By Staff Report
The House is scheduled to take up a series of controversial issues Thursday during its first floor session of the year, including proposals to lower the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns and to repeal a long-criticized medical malpractice law.
The House, which is set to meet at 10 a.m., will consider a bill, HB 133, filed by Majority Leader Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island, that would allow people 18 and older to buy long guns. The proposal would reverse a law passed in 2018 after a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that raised the minimum age to 21.
Also scheduled for consideration is HB 6003, sponsored by Rep. Dana Trabulsy, R-Fort Pierce, and other lawmakers, which would repeal a 1990 law that limits who can seek what are known as non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases.
Under current law, people 25 or older cannot seek non-economic damages in cases involving the deaths of their parents. Similarly, parents are barred from seeking such damages in malpractice cases involving the deaths of children who are 25 or older.
The House Rules & Ethics Committee on Monday approved a list of bills for consideration during Thursday’s floor session.
Other proposals include HB 145, which would change the state’s sovereign-immunity laws and potentially require government agencies to pay more money in negligence lawsuits, and HB 197, which would require all private employers to use the federal E-Verify system to check the immigration status of newly hired workers.
The annual legislative session started Tuesday, January 13th.
Ali Moreland 