We didn't change that view. However, in previous versions, we had a clear:both hard coded directly below the footer. Another user wanted to remove the code so that it would fit in height in his template. Thus, we changed the system to have the clear:both on the footer with some CSS and removed the hard coded HTML.
The result is that for views which don't have a clear:both at the end and which use CSS floating, there would be no clear:both. And since your template doesn't handle the floating the height of the DIV would be considered properly.