Miami Herald : "Immigration bill dies in Florida Legislature" - "An immigration crackdown proposal died in the annual lawmaking session", "House and Senate lawmakers reached the end of the 60-day session without an agreement"

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The proposal was so thorny that even Sen. JD Alexander, the budget chief tasked with shepherding the bill on the floor, ultimately voted against the bill.


“I should have probably voted for it,” Alexander, R-Lake Wales, told reporters. “As I got into it more and more, I got more and more uncomfortable with it. I didn’t feel morally I could make that choice.”




The Miami Herald
Immigration bill dies in Florida Legislature
An immigration crackdown proposal died in the annual lawmaking session, but looks likely to come back next year.
By Patricia Mazzei
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
Friday, May 6, 2011


Immigration bill dies in Florida Legislature


Some excerpts :

TALLAHASSEE -- The fierce fight to crack down on illegal immigration ended — for this year — in the Florida Legislature on Friday when House and Senate lawmakers reached the end of the 60-day session without an agreement.

State senators signed off on their more lenient proposal on Wednesday. But by then, it was too late for the House to take up the measure.

On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott told a Fox-affiliated radio station in the Florida Panhandle that lawmakers should have passed an immigration bill — but there’s always next year.

“Weve got the next session, Scott said in an appearance on “Freedom in the Morning with Wolfe and Andi.” “We’ve got to get ready for the next session and let everybody we elect know that it’s important to us.”

Scott campaigned heavily in last year’s Republican primary — even suggesting a special lawmaking session — for an Arizona-style proposal, giving law enforcement broader power to check a person’s immigration status and requiring businesses to use the federal government’s E-Verify system.

Scott mentioned his executive order forcing agencies to use E-Verify. “There’s limitation on what you can do through executive order,” he added. “I’ve done what I can.”

The bills drew staunch opposition from a powerful and wide-ranging set of interests, from big business to religious groups to immigration advocates. Yet Republicans are already taking flak from tea-party types for failing to pass any reforms — a political liability for Senate President Mike Haridopolos, who is running for U.S. Senate.

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