Scotty is dedicated father, husband, and principled grassroots conservative. He will be on the front lines in defending life, religious freedoms, parental rights, and the innocence of Florida’s children. We are proud to endorse Scotty Moore in the Special Election for State House District 35

John Stemberger

The post Florida Family Action Endorses Scotty Moore for District 35 State Representative appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Rachel Plakon, State House District 29

“Rachel Plakon is the type of principled, conservative fighter that Florida needs. Her positive, can-do attitude and belief system makes her uniquely qualified to represent our values in a very powerful and effective manner.”
– John Stemberger, President, Florida Family Action

The post FFA Endorses Rachel Plakon for State House District 29 appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Judge Tom Rebull, 11th Judicial Circuit Court

“Tom Rebull is clearly the best choice in this judicial race. His intellect, service to the community, judicial philosophy, and fair temperament all make him an ideal choice to continue serving Miami as a judge.”
– John Stemberger, President, Florida Family Action

The post FFA Endorses Judge Thomas Rebull appeared first on Florida Family Action.

The post 2016 Voter Guides Now Available appeared first on Florida Family Action.

We have come to the end of another 60 day legislative session. This year has had some really high-profile victories and also some defeats.  I am more and more convinced each year that law and policy absolutely influences people’s values, attitudes and ultimately their behavior.  This motivates us even more to do what we do.  The Bible speaks of law as a taskmaster and a tutor.  Our prayer would be that man’s law reflects both the beauty and severity of God’s nature and character.

I really do want to thank Sara Johnson, my Legislative Assistant, who did a simply outstanding job this year in representing me personally and our organization in Tallahassee, while I was focusing on the campaign to save the Boy Scouts.  We were grateful to have Sara on our team.

Well, yesterday the Florida Legislature untypically on time for the 2013 Legislative Session. Below are the good bills that we featured in our legislative agenda which we supported and which made it into law and the bad bills we opposed which thankfully died:

NEW LAW:  Prohibition of Electronic Gambling Devices – anti-gambling
HB 155 by Representative Trujillo / SB 1030 by Senator Thrasher. This bill will ban internet cafes.  The resignation of Lt. Governor Carroll due to ties within the internet café industry provided the head wind that pushed this bill through both chambers to the Governor’s desk with only 4 Senate nays and 7 House nays. Internet cafes are already closing their doors. In about 1 month the Legislature managed to do what we have been asking them to do for 3 years.

NEW LAW:  Children in Foster Care – foster parent standards
SB 164 by the Children, Families & Elder Affairs Committee / HB 215 by Representative Albritton.  This bill creates a “reasonable and prudent parent” standard for foster parents and would assist in providing normalcy for children in foster care.  This bill passed unanimously out of both chambers, and was approved by Governor on April 11.

PASSED:  Electronic Benefits Transfer Cards – restrictions on use of EBT cards
SB 1048 by Senator Gardiner / HB 701 by Representative Smith.
This bill prohibits the use of EBT cards in adult entertainment facilities, pari-mutuels, casinos, and certain alcohol vendors. This bill passed the Senate unanimously and the House with a (89-26) vote.

PASSED:  Victims of Human Trafficking – opportunity to expunge criminal record
SB 1644 & 1734 by Senator Flores / HB 1325 & 1327 by Representative Spano.
These bills provide victims of human trafficking the opportunity to expunge a criminal record they have due to the crimes they were forced to commit as victims.  All 4 related bills regarding human trafficking passed unanimously and are awaiting the approval of the Governor.

PASSED: Massage Establishments – human trafficking
SB 500 by Senator Clemens / HB 7005 sponsored by the Criminal Justice Subcommittee
This bill tightens regulations on massage parlors for the purpose of reducing human trafficking. This good bill passed both chambers with no opposition.

PASSED: Distribution of Material Harmful to Minors – penalties for distribution of pornography on school campuses.  SB 86 by Senator Flores / HB 113 by Representative Diaz.
The illegality of adults knowingly distributing porn and offensive material to minors is already established; this bill provides harsher punishments for violating those laws.  This bill passed with only 3 House nays early in session.

PASSED:  Infants Born Alive – pro-life
SB 1636 by Senator Flores / HB 1129 by Representative Pigman.
This bill would give babies born alive after attempted abortions all the protections of a child born alive in the course of natural birth.  This sensible bill passed unanimously out of the House and the Senate in the middle of the last week. Planned Parenthood’s botched testimony in an early committee gave this bill smooth sailing through the rest of the legislative session. However, this issue gained national attention with the Gosnell trial and the recent Live Action films. We are still awaiting a charge in the Philadelphia abortion house of horrors that Dr. Gosnell ran and Live Action is proving that Dr. Gosnell’s inhumane, insanitary, and immoral office practices are not the exception, but the rule in the abortion industry. Please stay tuned in on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube as the truth is brought to light on infanticide in this industry.

PASSED:  Independent Living – adoption & foster care
SB 1036 by Children, Families, and Elder Affairs committee.
This bill allows foster children to remain in the foster care children until the age of 21 instead of 18.  This bill passed both House and Senate and is now waiting on the Signature of the Governor.

Application of Foreign Laws in Certain Cases – restrictions on judges
SB 58 by Senator Hays / HB 351 by Representative Metz.
This bill prohibits Florida judges from referring to laws of other nations for Florida court decisions. This bill passed all of its House committees, the House floor, and 2 Senate committees. It was brought to the floor of the Senate when it died in procedural vote. Every bill’s action can be objected and voted on. The Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chris Smith objected to a motion so there had to be a 2/3 vote to move the bill. We were one vote short of a 2/3 vote. Read a news story regarding this bill dying at the last minute here http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/bill-to-ban-unconstitutional–foreign-law-in-florida-courts-dies-on-last/2118973

Offenses Against Unborn Children – recognition of life
SB 876 by Senator Stargel / HB 759 by Representative Ahern.
This bill creates the “Unborn Victims of Violence Act” which recognizes the death or injury (due to violence or vehicular homicide) of an unborn child as the death or injury of a second person. This bill passed all of its House committees, the House floor and all but one of its Senate committees. The Senate President could have pulled this bill from that committee directly unto the Senate floor but decided not to, probably in an effort to be bi-partisan.

Termination of Pregnancy Based on Sex or Race of Unborn Child – pro-life
SB 1072 by Senator Evers / HB 845 by Representative Van Zant.
This bill prohibits abortion due to the race or gender of the unborn child.  This controversial bill passed all of its House committees and the House floor but was never heard in a Senate committee. Its first committee reference was Health Policy, chaired by Sen. Aaron Bean (R-Jacksonville). His committee was assigned a lot of controversial issues that took a lot of time, preventing good bills from being heard. (His own health care bill died in his committee) He was probably hesitant to bring this bill up due to the debate (and therefore, time) it would require. It will probably come back next year. This bill brought up black genocide through abortion during debate on the House floor and a lot of the democrats walked out of the chambers in protest.

DEAD:  Equal Rights for Men and Women – ERA Feminist Legacy Bill
SB 54 by Senator Joyner / HB 8001 by Representative Berman.
This bill would ratify the proposed ERA amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 

DEAD: Online State Lotteries – Expansion of Gambling
SB 266 by Senator Margolis / HB 275 by Representative Gibbons.
This bill would authorize the Department of the Lottery to create a program to purchase lottery tickets online.

DEAD:  Game Promotion – Regulation of Internet Cafes
SB 502 by Senator Diaz de la Portilla / HB 257 by Representative Tobia.
This bill would have regulated and therefore legitimized internet cafes.

DEAD:  Prohibited Discrimination – Gay rights
SB 710 by Senator Abruzzo / HB 653 by Representative Saunders.
This bill makes sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity impermissible grounds for discrimination.

DEAD: Sweepstakes Devices – Limiting and Regulating Internet Cafes
HB 951 by Representative Patronis.
This bill would ban new internet cafes from opening for a period of two years so the Legislature can study the effects of gambling. We oppose this bill because we don’t want to ban all NEW cafes; our priority is making all of them illegal.

DEAD:  State Group Insurance Program – Insurance for Domestic Partners
SB 1086 by Senator Abruzzo / HB 929 by Representative Stewart.
This bill would allow a same-sex domestic partner of someone enrolled in a state group insurance program to be qualified as a covered dependent.

DEAD:  Medical Cannabis / Public Records Medical Use of Cannabis – Medical Marijuana
SB 1250 and SB 1214 by Senator Clemens.
These two bills would legalize marijuana for medical purposes and create a non-public registry of users.

DEAD:  “Families First“ – Same-sex marriages/ Civil Unions/ Domestic Partnerships
SB 196 by Senator Sobel / HB 259 by Representative Pafford.
This bill calls itself a domestic partnership but it is actually a full-blown civil union attempting to give all the rights, benefits, and privileges of marriage.  The Senate bill was heard 3 times in the Children, Families, and Elder Affairs committee and finally passed with Sen. Diaz de la Portilla absent (he was in his district). This bill seeing the light of day was a small win for gay rights activists. This is a rare case where the Democrat sponsor of the Senate bill was also the Chairwoman of the Children, Families, and Elder Affairs committee (which happened to be the bill’s first committee). As chairwoman she decides what bills are heard. She had to bring this bill up 3 times before she allowed any votes to be cast. I think that speaks to how un-popular this issue still is in the state of Florida.

This session has been one with many victories! There were a couple tough defeats and, sadly, most of the good bills that did not make it were bills that had been through the process before. Both the Foreign Law and Offenses Against Unborn Children have been through several sessions and I look forward to promoting these good bills again.

The FFPC will continue standing for what’s right– even if at times we are standing alone. Thank you for joining us in our mission.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger
President

The post 2013 Final Legislative Report appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Voter Guides for the Primary (August 14th) will be available by August 4th for the following races:

• U.S. Senate
• Congress (all districts)
• Florida Senate
• Florida House of Representatives

Contact your local field office to find out how you can help us distribute the guides.

The post 2012 Primary Voter Guides Available Soon appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Organizing Florida to Take Back America

Meetings led by:
John Stemberger, President of Florida Family Action

Calling All Conservatives!

Attend one of these major grassroots meeting in your area where we will announce the opening of several field offices around the state and introduce newly hired full time field directors around the state to register & mobilize Floridians to vote.

Each meeting will feature a working lunch or light dinner foods, along with a presentation of strategies and state of the art tools available to make a difference.

Click here to register– or call 407-251-5130. RSVP’s are required(NOTE: Specific meeting locations will be e-mailed after you register.)

Monday, March 26, 2012

Pensacola– 11:30am-1:00pm-Hosted by Tom Thompson, Northwest Florida Family Alliance

Tallahassee– 6:00pm to 7:30pm- Hosted by Sandra Vidak, North Florida Family Alliance

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Jacksonville– 6:00pm to 7:30pm, Hosted by Jerod Powers, Jacksonville Family Alliance

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Orlando– 11:30am to 1:00pm, Hosted by Laura Caruso, Central Florida Family Alliance

Tampa– 6:00pm to 7:30pm, Hosted by Terry Kemple, Community Issues Council

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Naples– 11:30am to 1:00pm, Hosted by Ken Price, Public Issues Committee, First Baptist of Naples

Palm Beach– 7:00pm to 8:30pm, Hosted by John & Virginia Brooks, Palm Beach Faith & Freedom Coalition

Friday, March 30, 2012

Fort Lauderdale– 5:30pm to 7:00pm, Hosted byScott Spages, Faith Forum

The post Ignite to Action Tour appeared first on Florida Family Action.

The conference was opened by Bill Warren, Director of Policy and Communications of Florida Family Action. State Represenative Dennis Baxley and Rachel Burgin were both in attendance to show support and make statements.

John Stemberger, President of Floirida Family Action, the lobbying arm of the Florida Family Policy Council said that the organization would hold elected officials accountable for gambling votes through a number of means including: tracking votes on a hall of shame and hall of fame; asking legislators to sign a “No Casinos Pledge”; and following the money of which members are taking gambling PAC money. Stemberger said, “We will not sit idly back as the gambling industry attempts to buy out Florida and her elected officals with the corrupting influence of gaming money that is floating around Tallahassee like a bad flu bug.” Stemberger’s full statement can be found here.

The Florida Catholic Conference has a long standing record of opposing new gambling in Florida. D. Michael McCarron, Executive Director of the Florida Catholic Conference, argued that casinos prey on the neediest of our society. “For those who are struggling to make ends meet, casino gambling can provide an attractive means to relieve financial burdens, which ultimately only leads to crushing debt and personal crises. We oppose the current proposals in view of the potential
harm to the common good of the residents of our state.”

Bill Bunkley with the Florida Baptist Convention also appeared and had the most passionate presentation. Bunkley stated, “If left unchecked this tidal wave of gambling expansion, in our state will leave in its wake pain and destruction in the lives of countless people especially the poor and the elderly.”

Mark Andrews, Chairman of Casino Watch, which regularly exposes the dark side of gambling, has witnessed the impacts of gambling in his former home state of Missouri and is committed to working to prevent those same results here. “A recent study by one of Florida’s sheriffs warns of an escalation in crime and the cost of addressing it. Surely this kind of study should be taken seriously before we jump from the frying pan into the fire.”

The post Coalition of Faith Leaders Oppose Casino Gambling Expansion appeared first on Florida Family Action.

The evening’s dazzling MC was Barbara Beck, the host of the “Good Life” on Super Channel TV 45 in Central Florida.  The program also included FFPC President John Stemberger presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Daniel Webster Award, which is presented for lengthy and principled service to public policy.  This year’s recipients of the Webster Award, presented for outstanding and principled leadership in promoting pro-life or pro-family public policy, was awarded to Russ and Jill Amerling for their decade long efforts to make Choose Life license plates available in every state in the U.S. The Amerlings serve as the national publicity coordinators of Choose Life, Inc.

FFPC Policy Director Bill Warren presented a special  Champion of Life Award to Senate President Mike Haridopolos, Senator Ronda Storms, Representative Dennis Baxley and Representative Kelli Stargel for their work in sponsoring and promoting pro-life legislation during the 2011 Legislative Session.

The highlight of the evening was the keynote address delivered by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann who inspired the audience with her very personal life story, her powerful Christian testimony and the challenge to pour out ourselves in our efforts to “Ignite a Cultural Transformation.”  At the close of her remarks, on behalf of the FFPC Board, John Stemberger awarded Bachmann the William Wilberforce Award given to elected officials for standing firm for

principle in the face of opposition. In his President’s Report, John Stemberger related accomplishments of the FFPC over the last year and also brought an update that the last of the two retaliatory legal attacks filed against him after representing the teenage Muslim to Christian convert Rifqa Bary were dropped.  Late last week on August 24th, the Associated Press reported the ten million dollar Ohio federal defamation lawsuit which was filed against Stemberger by the Muslim lawyer Omar Tarazi almost a year ago was dismissed.  Earlier this year in May, The Florida Bar was also forced to dismiss its grievance claim (also filed by Tarazi) as having no merit.

The post 500 Supporters and National Media Attend Annual Policy Awards Dinner in Orlando with Michele Bachmann appeared first on Florida Family Action.

(ORLANDO, FL)

Members of the Florida press corps attended and reported on the debate including the Tallahassee Democrat, Orlando Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, St Pete Times and the Miami Herald in addition to several other local television, radio, political bloggers and independent news agencies.  The debate which will be available online in the next couple weeks focused on moral and social issues in the first half and on economic issues in the second half.

Two panels of citizen leaders asked the questions.  The first panel asked the social issue questions and included Bill Bunkley of the Florida Baptist Convention, Lynne Briedenbach, a political consultant and radio personality and Jesse Phillips, pastor and head of Citizen 2 Citizen.  The second panel was comprised of Tea Party leaders in Central Florida including Jason Hoyt of the Orlando Tea Party, Clyde Fabretti of the West Orange Tea Party and Bernadine Galate.

Other photographs of the debate and behind the scenes shots can be seen on our photo gallery here:

The post Florida Family Policy Council Co-Hosts Debate on Social & Economic Issues in Orlando with Four Major U.S. Senate Candidates appeared first on Florida Family Action.