* You go, Senator Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren.
Rouson has already filed legislation that would ban private schools that ignore sexual orientation and gender identity from being part of the voucher program. It’s bad enough that tax-dollar tuition vouchers go to unregulated private schools, but it’s unconscionable that there would be a gender loophole. This is the 21st century and the LGBTQ cause needs formal inclusion.
As for Warren, his office is looking closely at the possibility of judges waiving the court costs of former felons caught in the Tallahassee machinations of Amendment Four. Warren’s office is proactively making the case that judges could substitute community service for court costs for a large number of cases. It would, if it passes legal and logistical muster, create special courts—so-called “rocket dockets”–to eliminate debts that thousands of defendants owe to the criminal justice system. It would also eliminate de facto “poll taxes.”
It would thus speed up the process of those who want to regain a key right on the way back to societal reintegration. And lest we forget, society at large also benefits when those who want back into their communities after paying their debts are allowed to do so–as was envisioned in Amendment 4.
* Are felons always felons, even after paying their felonious debt to society? Or are they “former felons”? The media uses both—not unlike the interchange of ACA and “Obamacare.” As we well know, labeling carries connotations and matters to partisans.
* Suppose a leading Democratic presidential candidate with an impressive fund-raising haul wrote a check to help the cause of former felons getting their vote back in Florida? As in a big, possibly game-changing check underwriting substantial costs associated with fees, fines and even restitution in America’s ultimate swing state. A classic win-win: doing the morally right thing—for a lot of politically pragmatic reasons.
* So, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a controversial bill that would have required prominent warnings on lottery tickets. As in, “Warning: Lottery games maybe be addictive.” Or the less-alarmist “Play responsibly.” The governor rationalized that the result might be fewer players and, thus, less money for education. Maybe he should consider an alternate warning, one that might truly resonate with gambling sorts, but might not impact educational dollars. Perhaps: “Odds are, you won’t get addicted.”
* Roil Tide: Floridian Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. has further underscored his opposition to the Alabama Legislature and governor for enacting an anti-abortion statute in May. Last week he took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal with the less-than-nuanced headline: “WHEN WE SING ‘GOD BLESS AMERICA’ ON THE FOURTH, IN ALABAMA, SOME WILL WHISTLE ‘DIXIE.’”