Education

Sunday brings new laws on athletes, gas alarms

Another new law raises the penalty for those who leave children unattended in cars.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 30, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Florida high school athletes who take part in football, baseball or weightlifting will be subject to random steroid testing beginning Sunday under a one-year pilot program signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist.

The Florida High School Athletic Association will supervise the testing. Its membership includes 426 public schools and 224 private schools - all subject to the law.

"The intent clearly is to protect them, " Crist said Friday. "I know it's somewhat intrusive whenever somebody is testing you on anything, but this is for their benefit and health, and it's the right thing to do."

The steroid testing, pushed through largely by Rep. Marcelo Llorente, R-Miami, is among dozens of measures passed by the Legislature this spring that become law Sunday when Florida's new $71.5-billion budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year takes effect.

In the budget, the state is required to spend $54.9-million for smoking cessation programs and teen smoking prevention. That was required by a constitutional amendment passed last year.

Also beginning Sunday, new buildings and houses will be required to have carbon monoxide detectors. The bill requires a detector within 10 feet of every bedroom in new homes or apartment buildings that have gas heaters or appliances, fireplaces or attached garages, and applies to buildings or homes built after July 1, 2008.

It also requires hotels to have carbon monoxide detectors in rooms where there are boilers. It was brought to lawmakers' attention by the family of Thomas Lueders, a tourist who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a Key West hotel room last year.

Another new law will make it a misdemeanor crime, rather than a traffic infraction, to leave a child under the age of 6 in a vehicle without the engine running for 15 minutes or more. Violators could be sentenced to up to 60 days in jail or a fine of up to $500.

[Last modified June 29, 2007, 23:35:22]