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Palms West Monthly • February 2020 • Page 1
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Monthly
WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • WEST PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE GROVES • THE ACREAGE Volume 10, Number 2
WELLINGTON’S BREW FEST RETURNS! Enjoy unlimited samples of craft brews Saturday, Feb. 8th. PAGE 4
PalmsWestMonthly.com
FREE • February 2020
Florida running back Lamical Perine runs past Virginia safety Joey Blount to score a touchdown during the first half of the Orange Bowl on Monday, Dec. 30, 2019 in
Miami Gardens. Florida lawmakers are now considering allowing college athletes to profit from their fame, following the lead of California.
Supporters enjoy sneak peek at new Mounts exhibit
Friends of the Mounts Botanical Garden welcomed nearly 40 supporters recently for a sneak peek of its latest eye-popping, family-friendly exhibition.
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Art shows take center stage in West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach’s “Art Month” is in full swing. Check out all the current and upcoming art shows taking place locally.
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Support Peggy Adams Walk for the Animals on Feb. 22 Support homeless and injured animals by registering for Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League’s 19th Annual Barry Crown Walk for the Animals.
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WPB Antiques ‘Spectacular’ returns Feb. 7-9
More than 1,000 dealers are expected to set up shop for the 3-day Antiques and Vintage “Spectacular” at the South Florida Fairgrounds Feb. 7-9.
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AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
From college athletics to guns, state legislative session in full swing By BRENDAN FARRINGTON The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE — The 60-day Florida legislative session that began Jan. 14 will have lawmakers considering everything from coconut patties to a state budget expected to exceed $90 billion. Lawmakers are also expected to address abortion rights, private gun sales and environmental issues such as the rise in sea level. They will also debate whether college athletes can be paid. While the budget is the only thing the State Legislature is constitutionally required to pass each year, there are already about 3,000 bills filed, including about 1,600 that seek to stuff local projects into the budget.
YEAR OF THE TEACHER
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared 2020 “the year of the teacher.” He’s proposing a $91.4 billion budget that includes $600 million to raise the minimum salary for teachers to $47,500 a year. It also includes $1 million to help eradicate pythons in the Everglades and elsewhere – just one of the environmental initiatives he wants the Legislature to approve. But the Legislature doesn’t have to follow the governor’s budget recommendations, and while House Speaker Jose Oliva has been diplomatic, he’s expressed some concern over the teacher pay proposal. “My initial thought is one of gratitude for those who came before us and saw it fit to bind us and all future legislatures to a balanced budget,” Oliva said when DeSantis announced the proposal.
ABORTION BILLS
While several abortion bills have been filed on both sides of the debate, a bill requiring girls under 18 get their parents consent before having an abortion has a good chance of passing. Sen. Kelli Stargel is sponsoring the legislation and draws from her own experience as a pregnant teenager. “I thought for sure my mother would kill me when I told her that I was pregnant underage,” Stargel told her colleagues when presenting the bill. “She advised me to have an abortion. I chose not to have the abortion, but through that process, we are closer.” Florida already has a law that requires that a girl’s parents be notified if she gets an abortion, but it doesn’t require parents give their permission for the procedure. The parental consent bill would allow girls to ask a judge for a waiver if they are victims of abuse or incest. It’s one of several bills filed on both sides of the abortion issue, though most of the others are less likely to pass. There’s a House bill that would outlaw abortions if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat, but Senate President Bill Galvano said that would be tough to get through his chamber. Even more unlikely to pass is a bill to ask voters to change the constitution to require at least 50 percent of the House and Senate be comprised of women before lawmakers can vote on an abortion bill. Democratic Sen. Lauren Book said she sponsored the bill to serve as a talking point
after the Alabama Senate sent a heartbeat bill to the governor with only two female senators voting on the legislation. “Having to watch two women, whose backs were certainly against the wall in a chamber like that, having to speak up for millions of women who had no voice and no representation in that chamber,” Book said. “I started drafting it after that.”
GUN LAWS
Lawmakers will once again consider new gun laws two years after the Parkland high school shooting that left 17 dead. Galvano directed Infrastructure and Security Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Lee to come up with gun safety legislation after mass shootings across the country last year. Lee won’t go as far as Democratic proposals to ban assault rifles and large capacity magazines, but he said he’s considering changes to better document private gun sales. “It seems to me like the best thing we can do to enhance public safety is to take a look at the systems that we use or the requirements that we have in law for people to transfer or sell weapons between individuals,” Lee said.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
The environment will also be a top issue. Lawmakers are considering legislation that addresses the algae blooms that have plagued Florida in recent years. Republicans are also backing bills to create the Statewide Office of Resiliency and the Statewide Sea-Level Rise Task Force. The FLORIDA LEGISLATURE / PAGE 8