The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 21

TaxfAppr oved By" Senate Unit Committee Gets Home Rule Power Dispute Referendum Condition Saves Bill county ever decide to sell any of the $100 million property. The Senate also concurred in House Amendments and sent to Kirk a bill which would provide that after a conviction for a felony no bail could be given to a person who has not had his civil rights restored. THE MARICULTURE bill cleared the legislature with senate approval of a house-passed bill that gives the county commissioners the final say on whether submerged lands are leased for the "sea ranching" activities. The "cane pole" bill, requiring everyone except the very young, very old and very poor to buy a $3 fishing license, cleared the senate without debate. convictions of using weapons in the commission of a crime.

Under the gun bill sent to the governor, carrying a hidden firearm would be a felony and carrying other concealed weapons would be a misdemeanor. An exception was made for tear gas guns containing half an ounce of chemical. THE SENATE also sent the governor a measure allowing officers to fingerprint and photograph juvenile felons for files that would be destroyed when the offender reaches adulthood. The bill to give Interama and its debts to Dade County also cleared the legislature with a provision to give the state first option should the It eliminates a provision of present law which exempts people fishing with cane poles in their home counties from paying the license fee. It does not change the present exemption for persons 65 or older and 15 or younger and those on welfare.

A bill that would settle the dispute over 19 million acres of land by validating cabinet sales of state lands between 1856 and 1917 was crushed by the house, 20-68. A BILL that would make the state and counties liable for civil suits by citizens, cleared the House, despite charges it would provide "an open-end checking account" for people who claim damages. 'The measure was approved by a 63-14 margin and sent back to the Senate, which has already passed the bill, with an amendment that would also hold the state liable for false imprisonment or arrest, malicious prosecution, libel or slander, assault and interference with contract rights. The senate reversed itself, reconsidered and then passed a bill requiring that teachers on continuing contracts be given priority for jobs remaining after two or more schools are consolidated. A bill that started out to give Florida a five-year reflectorized auto license tag was amended to one year and passed by the senate as a safety measure.

()l M. i xr '4: -). 1 ffS" Vrf kwf Defend Astronauts9 Languaye A. Lasater, professor of physics, and students Fred Schwartz, Lynn McKinney and Dick Ciero. Original petition, bearing 319 signatures, was sent to three Apollo 10 astronauts in Houston, Tex.

(Sentinel Photo by Bruce Gerard) Petition bearing hundreds of signatures defending language used by Apollo 10 astronauts is being signed by Florida Institute of Technology students in Melbourne, challenging right of Bible college president who asked for repentance. Telegram, to be sent to President Nixon, is signed (left to right) by J. TALLAHASSEE UP) A dispute ov-er how much home rule power to give counties Thursday sent the bill to a house-senate conference committee. The dispute came over a house amendment which Sen. Bob Saunders, D-Gainesville, sponsor of the proposal, contended was meant to cloud the issue and possibly kill the measure.

THE AMENDMENT grants counties only those powers needed to pass ordinances on county services and functions. Counties now have only those powers which the legislature delegates. Lawmakers rushed to try to get pending bills handled before the scheduled adjournment next Friday but house speaker Fred Schultz warned house members that hundreds of bills still in committee were in trouble. Gov. Claude Kirk indicated that he was strongly displeased with the rlanfco -firntihel Friday, May 30, 1969 3 shape the legislature's governmental reorganization plan was taking.

Kirk criticized delays in approving a reorganization plan and contended senate Democrats had choked and killed the plan, apparently by forcing compromises with the house "strong governor" version. THE legislature was expected to get the report of another conference committee, on the budget for next year, in time to start consideration Friday. The group has agreed on a $1,093 billion oppropriations bill which would be the first billion-dollar budget and the first time the Legislature has distributed money to state agencies on an annual basis. The Senate approved a House "short cut" method and sent to Gov. Claude Kirk an omnibus bill creating new penalties to be used to crack down on use of firearms by criminals.

THE Senate also approved and sent to the governor a bill which would allow counties to adopt provisions for an appointive school superintendent. The bill provides that the county can go back to an elective superintendent by popular vote after four years. Approved and sent to the House was a bill expanding the arrest powers of Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission agents. The bill would allow the officers to arrest for any offense they witness. A bill calling for reflectorized license plates for Florida cars also was sent to the House.

Use of the reflectorized plates, hailed as a safety measure, was approved by the Senate after a provision to use the plate for five years was changed to one year. The House defeated an attempt to bring back a previously approved bill that would forbid utilities from passing on to consumers the cost of charitable contributions, or country club dues. The move against the bill passed by the House Tuesday, was defeated 55-42 and the bill was sent to the Senate. IN OTHER business, cattle rustling, 1969 style, would be outlawed under a bill approved 72-19 by the house. The measure makes it a felony to tote a gun in someone else's pasture or ranchland.

The legislature cleared a major anti-crime bill to make it illegal to carry a concealed gun and to require a mandatory sentence after two PlXlei byWohl LOOKS By D. G. LAWRENCE Smllntl Ttllthaiui lurwu TALLAHASSEE The 2 per cent resort tax was approved by the Senate ways and means committee Thursday and sent to the calendar. The tax on transient accommodations with proceeds to build tourist facilities such as convention and sports complexes, could be imposed by a county or a municipality only after a favorable referendum of their voters. THAT condition previously had been placed on Sen.

John Ducker's bill and it was apparent a ways and means majority would kill the bill if it wasn't included. The Orange County Commission and the Orlando City Council have endorsed the tax as a means to build a convention hall. There is strong support for it in Daytona Beach, Cocoa Beach and Tallahassee, all with similar plans. Also tacked to Ducker's bill was an amendment preserving the Miami Beach resort tax adopted in 1967. That taxes not only accommodations but restaurant meals and beverages and attraction admissions at the 2 per cent level.

REP. James Sweeny, D-DeLand, chairman of house finance taxation, has pledged to get a resort tax bill through but not with the Miami Beach tax continued. That bill was passed in the last session without Sweeny's knowledge. Also he is adamantly opposed to taxing anything other than accommodations, pointing out that in addition the 4 per cent general state sales tax applies. "It's not going to make any difference," said Sen, Dick Stone who proposed the amendment at the urging of Miami Beach.

"I know Jim Sweeny will kill the amendment before it gets on the house floor but by attaching it now I've fulfilled my obligation to Miami Beach." STONE previously relied on an attorney general's opinion that the Miami Beach tax would continue in effect even if a statewide tax is authorized. However, he said Thursday, Miami Beach officials insisted he propose the amendments. The Stone amendment will get it past its first house stop, Rep. Murray Dubbin's commerce committee. Dubbin is a Miami Democrat.

STONE SAID he hoped to get the bill on the senate special order calendar Friday. He and Ducker, R-Winter Park, agreed the Ducker bill would not supersede the Miami Beach tax which is currently under attack in a bond validation proceeding before the Florida Supreme Court. Sen. Bill Gunter, D-Orlando, who had a bill before ways and means, withdrew his measure in favor of Ducker's. THAT was prompted by objections of Sen.

John Bell, R-Fort Lauderdale, to a combination of features of both bills. "There wouldn't be time for a rewrite," Gunter conceded. Bell voted against the bill as did Sens. Louis De La Parte D-Tampa, Verle Pope, D-St. Augustine, and John Broxon, D-Gulf Breeze.

Final tally was 8 to 4. Pending before the Orange-Seminole delegation is a bill creating an Orange County-Orlando Convention Center Authority which would establish an 11-member board empowered to issue revenue bonds to finance a $26 million convention-sports complex in Exposition Park. Estimates of the first year's revenue from the tax range from $200,000 to $500,000. Ex-Governors Pensions Okayed TALLAHASSEE A Senate committee Thursday cut potential pensions for former governors to $12,000 a year, the salary approved for themsleves by legislators, and sent the bill to the floor. Sen.

Ralph Posion, D-Miami told the committee the governor is the only state official not covered by a pension system. "IN PAST years," he recalled, "some former governors have become indigents." The bill drawn by Poston provided for an $18,000 a year pension half the current governor's salary, but it was cut by the committee to the legislative pay level. Governors would contribute six per frt of their salary to become for the perion. Poston said only five of the eight living ex-governors are eligible for the pennon on'y thse not covered by ewJ-er g'ivernnental pension o'-i co'lfct. High Court Will Receive Unicameral Petition Soon Uniform Pay Passed By Senate TALLAHASSEE (J) A massive bill, setting uniform salary pay scale for all county officials and wiping out the need for local salary bills cleared the Florida Senate Thursday.

The bill, either debated or put off by reluctant senators for days, was passed 30-12 and sent to the House. Only county judges are exempted from the sweeping bill, which sets salaries for officials based upon classification of counties according to the population. ANOTHER MAJOR provision of the legislation is that it would provide that officials could no longer get any compensation from fees collected in their offices, nor receive county supplements. Passage was a major victory for freshman Sen. Alan Trask, D-Fort Meade, who researched it for many months.

Trask said the legislation is aimed at providing equal compensation for equal duties and responsibilities. HE STRESSED repeatedly that it is not a pay-raise bill, but a measure to rid Florida "of an existing hodge-podge system that is neither fair nor uniform." "It is important to rid ourselves of an antiquated system of setting local salaries," Trask said. Trask got through two related bills. The first set the uniform salary scale and the second specified that there would be no more local bills dealing with salaries. HENCEFORTH, COUNTY officials' salaries would be set by general law.

Scores of amendments were considered and beaten down. Sen. Mallory Home, D-Tallahassee, vice chairman of the Rules Committee, suddenly put the bill up for a vote, although several amendments were still pending. The bill affects the salaries of sheriffs, tax assessors, clerks of circuit court, tax collectors, county commissioners, supervisors of elections, school board members and school superintendents. Bank Suspect Gels Attorney Orlando attorney Michael Walsh was named Thursday to defend a veteran Navy petty officer against charges he robbed the Orlando Naval Training Station bank Tuesday.

The petty officer, William Charles McCloskey, asked for the court to appoint an attorney because, he said, he will lose his Navy pay as long as he is in custody and could not afford a lawyer. U.S. Dist. Judge George C. Young, who made the appointment, also postponed McCloskey's scheduled arraignment Thursday so he and Walsh can confer.

A new arraignment was set for 9 a.m. Monday. McCloskey, 40, was arrested at his Casselberry home less than hours after the bank was robbed of $12,000 Tuesday. The money was recovered. A petty officer first class, McCloskey has been in the Navy 21 years, is married and has three children, FSU President Lauded TALLAHASSEE (UPI) Acting Florida State University President Stanley Marshall was lauded in the senate Thursday and a package of 15 bills dealing with campus disorders was placed on the special order calendar for a vote Friday.

on it, then through the appeals rocess to the supreme court. However that route would consume several months. Arrington Wants Sentence Set Aside As his mother, Marie Dean Arrington made the FBI's 10 most wanted list, Lloyd Dean, 20, sought to have his life sentence set aside. Dean was sentenced to life imprisonment in April 1968 for armed robbery of a Leesburg service station. In a motion filed in Lake County Court Tuesday, he charged the public defender led him to believe that by pleading guilty the armed robbery charge would be reduced to grand larceny.

Mrs. Arrington is the second woman ever to make the most-wanted list. A convicted murderer, she escaped from the women's prison at Lowell March 1. She was placed on the list Wednesday. Stntintl T(MhiiM lurtid TALLAHASSEE A unicameral petition which will withstand scrutiny of- the Florida Supreme Court will be completed early next week, Lieutenant Gov.

Ray C. Osborne said Thursday. Political science departments of Florida State University and the University of Florida are assisting the blue ribbon commission named by Gov. Claude Kirk to prepare the petition. "WE'RE VERY satisfied with progress and hope to have our work completed quickly," said Osborne.

It is expected the governor will ask a high court advisory opinon on the validity of the petition before a statewide campaign is started for 175,000 registered voter signatures necessary to get it on the 1970 Sen. Bill Gunter, whose effort to get the legislature to submit the one house proposition to the voters next year, was beaten by legislative leaders, is moving to get an opinion on his petition's validity through a slow process. HE HAS petitioned Leon Circuit Court Judge W. Hugh Taylor to rule Committee 0kays Rcc0l Stale Budget TALLAHASSEE (UPI) A record-breaking $1,092,728,547 state budget won the unanimous approval of the house-senate conference committee Thursday night in a final session that tied together all the loose ends in the big money bill. The final meeting produced no last-minute changes or surprises as the committee defeated 9-1 an effort by Rep.

Robert Graham, D-Miaml, to restore funds for 21 positions in the controversial development commission budget. GRAHAM ALSO was shouted down in a move to take out language in the 81-page bill that requires the development commission to continue operating all existing tourist welcome stations. The appropriations bill comes within $172,547 of anticipated income in the coming year which budget officials said was a balanced budget. Rep. Ralph Turlington, D-Gaines-ville, house spending chairman, said he will try to report the conference bill to the full house Friday for final action but won't insist if any members want to wait until Monday.

It must go to the house first. THE BILL includes language which phases-out Dorr Field at Arcadia as a hospital for retarded adults and authorizes its transfer to the Division of Corrections for use as a prison beginning July I. Paralyzed Boy Moves His Anns LAKELAND CD Tommy Turner spent his birthday in a hospital this year, and he celebrated by giving a present to his mother and friends around the world he moved his arms. The Crystal Lake Junior High School student suffered a broken neck March 12 when he tried to stop a fight between two classmates. Tommy, a Negro, was paralyzed from the neck down, and doctors at Lakeland Hospital feared that hs would die.

mil iiiiwiiiiim ttiih iwnn in ir mr i nrrrir i i lmt i A Boat For All Places Airfoil boat demonstrated in Holly Hill Thursday with the possibility of distribution as it will navigate all type of Florida waters. The boat is about the size of a compact car and is built in England. It is propelled by two 251 cc motorcycle engines and the lift comes from another such engine. It will move about 35 m.p.h. and is priced from under $2,000 to (UPI).