A Northeast Florida lawmaker Friday filed a proposal to create a revolving loan fund to try to draw more television production to the state.
The bill (SB 106), filed by Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, will be considered during the 2016 legislative session.
It would set up a program that could make loans to companies producing such things as TV series and miniseries.
Among the criteria proposed for the program is that shows would be produced in Florida or that at least 80 percent of their production budgets would be spent in Florida.
Bean also proposed a television revolving-loan bill in the 2015 session but it died in a Senate committee.
Court upholds permits for sugar growers
An appeals court Friday upheld decisions by the South Florida Water Management District to issue permits to sugar-cane growers, rejecting arguments by the Florida Audubon Society that the permits would not adequately protect the Everglades.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal issued a 17-page ruling that backed district decisions in 2012 to issue permits that regulate the discharge of phosphorus in water that flows into the Everglades.
In 2014, an administrative law judge also rejected Florida Audubon’s arguments and said the permits should be issued to U.S. Sugar Corp., Sugar Farms Co-Op and Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.
The environmental group contended that the permits violated a law known as the Everglades Forever Act because they did not require additional water-quality measures and because the growers’ discharges contributed to ongoing water-quality problems in an Everglades protection area, according to Friday’s ruling.
But the appeals court gave a detailed analysis of the history of Everglades protection efforts and laws in upholding the district’s permitting decisions.
Bill to restrict trying on ‘intimate apparel’
A Senate Democrat is renewing an attempt to place restrictions on people who try on underwear and swimsuit bottoms in retail stores. Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, filed a bill (SB 104) last week that would prevent retailers from allowing customers to try on “intimate apparel” unless the items are tried on over clothing or disposable shields are used.
If customers fail to comply, tried-on items would be considered defective and could not be sold by the stores.
The bill, which will be considered during the 2016 legislative session, defines intimate apparel as including “lower undergarments and swimsuit bottoms.”
Thompson proposed a nearly identical bill during the 2015 legislative session but it died in a Senate committee.