A 2011 bill aimed at protecting a scholarship program funded by corporate donations was written by the only group that offers the scholarship program - not an elected official - and included a provision that would have given that group access to confidential tax information, according to emails and documents obtained by the Times-Union.

The legislation was signed into law on June 2 and upped the amount that companies can give to the program, from 75 to 100 percent of their corporate income tax liability. Donor companies are given a tax break for their contributions. The roughly $4,100 scholarships go to low-income students who want to attend private schools.

In Northeast Florida, 111 schools take part in the program, including 87 in Duval County, the second most of any county in the state. Nearly 3,600 students are enrolled in the program in Duval, Clay, St. Johns and Nassau counties.

Emails between the office of the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee, and Denise Lasher, the top lobbyist for Step Up For Students, show that on Jan. 26 the group sent to Horner a copy of the bill that it wrote. At Horner's request, it provided him a blow-by-blow breakdown of what was in the bill so he "would not embarrass myself or you, but rather properly defend this bill."

Read the emails below the story or here (opens on scribd.com)

Step Up For Students is a Tampa-based nonprofit that offers the tax-credit scholarships. It is the only organization that takes part in the program.

Though the emails provide just one example of an outside group writing a bill that changes state law to its benefit, it's not unique. Most people who troll the halls of the state Capitol already know Tallahassee's dirty little secret - lobbyists, not elected officials, write many laws.

"It's very common.