TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Alarm monitoring companies would have to call police first instead of property owners if the alarm is triggered at a gun store under a bill moving in the Florida Legislature.
The House unanimously passed the bill Thursday.
Republican Rep. Jennifer Sullivan said she sponsored the bill after a gun store in her district was burglarized and it took seven minutes for the alarm company to contact police.
Alarm companies contact property owners first to ensure an alert isn’t a false alarm. They then call police if property owners can’t be reached or if they confirm it wasn’t a false alarm.
The bill would also apply to gun manufacturers and importers.
A similar Senate bill has one more committee stop before it can be heard by the full chamber.
MORE FLORIDA NEWS FROM TALLAHASSEE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Supreme Court says judges can’t dismiss immigrant children’s petitions for dependency simply because they think they’re seeking the status to secure permanent residency.
Thursday’s ruling involves a Guatemalan boy who immigrated to Florida when he was 13 after his parents abandoned him and his grandparents grew too old to care for him.
His godmother has cared for him at her Miami home, but she is not a legal guardian.
A lower court judge denied the petition for dependency because he thought the motivation behind it was to seek legal residency status.
The Supreme Court ruled that doesn’t matter, and that dependency has to be determined independent of immigration status.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Supreme Court is approving the language of a proposed ballot initiative seeking to automatically restore voting rights for most felons once they complete their sentences.
The court ruled Thursday that the initiative can be put on the 2018 ballot with its current language. The effort, though, is still a long way from receiving enough signatures to be included on the ballot.
If it does make the ballot and at least 60 percent of voters approve, felons would have their voting rights restored once the finish their sentences, including probation or parole.
People who commit murder or felony sexual offenses wouldn’t be eligible for automatic voting rights restoration.
The group proposing the ballot initiative still needs to gather nearly 700,000 voter signatures.