A couple notes of interest to Florida agriculture out of Tallahassee this week. The Child Liability Waivers bills that Florida Cattlemens’ Association and others have been working on got temporarily postponed in the Senate Judiciary Committee. It’s expected there will be a committee substitute bill from it, which then raises the question as to whether the substitute bill will have time to make it through several other committees this late in the process. Unless the situation is fixed a Supreme Court Decision would stand, and as we understand it, child waivers for many activities would remain invalid for liability protection.
In another development, the House Economic Development Council is taking actions to allow the state to apply for Federal Stimulus funds to speed broadband internet access throughout the state. This is of great interest to many rural areas in Florida that still have no access to a high speed connection. Proposed Committee Bill EDCA 09-03 would involve local governments and private business with the Department of Management Services and Enterprise Florida to go after grants for the federal funds.