17 February 2017 :

The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee unanimously passed HB 527 that would require unanimous jury recommendations before defendants could be sentenced to death. A similar bill in a Senate committee passed on Feb. 6. Legislation this year is necessary to reinstate Florida's death penalty. The Florida Supreme Court last year found unconstitutional a law that would have required at least 10 of 12 jurors to recommend death. That short-lived law was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the previous law, which required only a majority decision from a jury in order to recommend the death penalty. That decision came in the middle of last year's legislative session, so legislators tried a quick fix. Right now, Florida technically does not have the death penalty. This has caused a backlog of cases as prosecutors try to delay trials until the death penalty in Florida is fixed. "We have 50 cases ready to be tried in the state of Florida," said Buddy Jacobs, a lobbyist who works for state prosecutors. "This is a real crisis." The House bill was filed by Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor. Both the Senate and House versions of the bill face one more committee hearing next week. Assuming they pass, which is likely given the unanimous votes in the 1st Senate and House committee hearings, the bills will then be ready for floor votes when the legislative session begins on March 7.