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In 2010, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendments requiring state lawmakers to fairly draw new legislative districts, but todayThe Florida Democratic Party filed suit, saying GOP drawn maps are anything but fair. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, lawmakers are now trying to block the court from asking them what they did and why.

Florida Supreme Court Justices can approve the maps or send them back to lawmakers with guidelines for changes.

62 of every 100 voters in the 2010 GOP landslide told state lawmakers to be fair when drawing legislative maps.

But discovering what lawmakers intended may soon be more difficult.

Sparks flew at a legislative committee where GOP lawmakers approved legislation attempting to block the courts from asking lawmakers, or their staff members, why maps were drawn a particular way.

“The people who had direct input in drawing those maps, what was their intent when they drew the maps the way they drew them,” Rep. Richard Steinberg (D-Miami) said. “The voters have told us that’s relevant.”

Sponsor Larry Metz says there is plenty of public testimony about the maps.

“You’re not going to be able to use the power of another coequal branch of government, in this case the judiciary, to compel a member to answer such questions,” Rep. Larry Metz (R-Lake County).

Florida Democrats have filed suit, challenging the maps. They say the immunity legislation is just more proof the maps were drawn to favor Republicans.

“It’s frankly the most brazen grab for legislative power that we’ve seen in years,” Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux said.

Even if the immunity bill becomes law, there’s no guarantee the court won’t say the constitution gives them a right to look at legislative intent.

The Florida Supreme Court will hear the case February 29th. Whether they can ask lawmakers why something was or wasn’t done, may still be up in the air.

Florida Supreme Court Justices can approve the maps or send them back to lawmakers with guidelines for changes.

Former Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning announced today he’ll run for superintendent of Pasco County Schools. Yesterday was Browning’s last day as head of Florida’s elections. He served nearly six years, through two governors overseeing several primaries and the 2008 presidential election. Capitol Correspondent Whitney Ray sat down with Browning on his last day in office, and brings us this exclusive report from Tallahassee.

Secretary of State Kurt Browning certified his last election Tuesday. Browning’s leaving office to be closer to his family and run for Superintendent of Pasco County Schools. He was appointed to Secretary of State in 2006, by Governor Charlie Crist, he resigned in 2010, and came back last year at the request of Governor Rick Scott.

“The first question he asked me, was after the niceties was, can you fix Palm Beach County,” said Browning.

Palm Beach County and its hanging chads were partially to blame for the 2000 election debacle. Then in 2006, new touch screens failed to record 18-thousand votes. Slow returns and voter machine malfunctions occasionally haunt the county.

“I looked at him and said yes sir I can,” said Browning.

On Election Day 2008, the 2000 election was still a hot topic, and the country was watching Florida. The results came down with few problems.

Browning declared 2008 the new benchmark, and vowed to leave 2000 in the past.

“Florida’s been the leader in election reform and our elections, I think, are so much further along than most, if not all states in the nation,” said Browning.

Browning leaves as the 500th anniversary of the European discovery of Florida approaches. His duties included overseeing historical resources. Browning hopes Florida’s election problems are history and the state is better off for his time here.

Browning’s replacement took his post today. Ken Detzner served as secretary briefly under Governor Jeb Bush, and now becomes the focus of the voter lawsuits.

About 40 students from FAMU and FSU marched to the state capitol today to end, what they call, racist undertones in some political campaigns. The students called out GOP candidates for president that called Barack Obama the food stamp president. They also are taking issue with something Governor Rick Scott told FAMU students last year. Ciara Taylor says Scott tried to connect with black students by telling them he grew up in public housing.

“It is not acceptable, you do not talk about someone based on race, or religion, or age, or sexual orientation.” said Ciara.

Ciara was escorted out of a black history event by FAMU police earlier today, after speaking out at an event with Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll.

No state legislator has ever been forced to testify in court about their legislative decision making, but that didn’t stop the Florida House Judiciary Committee from passing legislation giving lawmakers blanket immunity. Democrats found the legislation troubling because a constitutional amendment on fair districts says lawmakers can not “intend” to favor an incumbent or party. Representative Richard Steinberg of Miami says voters made their intent clear but it isn’t being followed. “Not to continue drawing maps that heavily favor one party over the other, Not to engage in incumbency protection. We have told them even thought they told us that can’t be our intent, you have to just believe what we save publicly, never ask us what we said privately, Can never ask us what we directed staff to do,” Steinberg told the committee.

Legislative staff who testify on intent would be breaking the law. The House’s lawyer on redistricting sat in the audience during the debate. And the League of Women Voters opposed the legislation saying the legislature is telling the people of Florida their decisions are none of the public’s business.

Permanent alimony would no longer be allowed in Florida under legislation that cleared a key State House Committee today in Tallahassee. The bill makes dozens of changes to the divorce statute and continues to move despite opposition from lawyers and women’s organizations.

Marriage is supposed to last forever…but sometime after the toast on wedding day, the glass becomes empty for half of all marriages. Once in court, the outcome is never certain. Hector Torres of Miami came to Tallahassee to tell his story. “And I was divorced at the age of 34. My ex wife was 33 at the time of the divorce., and I have to pay her permanent alimony for the rest of my life.

More than a dozen people with similar stories wearing red filled the seats in the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Rick Workman is the sponsor of a bill making changes in divorce law. Among the biggest. Unfaithfulness when alimony is awarded.

“Judges often times look at the one receiving the money and make sure that standard of living remains the same as the marriage, where the payor finds himself or herself at a significant reduction in income and standard of living,” says Workman. “This bill just says hey, let’s make sure there is a presumption both parties will have a lower standard of living.”

Under the bill that passed, alimony could end at retirement. And it adds three years…from 17 to 20 years of marriage before a judge can consider long term alimony. Barbara Devane from The National Organization for Women is concerned. “They stay home, they raise the children, and then they get older and the man trades them in for a younger wife, and then they are left out in the cold, and they must be protected,” she says.

Sponsors say the ultimate objective is to get the same outcome in similar cases, something which is often not the case now. The Florida Bar Family Law Section also expressed doubts about changing the law, but said it was willing to work with the sponsor to make sure the bill is fair to both sides in a divorce.

Governor Rick Scott and CFO Jeff Atwater got an eyewitness account of how fraudster stage accident to rip off insurance companies. State Troopers played out pip fraud scenes with cruisers encircled in metal. One tactic is to wave a driver through a stop, then hit the unsuspecting motorist. Another involves a staged rear end collision. After the wreck, people jump into both cars and claim injuries. Personal Injury Protection or PIP insurance pays for 10-thousand dollars in medical costs for each victim regardless of who is at fault. The industry claims it’s losing a billion dollars a year to PIP fraud. Governor Rick Scott says fixing the problem is like cutting taxes.

“If the CFO or I or anybody could reduce taxes by a billion dollars you would say boy that would be great wouldn’t it,” ask Scott.

There are two bills to cut down on PIP fraud. The House bill would make it harder to make a PIP claim, the senate bill steps up law enforcement and regulation on clinics that are abusing the system.

Protestors sang out at the state capitol today, hoping state leaders would hear their voices. More than two dozen capital punishment opponents held a vigil for Robert Waterhouse and his victim Deborah Krammerer. Watethouse was executed last night, 32 years after the crime. For about 20 minutes protestors prayed and sang. Marda Messick, a Lutheran Pastor, says the state murdered Waterhouse.

“Any taking of a human life, whatever the justification is wrong, its murder in my view and the view or my church,” said Messick.

Legislation to abolish the death penalty in Florida has been filed, but isn’t getting any traction.

State Senate budget writers spent more than an hour discussing potential cuts to Florida’s Universities this morning, arguing that between reserve accounts and tuition increases, schools would come close to breaking even. But as Mike Vasilinda tells us, USF students in the audience say the math doesn’t add up.

Some 50 Students left the USF campus at 3:30 Wednesday morning to come to the Capitol. A dozen or so sat in the front row of the budget hearing, staring down lawmakers.

“I know there’s been great concern about, Oh, it’s not being done fairly,” Sen. Evelyn Lynn (R-Ormond Beach) said.

Key lawmakers tried to explain the cuts weren’t real. Yes, universities would lose 400 million, but after a tuition increase and taking money from reserve accounts, the cuts would be a wash.

“Your proposal does not reduce by one dollar the operating funds,” Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) said.

Students say the math is fuzzy and one more tuition hike would hurt.

“I would not be able to go to school,” education major Sara Garcia said. “I would not be able to be a teacher. I would be stuck with an Associate’s Degree.”

“This is something that we’re going to feel five years down the line,” USF Sophomore Muhammad Shakir said. “Our institution is going to raise tuition, teachers are going to lose jobs.”

Two of Tampa’s senators on the panel questioned the fairness, saying USF was being singled out.

“You don’t bargain futures like this, even in this appropriations process,” Sen. Jim Norman (R-Tampa) said.

House leaders have already made it clear they are not going to let major cuts to the universities stand.

And the two key budget writers offered this bit of hope:

“If there’s a fairer way to do it, we can sure talk about it,” Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander (R-Polk County) said.

But the students aren’t buying any of it, questioning who would want to teach or even enroll at USF under such a dark cloud.

The defeat of the prison privatization bill in the Florida Senate last night doesn’t end the conversation. Florida already has seven private prisons and there is talk of using existing law to privatize two more. As Whitney Ray tells us, the future of Florida’s prisons is now in the hands of Governor Rick Scott, a major supporter of the failed privatization bill.

It was a stunning defeat for supporters of privatizing Florida’s prisons, and a hard fought victory for correctional officers. A plan to privatize more than two dozen South Florida prisons was narrowly defeated in the Senate Tuesday.

“This is bad policy. We should not be moving in this direction,” said State Senator Mike Fasano, minutes after the vote.

But the privatization battle is far from over. Florida already has seven private prisons and two more could be added. The Department of Corrections is asking for business proposals to see if privatizing prisons in Homestead and the Everglades could save money.

Governor Rick Scott could take action without legislative approval. A spokesman for Scott says it’s not high on his to do list.

“This was not one of Governor Scott’s top priorities, but he did something where he thought we could find some significant savings. He’s disappointed to see it fail like this. However we don’t think its going impact the ability to get that one billion dollars in education,” said EOG Spokesman Lane Wright.

If the governor or future legislatures decided to privatize, they won’t have a comprehensive study on its effectiveness, at least not as it stands now. Opponents of the legislative plan fought for a study, but lost.

“We really truly want some factual data before this topic comes up again,” said State Senator Paula Dockery.

And how soon the topic returns is anybody’s guess. What is known is prison corporations pumped a million dollars into Florida campaign coffers last year, and they have the money to do it again. One this is almost certain, if the governor does privatize prisons it won’t be nearly as many as were proposed in the legislation. The bill would have privatized 27 prisons, the biggest privatization proposal in the entire country.

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer had the best parking spot at the Capitol today. CFO Jeff Atwater parked his 2005 Honda mini-van right smack-dab in the capitol courtyard. The van has visited all of Florida’s 67 counties and has traveled more than 220-thousand miles. Atwater says his van shows how careful he’s been with his own money. He says he’s just as conservative with the state’s checkbook.

“I would say to the people of Florida, I’m watching your money. I want money to stay in your pockets, so look at this van. If you think I’m tight with my money you should see how tight I am with your money,” said Atwater.

Atwater plans to sell the van or trade it in before the end of the month. His kids are grown, and he and his wife may now spring for something smaller.

Florida State University, the University of Florida, and the University of South Florida are being asked to return 400 million in reserve funds to help balance the budget. USF faces an additional 25 million dollar loss, because USF finds itself in a political battle with the powerful Senate budget chairman over the creation of a twelfth university.

State Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander is considered one of the most powerful men in state Government. He was the driving force behind the University of South Florida’s Lakeland Poly Tech campus…Now he want the campus to be independent, and he is using the state budget to force the split.

The current budget plan would penalize USF 25 million dollars if it tries to block the divorce. Alexander has been called a bully for his tactics. He says he isn’t. “There has been more bullying by USF’s leadership than anything I would even think about doing, and I haven’t done it.”

Alexander contends USF president Judy Genshaft has tried to block the creation of an independent Lakeland university at every step. “She’s told numerous folks that she just plans to wait me out and not move forward with it,” says Alexander.

Alexander’s plan also asks USF, UF and FSU to give 400 million in reserves back to the state. Instead of asking for the cash, the money is being taken out of the budget, resulting in a 79 million dollar cut to USF.

The USF President was in the Capitol halls early Tuesday meeting with key House budget writers. “Well, we have a lot of advocates and good friends in the legislature, all over, and its our hope that we can work with them to make a difference for the University of South Florida,” says Judy Genshaft.

What is surprising here is that most Senators don’t want to talk about a twelfth University. When asked about the Lakeland situation, State Senator Evelyn Lynn replied “I have no position because we don’t know what the cuts are yet.” It was clear Higher Education Budget Chair Evelyn Lynn was uncomfortable talking about the plan.

Alexander’s budget committee is slated to spend all day Wednesday working on the budget. Asked if is interested in becoming the President of the new University, Alexander replied. “No Absolutely not”.

Last year lawmakers voted to end the sale of synthetic drugs in Florida stores. Manufactures quickly produced new “legal” drugs. Now lawmakers are back to close the loopholes. As Whitney Ray tells us, legislation to outlaw 92 chemical compounds, promises to put an end to the legal synthetic drug trade in Florida, at least for a little while.

Less than a year after taking synthetic drugs like K2 and Spice off the shelves in Florida, lawmakers are back at work, fighting a new wave of legal drugs.

“I feel like it’s almost Groundhog Day,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Bondi spearheaded efforts last year to ban bath salt, a synthetic PCP-like drug being sold openly in head shops and gas stations. But manufactures went back to the lab and made new products.

“We have a message for these people who are trying to destroy our kids’ lives with manmade chemicals. Guys, chemistry class is over,” Bondi declared.

One of the new compounds was reportedly used by 19 year-old Logan Kushner of Palm Harbor just hours before he was found drown in a creek. Last week a Lakeland teen was found hallucinating before school. Sheriffs see it all the time.

“I had one boy who was hallucinating and chasing his father around the house with a machete, didn’t know what he was doing. He was just out of his mind,” said Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron.

Last year’s bill outlawed five chemical compounds. This year lawmakers have compiled a list of 92 chemical blends to add to the list.

Inspector David Gross says FDLE has scoured the country to find legal drugs that might show up in Florida. The goal is to stay ahead of the manufacturers.

“We thought it would be prudent to put all of them on the list. To not only stop the ones that are in the state, but to be forward thinking, forward leaning and get those that haven’t yet reach our state border but are still out there,” said Gross.

The hope is to buy some time. It’s hard to stay ahead of the manufacturers, who will find compounds not covered in the new legislation. Since last years ban, a thousand people have been arrested for possession of bath salts and other synthetic drugs.

Secretary of State Kurt Browning certified his last election today. Browning’s is leaving his post Friday. Today he and the state canvassing board certified the results of Florida’s presidential primary and sealed the victory for Mitt Romney. Browning says in his experience the best elections are the least exciting.

“That’s my goal is to make it boring. You know Florida’s elections are run very well and a lot of the credit goes to my staff as well as the supervisors back in the counties,” said Browning.

Browning is stepping down to spend more time with his family, but he’s not ruling out a run at Pasco county school superintendent.

Parents of student athletes may soon have to sign a form saying they understand the risk of serious head injuries, and players who may have a concussion will have to sit out the rest of the game under legislation approved by a House committee today in Tallahassee. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the legislation has been sidelined before because of dispute between medical; providers.

Thousands of student athletes suffer concussions each year. Football, Soccer, LaCross, basketball.

Now state lawmakers want to make sure a qualified doctor sees an athlete suspected of having a concussion before coach sends them back in.

“And a repeat injury, back to back, can be detrimental, and a student athlete may never reach their full potential as far as education, and it could even lead to death in certain situations,” Dr. Ronald Renuart (R-Jacksonville) said.

Deciding which medical professional gets to say a kid is okay, or isn’t okay has been a sticking point in the past, and its a sticking point this year.

The legislation delegates to the responsibility of who can diagnose a concussion and who can allow an athlete to resume play to the Florida High School Athletic Association. Activist Brian Pitts told lawmakers they were shirking their responsibilities.

“You are the legislature,” Pitts said. “You are supposed to set the policy and guidelines.”

Chiropractors have been excluded from concussion decision making in past. This time they are not, and for the first time they are supporting the bill.

“Because we have hundreds of doctors out there every Friday night that are volunteering their time to their communities serve as team physicians,” Jack Herbert with the Florida Chiropractic Association said.

Reporter:“Are they qualified to diagnose a head injury?”

“Yes. Very much so. Very much so”.

But Chiropractors are not included as members on Sports Medicine Advisory councils and keeping them out may make passing the legislation more difficult.

Doctors say young female athletes are more prone to concussion than young men.

The NAACP and a group of prison guards were at the state Capitol today to protest plans to privatize more than two dozen south Florida prisons. The plan is supposed to save money but has been criticized as vague and a give a way to private prison companies who have donated a million dollars to Republicans this election cycle. Brett Pruett is a correctional officer at the maximum security prison in Santa Rosa County and says the pubic should be worried about safety and the lack of verified savings.

“And I told him, you’re not going to have your savings because you’re going to have first year relief payouts,” Pruett said. “Then they’ve come back and said yeah, we’re going to lose money in the first year, but we have to do this, we’ve got to find a way to save 16 million dollars, eliminate 3700 state jobs, so we can hire 300 teachers. The numbers don’t make sense. We haven’t done a good enough job finding out how we’re going to save money.”

The plan was debated by the state Senate this afternoon.

Inspirational messages are just school prayer in disguise say opponents of legislation that cleared a Florida House committee today. The bill allows students as young as five to give inspirational messages, as long as no adult helps decide what can be said. The Anti-Defamation League says no matter what you call the messages, they violate students rights.

“What would happen in your district if the prayer was to Allah? To Buddha? To HaShem, which is how we say God in Judaism, or another faith in which children were not brought up in,” David L. Barkey, with the Anti-Defamation League said. “This bill is about organized school prayer at mandatory and non-mandatory K-12 public schools.”

The legislation has already cleared the full State Senate. It has one more House Committee before being heard on the House Floor.

Bikers from around the state are in Tallahassee asking lawmakers for safer roads. ABATE Florida is supporting legislation for mandatory jail time for drivers who kill a biker in a wreck. As Whitney Ray tells us, they also support a ban on texting while driving.

The bikers of ABATE Florida were out in full force at the state capitol Monday asking lawmakers for stricter penalties for drivers who kill bikers on the road.

“Kill a motorcyclist they get an 82 dollar fine, that’s all they get; failure to yield. You do that in a car, hit somebody else in a car, you get vehicular manslaughter,” said Doc Reichenbach, ABATE President.

The names of bikers killed in wrecks last year were read aloud. Fifty-six bell chimes were sounded; one for each lost life. Bikers say the biggest danger they face is drivers distracted by their cell phones.

“Texting, even using a cell phone while you are driving, that’s like having a gun,” said Casey Staley, the president of the ABATE, Lake County.

If someone is texting while driving and hits someone on two wheels the consequences can be much greater than hitting another car.”

Carl Gajus is constantly on the lookout for people using their cell phones.

“People just don’t see us, even when I’m wearing my vest going to work every day, I get people cutting me off,” said Carl.

The group’s split on red-light cameras; some say they make intersections safer. Others believe they increase rear-collisions. Carl calls them intrusive.

“Big Brother is watching us everywhere. Sometimes it’s for good, sometimes it’s not for good,” said Carl.

The bikers spent the day talking to lawmakers, then headed home hoping when they return next year, there are fewer bells to ring and fewer bikers lost. ABATE says the Senate is sympathetic to their legislative agenda, but bills to ban texting and increase penalties for drivers who kill bikers are being held up in the House.

There are more school bus stop sign runners in Florida than there are police to catch them. An estimated 9-thousand drivers blow past busses dropping off kids every year. The death toll ranges between 10 and 30 kids annually nationwide. As Whitney Ray tells us, legislation moving in Tallahassee promises to provide a way to catch drivers in the act.

Get caught behind a school bus in the morning or afternoon and you’ll see stop signs a dozen or more times. Drivers who lose their patience and barrel through the mobile stop signs face a 265 dollar fine. There’s just one problem; they rarely get caught.

On a typical three hour bus route, Olympia Battles see an average of three drivers blow past her stop signs.

“It’s hard for us if somebody is running it, coming back towards the opposite way, there’s no way you can catch a license plate,” said Battles.

She tries to get the license plate, but all too often her hands are full. Help may soon come for the Florida legislature.

State Senator Oscar Braynon is sponsoring a bill to allow school districts to place cameras on the side of their buses to catch dangerous drivers.

“It’s extremely dangerous and if you pass it there is absolutely no police officer waiting there to give you a ticket,” said Braynon.

The camera would be mounted right here on the side and once the bus stops, the camera would begin recording. An estimated 9-thousand Florida drivers blow through these stop signs every year, and every year between 10 and 30 lives are lost nationwide.

“If we could just save one of those then I think this legislation is worth doing,” said Braynon.

Braynon’s bill passed a senate committee this week, but it faces tough opposition in the house, by lawmakers who say Floridians are losing their privacy to cameras.

Black state lawmakers gathered at the capitol today to proclaim changes to Florida’s election laws won’t keep them from voting.

The new law shortens the number of early voting days from 14 to 8 and eliminates one Sunday from the voting period. In 2008 Souls to the Polls campaigns took thousand of black voters from church to the ballot box. Senator Arthenia Joyner says even though there are few days to vote, black Floridians won’t be discouraged.

“We are aware of the fact that there is a premeditated design by some folks to suppress the vote in the black community and consequently we are not going to let that happen,” said Joyner.

The black leaders are hoping to win court challenges against the new election law, but say regardless of what happens, the black vote will remain a factor in Florida.

Governor Rick Scott is meeting with military leaders in DC today. This comes amid a growing concern that some Florida bases could be shut down due to federal budget cuts. We caught up with Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll at the Florida Defense Task Force today. She says she and Scott are working an aggressive plan to make sure bases in Florida remain open.

“This is his first time meeting with the services and making sure they see who the governor of the state of Florida is. It’s an introductory thing, and it’s building that relationship we will need if we end up going down the road for another BRAC,” said Carroll.

BRAC is an acronym often used by the military which means Base Realignment and Closure. The military is considering closing some bases when the new federal budget year begins October 1st. Carroll doesn’t expect any Florida bases to be shut down.