{"content":[{"text":"STATE CAPITOL BRIEFS – MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2009 \n THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA","bbox":{"left":0.154474,"top":0.108363,"width":0.48463999999999996,"height":0.03383199999999999}},{"text":"SUBSCRIBERS, \n RE-SENDING to subscribers who didn't receive the Monday evening briefs \n package","bbox":{"left":0.154474,"top":0.159929,"width":0.639538,"height":0.05102000000000001}},{"text":"LEGISLATIVE BRIEFS","bbox":{"left":0.154474,"top":0.228684,"width":0.20280800000000004,"height":0.01664299999999999}},{"text":"REMODELED INTERIOR DESIGN REGS CLEAR HOUSE PANEL \n A bill that would remove office designs and commercial kitchen layouts from \n interior design regulations drew approval from the House Government \n Operations Appropriations Committee Monday. The bill (HB 1303), sponsored by \n Rep. Baxter Troutman, R-Winter Haven, would change the legal definition of \n interior design in the statutes to exclude designs created for the sale of or \n installation of cubicle workstations and commercial food service equipment. The \n measure was supported Monday by several business organizations, who said \n the current regulations provided unnecessary burdens to commerce in the state. \n However, the bill was opposed by interior designers, who argued that the current \n regulations prevent safety hazards in work places. \"The fact of the matter, when \n the Florida Legislature (first) took this issue up, it was in response to a state of \n crisis, fires, disasters that had occurred inside of Florida and outside of Florida \n where people died,\" said Ron Book, a lobbyist for the Interior Design \n Association of Florida. But backers of the bill countered that the design laws \n were too strict. \"The interior design cartel .... has convinced a prior Legislature \n to give the interior designers control over everything that goes inside of a \n commercial building,\" said Jerry Pierce, CEO of Restaurant Equipment World, \n Inc. in Orlando. \"The design cartel talks about life safety issues, which are \n important, but many of these are very basic items that are are covered by no \n end of other people.\" The bill, which was narrowly approved with a 4-3 vote, has \n one more stop in the House before it is ready for a vote of the full chamber. \n Reps. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, \n and Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, voted against the bill, which does not yet \n have a companion in the Senate.","bbox":{"left":0.154474,"top":0.263061,"width":0.690375,"height":0.429172}},{"text":"RACHEL HOFFMAN BILL PASSES ANOTHER TEST \n The House version of a measure designed to protect confidential informants \n passed the House Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee Monday. \n The proposal (HB 1535), spurred by the death of Florida State graduate Rachel \n Hoffman, has also gotten the go ahead from several Senate committees as well. \n Both measures would force law enforcement agencies to lay out specific \n procedures for confidential informants. Hoffman's parents have been pushing for \n a more stringent law that would require police officers to tell potential informants \n about their right to counsel, and prohibit non violent offenders or offenders in \n drug treatment programs from serving as informants. “Any one of them and my \n daughter would still be alive,” said Margie Weiss, Hoffman's mother. The bill is","bbox":{"left":0.154474,"top":0.709967,"width":0.69095,"height":0.18852999999999998}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}