Bath Salts, PIP Fraud Among New Laws Taking Effect July 1
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Do not be surprised if your child returns from a school event with a prayer leaflet, as it will now be allowed as part of several new laws taking effect July 1.
The laws encompass changes to personal injury protection (PIP) insurance, a ban on synthetic drugs, changes to video voyeurism laws and tougher penalties for timeshare resale fraud.
Among the changes to PIP insurance: information for all drivers and passengers must be included in crash reports, and insurers must either reduce rates by 10 percent come October 1 or explain to the state why that is not feasible.
Remember when ESPN reporter Erin Andrews was videotaped in her hotel room by a peeping tom? Such video voyeurism in Florida will carry stiffer penalties and laws surrounding it will be expanded: a peeping tom will now be prosecuted for videotaping you from outside your house.
Not so cut-and-dry is the law banning synthetic drugs, a cause Attorney General Pam Bondi has taken a special interest in.
"Synthetic drugs...pose a serious threat to our communities," said Bondi.
Fake pot (such as "spice") and concentrated bath salts (such as those believed to be what led to a South Florida man chewing off half of a Miami man's face), are included in the ban.
However, while the law outlines specifically what the state considers a synthetic drug, clever chemists are crafting drugs that get around the new laws.
