Capitol Report 2011 January 31, 2011 Filed by: Ben Wilcox, LWVF Governmental Consultant Overview Since November 2010, committee meetings have been taking place in preparation for the 2011 Legislative Session. The League has several priority issues that are expected to receive attention during this year s regular session, which begins March 8. Work on some of these issues has already begun during pre-session committee weeks. There were two weeks of committee meetings in January, and there are three weeks of committee meetings scheduled in February. As a result of the November 2010 election, the 2011 Legislature looks very different from the way it did last year. The Republican Party made gains in both chambers, picking up one seat in the Senate for a total of 28 Republicans and 12 Democrats. The Republican Party picked up five seats in the House for a total of 81 Republicans and 39 Democrats. Republicans have enough votes in both chambers to pass constitutional amendments by a 3/5ths vote and to override a veto by the Governor with a 2/3rds vote. This will be the first year for new Senate President Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker Dean Cannon to lead the Legislature. Senator Haridopolos has proclaimed this Senate the most conservative ever. Earlier this year, he announced that he intends to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012, and those political aspirations will likely influence his legislative agenda. His priorities appear to be evading the new federal Affordable Care Act through a constitutional amendment that allows Florida to opt out of the requirement to purchase health insurance and another constitutional amendment to limit state revenue and spending (TABOR). House Speaker Cannon s priorities include Medicaid and judicial reform. Florida also has a new Republican Governor Rick Scott. Scott is also an avowed conservative who pledged on the campaign trail to cut property taxes and the corporate income tax by $2.2 billion. Senate President Haridopolos has already questioned whether Scott s tax cuts are possible considering the state s $3.6 billion dollar budget deficit. In addition to the new Republican Governor, the GOP now has complete control over the State Cabinet. Elected last November were Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
During the month of January, Florida s new political leaders were largely feeling each other out, but February is likely to be more contentious. Governor Scott will release his proposed budget on February 7, which will provide more details about where he intends to cut to allow the tax breaks he is proposing. Some of these proposed cuts, such as closing 53 state parks and cutting human services, are likely to be unpopular and face stiff resistance. The make-up of the Legislature has seen a few changes as well. Of the 120 House members, roughly a third are freshman. In the Senate, that number is fewer thanks in part to the return of some veteran lawmakers from days past, including Senators Jack Latvala and Gwen Margolis. The House has gone back to its traditional committee structure and dropped the term councils and returned to committees and subcommittees. The Senate has a new rule that allows the President Pro Tem or the Majority Leader to vote in any committee, strengthening leadership s ability to move its agenda. Much of the talk by legislative leaders in recent weeks has been about the budget. The state is facing another year of declining revenues, and the deficit for 2011 is projected to be from $3.6 billion to $5 billion. Without new sources of revenue, lawmakers will likely have to make new budget cuts and program reductions, including possible cuts to state worker benefits and pensions. Other big picture issues this year include Medicaid reform; education reform, including merit pay for teachers and school vouchers; immigration; TABOR; and redistricting. Potential side issues include privatization of mental hospitals and prisons; abortion related issues; tort reform; water quality; and energy policy. There has been little activity on League priority issues thus far with one exception. With the passage of the redistricting reform amendments last November, there is already a lot of talk about preparing for the redistricting process in 2012. The Senate has appointed a Reapportionment Committee chaired by Senator Don Gaetz. The committee has held two meetings to discuss the technicalities and the timeline for redistricting. The committee expects to have the necessary census data by April and to have its MyDistrictBuilder website online in June. The website will allow any member of the public to draw redistricting plans. The committee anticipates holding 20 public hearings throughout the state during the coming summer. The House has yet to name the membership of its redistricting committee, but Representative Will Weatherford has been named to be Chair. The House has also joined a lawsuit filed by Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart and Congresswoman Corrine Brown that challenges the constitutionality of Amendment 6, dealing with Congressional redistricting. Critics have questioned the House s use of taxpayer money to challenge an amendment that was put in the Constitution by more than 60% of the voters.
In other news involving redistricting, Governor Scott ordered Amendments 5 and 6 withdrawn from the Justice Department, where they must be pre-cleared to ensure compliance with the Federal Voting Rights Act. Scott s action to delay preclearance was criticized by FairDistrictsFlorida, LWVF, and other groups that worked to pass the amendments. Governor Scott has also appointed former Secretary of State Kurt Browning to that post again. Browning chaired the Protect Your Vote committee that campaigned against the redistricting amendments. The League had a meeting with Secretary Browning on February 1. Other good government issues that may be addressed this year include ethics, the Public Service Commission, the ban on gifts from lobbyists to legislators, term limits, government in the sunshine, elections, and campaign financing. The Ethics Commission is expected to put forward a good bill that will include some of the recommendations contained in the recent statewide grand jury report on corruption in Florida. Among those recommendations is a proposal to give the Ethics Commission the power to self-initiate investigations. Senators Fasano, Gaetz, and Dockery are sponsoring a good bill (SB 212) that requires PSC Commissioners to abide by the judicial code of conduct while conducting communications and utility rate proceedings. It s expected there will be a bad bill to loosen the ban on gifts from lobbyists to legislators. There will also be a bill (HJR 207) to extend term limits from 8 to 12 years. There will possibly be legislation to require the Legislature operate more in the sunshine. And finally there will likely be bills dealing with elections and campaign financing including the leadership fund bill that was vetoed last year. The bill would have allowed the legislative leadership to open new campaign finance accounts and accept unlimited contributions from special interests, even during the Legislative Session. And finally in the area of bad government, it s expected that the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) will be back before the Legislature in 2011. TABOR would place a formula to limit revenue growth in Florida in the state Constitution. The formula is based on rate of inflation and population growth. In Colorado, the only state that has tried TABOR, the results were disastrous. It forced drastic cuts to education, health, public safety, and infrastructure. Since Colorado adopted TABOR in 1992, over 20 state legislators have rejected it, and it has been voted down in every state in which it reached the ballot. In Florida, TABOR failed in a vote by the 2008 Taxation and Budget Reform Commission. Attempts by current Senate President Mike Haridopolos to pass it in the 2009 and 2010 Legislatures also failed. But Senator Haridopolos continues to make TABOR a priority, and despite the fact that the bill has yet to be filed, it is still expected to surface at some point, possibly in the form of a committee bill. The League is already working to find the votes to defeat this legislation. As you can see, it s sure to be an interesting and exciting Legislative Session and one in which the League of Women Voters of Florida will be very active. We will be
asking for your help to lobby for and against issues that the League believes are critical. Thank you in advance for your support of our lobbying efforts. League Priority Issues The LWVF has set four program areas for 2011, including Government, Education, Social Policy and Natural Resources. Government: Promote an open government that is responsive to the people of the state. Equitable Taxation: The League supports tax legislation that does not jeopardize local service, addresses infrastructure deficits, and removes unfair tax exemptions that affect governments ability to serve citizens. Redistricting Reform: The League supports single-member election districts that are equal in population, provide access for minorities, are compact and, when possible, take local characteristics such as political and geographical boundaries into consideration. Citizen Initiatives: For the past four sessions, the League has fought against passage of new restrictions on the citizens initiative process. As bills addressing citizen initiatives arise; the League will oppose bills that increase the moneyed interests strangle-hold on the initiative process and the legislative process and, where appropriate, advance the idea of a citizen statutory initiative. Elections: The League supports legislation that promotes stricter election audits and would give the Supervisors of Elections more flexibility in selecting early voting sites. Education: Priorities are Funding, Accountability and Civic Education. The League supports legislation that provides for a free public school system with high standards for student achievement and with equality of educational opportunity for all that is financed adequately by the state through an equitable funding formula. Social Policy: Priority is Health Care. The League supports measures to implement Florida health care in a manner consistent with the LWVUS position on health care reform. Natural Resources: Priorities are resource management, land use, energy, freshwater resources, coastal management, environmental protection, public participation, and agriculture.
Get Involved Ben Wilcox is the League s professional lobbyist for the 2011 legislative session. We are still looking for folks to participate in the Lobbying Corps, so please contact Marilynn Wills (marilynnwills@msn.com) or Rebecca Sager (rsager@music.org) if you are interested. Updates on League legislative issues will be provided on a regular basis through Capitol Report, which is published every week during the Session. Important information may also be accessed at www.leg.state.fl.us. Watch for your Capitol Report each Friday of the Session for news on priority issues and what you can do to help. For further information, check out the Florida Voter newsletter, available at www.thefloridavoter.org. For updates on or copies of proposed legislation, call legislative information at 1-800-342-1827, or visit the Florida Online Sunshine homepage at www.leg.state.fl.us.