Too many recent stories about Florida politics are dominated by the partisan grudge-fights that shaped their narrative, with more column inches devoted to the drama than to the thing that’s been accomplished.
Sometimes, though, politicians decide to put constituents first, and remember what’s really important.
This past session, they remembered photos of Miya Marcano, a 19-year-old Valencia College student with bright eyes and big plans for her future. They remember the anguish of her family members, who waited through days of fruitless searching, only to have their hope destroyed when her body was found. They remember the growing certainty that Miya was killed — or at least taken — in a place where she had every right to feel secure.
Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed “Miya’s Law.” The bill requires background checks for apartment complex workers, logs that track keys for each unit and a required 24-hour notice period (up from 12) before an apartment is entered for maintenance or other official business.
“Miya’s death was a tragedy, and our prayers continue to be with the Marcano family. I am proud to act on their behalf to help prevent a tragedy like that from happening to another Florida tenant,” DeSantis said in a press release. His praise is on-target, and should extend to the lawmakers who kept fighting to bring the legislation to life.
It was a much harder fight than it should have been.
Marcano was set to fly home to Fort Lauderdale the night she disappeared, Sept. 24. She was last seen on camera at the Arden Villas apartments just off University Boulevard near UCF, where she worked in the office and shared an apartment. Police say a maintenance worker who had made inappropriate overtures to Marcano used a master key to enter her apartment. A few days after Marcano’s disappearance, that worker was found dead by suicide. On Oct. 2, Marcano’s body was found in a wooded area near another apartment complex.
Orlando Sen. Linda Stewart was immediately moved to draft legislation. She joined forces with Rep. Robin Bartleman, a South Florida Democrat.
Stewart says she was clear on the passages she wanted in the bill. But as it moved through the legislative process, it hit stumbling blocks. One of the biggest blows was a late-January committee stop where the background check provision was stripped from the legislation.
Lawmakers bided their time. Instead of kicking up a fuss, Stewart allowed the weakened bill to move forward until she could convince leadership that the background screening was essential.
Then the bill picked up a welcome hitchhiker — a provision that prohibits hoteliers and others from renting lodging by the hour. It’s a remnant of a different bill intended to fight human trafficking, and it could give police a potent weapon to find victims that are often shuffled around from place to place.
SB 898 easily could have turned into a partisan firefight, with members of one party hurling accusations of callous indifference and the other accusing bill sponsors of trying to expand the nanny state. It would have been great theater for the coming elections. And a cruel, heartless thing to do to Marcano’s family, who put themselves through the trauma of telling Miya’s story in an effort to spare other families their pain.
Lawmakers decided that getting this law passed was much more important than taking credit or laying blame. They put aside their identities as Republicans or Democrats and worked to keep Floridians safe.
This is how it should be, always. We hope Miya’s Law inspires our elected leaders to spend a little less time posturing — and more time working for the good of the Floridians who elected them.
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