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Several high-profile bills lawmakers passed during the 2017 session were officially sent to Gov. Rick Scott's desk this afternoon -- including a controversial shift in the state's Stand Your Ground law, an expansive public records exemption that would permanently seal millions of criminal and arrest records, and a higher education reform bill that's a top priority of Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart.

Scott now has 15 days to decide whether they should become law. He can either sign them, veto them or let them become law by default.

Negron's higher ed bill (SB 374) was one of several budget-related measures from the Senate that were sent to Scott on Monday, marking another key step in the process of adopting spending for the 2017-18 fiscal year that begins July 1. (Scott approved the main budget act on Friday, with several substantial vetoes that included base state funding for K-12 schools -- a chunk of spendinglawmakers will do-over in a three-day special session later this week.)

The Senate's "conforming" bills are complementary to the main budget and deal with specific issues, such as colleges and universities, the state pension system, health care and the clerks of court. The House has its own conforming bills, amongwhich is HB 7069,a highly contentious K-12 public schools bill; none of those have been sent to Scott yet.

The change to Florida's Stand Your Ground law (SB 128) -- which shifts the burden of proof in pretrial hearings to prosecutors -- passed the Legislature on the final day of the regularly scheduled session as part of a deal to also pass a bill dealing with religious expression in public K-12 schools (SB 436). That legislation was also sent to Scott Monday.

Meanwhile, SB 118 could virtually eliminate Floridians access to many individuals criminal histories in the name of addressing stigma against those accused, but not convicted, of crimes. It has drawn opposition from open government advocates and is one of several bills the First Amendment Foundation has asked Scott to veto.

More here:
Senate budget bills, Stand Your Ground change among 24 proposals sent to Gov. Scott today - Tampabay.com (blog)