Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Session Is A Wrap

May 5, 2013

Maybe Rep. Irv Slosberg summed it up best when he spoke Friday from the House’s back rows.

“Sorry that we had a little meltdown for a couple of days, but 58 out of 60 days is pretty good,” the Boca Raton Democrat said.

The 2013 legislative session hit a rough patch during the final week when House Democrats protested the lack of a plan for expanding health coverage for low-income Floridians. An uninitiated viewer from Palatka or Wewahitchka might have been baffled to tune in and see House members sitting around listening to an automated voice — named Mary, of course — read bills as part of a procedural move by Democrats to slow down the session.

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/floridaweeklly.jpgBut put aside the protest and the failure to pass a health expansion. And Mary’s droning voice, for that matter.

By the time the House and Senate adjourned Friday night, Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Rick Scott could tout a successful session. Most of their priorities passed, and Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford orchestrated the 60 days with a certain professionalism that even the Democrats seemed to appreciate.

Scott, for example, focused on a limited agenda that had political curb appeal for lawmakers. That agenda included higher pay for teachers and tax relief for manufacturers — ideas that probably will play well when lawmakers chat up the Rotary Clubs back home.

“This Legislature cut taxes so we’ll have more jobs in this state,” Scott said. “We dramatically increased the funding for education, and we are giving our classroom teachers a pay raise. … These are great victories for Florida’s families.”

But part of the session’s smoothness also stemmed from an improving economy that gave lawmakers more money to play with. Unlike the past several years, lawmakers didn’t have to make unpopular budget decisions about issues such as cutting funding for universities or trimming payments to hospitals and nursing homes.

“The bottom line is, there’s nothing like having some money,” Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, said at one point during the session.

KUMBAYA RETURNS TO THE CAPITOL

At age 65, Gaetz is old enough to be the 33-year-old Weatherford’s father — and then some. But at least publicly, the pair respected each other and cooperated on priority issues, offering a change in tone from the past two years when the Senate, in particular, often appeared chaotic.

“The era of acrimony between the House and the Senate is over,” Gaetz, R-Niceville, said to a crowd gathered on the fourth floor of the Capitol to celebrate “sine die,” the traditional end of the session.

The House and Senate will always have spats, and some bills and budget proposals will always get killed as collateral damage. But Gaetz, Weatherford and their lieutenants seemed to get past those spats this year on most of the big issues.

For instance, the $74.5 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 was finished Monday, giving lawmakers four days to peruse it before they voted. Along with providing money for teacher raises, the spending plan also will boost pay for state employees, pump more money into the university system and funnel money to projects and programs across the state.

The Senate unanimously approved the budget, while the House passed it by a 106-11 vote.

Similarly, Gaetz and Weatherford made clear from the beginning of the legislative session that they wanted to reform the state’s ethics laws and change the campaign-finance system. The House and Senate whipped together compromises on the issues, and Scott signed the bills Wednesday.

Among the session’s other notable bills, lawmakers Friday approved a plan that will seek to prevent a repeat of the voting delays and other problems that plagued the 2012 elections in Florida. Almost all Senate Democrats voted against the plan because of concerns that it did not go far enough, but other Democrats said the bill (HB 7013) was a move in the right direction.

“It takes men and women of maturity to understand when you’ve done something in error to come back and correct it,” said Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg. “And we saw what happened in the November elections, and as a body we have come back this year to correct it. … I look forward to us coming back next session and fixing it just a little bit more.”

YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

Even when legislative leaders put their considerable muscle behind bills, that doesn’t mean those issues will pass. That was evident this week when the Senate, in a pair of close votes, killed a Weatherford plan to revamp the state retirement system and a controversial education measure commonly known as the “parent trigger” bill.

Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, particularly made a priority of a bill that would close the traditional pension system to new employees and require them to enroll in 401(k)-style “defined contribution” plans. While the speaker contended that the change is needed to maintain the long-term financial health of the retirement system, Democrats and some Senate Republicans combined to kill it (HB 7011).

Opponents said the traditional pension system is important for government employees, including law enforcement officers and firefighters, who often work for relatively low pay. They also discounted comparisons with private-sector workers, many of whom only have 401(k)-type options.

“I just do not understand why we want to experiment around, and we want to take these people who are protecting us every single day and put them in a system, just because it works in private business,” said Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who gave an impassioned speech.

But while people in the Capitol will remember the death of the pension bill and hundreds of other measures, the session will be known for lawmakers’ failure to approve a plan to expand health coverage for low-income people.

House and Senate Republicans decided early in the session that they did not want to carry out an expansion of the Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act. That expansion was expected to lead to the federal government funneling an estimated $51 billion to Florida over the next decade to provide Medicaid coverage to roughly 1 million people.

The House and Senate put together alternatives to a Medicaid expansion, including a Senate plan that would tap into the same pot of federal money to offer private health insurance to low-income people. But House Republicans refused to count on the federal money and pushed a smaller-scale proposal to offer state subsidies to targeted groups of uninsured Floridians.

Supporters of the Senate approach, ranging from the hospital industry to organized labor, lobbied heavily but never could get traction with House Republicans. The frustration turned into protest this week when House Democrats reached into the rules book and used a procedural move to slow down the House proceedings for two days.

But in the end, the session adjourned without the House and Senate coming close to agreement.

STORY OF THE WEEK: The 2013 legislative session ended Friday night, after the House and Senate passed a $74.5 billion state budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The chasm between the competing visions is too wide to overcome.” — Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, putting to rest hopes of reaching a deal on expanding health coverage for low-income people.

By The News Service of Florida

Comments

One Response to “Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Session Is A Wrap”

  1. Jane on May 6th, 2013 5:09 am

    All things considered they haven’t done too badly, which is more than I can say for Washington! Let’s make some changes there when the next election rolls around!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News