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Found this on another thread: Note wording of Bill.

Fla. House OKs reinserting feeding tube
AP | 10/21/03 | JACKIE HALLIFAX

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida House voted late Monday to give Gov. Jeb Bush the power to intervene in the case of a brain-damaged woman whose feeding tube was removed last week by her husband's order.
The House voted 68-23 in favor of the bill. The state Senate planned to take it up Tuesday.

The measure would give the state's governor 15 days to order a feeding tube to be reinserted in cases like Terri Schiavo's. The governor's power would be limited to cases where a person has left no living will, is in a persistent vegetative state, has had nutrition and hydration tubes removed and where a family member has challenged the removal.

Schiavo, 39, meets all the bill's requirements. She has been at the center of a decade-long court battle between her parents, who want her to survive, and her husband, who says he is carrying out his wife's wishes to not be kept alive artificially.

Bush said in a statement earlier Monday that lawmakers understand the "unique and tragic circumstances of Ms. Schiavo's case, and I am hopeful the Legislature will pass a bill immediately."

Court-appointed doctors have described Schiavo as being in a vegetative state since her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected potassium imbalance.

The feeding tube was removed Wednesday. As of Monday, doctors estimated Terri Schiavo would live little more than another week without the feeding.

George Felos, attorney for the husband, Michael Schiavo, said he thinks the House legislation is unconstitutional. "I don't believe that the Legislature has the authority to interfere," Felos said.

Courts have affirmed Terri Schiavo's right under the Florida Constitution to not be kept alive artificially, he added.

Pat Anderson, attorney for the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, said she was "dumbfounded" by the Legislature's intervention, although the Schindlers had hoped for just such action.

"Normally it takes the Legislature somewhat longer to come together and solve a problem than 18 hours," she said. "I guess everybody is kind of riled up about this."

During two hours of House debate, several Democrats argued that the Constitution doesn't allow the Legislature to give the governor the power to overrule the courts.

"This bill so oversteps our role it ... turns democracy on its head," Rep. Dan Gelber said.

But Republicans said that where judges might be wrong, especially in cases like Schiavo's, such legislation is desperately needed.

"We're talking about a lot of legalese," GOP Rep. Don Davis said. "The judge in this case is absolutely wrong. ... Whether it's legal or not, I'm telling you, you should support this bill."

Meanwhile, Michael Schiavo said Monday he realizes some people disagree with the court's decision to let him remove the tube and that he has struggled with it himself.

"But I know in my heart that it is right, and it is what Terri wants," he said. "There is no longer any realistic hope of Terri's recovery. Perhaps there never was, but I had to try — just as the Schindlers have tried.

"The reality is that Terri left us 13 years ago, and none of us can bring her back."

In his statement, Schiavo detailed his efforts to rehabilitate his wife, including three tests that concluded she could not learn to swallow on her own.

Meanwhile Monday, a Florida watchdog agency for the disabled asked a federal judge to keep Terri Schiavo alive long enough to investigate a claim that the removal of the feeding tube is an act of abuse.

Judge Steven Merryday, in Tampa, did not immediately rule on the request from the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, whose members are appointed by the state.

Gordon Scott, an attorney for the Tallahassee-based organization, asked the judge for a 10-day injunction to give it time to investigate.

Felos said the federal judge has no jurisdiction in the case.