The purpose of this summary provided by the Communications Department of The Florida Bar is to present media coverage that may be of interest to members. Opinions expressed in the articles are attributable solely to the authors. The Florida Bar does not adopt or endorse any opinions expressed below. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
December 11, 2019
-
Legislative
DESANTIS ADMINISTRATION FIGHTS POT RULING
WUSF | Article | December 11, 2019
The Florida Department of Health is challenging a July appellate decision that found a state law requiring medical marijuana operators to grow, process and sell cannabis and derivative products — a system known as “vertical integration” — runs afoul of a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson last year ordered state health officials to begin registering Florigrown and other medical marijuana firms to do business, but his order has been on hold since the state appealed that decision, and the Florida Supreme Court agreed to take up the case.
-
Legislative
SEN. BRANDES HAS FIVE BILLS CLEAR CRIMINAL JUSTICE PANEL, ONE EXPANDS DEFINITION OF ‘CONFINEMENT’
WFSU | Article | December 10, 2019
Senator Jeff Brandes (R-Pinellas County) has five criminal justice reform bills, most concerning sentencing reform, moving ahead of the 2020 session with several having passed the Senate Criminal Justice Committee Tuesday [Dec. 10]. Still under consideration is Brandes’ bill concerning the definition of confinement under the Department of Corrections. Senate Bill 572 would expand the definition of confinement in the Department of Corrections to include time spent in the department’s care, custody, supervision or control through participation in a program. The bill was amended by Democratic Sen. Randolph Bracy of Orange County to include a gain time provision to reduce a state requirement that the incarcerated must serve 85 percent of their sentence, even with time earned, to 65 percent.
-
Legislative
RON DESANTIS WANTS FLORIDA HIGH SCHOOLERS TO TAKE EXAM SIMILAR TO CITIZENSHIP TEST
Tampa Bay Times | Article | December 10, 2019
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday [Dec. 10] that all high school seniors should be required to take a civics exam similar to a test that immigrants must pass to become naturalized citizens and he is directing Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran to institute the testing requirement. Under the current system, to get out of middle school, a student must pass a civics course, typically in seventh grade. In 2018, Department of Education data shows that 71 percent of students passed that test. Additionally, all high school students must pass a course on U.S. history. Nationally, civic literacy is not high. Just 23 percent of eighth-graders scored at “proficient” in civics on the 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card.”
-
Criminal Justice
JUDGE REFUSES TO DISMISS JUVENILE CONFINEMENT CASE
WUSF | Article | December 10, 2019
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker Friday [Dec. 6] rejected a request by the state Department of Juvenile Justice to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the use of solitary confinement for juveniles by The Southern Poverty Law Center, Florida Legal Services and the Florida Justice Institute. “Plaintiffs have adequately alleged that the cumulative effects of various forms of deprivation subject juveniles to unreasonable risk of serious psychological and physiological harm,” Walker wrote.
-
Civil Justice
REPORT SLAMS MEDICAL CARE, SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN FLORIDA IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTERS
WLRN | Article | December 11, 2019
National civil rights and immigration lawyers are calling on state and federal officials to mandate complete oversight of all adult immigration detention facilities in Florida following a scathing report by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Americans for Immigrant Justice released Monday [Dec. 9]. The 104-page report highlights “substandard” conditions at Florida’s four adult detention centers — Krome Service Processing Center South Miami-Dade, Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Monroe County Detention Center in Key West and Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven.
-
Obituary
ARTURO ALVAREZ, FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE CUBAN AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, DIES AT 71
Law.com | Article | December 10, 2019
Arturo Alvarez, a long-time government attorney and founding member of the Cuban American Bar Association, died Monday morning. He was 71. Born in Havana, Cuba, on June 13, 1948, Alvarez graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 1972 and went on to have a three-decade career as a Miami-Dade government attorney. He worked as an assistant state attorney for Miami-Dade County from 1973 until 1988. He then joined the Office of the City Attorney, where he led the litigation division. In 2011, he started his own solo firm: Arturo Alvarez P.A. Semi-retired, he joined the law firm De La Peña Group as of counsel in 2013.