Politics

Three bills get Crist's veto

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 14, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - A law that requires railroads to post "no trespassing" signs before they can arrest people for trespassing will remain on the books after Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a repeal Wednesday.

Crist also vetoed bills that transferred the state's organ and tissue donor registry to a nonprofit agency and repealed a local law requiring the closure of sizable clay pits and other depressions in Escambia County.

"Often a 'no trespassing' sign is the only thing that stops people, especially our younger generation, from walking along railroad tracks, " Crist wrote in his veto message.

Many people consider railroad right of way to be public property so it's too harsh to make arrests without posting the signs, Crist wrote.

He vetoed the bill transferring the organ donor registry because he was worried about losing oversight of state dollars to a private agency. Crist, though, wrote that he will direct the Agency for Health Care Administration to enhance the registry.

The Escambia law should not be repealed because it is designed to protect children from drowning in depressions that might fill with water, Crist wrote.

[Last modified June 13, 2007, 23:55:24]