Recent editorials from Florida newspapers:
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March 28
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SunSentinel on an amendment to restore voting rights for ex-felons in Florida:
The issue is simple, really. It’s a matter of fairness.
If you commit a felony, you do your time and you pay your debt to society, you should have a chance to get back on your feet without obstacles thrown at you.
The battle for ex-felons’ rights in Florida is about fairness.
There is still a long way to go, but former felons are one step closer to having their rights restored in Florida.
We can only hope the bid to have rights restored is successful. Most other states have seen fit to restore felons’ rights. It’s time Florida catches up.
Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments on a proposed constitutional amendment that would automatically restore voting rights for all nonviolent felons who have served their sentences, completed parole or probation, and paid restitution.
Restoring ex-felons rights should have been done a long time ago in Florida, especially considering we are one of only three states - along with Iowa and Kentucky - that permanently rescinds the right to vote from citizens with felony convictions.
It is such an onerous procedure to get civil rights restored in Florida - felons convicted of nonviolent crimes have to wait a minimum of five years before even applying for restoration; the average wait time can be up to 14 years - that most felons don’t even apply.
If the Supreme Court rules the amendment language meets the single-subject rule, there is still a long way to go in the fight for fairness. But at least the fight is starting. There has also been a class action lawsuit filed against Gov. Rick Scott, by the Fair Elections Legal Network, claiming Florida’s method of granting clemency to ex-felons is unconstitutional. The suit seeks to have voting rights restored to seven plaintiffs immediately.
The proposed constitutional amendment, from Floridians for a Fair Democracy, would still need 766,000 petition signatures to get on the 2018 ballot. And if the amendment passes, Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, has filed an implementing bill that would restore all civil rights to ex-felons, except the right to own a handgun, which could be debated later. The possible restoration of the right to own a weapon has left the bill in limbo for the moment.
Restoration of voting rights could have a profound effect on Florida elections. About 1.7 million ex-felons living in Florida, which has over nine million registered voters. The Republican-dominated Legislature has fought rights restoration believing a large number of former felons would register as Democrats.
But voters, hopefully, will get their say on the matter next year. Desmond Meade, chairman of Floridians for a Fair Democracy, told us the Supreme Court didn’t seem to have any problems with the wording of the amendment.
Meade knows firsthand how important this effort is to so many people. A former drug addict, he got his law degree from Florida International University in 2014, but can’t get a license to practice until his civil rights are restored. “To be shut out of the process is like a perpetual punishment and a slap in the face, saying you’re never going to be a citizen,” he says.
The whole process of restoring rights was a lot more reasonable under former Gov. Charlie Crist, who with the Florida Cabinet in 2007, agreed to automatically restore civil rights for non-violent felons who had served their time. During Crist’s four years as governor, 155,000 ex-felons had their rights restored.
The number has dwindled dramatically since Rick Scott became governor and the Cabinet decided to make people wait at least five years, if not more. According to the Wall Street Journal, since Scott’s election in 2010, only 2,487 people with felony convictions have had voting rights restored. The backlog of applications is in the thousands.
If Florida eases the restrictions, it would follow a national trend. Since 1997, 23 states have made it easier for ex-felons to vote again, according to the Sentencing Project, which advocates overhauling criminal justice laws.
Again, it’s a matter for fairness. Once non-violent ex-felons have paid their debt to society, they should be allowed to rejoin society. That includes having their voices heard at election time.
Hopefully, change is on the way.
Online:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com
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March 28
The Palm Beach Post on the “Florida High-Speed Passenger Rail Safety Act” bill:
A bill called the “Florida High-Speed Passenger Rail Safety Act,” wending through the Florida Legislature, hit a roadblock Tuesday morning when it was pulled from the agenda of a House subcommittee. That’s a good thing because the bill is misnamed. It should be the “Stop Brightline in Its Tracks Act.”
The legislation is aimed, of course, at the soon-to-debut high-speed train service formerly known as All Aboard Florida, which is either a harbinger of a better transportation future or, as many see it on the Treasure Coast, a monstrous intrusion of noise, traffic delays and potential safety hazards.
Senate Bill 386, co-sponsored by Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Melbourne, is yet the latest attempt by Brightline’s opponents, mostly in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties, to prevent the railroad from streaming through their communities. The private venture, part of Florida East Coast Industries, aims to connect downtown Miami to Orlando International Airport by a revolutionary three hours by train. Its first phase - West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale - is scheduled to begin in early summer, stretching to Miami in August.
Look, everyone is for safety: for passengers, for cars that cross the tracks and for pedestrians who might wander onto the right of way. But from a safety standpoint, this particular bill is a redundancy.
It wants the Florida Department of Transportation to needlessly “regulate” things already regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration. Brightline has already committed itself to safety measures stated in the bill, including Positive Train Control, vehicle detection, quad gates and other improvements needed to bring the line to “sealed corridor” status, and probably “quiet zone” status.
On the other hand, the bill would add enough complications that it would certainly stall, and quite possibly, kill, the planned next phase of the route, from West Palm Beach to Orlando, Michael Reininger, CEO of Florida East Coast Industries, told The Post Editorial Board last week. That leg was supposed to begin in 2018, a date no longer considered realistic.
For example, the bill would mire Brightline in layers of discussion about . fences. The law would dictate that fences along the tracks must be 4.5 feet high and be “ornamental” within “urban areas,” but can be chain-link “outside urban areas.” If that were not picayune enough, the railroad must hold at least one public meeting in each community before designs and plans for “new or substantially modified fencing” are finalized.
This is a prescription for months of haggling in order to put up a safety feature that, actually, may not be so safe at all; some studies have concluded that a fence can turn into a hazard if a trespasser is caught inside the track area with no way to escape when a train is fast approaching.
Then there’s the requirement making the railroad company solely liable for all repair and maintenance of streets and pedestrian grade crossings where train tracks intersect. But at least in Martin County, roads were built over existing FEC rails. According to the deals made then, the county reimburses the railroad for keeping the public roads in good shape. If this bill becomes law, you can bet that Brightline will steam into court.
Luckily, the bill’s true intent is becoming increasingly evident. Although it passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee on March 14, its House counterpart was pulled Tuesday morning from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee’s meeting agenda.
Nobody knows, of course, whether Brightline’s attempt at creating a profitable city-to-city train service can succeed. The modern history of passenger rail in the United States doesn’t augur well. But Brightline executives are taking a visionary approach, betting that their train service - ultra-modern, comfortable, internet-connected, fairly priced - will tempt just enough people out of their cars and away from traffic-choked I-95 to pay off.
We hope so. If Brightline succeeds, our local economy will benefit and so will the environment. And if Miami-Orlando proves a winner, there’s talk of extending high-speed service to Tampa and Jacksonville.
It would be shameful if opponents cripple this line before it ever gets a chance to show what it can do.
Online:
https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com
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March 28
The (Sarasota) Herald-Tribune on drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico:
Seventeen members of Congress representing Florida recently and appropriately put the U.S. secretary of the interior - and, by extension, President Donald Trump - on notice: Keep the eastern Gulf of Mexico off limits to drilling for gas and oil, or expect a fight.
Good for them.
Drilling and related activities pose risks to the marine environment, Florida’s tourism-based economy and American military operations that far exceed any benefits to the state or nation of the fuel that would be extracted or the revenue that would be generated.
The immediate and long-term environmental and economic effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 made those risks clear. The impacts of four million gallons of petroleum - spilled 41 miles off the southeast Louisiana coast - were felt up and down Florida’s west coast. Imagine the damage that would be done in the event of a spill closer to coastal Florida.
What’s more, the Department of Defense has opposed offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf, an area that serves as a testing and training range for jet pilots.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Republican from Longboat Key, maintained his longstanding opposition to offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf by signing a March 24 letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Buchanan was joined by four other Republicans - but not, we are disappointed to report, by Rep. Tom Rooney, whose district includes south Sarasota County - and 11 Democrats from the House. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson was the lead writer; unfortunately, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio did not sign on, continuing his troubling reluctance to fight for Florida on this issue. (Florida has 27 representatives for a total of 29 members of Congress.)
In a statement released this week, Buchanan accurately summarized the stakes: “Florida’s coastal communities depend on a clean and healthy ocean and we shouldn’t jeopardize the state’s economy or environment by gambling on operations that lack adequate safeguards.”
Drilling within 125 miles of Florida’s Gulf coast has been banned under a federal moratorium, approved by Congress in 2006, that was supposed to last at least until 2022. But in the letter to Zinke, the 17 members of Congress wrote: “It’s our understanding that your department may be considering a new Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2022.”
In response to that “understanding,” the 17 signers made these points emphatically to Zinke:
-“If you choose to draft a new plan, we strongly urge you to keep the eastern Gulf off limits.”
-“We expect that as our nation’s newest Interior Secretary you will follow both the letter and the spirit of the law that currently bans drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and we strongly urge you to heed the recommendations of the Department of Defense and coastal communities by keeping offshore drilling rigs out of the area.”
Indications that Zinke would seek to change the terms of the program that leases federal ocean bottoms to energy companies are no surprise. During his campaign, Trump promised to “unleash” America’s “untapped shale, oil and natural gas reserves.” Furthermore, on Tuesday he signed an executive order that will diminish regulations on dirty coal-burning power plants.
Attempts to promote drilling in the eastern Gulf aren’t new, but neither is bipartisan opposition to drilling in the eastern Gulf. Nelson has long been joined by Republicans, from ex-Gov. Jeb Bush to former Sen. Mel Martinez and a host of U.S. representatives and state and local leaders.
The letter to Zinke articulates the stance of a solid majority of Florida’s congressional delegation and, we believe, the overwhelming sentiment of the people they represent.
Online:
https://www.heraldtribune.com
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