Here are some bills being considered in the current Florida Legislative Session affecting private property rights.  We encourage you to study and support:

Ordinary High Water Mark

HB 1103 by Goodson             SB1362 by Hayes

Premise Liability

HB 313 by Bembry                 SB 802 by Committee  

You can look up the details of these bills at:

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/ or http://www.flsenate.gov/.

Regarding the septic legislation (HB 999 AND SB 820) affecting 2.5 million Floridians:

GOOD NEWS!!!

SB 820 was placed on the Health Regulation Committee agenda for Tuesday, January 31. 

To all who sent requests on this bill, thank you!

CPR will be in the committee to support the bill.  Please email the committee chairman, Senator Rene Garcia, to thank him for putting the bill on the agenda and encourage all committee members to support the bill. 

Chair:

Senator Rene Garcia (R)

Vice Chair:

Senator Eleanor Sobel (D)

• Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla (R)
• Senator Mike Fasano (R)
• Senator Don Gaetz (R)
• Senator Dennis L. Jones, D.C. (R)
• Senator Jim Norman (R)

Have a great weekend!

Dan Peterson

Executive Director

danpeterson@proprights.com

MEDIA RELEASE:  April 11, 2011    CONTACT:  Executive Director Carol Saviak, Telephone 321-231-6085   

PROPERTY RIGHTS ADVOCATE APPOINTED TO FEDERAL JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION  

Orlando, FL:  Florida property rights advocate Carol Saviak has been appointed by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to serve as a member of the federal Judicial Nominating Commission for the Middle District of Florida. Saviak serves as the Executive Director of the Coalition for Property Rights (CPR), a statewide non-profit public policy organization.  

Florida's Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) is a statewide panel charged with selecting nominees for presidential appointments to federal judgeships, U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals.   The Commission recommends the candidates which Florida's senators will interview and forward to the White House. The 64-member JNC is divided into three geographical conferences including the Southern District, Middle District and Northern District of Florida. The Middle District of Florida extends from Fort Myers to Tampa to Jacksonville.  

"I am extremely honored to have been selected by Senator Rubio to serve on the Judicial Nominating Commission. If we desire to see the basic ideals of the Constitution upheld in our courts, we must ensure well-qualified candidates are nominated to fill these key positions," Saviak stated.   

MEDIA AVAILABILITY:  Carol Saviak, executive director, Coalition for Property Rights, Telephone 321-231-6085. Coalition for Property Rights, 2878 S. Osceola Avenue, Orlando, FL 32806 (See attached .jpg photo)   # # #         

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION:  

Joint statement by Senator Bill Nelson and Senator Marco Rubio:    

United States Senate
Washington, D.C.  20510     

MEDIA RELEASE:  For Friday, April 8, 2011                                                                                                                       

CONTACT:       Dan McLaughlin, 202-224-1679 (Nelson), Joe Pounder, 202-224-3041 (Rubio)   

Statewide judicial nominating panel members selected  

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Florida's two U.S. senators Friday released the makeup of a revamped statewide panel that's charged with selecting nominees for presidential appointments to federal judgeships, U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals.   The state's two senators revamped the membership of the Florida Judicial Nomination Commission (JNC) to account for the election of Sen. Marco Rubio.  Under the JNC's rules, the 64-member commission recommends candidates to the state's two senators.  The senators then interview and forward the names to the White House, unless they object to a specific candidate's appointment.  

"It's long been the tradition of Florida's senators to work together and keep politics out of the process of selecting candidates for judicial post," U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said today.  

"This commission will be fundamental to finding qualified men and women for consideration and vetting by the Senate,"said Rubio.  

Tampa lawyer John Fitzgibbons, who was selected two years ago to lead the statewide panel, will continue to hold the post.  Fitzgibbons is a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Florida.         

The JNC is divided into three geographic conferences, one for each judicial district.  The first order of business for the JNC likely will be recommending replacements for Judge Alan S. Gold of the Southern District of Florida, Judge Richard A. Lazzara of the Middle District of Florida and Chief United States District Judge Stephan P. Mickle of the Northern District of Florida.   Gold retired in January.  Mickle and Lazzara are set to retire in June and December, respectively.   

Following are the members of the JNC.  

John Fitzgibbons (Statewide Chair)  

Northern District ·         Linda Shelley (chair) ·         Silvia Alderman ·         Nancy Aliff   ·         Jim Appleman ·         John Aurell ·         Duby Ausley ·         Martha Barnett ·         Philip Bates ·         Christopher Chestnut ·         William Harrison ·         Melanie Ann Hines ·         Don Hinkle ·         William Large ·         Doug Mannheimer ·         Jon Mills ·         Daryl Parks ·         Danny Ponce ·         Buzz Ritchie ·         Don Rubottom  ·         Leander Shaw ·         Bentina Terry     

Middle District ·         Wayne Hogan (Chair) ·         Tyler Cathey ·         Steve Cheeseman ·         Daniel DeCubellis ·         WC Gentry ·         Dan Gerber ·         Nat Glover ·         Jonathan Kilman   ·         Mike Maher ·         Susan McCaskill ·         Trudy McKibbe Reed ·         Ben Newman   ·         Hugh Normile ·         Steve Pajcic ·         Marsha Santana Rydberg ·         Carol Saviak ·         Harry Shorstein ·         Bruce Smathers ·         Bruce Strayhorn ·         Bill Wilson ·         Gwynne Young     

Southern District ·         Kendall Coffey  (Chair) ·         Georgina Angones ·         Reginald Clyne ·         Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz ·         Al Dotson ·         Philip Frieden ·         John Genovese ·         Carrie Goodman  ·         Evelyn Greer ·         Cynthia Johnson-Stacks ·         Manny Kadre ·         Eduardo Lacasa ·         Ira Leesfield ·         Dexter Lehtinen      ·         Chuck Lichtman ·         Richard Lydecker ·         Tom Panza ·         David Prather  ·         Dennis Richard ·         Jon A. Sale ·         Chris Searcy        

Additional Information on the Middle District of Florida:  

_ Geographically the Middle District of Florida (FLMD) stretches over 350 miles from the Georgia border on the northeast to south of Naples on Florida's southwest coast. Three of the six largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the state, namely, Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando are within the district. The Clerk's office headquarters is centrally located in Orlando with additional divisional offices in Tampa, Jacksonville, Fort Myers and Ocala.  

_ Demographically over 10 million people, more than 57% of the state's population, reside within the district. Fifteen of the twenty most densely populated counties in the state are in the Middle District. In all, thirty-five of Florida's sixty-seven counties make up the Middle District. Florida's population has increased by about three million each decade since 1970 and now stands at approximately 18.4 million permanent residents, a 171% increase over the 1970 estimate of 6.8 million. Additionally this state, and the Middle District in particular, is a primary tourist and convention destination adding millions of visitors to those numbers. In 2006 the number of tourists visiting Florida reached 84.6 million, one half traveling by air. That is equivalent to about 232,000 visitors per day. Additionally more than 900,000 temporary residents, the "snowbirds," reside in Florida for several months each year. Florida's population has increased nearly twice as fast as the nation during the 1990's. The U.S. Census bureau projects that Florida will soon become the third largest state behind only California and Texas.  

_ The Middle District of Florida (FLMD) is one of the busiest federal district courts in the nation. In fiscal year 2009 a total of 9,646 civil and criminal cases were filed in FLMD. Approximately 83.6% of those were civil cases. There were 622 weighted case filings per active judge in FY 2009 placing FLMD first among the nine districts of the 11th Circuit and fifth nationally out of 94 districts. The caseload per active district judge in FLMD is over 30% above the national average and 45% above the Judicial Conference standard of 430 new weighted cases per year. FLMD has been officially designated a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Enforcement Area (HIDTA) by the Department of Justice. In FY 2008 the district had the sixth highest number of criminal defendants charged with drug related offenses (excluding marijuana offenses), and the tenth highest number of defendants charged with fraud related offenses. These two categories of offenses accounted for 67% of the total criminal defendants charged in FLMD.  

_ Currently there are 14 full time and ten senior district judges in FLMD with one vacancy in Jacksonville. There are also 14 magistrate judges serving in the district with one vacancy in Jacksonville. Tampa has the most judges with six district judges, two senior district judges and five magistrate judges. Orlando has four district judges, three senior district judges and three magistrate judges. Jacksonville currently has two district judges (one vacancy), four senior district judges and three magistrate judges (one vacancy). Ft. Myers has two district judges and two magistrate judges. Ocala has one senior district judge and one magistrate judge. (Source: http://www.flmd.uscourts.gov/