal politics in the Florida Senate may also impact the prospects of certain legislation, Bunkley reported.

The battle between Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, and Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, for the presidency of the Senate in 2008 may also “determine the fate of many bills,” Bunkley said, noting the political ramifications of the leadership fight.

Summarizing bills he is following on behalf of Florida Baptists, Bunkley urged Christians to closely monitor legislative developments and to make their concerns known to legislators.

“Precious freedoms as well as basic rights protecting Christians in this state and country are being challenged very frequently and we must all be ‘watchmen on the wall’ and remain vigilant to protect the free expression of the principles of our Lord. If we don’t, our precious way of life in America will be dismantled by those who are dedicated to seeing our demise,” Bunkley said.

Among the bills being monitored by Bunkley include the following:

• Homosexual adoptions (SB 172/HB 123 – Sen. Rich/Rep. McInvale). Various bills in the House and the Senate would permit homosexuals to qualify as adoptive parents. (For more on this matter, see Witness March 9 editorial, “State-sanctioned child abuse in Florida.”)

• Stem cell research. Various bills (HB 233, HB 751, HB 1027) would fund embryonic stem cell research which pro-life organizations oppose.

• Abortion. Rep. John Stargel has introduced a bill (HB 1527) to tighten rules that allow minors to seek a “judicial waiver” of the recently enacted law requiring parental notice before a minor can have an abortion.

“The judicial waiver has been excessively used in some cases in the last few months,” according to Bunkley.

• Advanced directives. HB 1011 would require applications for driver’s license or identification cards to include an option to note the existence of an advanced directive on the card. HB 1017 relates to life-sustaining treatment forms required of licensed health care professionals.

• Slot machines. Various bills seek to address aspects of the recently enacted law regulating slot machines in Broward County. HB 867 seeks mitigation of impact for municipalities where slot machines will be operated; HB 1101 deals with slots licenses; and HB 185 is a proposed constitutional amendment to repeal the authorization for Miami-Dade County to hold a future referendum to permit slot machines in that county.

Bunkley told the Witness that it too difficult to “make a prediction” about the prospects of HB 185.

• Video Games. Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala and member of First Baptist Church of Belleview, has introduced HB 647, which would prevent selling or renting violent video games to minors and would prevent minors from playing such games in arcades.

According to Bunkley, an informal prayer gathering sponsored by members of the Florida House of Representatives and Senate will be held March 23 in the Capitol Building in Tallahassee in lieu of the cancelled traditional annual prayer breakfast.

The new lobbying law enacted by the legislature in December during a special session caused the cancellation due to concerns that legislators accepting a free breakfast during the event would violate the new law, Sue Tully said in a March 8 e-mail to supporters of the breakfast.

“The Prayer Breakfast Steering Committee decided … that it would be best to forgo having the 2006 Breakfast,” Tully said. “We will, of course, continue working on this issue to get everything in order for the 2007 Prayer Breakfast.”