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STATE OF FLORIDA CONSTITUTION REVIEW COMMISSION MARCH 13, 2018 1:03 p.m. - 11:31 p.m. _________________________________________ TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC HEARING DATE: March 13, 2018 TIME: 1:03 p.m. - 11:31 p.m. PLACE: University of South Florida Student Center 200 6th Avenue South St. Petersburg, FL 33701 REPORTED BY: RUTH A. CARNEY, Notary Public State of Florida at large Page 1 - 477 CARNEY & HECKMAN REPORTING, INC. 700 Central Avenue, Suite 204 St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727)623-9961 APPEARANCES: CHAIRMAN CARLOS BERUFF COMMISSIONER DARRYL ROUSON COMMISSIONER WILLIAM SCHIFINO, JR. COMMISSIONER ARTHENIA JOYNER COMMISSIONER ROBERTO MARTINEZ COMMISSIONER FRANK KRUPPENBACHER COMMISSIONER HANK COXE COMMISSIONER TIMOTHY CERIO COMMISSIONER CAROLYN TIMMANN COMMISSIONER JACQUI THURLOW-LIPPISCH COMMISSIONER NICOLE T. WASHINGTON COMMISSIONER LISA CARLTON COMMISSIONER MARVA JOHNSON COMMISSIONER EMERY GAINEY COMMISSIONER CHRIS SPROWLS COMMISSIONER JOHN STEMBERGER COMMISSIONER CHRIS SMITH COMMISSIONER PAM STEWART JUDGE JOHN STARGEL 3 1 CHAIRMAN BERUFF: Good afternoon, everyone. 2 We're going to convene the final meeting of the CRC 3 roadshow. If everybody will silence or turn off your 4 cell phones so that we don't have those interruptions 5 as the public meeting progresses, I'm going to turn 6 over the microphone to the chancellor. 7 MR. TADLOCK: I appreciate it. 8 CHAIRMAN BERUFF: Thank you for having us. 9 MR. TADLOCK: Thank you. 10 Good afternoon. I'm Martin Tadlock. I'm the 11 interim chancellor here at USF St. Petersburg. I 12 want to welcome all of you to this final meeting of 13 the Constitution Revision Committee and thank the 14 Commissioners for being here with us to provide us 15 this opportunity to serve our community. 16 I do want to recognize some of our Pinellas 17 County delegation members that are here with us: 18 Senator Darryl Rouson, Representative Chris Sprowls. 19 Is Representative Ben Diamond here yet? 20 And our Mayor of St. Petersburg, Rick Reissman, 21 will also be joining us. 22 I do want to -- I do want to thank them for a 23 very, very specific reason. We wouldn't be in this 24 facility without their support, so you need to know 25 that these kind of events are because of the work CARNEY & HECKMAN REPORTING, INC. (727)623-9961 4 1 that they do for us here at USF St. Petersburg. It's 2 vitally important for us as a university. 3 We also really believe in being the host 4 institution for anything that we can do to promote 5 democracy and promote equality and justice here 6 within St. Pete and Pinellas County. This is the 7 site where we want to be that kind of institution. 8 And we're very, very proud of our students because we 9 focus on helping them develop those leadership skills 10 that they need to lead us into the future and to 11 become citizen scholars that we would want to live, 12 work and live next to throughout our lives. 13 I'm going to introduce one of those to you, 14 David Thompson, who is our student government 15 association president. 16 David, come on up. 17 MR. THOMPSON: All right. Thank you. 18 I apologize if I'm really loud, my ears haven't 19 popped yet, I just got off the plane, but, like he 20 said, my name is David Thompson and I am the student 21 body president here at USFSP, and on behalf of the 22 student body, I would like to thank all of you for 23 attending and welcome you all to our beautiful 24 campus. 25 It's very exciting to have you all here today as CARNEY & HECKMAN REPORTING, INC. (727)623-9961 5 1 part of your year-long journey as you work to improve 2 our constitution in the state of Florida, and I want 3 to express my appreciation to the Commission as a 4 whole for the significance of the work that you do. 5 So thank you all for what you do. 6 USFSP is a vital community and we pride 7 ourselves on civic engagement. I and the USFSP are 8 very proud to sponsor this event, so welcome again, 9 and as always, go Bulls. 10 CHAIRMAN BERUFF: I'd like to personally thank 11 the University of South Florida for hosting this in 12 the St. Pete campus because it's only 35 minutes from 13 my office. It's the first time I haven't had to get 14 on an airplane in months. 15 My name is Carlos Beruff. I act as the chairman 16 of this Commission. I was appointed by the Governor, 17 Rick Scott, and it's been a pleasure to serve, and 18 it's been a huge learning experience for me across 19 the state because we actually talk to people that 20 care about what happens to Florida for the next 20 21 years, and this Commission has listened to hundreds 22 and hundreds and hundreds of personal testimony that 23 will set the agenda for this Commission as we go into 24 our final phase. 25 Today I am joined, starting on my far right, CARNEY & HECKMAN REPORTING, INC. (727)623-9961 6 1 Commissioner Keiser -- Commissioner Keiser is not 2 here. Commissioner Martinez, Commissioner 3 Washington, Commissioner Lee is not in attendance, 4 Commissioner Schifino, Senator and Commissioner 5 Joyner. To my left Commissioner Rouson, Commissioner 6 Sprowls, Commissioner Timmann, Commissioner 7 Thurlow-Lippisch. She's very popular at the end 8 there. 9 Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you. Commissioner 10 Stewart. 11 You were hiding back there. 12 Commissioner Stewart is better known as the head 13 of education. 14 Down in the front to the left is Judge Stargel, 15 Commissioner Johnson, Commissioner Stemberger, 16 Commissioner Gainey, Commissioner Cerio. I know he's 17 here, but he's missing for a moment. Commissioner 18 Carlton, Commissioner Coxe, Commissioner 19 Kruppenbacher and Commissioner Smith. 20 So that rounds the table out for us. 21 We will -- if everybody will stand, Commissioner 22 Schifino will lead us in the invocation. 23 (Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance recited.) 24 CHAIRMAN BERUFF: I'd like to recognize 25 Commissioner Rouson to make some comments since this CARNEY & HECKMAN REPORTING, INC. (727)623-9961 7 1 is part of his hometown. 2 COMMISSIONER ROUSON: Good afternoon, and thank 3 you for being here. I welcome the Commissioners to 4 the St. Petersburg, Pinellas County portion of my 5 Senate district. You're sitting in Senate District 6 19, and an example of a beautiful jewel of the city 7 of St. Petersburg and its urban culture. 8 As chair of the Pinellas County Legislative 9 Delegation, I also welcome you to University of South 10 Florida St. Pete campus. Vice chair of the 11 delegation is Commissioner Chris Sprowls. 12 So I know that you're not here to give -- hear a 13 speech or talk about session. Let's get to what we 14 have to deal with today. Welcome. 15 CHAIRMAN BERUFF: Thank you, Commissioner. 16 We will be calling people up in groups of three 17 to five, so when you hear your name, please step up. 18 There's two microphones. These are one -- these 19 are the two microphones we have? 20 Correct. 21 So on either side, if you can just line up 22 behind them and wait your turn, and everyone has two 23 minutes. We would like to not have applause or any 24 sign, except if you have a red or green card in 25 support or against a particular item that someone's CARNEY & HECKMAN REPORTING, INC. (727)623-9961 8 1 speaking to, because we want everybody to be heard, 2 and if there's applause and such, it's going to 3 interrupt their ability to be heard. 4 Thank you so much. 5 We're going to start with Fern Williams, Diane 6 Parker, John Brenzel, Ken Manalang, and Tony 7 Montalto. If you would, please come to the 8 microphones in that order. 9 Again, that's Fern Williams, Diane Parker, John 10 Brenzel, Ken Manalang, and Tony Montalto. 11 Thank you so much. Please introduce yourself, 12 and use your name because I'm sure that I don't 13 pronounce them perfectly. 14 MR. WILLIAMS: Hello. My name is Fern Williams. 15 I'm from Zephyrhills, Florida. Thank you all for 16 being here. I appreciate it. 17 CHAIRMAN BERUFF: If you could, come closer to 18 the microphone so it can pick you up. 19 There you go. 20 MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you all for being here. I 21 appreciate it. 22 I'm calling -- I'm here to talk about sane gun 23 regulations. 24 I'm not asking people to take away guns, but I 25 do have some specific requests. CARNEY & HECKMAN REPORTING, INC. (727)623-9961 9 1 I'd like to ban assault-type rifles, AR-15s. 2 They're only for killing people quickly in a short 3 time. They're not for hunting. 4 I think all guns should be registered. People 5 need to be licensed to own guns. They should take a 6 written test and a practical test. We should ensure 7 each weapon and we should regulate and tax 8 ammunition. We do this for cars and I believe we 9 should do it for guns too. 10 Thank you. 11 CHAIRMAN BERUFF: Thank you for your comments.