I typed up a really long post about my trip to the capitol building in Tallahassee yesterday and it wasn’t saved because my laptop shut down because the battery died.  Fuck.

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The Mortgage Justice Group provided buses up the east and west coasts of Florida to pick up people to go to the capitol to advocate our representatives and senators to not pass the Florida Fair Foreclosure Act (HB 213).  Conveniently, the committee that the bill was coming out of decided to not address the issue while we were there.

While I was laying down in the clinic because of some weird, debilitating cramps, some people went to another House of Representatives judiciary committee meeting.  Josh told me that they are trying to pass a bill to grant legislators complete immunity:

Over complaints that it was an attempt to undermine legal challenges to the Legislature’s redistricting proposals, the House Judiciary Committee approved a measure Thursday giving lawmakers complete immunity from civil cases dealing with their legislative duties.

The panel approved the measure on a 13-5 vote, with Democratic Rep. John Julien of North Miami Beach joining committee Republicans in what was otherwise a party-line vote.

Under the measure, lawmakers would be immune from any civil action surrounding state business, though they could still be called to testify in criminal matters. Staff members would also be immune and could not waive their immunity without the permission of the lawmaker they were working for at the time or the presiding officer.

From what Josh told me, some committee members feel that this bill isn’t necessary because they pretty much already have immunity, but if that logic doesn’t kill this bill, then they should at least add the word ‘legitimate’ into the name of the bill.  But the legislators pushing for this HB 7123 to pass would not compromise.

While this bill may be “attempt to keep lawmakers from having to testify as redistricting cases begin to wind their way through the court system”, I find it to be nonetheless outrageous that our legislators are trying to give themselves even more power.  Is there anyone good in this government?  I was reacquainted with with Rep. Darren Soto (D-Florida) yesterday and was reminded that he is one of the good ones.  The problem?  The bad ones outnumber the good ones (by a lot).

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