A very warm welcome to everyone to the website of the Florida Greyhound Association. The FGA is your "legislative voice" in the State of Florida. We represent breeders, owners, kennel operators and vendors to our industry from around the United States. We are affiliated with the National Greyhound Association, located in Abilene, Kansas, and we have seven regional associations throughout Florida that operate in cooperation with us.
The Florida Greyhound Association is represented by Public Affairs Consultants in Tallahassee. James Blanchard of Bonita Springs is the NGA Director for District 1A. Representing District 1B is Hall Gill of Inverness, Florida. Board of Directors meetings are held in various areas in Florida and are opened to all FGA members.Time and place will be announced on this web site two weeks prior to the meeting.
We hope you will investigate our website and become a little more enlightened as to the importance of the Greyhound Industry in the State of Florida. More than half of all race tracks in North America call Florida home. Greyhounds from around the country run the ovals in the sunshine state.
FLORIDA GREYHOUND ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 10932
BRADENTON, FLORIDA 34282
(941)567-5001
Email: Florida Greyhound Association
High Court Approves Senate Maps
And Uphold Slots Ruling from Lower Court
Jack Cory
FGA/NGA Chief Lobbyist
Saturday - April 27, 2012
SLOTS:In ruling Friday, the high court upheld a lower-court ruling that says "lawmakers can allow slot machines" at pari-mutuel facilities in various parts of the state.
Justices declined to take up a challenge to a 1st District Court of Appeal ruling that stems from a plan by Hialeah Park horse track in Miami-Dade County to add potentially lucrative slot machines.
But the lower-court ruling has ramifications across the state.
Voters in Gadsden, Washington and Hamilton counties in recent months have approved referendums to allow slot machines. Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued an opinion arguing the referendums are not legitimate.
SENATE MAPS: The second time was the charm for Republican-led efforts to redraw political boundaries for the 40-member state Senate, as the Florida Supreme Court upheld a second draft of new maps over the objections of two justices who said the proposal, in one instance, dilutes the clout of black voters.
The court's ruling removes the chance that justices would draw the map themselves as part of the state's once-a-decade redistricting process. Earlier this year, the court struck down the first attempt to draw Senate lines but allowed the House map to stand.
Three justices who helped form the 5-2 majority scrapping the first Senate plan -- Justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Jorge Labarga -- fully supported the latest decision. Chief Justice Charles Canady and Justice Ricky Polston, who approved of the earlier Senate version, supported the majority in result only.
In a partial dissent, Justices James E.C. Perry and Peggy Quince, the court's two black members, criticized their colleagues for allowing Northeast Florida districts to stand while splitting in two a largely black area of Daytona Beach.
"This ruling sends a signal that it is permissible under the provisions of our constitution to divide and conquer a racial or language minority group before they are able to reach a majority voting bloc," Perry wrote in an opinion joined by Quince.
There are still hurdles. Portions of maps for the House, Senate and the state's congressional delegation still have to be approved by the U.S. Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act because of a history of racial or language discrimination in five Florida counties.
The maps could also be challenged in court under the Voting Rights Act, something Cuban-American lawmakers have suggested is likely because of the lack of a fourth strongly-Hispanic Senate district in Miami-Dade County.
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