Sen. Darryl Rouson
The impact of criminal and traffic fines and fees on low-income Floridians and the efficacy of relying on those revenues for government programs would be studied by a special council under a bill now moving through the Florida Legislature.
SB 492, by Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee 10-0 on March 9.
It would create the Council on the Discretionary Imposition of Criminal Justice and Traffic Fines and Fees, supported by the Attorney General’s Office.
“Over the past 20 years, there has been a growing use of fees and fines in the criminal legal system in the state of Florida. Research conducted in other states shows this system of revenue generation has come at a high cost to families impacted by them while being an inefficient system of revenue generation,” Rouson told the committee.
COMMENTARY | A little over one year ago, and just weeks before COVID-19 gripped worldwide attention, two Florida state agencies agreed to a remarkable, consequential but barely noticed settlement to a class-action lawsuit that had accused them of illegally kicking eligible people off the state’s Medicaid coverage.
That settlement, enforced by a Jacksonville-based federal judge, included a requirement that the Florida Department of Children and Families and Florida Agency for Health Care Administration go back and review more than 71,000 cases across the state in which the agencies booted people, some of whom have severe disabilities or illness, out of their health care coverage without adequate notice or without a proper eligibility review conducted by state officials.
The panhandling measure, which went into effect as soon as it was passed, details the places where soliciting can now result in a $53 fine for each offense and jail time.
It s not quite as harsh as Daytona Beach s $200 fines, but it s likely to have the same effect. Just a few hours after Daytona Beach’s panhandling law went into effect in early February 2019, about 80 percent of the city’s street corner beggars put down their handwritten signs and disappeared.And two years later, Daytona Beach is still mostly clear of panhandlers. There has been a night and day difference from before our ordinance went into effect, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said Friday. It s holding strong.
Feb 12, 2021 By Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Top Stories
Recommendations to change how The Florida Bar Foundation collects and distributes IOTA funds should be rejected or replaced by an alternative proposal, according to comments filed with the Florida Supreme Court.
February 10 was the deadline to comment on proposed changes to Florida Bar Rule 5-1.1(g), which governs the IOTA program. The amendments were submitted last September by the court’s Task Force on the Distribution of IOTA Funds.
A group of 26 past Foundation presidents submitted a “consensus” alternative rule that they said was endorsed by all of the other rule commenters. A group of 34 past Bar presidents specifically endorsed that alternative as well as comments from the Business Law Section, the Bar’s Pro Bono
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