Measures that failed to pass during the 2012 regular session of the Florida Legislature, which ended Friday, would have:
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
-Set aside state incentives for film and television productions.
-Raised the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
-Regulated the growing number of craft breweries in the state.
-Permitted the sale of liquor in grocery stores instead of requiring it to be sold in a stand-alone facility.
CONSUMERS
-Legalized the sale of half-gallon refillable beer containers known as growlers. While Florida allows unlimited gallon and quart growler sales, the state’s odd bottle laws ban the 64-ounce size that is the industry standard in 47 states.
EDUCATION
-Allowed school employees or volunteers with law-enforcement or military training to carry firearms to fight back in the event of a schoolhouse attack.
-Split the Florida A&M University and Florida State University engineering college.
-Removed from public record the names of applicants for university and college presidents.
-Mandated all school districts review textbooks and ended a state approval process for textbooks.
-Required high school students take a semester-long course that deals with personal finances.
-Changed the service requirements for the Bright Futures college scholarship program so that students could work on political campaigns and get credit for it.
-Halted implementation of Florida’s transition to new school standards based primarily on Common Core State Standards.
ENVIRONMENT
-Protected Florida’s springs by trying to limit overpumping of groundwater and limiting potential sources of pollution.
GAMBLING
-Allowed casinos in South Florida and created a new statewide commission to oversee gambling.
-Let dog tracks end greyhound racing but keep their permits for other gambling activities such as poker rooms.
GOVERNMENT
-Closed off the state’s pension plan to newly elected officials and top employees while also increasing the vesting period.
-Ended the perk that allows the governor and other top state employees to pay lower premiums for health insurance than other rank-and-file state workers.
-Required drug testing of elected officials and judges.
GUNS
-Repealed the state’s “stand your ground” self-defense law.
-Allowed someone to carry a concealed weapon or gun while evacuating during an emergency.
HEALTH CARE
-Taken $50 billion in federal money over the next decade to expand Medicaid health coverage for needy Floridians.
-Promoted the use of telemedicine in Florida and establish requirements for health providers who treat patients remotely.
-Marketed the state as a destination for medical procedures to national and international audiences. While the bill did not pass there is still money in the state budget for medical tourism.
-Ended a legal dispute over the creation of three trauma centers.
-Revised eligibility requirements for the state’s subsidized children health insurance program so that legal immigrants no longer have to wait five years to become eligible.
INSURANCE
- Allowed the shift of homeowner policies away from Citizens Property Insurance and into largely unregulated surplus line carriers.
TAXES
-Reduced the state taxes paid on commercial rent.
-Increased the number of businesses exempt from having to pay the state’s corporate income tax.
-Cut the taxes consumers pay on cellphones and cable television bills.
TRANSPORTATION
-Blocked local regulation of limousine services that has prevented the Uber car service from starting up in certain Florida cities.
-Repealed the law allowing the use of red-light cameras.
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