Florida Senator Rene Garcia & State Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez - 2/1/16 - Ep. 112

Episode 112 of the Only in Miami Show featured an in depth discussion with Senator Rene Garcia of Hialeah about his plan to end mandatory payment of attorney's fees when citizens win court cases against government under Florida's vaunted Sunshine Law. Sen. Garcia introduced SB 1220 aimed at gutting the enforcement mechanism of the Sunshine Law's public records act known as Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes. The bill would end mandatory payment to Floridians whose rights would be violated. The Senator claimed without evidence or names, that a "cottage industry" exists to enrich lawyers who win these cases, but to the contrary, callers to the program stated that it's expensive and difficult to sue for records access already. The Senator has never filed a public records request himself. He's on twitter @SenReneGarcia Later, we had Florida Representative Jose Javier Rodriguez aka JJR on to the program to discuss his activism in regulating For Profit education and colleges in Florida. The For Profit schools are regulated by the CIE, a board comprised of other operators within the space, who recently managed to ignore over 2,000 complaints in the last 15 years (all of them) and recently ignored Dade Medical College's collapse until - literally last week - they charged DMC with illegally closing without a proper transition for students. He's on twitter @josejavierJJR Dr. Alina Valdes is running for Congress as a Democrat in Florida's 25th district currently occupied by incumbent Mario Diaz-Balart. As a Doctor, she supports Obamacare and is passionate about extending its coverage to as many Floridians as possible. Her campaign website alinavaldesforcongress.com is hosting a petition drive to collect signatures to place her name onto the ballot. She's on twitter @theDoctorisin16 Lastly, we spoke with Flash from Ploppy Palace about the 18th Annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert happening this Saturday at Gramps Bar in Wynwood. Amendment 2 was placed onto Florida's 2016 ballot for the 2nd time, asking voters to amend the state constitution to legalize medical marijuana. All music from this episode is by performers appearing at the benefit.