After Republican legislators stood on the floor and dissed the governor's DCA secretary, Tom Pelham, the House voted 76-41, along party lines, for its version of SB 360, the amended growth management bill, and sent it back to the Senate.

Rep. Dave Murzin, chairman of the House Economic Development Council and a Republican Realtor from Pensacola, said the House had been "working on this bill for an awfully long time."

"I'm not hiding the fact that I’d like to see Secertary Pelham find a job in the private sector,'' he said.

He said that when he made a similar statement a few weeks ago, "DCA disappeared.'' Murzin then slammed Pelham's statement released late Tuesday on the eve of the House vote, which said the bills "seriously undermine Florida's growth management laws.''

"To put out a press release without showing your face in the HOB for weeks is wrong,'' he said. The bill is "the best we can do with what we have right now. I’m asking you to support this best faith effort for now.''

Rep. Chris Dorworth, a Republican developer from Lake Mary, said he echoed the sentiments. He drew applause when he said: "To defer entirely to what a secretary of an agency says, I suggest you forfeit your membership in this body.''

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