NEW LAW AIMS TO PROTECT HOSPITAL WORKERS

Amid workplace-safety concerns, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a bill that will increase criminal penalties for people who assault hospital employees and volunteers. Lawmakers passed the bill (HB 825) during the legislative session that ended May 5. State law has included increased penalties for people who assault emergencyroom employees, but the bill expands those protections to other hospital workers. After

Florida Tapped For Space Force Programs

Patrick Space Force Base in Brevard County has been named the “preferred” location for two parts of the growing U.S. Space Force — the Space Training and Readiness Command Headquarters and Space Delta 10, according to the U.S. Air Force. A final decision is expected this year after environmental impact analyses are conducted, under the belief they could handle another major storm as Ian approached. But Irma was different from Ian, which made landfall Sept. 28 in Southwest Florida barrier islands before causing damage across the state.

Guthrie said a difference is that Irma encountered mangroves and vegetation throughout the Everglades.

“Those mangroves and the things of the Everglades laid that storm surge down,” Guthrie said. “Whereas on Hurricane Ian, it came straight in off the Gulf. It had no mangroves. No-natural based solutions in front of it. And then it hit that Fort Myers Beach area. And it was a solid 12 to 18 feet of storm surge. So again, we got to do a better job of communicating not just what the storm-surge watches and warnings are, but what they mean based upon the approach of a storm.”

Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, this summer plans to make a series of upgrades to expand the capacity of its supercomputing system, increasing the computing capability of forecast models.

As an example, one of the upgrades will get what is known as the Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System operational in late June. That is expected to improve forecast tracks by 10 percent to 15 percent.

Last week, NOAA forecast that the sixmonth hurricane season would 12 to 17 named storms, with winds of 39 mph or higher. That total is forecast to include five to nine storms topping 74 mph and being designated as hurricanes. One to four of the hurricanes are predicted to be in Category 3 or higher, with sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

The 2022 season featured 14 named storms, with eight reaching hurricane strength. Two systems were major hurricanes.

But Guthrie cautioned about the forecast numbers, referring to Ian hitting the Fort Myers area and Hurricane Andrew causing massive damage in Miami-Dade County in 1992.

“It doesn’t matter if we have 13 storms. All it takes, just as Fort Myers Beach, is just one. It only takes one,” Guthrie said. “Hurricane Andrew was in an easy season. It was supposed to be really, really inactive. Andrew was the first storm coming from the season in August. There was catastrophic damage to the state of Florida. So, again, be prepared. It only takes one.” the House passed the bill April 20, the Florida Hospital Association released a statement that said hospital workers are six times more likely than average workers to suffer from violence. “This legislation will lead to better patient care by creating a safer working environment for our health-care workers,” Mary Mayhew, president and CEO of the association, said at the time. Assault charges typically are second-degree misdemeanors, but under the bill they will be upgraded to first-degree misdemeanors for assaults on hospital workers. Similarly, battery charges are typically first-degree misdemeanors but will be upgraded to third-degree felonies. plan “solidifies Florida’s dominance as the most military-friendly state and position as America’s hub for military and private space operations.” U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., estimated the plan will bring 460 jobs to the region. The command headquarters, or STARCOM, is one of three U.S. Space Force field commands and will be responsible for such things as educating and training space professionals known as guardians. The headquarters will also develop space warfighting doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures, according to the

Repairs from Ian are still years from being completed in parts of Southwest Florida, while storm hardening and clean-up continues five years after Michael.

Lawmakers this spring approved such things as $75.2 million for bridge repairs in Lee County and $17.6 million for hurricane damage to the Lee County school district.

Jim Saunders News Service Of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Rejecting arguments by public hospital districts and school boards, a Leon County circuit judge has backed Attorney General Ashley Moody in a battle about opioid-epidemic settlements with the pharmaceutical industry.

Judge John Cooper, in a 15-page decision, ruled that Moody had the authority to enter a series of settlements that effectively trumped lawsuits pursued by the hospital districts and school boards. The MiamiDade County School Board and the Putnam County School Board quickly filed a notice of appeal after Friday’s ruling.

The ruling said the Legislature “specifically granted the attorney general authority to enforce consumer protection laws” and that Moody had the power to enter settlements that prevented separate claims by local government agencies. A filing by Moody’s office said the state settlements will lead to companies paying about $3 billion over a number of years.

“Allowing defendants (the hospital districts and school districts) to continue pursuing their subordinate opioid claims threatens Florida’s sovereign interest in vindicating its citizens’ rights — all of its citizens’ rights — when confronted with societal harms such as the opioid crisis,” Cooper’s ruling said. “These are collective harms. They do not flow in an insular fashion to individual (political) subdivisions — the harms cross city and county lines. Indeed the opioid settlements consider the pervasive harms caused by the opioid crisis and apply a mixture of statewide and local solutions. … Defendants’ continued pursuit of their opioid claims in contravention of the opioid settlements jeopardizes the flow of tens of millions of dollars that will aid in the abatement of the opioid epidemic throughout the state of Florida.”

Moody’s office filed the lawsuit last year against the Sarasota County Public Hospital District, Lee Memorial Health System, the North Broward Hospital District, Halifax Hospital Medical Center, the West Volusia Hospital Authority and the Miami-Dade School Board. The West Volusia district later was dismissed from the case, but the South Broward Hospital District and the Putnam County School Board were added.

All of the local agencies had sued drug distributors, manufacturers or pharmacies because of the opioid epidemic, according to Cooper’s ruling.

Moody’s office entered into seven settlements with a variety of companies — with each of the settlements including a “release” of claims filed by local governments. Some settlements resulted from multi-state litigation, while others came as a result of a lawsuit that the attorney general’s office filed in Pasco County.

Moody’s lawsuit against the hospital districts and school boards said the settlements would provide money for opioid treatment, prevention and recovery services and that money would go to communities throughout the state. But the hospital districts and school board argued that Moody did not have the authority to release their claims.

As an example, Halifax, a major Volusia County hospital system, said in a September court filing that Moody entered into what is known as an “allocation agreement” to distribute money from the settlements to counties, cities, towns and villages — but did not include hospital districts. The filing also said the attorney general’s office did not consult with Halifax about the lawsuit filed in Pasco County against pharmaceutical companies, the settlements or the allocation agreement.

“The attorney general is asserting the right to seize claims against third parties belonging to Halifax, an independent entity that the attorney general was not representing and over which she has no decisionmaking authority, and to use those claims as bargaining chips to settle litigation to which Halifax was not a party and from which it stands to gain nothing,” the September filing said. “Not only is there no authority in Florida law for such conduct, it violates fundamental principles of due process.”

But in his ruling, Cooper said courts have repeatedly interpreted state law to mean that the attorney general “retains all of the historic, sovereign common law powers and duties to represent and protect the people of Florida and their interests.”

“This court further states that when there is a conflict (or overlap) between sovereign state interests and insular subdivision interests, the sovereign’s interest necessarily must be deemed to be superior because the state’s interest subsumes, in its entirety, the subdivision’s interest,” Cooper wrote in another part of the ruling.