2018-07-06

6
Teacher Unions File Suit Over
New Membership Requirements
TALLAHASSEE - Just one day after
this year’s omnibus education bill became
law, teacher unions around the state have
filed suit to stop it.
HB 7055 was signed in March.
It’s requirement that teacher’s unions
maintain 50% membership or face decertification
took effect Sunday.
“Nobody should be forced to be led
when a majority of the people that you’re
leading don’t want to be there,” House
Speaker Richard Corcoran said back in
March.
Unions filed suit Monday.
Attorney Ron Meyer represents the
Florida Education Association along with
local unions and teachers.
“This lawsuit is specifically targeted in
all four counts at this kind of crazy decertification
effort that’s been imposed upon
only teacher unions in an effort to silence
them,” said Meyer.
The lawsuit argues the requirement violates
teachers’ right to collectively bargain
and unconstitutionally places a burden on
teachers that isn’t placed on other public
Government Watchdog Groups:
Pruitt’s EPA Exit “Long Overdue”
WASHINGTON - After allegedly overspending
on everything from pens to lavish
trips and accepting questionable deals from
lobbyists, government ethics and watchdog
groups say Scott Pruitt’s resignation as Environmental
Protection Agency administrator
is long overdue.
During his one-year tenure, Pruitt was
seen by conservatives as one of President
Donald Trump’s most effective Cabinet
members, working relentlessly to dismantle
Obama-era regulations aimed at reducing
pollution.
Stephen Spaulding, chief of strategy
for the group Common Cause, said Pruitt’s
questionable past was widely known. His
group had urged Congress to delay the
confirmation when Pruitt withheld documents
revealing corporate influence in his
by Jake Stofan , CNS
employees.
“This was an effort by the leadership
of the House of Representatives and the
Florida Legislature to punish teachers and
only teachers statewide,” said Meyer.
13 local teachers unions in the state
currently have a membership of below 50%
including the Leon Classroom Teachers
Association.
“Our goal is to be at 55% by the end of
May and if not higher,” said Union President
Scott Maser.
If the unions don’t get up to 50% before
their recertification date, they’ll have to
hold an election to decide if it can continue
representing local teachers.
“If we don’t get the 50% there’s a tough
task ahead of us right now,” said Maser.
Unions will have to meet the 50% goal
every year if they don’t want to undergo the
costly and time consuming recertification
process.
No court date has been set for the
case.
Attorneys representing unions say a
resolution is likely months away.
By Trimmel Gomes, FNS
Many of the EPA regulations that Scott Pruitt scrapped or delayed as EPA administrator had
not yet taken effect before his resignation. (Wikimedia Commons)
decisions as Oklahoma attorney general.
“He was clearly unfit for the position of
public trust that he was in as administrator
of the EPA,” said Spaulding. “I think we
were extremely troubled that the majority in
Congress really refused to hold him accountable
and, in our view, were complicit.”
Spaulding shared similar reservations
about Andrew Wheeler, a former coalcompany
lobbyist and now EPA deputy
administrator, who will take Pruitt’s place
as acting administrator on Monday. Pruitt
expressed no regrets in a letter submitted
to media outlets on Thursday.
Environmental groups predict the Trump
administration will continue its pattern of
appointing the least likely candidate to head
the agency. Kara Cook-Schultz, director
of U.S. PIRG’s (Public Interest Research
TALLAHASSEE - A state appellate
court has put out the fire under the push for
smokeable medical marijuana.
Smoking will not be allowed as John
Morgan’s ‘No Smoke is a Joke’ case makes
its way through the courts.
John Morgan scored his first victory
in his battle to allow smokable medical
marijuana in circuit court in May.
”It makes my life a lot more bearable,”
said Plaintiff Kathy Jordan from the stand.
Jordan suffers from ALS and says smoking
is the best method for her treatment.
He had hopped to take the case straight
to the Supreme Court arguing the wait could
cause his plaintiff Kathy Jordan irreparable
harm.
“I think that the Supreme Court would be
more likely to hear this case, to take this case
on an expedited fashion because of Kathy’s
health,” Morgan told reporters in May.
An appellate court blocked his request
to expedite the trial and on Tuesday the
same court also blocked the circuit court’s
decision to allow smokable pot as the case
moves through the courts.
The three judge panel argued Morgan
hasn’t proven he stands a chance at winning
Orlando Advocate | Jul 6 - 12, 2018
Appeals Court Blocks Smoking
of Medical Marijuana
by Jake Stofan , CNS
Group) toxics program, thinks the president
should take time to really understand the
purpose of the EPA.
“Scott Pruitt has failed in the EPA
mission to protect human health and the
environment, and Americans are less safe
today than they should be, due to his poor
the case in the long run.
It also said continuing to block smokable
marijuana would not cause irreparable
harm.
“I mean you’d have to ask Kathy Jordan,”
said Jeff Sharkey with the Medical
Marijuana Business Association. “The court
suggested there was no irreparable damage
should this stay be lifted or stopped. So I
think she would disagree with that.”
The ruling impacts patients and growers
who are stuck in limbo as they try to prepare
for a potential change in the products they
can offer.
“I mean it has an impact on the business,
it has an impact on patients and of course
what doctors are recommending. So until
that’s resolved it’s going to be difficult,”
said Sharkey.
Advocates say the continued effort
to block patients’ access to smokable pot
only creates momentum for a likely 2020
ballot initiative to the legalize recreational
marijuana.
The appellate court has not set a date
to officially hear the case. A final ruling
will likely come from the State Supreme
Court.
decisions and leadership,” Cook-Schultz
said.
Like President Trump, Pruitt voiced
skepticism about mainstream climate science.
Andrew Wheeler also doubts that
humans are a primary cause of the rapid
increase in climate change.