By MATT DIXON
Posted April 17, 2014 at 7:23 p.m.
naplesnews.com

TALLAHASSEE — Legislation offering in-state tuition rates to students in the country illegally may have been dealt a fatal blow Thursday when a key state senator said the bill won’t be heard in his committee, the measure’s final stop.

The move by state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, all but certainly kills the measure, which advocates have been seeking in Florida for more than a decade.

Negron said “after careful consideration” he decided not to hear the bill during next Tuesday’s meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which was its third and final stop.

In a news release making the announcement, Negron said a need for the bill (SB 1400) has “not been established” because Florida’s universities and colleges have the ability to waive out-of-state fees, including for students in the country illegally.

Last year, they did so to the tune of $300 million for a variety of reasons.

“The bottom line is that state colleges and universities already have the flexibility to waive out-of-state tuition in their discretion,” Negron said in the release.

On the same day as Negron’s announcement, Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, sent out a lengthy letter explaining why he opposes the bill.

“It casts a blanket of approval over noncitizens who are in this country without proper legal status from anywhere in the world, including countries which are caldrons of terrorism and anti-American violence,” Gaetz wrote.

The bill had the support of many Republicans, including House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel.

His chamber already had passed a version of the bill on an 81-33 vote.

“There are a lot of folks praying for these kids,” Weatherford said in a statement. “Two weeks is a long time, and I remain optimistic.”

Though Negron’s announcement likely kills the bill, there are a few moves that could resurrect the provision as lawmakers enter the final two weeks of session negotiations.

The language could be tacked onto another bill that has momentum, or the Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, could simply pull the bill up from a committee for a full Senate vote.

Supporters of the bill, which had 20 Senate co-sponsors, have argued the state shouldn’t penalize children who were brought to the United States illegally.

“I just thank God my children are not held responsible for all the mistakes I have made,” state Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican sponsoring the bill, said during a committee hearing earlier this month.

The bill had faced an uphill climb in the Senate, but had been making progress. It passed two committee stops, but each time got “no” votes from the chairmen.

Throughout session, groups held rallies and filled committee hearings with supporters of the bill.

“We feel we are part of the fabric of America,” said Nicholas Wolf, a Florida International student, during a March committee hearing.

Along with the language related to undocumented students, the Senate bill eliminated the ability of universities — except Florida State University and the University of Florida — to raise tuition without state approval, and lowered the cost of Florida’s pre-paid tuition program. It’s likely that those elements of the bill will be amended onto other language and passed.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2014/...-illegally-in/