Public is seen, but not heard: Floridians visiting the Capitol to address lawmakers at committee meetings are finding themselves routinely squelched.

TALLAHASSEE -- Jay Campbell, a lawyer who helps run a Tampa nonprofit agency, has traveled to the state capital for years, speaking to legislators about organ and tissue transplants.

He didn't expect March 3 to be any different.

But this time Campbell didn't get a chance to speak at the Senate committee meeting he attended. Neither did the doctors accompanying him.

"I was just shocked," said Campbell, an executive at Lifelink, an organ and tissue recovery group. "I'm not new at this . . . but I've never been in a situation where you were not allowed to speak."

Some Floridians who have traveled to Tallahassee this legislative session have found that they have been shut out of the process, barred from speaking to legislators during the only meetings at which public debate is allowed.