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House delays vote on bill policing campaign groups

Today is the 23rd day of the session.

TALLAHASSEE - A bill aimed at reining in campaign groups that legislators have used to raise millions of dollars to fuel their leadership ambitions was pulled from the House calendar at the last minute Tuesday and returned to a committee for retooling.

The bill is one of Gov. Jeb Bush's highest priorities, an attempt to regulate the committees that have raised money with no required disclosure of contributions and expenditures.

Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, said too many amendments had been filed to consider the bill on the House floor. It will now go back to the Procedures Committee, chaired by Rep. Allan Bense, R-Panama City, a House sponsor.

The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Rules Chairman Tom Lee, cleared the Ethics and Elections Committee Tuesday.

Bense said the House needs to work on portions of the bill that would limit expenditures and consult an expert on federal law.

"We need to take our time and do it right," Bense said.

- LUCY MORGAN

Utilities and cities would be immune from lawsuits by people who claim broken street lights caused accidents under a bill (CS-HB 1573) approved 14-4 by the House Judiciary Committee. Similar legislation in the Senate (SB 2226) has not yet been heard.

The bill would trump a December ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that families of people hit by cars on dark streets can sue utility companies for failing to keep street lights working.

Rep. Dwight Stansel, D-Wellborn, the bill's sponsor, said the high court ruling was "unmercifully unbearable" on utilities and their customers.

Gov. Jeb Bush supports the legislation.

Car buyers would have a harder time filing lawsuits alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices under HB 1181, approved 10-8 by the House Judiciary Committee. Companion Senate legislation is pending in committee.

A customer who wanted to sue a dealer under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act would have to give 30 days' notice. During that time, the dealer could pay the damages sought and end the case.

If the case went to trial, customers' lawyers wouldn't be able to get attorney fees if they won the case unless the judgment was at least 75 percent of the damages sought.

Sponsor Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, said the goal was "quick and speedy resolution to disputes." Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, called the measure an anticonsumer proposal.

Two bills approved by the House Committee on Public Safety & Crime Prevention would stiffen the penalties for identity theft and for crimes against the elderly and disabled.

The first (HB 1525) would raise the penalty for having, making or selling fake drivers' licenses or identification cards from a third- to a second-degree felony. The same would apply to using or possessing personal identification information without consent.

The second bill, which was created by the committee and closely resembles a Senate proposal (SB 576), would raise penalties against criminals who prey on victims 65 or older, regardless of whether the criminal knew the victim's age. A third-degree felony would become a second-degree felony and a second-degree felony would rise to a first-degree felony.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS