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What's So Special About This Session?

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By Catherine Dolinski and Jerome R. Stockfisch The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2007

The state's brain trust of economists meets regularly to assess Floridians' spending habits and estimate how much revenue is coming in to state coffers. The news in early August was bleak: The $72 billion spending plan approved for the fiscal year that began July 1 would come up about $1.1 billion short, largely due to the slowdown in the once-red-hot housing market. Other collections have also been lighter than expected, from the sales taxes on purchases related to homes to corporate income taxes. State lawmakers return to the capital this week in a special session to slice and dice. A balanced budget is a constitutional requirement in Florida. It's not an easy process. Lawmakers already pushed back the session when House and Senate leaders decided they were too far apart to waste time in Tallahassee at a cost to taxpayers of about $40,000 a day. The session is scheduled from Wednesday through Oct. 12. The House, Senate and Gov. Charlie Crist are staking out their positions. Here is a look at what may be in store in major areas of spending.

Education

Lawmakers are proposing to offset $410.6 million in proposed cuts to K-12 school operating budgets with $125 million in one-time, nonrecurring revenue. They also want to add back $147 million that would have funded performance-based teacher bonuses scheduled for payout in the future. Total per-student funding would still be 5.17 percent over 2006-2007 levels.

The hardest budget decisions are likely to come next year, when those one-time replacement dollars disappear, said Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, who chairs the House Schools and Learning Council.

To minimize cuts to community colleges and universities, lawmakers want to raise tuition 5 percent for the spring semester and restore the revenue that institutions would have reaped this fall if Crist had not vetoed a 5 percent tuition increase in May. Relying on a tuition increase is a calculated risk because Crist still opposes and could veto it a second time.

Environment

With lawmakers reluctant to slash spending on sensitive budget areas such as education, the environment could take a hefty hit. The governor has recommended reducing spending on environmental protection by $60 million; House leaders proposed cutting $41 million.

None would harm big-ticket cleanup and conservation projects such as Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. Water projects appear to be at greatest risk.

"That's an immediate hit to the environment," said Eric Draper, lobbyist for the Audubon Society of Florida. "But they are being protective of the [Florida Forever] land acquisition and Everglades money, and we have to be grateful for that."

Health Care

Nursing homes and hospitals say they lose money by serving Medicaid patients, which prompted the Legislature to boost reimbursement rates this year. But a $92 million cut the House and Senate are proposing would erase most of the payment increases they approved for those providers. A shift of dollars would provide 1,000 new slots in the program, which provides community-based care to help frail residents stay in their homes.

Lawmakers also want to add money to KidCare, the state's health insurance program for low-income children, to open 5,000 slots.

Tampa's Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute could lose half of its $15 million annual appropriation. Lawmakers and Crist favor slashing the center's funds to avoid direct cuts to services. Lawmakers are also pursuing a plan from former House Speaker Johnnie Byrd to transfer control of the center to the University of South Florida.

Affordable Housing

Affordable housing is an area of sharp division between the governor's budget-cut proposals and early versions of House and Senate plans.

As part of his vision of jump-starting the economy, Crist proposed spending $75 million - $50 million at the state level, $25 million for local governments - to help low- and moderate-income Floridians buy first homes. Those buyers would get $10,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance, and they would get below-market interest rates.

The plan is not included in the legislative proposals.

Public Safety

It appears lawmakers plan to trim around the edges rather than making wholesale cuts. Line items in budget-cut proposals suggest there may be reductions in commercial driver's license background checks, the conversion to more electronic traffic citations from paper, and cuts in such things as training for underwater crime-scene investigators.

Some vacant positions are proposed to be eliminated, but there aren't many reductions in law enforcement staff. That may be because Crist, who will sign off on the final budget reductions, made it clear that he won't cut officers.

He took issue with a proposal of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to cut 90 on-the-water officers, and after a commission meeting in St. Petersburg, he said, "I don't think you're going to see any cuts to law enforcement anywhere."

Transportation

Crist has offered up an intriguing strategy to get Florida out of its budget hole: Spend its way out.

In addition to his proposals for budget cuts, he recommended the state expedite an Interstate 95 expressway project in South Florida and accelerate 10 port improvement projects. Putting an army of construction workers to work immediately would pump $350 million into the state economy, the governor said.

How to afford it, especially given that the governor would shift $225 million from a road construction trust fund for other purposes? "Capitalizing private investments and leveraging partnerships with federal, local and private entities" were the governor's marching orders.

The House and Senate don't address it in new budget-cut proposals.

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