House Speaker Dean Cannon warned prior to the 2012 session that there was "limited bandwidth" to take up a lot of contentious issues during this critical election year.
If there's any observation to be made at the halfway point, Cannon wasn't kidding.
Cannon made his comment to emphasize that his focus was largely on the once-a-decade chore of redistricting and the annual job of passing a new state budget.
In reality, what that has meant is that in the usually-much more disciplined House there hasn't been a lot of direction from leadership about lots of other bills. (The clear exception appears to be bills that are a top priority of Gov. Rick Scott.)
But that has meant it's been a much more wide open process in the House - and it has resulted in many bills and proposals quickly falling to the wayside.
The Senate, which is always trickier to figure out, has been equally difficult to predict this year.
In that chamber you have the power shifting from Senate President Mike Haridopolos to incoming Senate President Don Gaetz, an ongoing leadership battle between potential future Senate presidents Sen. Jack Latvala and Sen. Andy Gardiner, and the tug-of-war over prison privatization that led Haridopolos to dump Sen. Mike Fasano as a committee chairman.
In short, if you believe the chit-chat of some lobbyists - and some House members - no one is really sure who's in charge over in the Senate.
Whatever the reasons the result is this: Regardless of party affiliation bills have had a rough time and have been shot down.
The Florida Legislature hit its halfway point this week and its worth noting the major pieces of legislation that appear dead - or close to dead:
Legislation to bring mega-casinos to Florida
A bill sought by the insurance industry to limit bad faith lawsuits
A measure pushed by the Department of Health to block doctors from prescribing drugs if they have been arrested
Any major constitutional amendments dealing with property taxes
A mandate that businesses use E-verify to check the legal status of newly-hired employees
Legislation that would subject drivers to a ticket if they are caught texting while driving
Several contentious environmental measures, including one meant to block local ordinances on fertilizer
There are a whole host of other bills whose future is very murky to predict and that includes legislation to collect sales taxes from online retailers, a bill to ban Internet cafes, and a push by the business community to lower unemployment compensation tax bills.
And to reinforce this message even further, consider this, as of Friday the total number of bills passed this session by both the House and Senate is five.
Yep, you read that right.
Out of nearly 2,000 bills and resolutions that have been filed so far this session, only five have passed both chambers.
There are 28 days left.
