05/16/2017 (3) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

2 Background: A National Institute for Occupation -Safety and Health study of cancer among U.S. fire- fighters has shown higher rates of certain types of cancer among firefighters than the general U.S. pop- ulation. 45 These types of cancer were mostly digestive, oral, respiratory, and urinary cancers, although there were about twice as many firefighters with malignant mesothelioma, which is a rare type of can- cer caused by exposure to asbestos. Legislation #1: SB 158 (Latvala) and HB 143 (Fitzenhagen) proposed to create a cancer presumption for firefighters. Legislation #2: The following language was amended onto SB 1582 related to Workers Compensa- tion: "Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter (ch. 440), for firefighters, as defined in s. 112.81, multiple myeloma or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are deemed to be occupational diseases that arise out of work performed in the course and scope of employment." Legislation #3: The cancer presumption language found in SB 158 and HB 143 was added to SB 7030 relating to Benefits and Salaries for Public Employees. Status: All three pieces of legislation died. We should expect to see this again next session. 8.2 C 1VIEDI =AI.,: 1VIARI A1V N Background. On November 7, 2016, Florida voters approved an amendment to the Florida Constitu- tion that allows the medical use of marijuana without any THC limit by patients certified by physicians as having a specified debilitating medical condition. The amendment authorizes Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTCs) to be marijuana providers. Legislation: The following bills .were filed to address various issues relating to implementing medical marijuana in the State of Florida: SB 406 (Bradley), SB 1844 (Governmental Oversight and Accounta- bility and Bradley), SB 614 (Brandes), SB 1666 (Braynon) and SB 1758 (Grimsley), SB 1388 (A.rdhes), SB 1472 (Galvano) and HB 1177 (Toledo), HB 1397 (Rodrigues), and CS/HB 7095 (Health and Hu- man Services Committee; Health Quality Committee; Plasencia). Status: All of the legislation died. We should expect to see this again next session. It is rumored that the failure of the legislation was caused by an internal conflict within the industry and between the two chambers. The issue pitted the already -established operators against businesses in and out of Florida seeking to break up what critics characterized as an established "cartel." There were two main sticking points — the number of licensed marijuana operators and how many retail lo- cations they should run. The Senate wanted to limit the number of dispensaries each operator could open, while the House — which originally backed an unlimited number of storefronts — preferred a more liberal approach that would have, at least temporarily, favored the current license -holders. 11 P212