Capitol Update

TALLAHASSEE – Yet another anti-public corruption bill is progressing through the Florida Legislature after passing a Senate committee this week. Legislation giving the Governor greater powers to discourage and reject the settling of refugees in the state passed a House committee, while fracking legislation is receiving skepticism in the Senate. In addition, a bill with revisions to death penalty sentencing law has passed a House subcommittee.

The Florida Anti-Corruption Act of 2016 (SB 686) was approved Tuesday by the Senate Community Affairs Committee, and must now pass through one more committee before receiving a vote on the Senate floor. The bill contains several amendments, including prohibiting private entities from hiring state lawmakers if political favors were given to the potential employer during the lawmaker's public office tenure. It also gives definitions to the terms "abuse," "fraud" and "waste" and changes several state auditing requirements.

The legislation is one of two anti-public corruption bills that Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) is trying to pass this year. The other, SB 582, was unanimously approved last week by the Senate Rules Committee for a Senate floor vote.

That bill would make it easier to prosecute public officials through a number of changes to current corruption law, including revising the definition of "bribery" so that prosecutors don't have to prove "corrupt" intentions; instead, they simply would have to prove that he or she knowingly gave or accepted a bribe.

HB 1095, or Prevention of Acts of War, prohibits state officials from helping certain refugees and immigrants enter and settle into Florida, and requires that personal identifying information of any refugees and immigrants seeking assistance through resettlement programs be submitted to state law enforcement. It passed its second House committee on Tuesday, with nine Republicans approving and three Democrats dissenting.

The bill also uses the term "restricted person" and defines it as a foreign refugee or immigrant "for whom there is reasonable cause to believe that he or she originates from, or has been in close proximity to, any location designated by the Governor in which: Invaders or prospective invaders are known to originate, organize, or train for violent acts of war; or a foreign terrorist organization designated by the United States Secretary of State." HB 1095 also authorizes the Governor and Attorney General to bar entry and resettlement of certain said persons.

The legislation also allows the governor to "monitor the presence of certain persons entering into, resettling or residing in the state." It references "foreign persons intending to conquer or violently destroy the way of life for the citizens of the United States and its constituent states," and that state law and the Florida constitution "fully empower the Governor, as commander-in-chief of all military forces in Florida ... to defend the state against the entry and action of such persons."

In other business:

• Companies seeking authorization in Florida to perform hydraulic fracturing, or fracking–a controversial oil drilling practice that fractures deep-rock formations in order to extract fossil fuels–are seeing pushback from the Senate on legislation that would enable the practice without the consent of local governments. Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee (R-Brandon), for one, has said he is concerned about local governments not having a say in the matter, as well as whether Florida's limestone geology would be affected by fracking.

• A bill that would revise the sentencing process for Florida's death penalty was passed by the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice. The bill would require that jurors unanimously find a minimum of one "aggravating factor" in the defendant's crime in order to recommend execution. It was introduced after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the state's current process to be unconstitutional. An aggravating factor can be many things, including a prior conviction, the severity of the crime, and lack of remorse by the defendant.