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An Emotional Legislative Session Winds Down
Tribune photo by COLIN HACKLEY
House Sergeant at arms Earnest Sumner, left, and Senate Sergeant at Arms Donald Severance drop their handkerchiefs to signal the end of the 2008 legislative session, Friday at the Capitol in Tallahassee.
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Published: May 4, 2008
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TALLAHASSEE - They laughed - a lot - but cried plenty as well as they passed more than 270 new laws affecting everything from your property taxes to license plates for your car.
State lawmakers ended this year's emotional, grueling 60-day legislative session on Friday by passing a $66.2 billion budget that slashed $4 billion from education, health care, public safety and other areas of state spending. Budget cutting was this Legislature's dominant mission, the result of sinking state revenue, prompting $500 million in cuts to the current year's budget at the start of the session before work began on the pared spending plan for 2008-09.
Gov. Charlie Crist has said he will sign the budget, but has the power to veto individual spending items. He has 15 days after receiving the 400-page spending plan to submit both his signature and list of line-item vetoes. For bills, he also has 15 days to take action.
With precious little cash to go around - and GOP lawmakers determined not to raise taxes or end tax exemptions - bills failed by the dozens. Most carrying any significant cost were dead on arrival. Here's a look at what passed, what didn't, and how it may affect you:
Your Wallet
Sales tax holidays: Gone. This lean fiscal year, lawmakers agreed initially to ditch the state sales tax holiday for purchases of hurricane preparation supplies, and to shorten the state sales tax holiday on back-to-school items. But even that proposal failed to make it through the Senate.
Property taxes: No change. The Legislature last year sent to voters a proposal to double the homestead exemption and transfer Save Our Homes tax benefits, and Senate President Ken Pruitt appeared content to let Amendment 1 show results after it passed in January. There was heavy lifting on the property tax issue in the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, however.
Tuition: State universities and community colleges will get a 6 percent tuition increase.
Recreation: The cost of registering your boat goes up this year. Increases are across the board depending on boat length - a 16-26 footer will cost $28.75, up from $18.50; a 26-40 footer goes to $78.25, up from $50.50; and yachts over 110 feet will cost $189.75, up from $122.50. Those boats could be sailing on cleaner water, though - the Legislature passed a bill preventing casino ships from discharging wastewater into the Gulf.
Property insurance: Customers of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., a state-run company and the largest property insurer in the state, were given another 12-month reprieve from a rise in rates. The bill also requires companies to give more notice to policyholders they plan to drop and pay the undisputed portion of a claim within 90 days.
Smokers: Cigarette taxes will remain the same, despite pressure from some lawmakers to raise taxes by $1 per pack.
Education
Vouchers: Lawmakers allotted $30 million to expand the state's Corporate Income Tax Scholarship program, which allows poor children to attend private schools on the taxpayers' dime. The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission approved ballot language to give voters the chance to grant this and other voucher programs protection in the state Constitution from court challenges.
Class size: Cash-strapped school districts will continue to have to comply with the strict class-size caps approved by voters in 2002. Lawmakers tried to make the requirements more flexible, but the House and Senate failed to reach a compromise.
FCAT: No longer the sole criterion for grading high schools. The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test will remain a key factor in school grades, but lawmakers voted to add other variables, such as graduation rates, into the mix.
Higher education: Senate leadership wanted to gut the power of the university system's board of governors and give the Legislature more authority over decisions in such areas as tuition. Their plan also would have made the education commissioner an elected position. It sputtered in the House and eventually died.
Evolution: Science educators won't have to present a "critical" analysis of Darwin's theory of evolution, but neither will they have special state protection if they do, after efforts by Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, and Rep. Allan Hays, R-Umatilla, failed.
University of South Florida: By 2011, expect a bigger presence in Lakeland; the Legislature gave the green light for the university to build USF Polytechnic, a campus that would offer four-year degrees in information technology and applied sciences.
Transportation
Commuter rail for Central Florida: The high-profile, much-touted project crashed in the Senate, where critics questioned why the state wanted to pay CSX, the Jacksonville freight train giant, more than $650 million to use the company's tracks. CSX refused to sell the tracks unless the state agreed to pay up if there were any passenger accidents in the rail corridor, even if an accident were the company's fault.
Motorcycles: It's now illegal to pop a wheelie.
Health, Human Services
Autism: Large insurance plans will have to cover costly, interventional therapies for autistic children.
Foster and adoptive children: Lawmakers failed to fund a subsidy program to pay parents who adopt foster children after July 1, but agreed in the final hours of the session to give the state Department of Children & Families flexibility to shift unused trust fund money to cover the shortfall in adoptions. Foster kids "aging out" of the system now or recently will receive subsidies to help them with housing and other necessities, but there is no money in the budget to help those aging out next year.
Abortion: For the second year, Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Tampa, tried to change state law to force doctors to perform ultrasounds prior to an abortion. The woman would then be asked if she wanted to see the image, but could sign a form saying she refused to look at it. The measure failed. Critics railed against the bill, saying it infringed on abortion rights.
Nursing homes: Cutting nearly $164 million to Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing homes, lawmakers gave nursing homes permission to lower the number of hours that nursing staff must spend with patients.
Byrd Center: No money, and no change. After months of trying to negotiate a merger between the University of South Florida and the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center & Research Institute, lawmakers decided instead to forgo funding the center for a year and leave the governance issue alone.
Moffitt Cancer Center: Moffitt lost $10 million to begin expanding its Tampa campus, which is built out. But its funding for programs and research remained largely intact, coming in at slightly more than $11 million.
Criminal Justice
Guns at work: A bill signed by Crist makes it illegal for employers to terminate employment if a worker keeps his gun locked up in his car during business hours. Only concealed weapons permit holders - about 500,000 Floridians - are covered by the law. Don't pack your pistol just yet, though. Several business groups have filed a lawsuit to block the law from taking effect.
Sex offenders: State residency laws won't change. Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, tried to streamline the state's myriad residency restriction laws by making it against the law for certain types of sex offenders to live less than 1,500 feet from places children gather, such as schools and day care centers.
Probation officers: Expect fewer of them. The state's budget calls for cutting 200 jobs from the Department of Corrections. State attorneys and public defenders also face job cuts - 167 and 126, respectively.
Wrongful incarceration: People who go to jail for crimes they didn't commit will be paid $50,000 for every year of wrongful imprisonment under a measure pushed by Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa. But anyone with a prior felony wouldn't qualify. Some lawmakers said that was unfair, but the Republican majority felt it was needed to prevent automatic compensation to career criminals.
Grow houses: Penalties are stiffened for cultivating, packaging and distributing marijuana in homes.
Environment, Energy
Energy: A comprehensive energy plan would penalize utilities for not reducing greenhouse gas emissions and establish lower emissions standards for new cars and light trucks. What's more, it would require all gasoline sold in Florida to contain 10 percent ethanol by January 2011. The energy plan also calls for regulators to require utilities to produce a certain percentage of their power from renewable energy sources.
Florida Forever: The state's popular land-buying program has been extended for another 10 years. This means one local project, the purchase of the 12,500-acre Cross Bar Ranch in central Pasco County, is a step closer to reality.
Everglades: Restoration for the River of Grass got a last-minute funding plug of $50 million this legislative session. This is half of what Everglades restoration normally gets, but more than zero, which was what originally was earmarked for the project.
Water: Lawmakers slated $15 million for the Southwest Florida Water Management District to embark on a major water restoration project spanning 5,100 miles and eight counties.
Recycling: Two Pinellas County lawmakers tried to get recycling bins installed at all state-operated organizations and public airports. The bill fizzled at the last minute.
Also Of Interest
Bestiality: Still legal in Florida
State Song: "Old Folks at Home," also known as "Swanee River," will be changed to leave out racially offensive lyrics. A second song, "Florida - Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky," submitted by a music teacher for a statewide contest, will become the state anthem.
Vehicle, um, decorations: Carry on with the popular pickup accoutrement: so-called Truck Nutz. The anatomically correct accessories, modeled after bull testicles, were outlawed by the Senate but had immunity in the House, so no $60 fine after all.
License plates: Added to the roster of 109 specialty plates now available are new ones touting Florida tennis, lighthouses and horses. Lawmakers declined to approve an "I Believe" plate promoting faith-based education, but endorsed a plate bearing the state motto "In God We Trust."
Public campaign financing: Continues, despite a proposal to end it.
Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( stopTHEinsanity77 ) on May 4, 2008 at 12:26 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Bestiality: Still legal in Florida, I can't believe this is legal in ANY state! Doesn't this fall under animal cruelty? How sick.
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Posted by ( Seawolf ) on May 4, 2008 at 1:37 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
"slashed $4 billion from education, health care, public safety and other areas of state spending."
Instead of going through and slashing waisted spending in other pet projects and areas not essential they slash crucial budgets that directly effect our safety and our children's education.
They accomplished NOTHING!
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Posted by ( watttt ) on May 4, 2008 at 3:43 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Seawolf, things haven't changed much have they.
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Posted by ( azzhole ) on May 4, 2008 at 5:32 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Bestiality: Still legal in Florida, of course it is. How else would our beloved elected officials procreate if not with donkey's or packaderm's....
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Posted by ( Old_FL_Crab ) on May 4, 2008 at 10:46 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Bestiality is still legal in Florida, O.K.
I know where there's a nine foot female gator
if any of y'all sick pups feel lucky and amorous.
.
For all that were crying 'bout loseing their truck nutz,
see how the Florida State Legislature works?
Or was that yer brains hanging off the bumper?
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Posted by ( mr_hanky ) on May 4, 2008 at 11:25 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
And all of the emotion in the Legislature was over losing truck nutz. Did we really elect these people???
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Posted by ( V4florida ) on May 4, 2008 at 4:06 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Times like these I wish I was paid to write my own articles. Florida, our great state, has changed its state song from an old black man and the plantation with poor english.... in 2008! Truck nutz and bestiality? If anyone happens to be disturbed enough to want either of those, we have the state for you. And be sure to bring your pistol (and your truck nutz) with you to work, especially if you work at an abortion clinic- the natives are restless about making sure that you see an ultrasound of a mass of flesh, as if you haven't already considered, deeply, the implications of your predicament. But, beware of the sun and the elderly! Florida does not care to fund cancer research or Alzheimer's disease despite the fact that over 10% of the ENTIRE country afflicted with either disease is here, in sunny Florida. Now, I don't want to "hate" and I want to "keep it clean" and follow all criteria listed to ensure that this is possibly read by even one person who sees straight through this. with my luck, that person is probably just been busted for growing deadly marijuana, which, as we all know is just the most egregious of acts. Certainly screwing a dog is less reprehensible. Anyway, a point to the ramblings? All of this is ridiculous. People of this state, let alone this country, need to start thinking about the people that they elect. These bills, amongst many others, cost us (tax-paying citizens) all to even deliberate in session (let alone the consequences!). These bills are, after all, supposed to be a reflection of how we all feel, right? I don't know about all of you, but I'm ashamed of this state. Are we all prepared to botch another presidential election? Wake up Florida! Life is passing us by!
Well, I'm off to sing "Swanee River" and enjoy 'dem der cows to my heart's content while I can only hope that someone else understands the nausea that I'm now experiencing.
-V
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Posted by ( Harry ) on May 4, 2008 at 11:15 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
"Bestiality: Still legal in Florida, I can't believe this is legal in ANY state! Doesn't this fall under animal cruelty? How sick."
How do you know the sheep wasn't asking for it?
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Posted by ( stopTHEinsanity77 ) on May 4, 2008 at 11:33 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
well Harry, unless you can talk to sheep, I'd call that rape.
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Posted by ( Harry ) on May 5, 2008 at 12:15 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
"State lawmakers ended this year's emotional, grueling 60-day legislative session on Friday"
They work for 60 days and it's grueling?
We're setting the bar too low for these ingrates.
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Posted by ( signit4bes ) on May 5, 2008 at 12:38 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Bestiality: Still legal in Florida.
Change the state song to Deuling Banjos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esl2NNOtHQE
Gitter Dun!
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Posted by ( Ari_Hinkelberger ) on May 5, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by ( FlyingSpaghettiMonster ) on May 5, 2008 at 1:14 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Drat you VFlorida, you covered almost all of the points first... Considering that those elected are usually over paid for what they do, I think they should all have a 50% pay cut. Make it like the FCAT, if the senator does a good job for the public interest he better money than someone that doesn't. And while we are breaking down that wall between church and state, maybe that tag should read "in Gods we trust." Just to make sure they are all represented. Everyone has their own favorite. You know, good ol' cthulhu, Zuse, Thor, Satan, Krishna, Shiva, and others may be offended. I for one would like to see a tag that In FSM we trust. I guess that is just giving into vanity. ;)
FSM
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Posted by ( Bob2 ) on May 5, 2008 at 5:57 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Nifty. Cut the 1850's rate of contributions to struggling families, but figure out a way to pay "teachers" more despite their lack of progress in the classroom.
Oh well, I guess they need to have cash on hand for their inevitable legal costs.
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Posted by ( Tiko ) on May 5, 2008 at 10:32 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Trey Treviesa is a worthless representative and a pathetic excuse for a human being. How does he look himself in the mirror every morning? (no the answer isn't , 'with love and admiration'.) truck nutzzz legislation is more productive than the crap he tries to pass.
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Posted by ( rdnkcracker ) on May 5, 2008 at 11:56 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I guess we can see more Marijuana grown outdoors now, since growing inside gets you more time. What a joke they would have done more if they debated legalizing it. The report says that they passed more then 270 laws this session, HOW MANY New laws do we need? maybe they need to go back and revisit some of the old archaic laws still on the books. Heaven forbid your caught smoking a joint and go to jail yet you can screw a sheep and just get stares. R.I.P. common sense
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Posted by ( johnboy ) on May 5, 2008 at 12:57 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Not one word about illegal imagrant's,guess they don't understand how many construction job's are lost to illegal's and the money lost that's not being put back in the state.Over 100.000 construction job's lost in Florida this year alone, They make the money and send it home.our state goverment just don't care about the little people, as long as they their's..
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Posted by ( lornoborno ) on May 5, 2008 at 3:32 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, and Rep. Allan Hays, R-Umatilla
You suck.
I hope you two fanatical dopes both fall in a deep well before the next session.
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Posted by ( Claylisa ) on May 5, 2008 at 3:42 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
"grueling". Yea right. What a joke.
Enjoy your break... you fat cat, bast--ds & bit--hes!
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Posted by ( suemccartin ) on May 5, 2008 at 3:47 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Well I for one am glad that my truck can proudly display his set of cahonies in peace, talk about a waste of time to even get discussed! Someone had some wisdom when they blew that one off. In case no one has noticed big business owns this state, anything they can do to screw the taxpayer into having to lay out big bucks for something they will do it in this state and your lawmakers don't care--they all have stock in the businesses doing it. I've got some suggestions for cities to save some money, stop harassing your elderly and threatening law suits because the crazy neighbor calls code enforcement all the time...in fact there's one great big budget joke right there....fire all the residential code investigators we've got bigger problems than allowing the crazy neighbor or the carpet bagger to try to evict the old lady so they can pick up the property for nothing. Florida is the biggest pack of good old boys going, people tell me it's worse in other states but from what I've seen I disagree. No one has rights here unless they can secure and attorney to protect them.
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Posted by ( quietone ) on May 6, 2008 at 6:45 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Well at least the high and mighty, and only agency in the state of florida, the FHP got a raise, no other state workers needed a raise, as you can see, they only gave a raise to the one agency that was in need. So all other state employees bow down, and salute the mighty FHP. The only agency that needed a raise, but you could have done better, 5% is a slap in the face, we needed $10,000 a year to be fair to us.
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