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Gov. Rick Scott signs bills on child marriage, Daylight Saving Time

Scott also approved on Friday new law stripping Pinellas County's embattled construction licensing board of its independence, following stories by the Tampa Bay Times.
 
Published March 23, 2018|Updated March 23, 2018

Gov. Rick Scott signed more than 70 bills into law on Friday, including one that would limit child marriages and another asking Congress to make Daylight Saving Time year-round.

If approved by Congress, Floridians would see darker mornings and brighter evenings year-round. The state would become the third, after Hawaii and most of Arizona, to exempt themselves from a 1996 law that set a uniform time for all time zones across the country.

Sen. Marco Rubio has already introduced a bill in Congress a bill to make the time change permanent in Florida – and the rest of the country.

Scott also approved on Friday a new law stripping Pinellas County's embattled construction licensing board of its independence, following a series of Tampa Bay Times stories detailing how the licensing board's leaders and staff operated without oversight or accountability, disregarding agency rules and state law.

The law puts county commissioners in charge of the board.

"We're glad he signed it," Pinellas County Commission Chair Ken Welch said. "We can start to move forward and offer better services to residents."

Scott also approved the nation's strictest ban on child marriages, limiting them to people 17 or older.

Previously, 16- and 17-year-olds could marry with their parents' consent, and county judges could approve marriages with even younger minors if there is a pregnancy involved.

Scott also signed off on allowing the City of Tampa to pay Ramiro Campanioni, Jr. $5 million for injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident caused by a City of Tampa Water Department truck 22 years ago.