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Term-Limits Plan Attached To Veterans Bill

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

cdolinski@tampatrib.com

Published: March 25, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - A plan to help disabled veterans created controversy Tuesday when a Senate committee combined it with one to expand term limits for state lawmakers.

Sen. Dave Aronberg's original proposal, which would appear on the 2010 ballot, would ask voters to extend a property tax discount for disabled veterans to those who were not Florida residents when they entered the military.

The Senate Community Affairs Committee embraced the plan, but the bill lost several votes after Chairman Mike Bennett combined it with his proposal to ask voters to expand legislative term limits from eight years to twelve.
Florida voters overwhelmingly approved the eight-year term limit in 1992. Bennett's amendment would place the question before voters again - though it remains unclear whether the veterans and term-limits issues would appear as separate ballot questions or together in one question. Unlike citizens who add proposals to the ballot through petition initiatives, lawmakers can "log-roll" unrelated topics into a single proposal.

Bennett pointed out that his plan would affect only lawmakers taking office in November 2010 and thereafter.

"Eight is enough" advocates argue that the existing limit breathes fresh ideas and views into the process and makes it accessible to more people.

Skeptics say it siphons off institutional knowledge. In January, the Century Commission for Sustainable Florida wrote that "due to the complex nature and variety of issues that Florida's legislative leaders are faced with," longer terms would be better.

Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, acknowledged the trade-off even as she spoke against Bennett's amendment. But the balance, she said, tips in favor of the need for fresh perspectives, she said.

After a committee majority accepted Bennett's amendment, Storms said she would vote against the bill despite supporting the veterans tax break. Addressing one veteran in the audience, she warned, "Your bill is in danger as a result of this amendment."

In an interview, House Majority Leader Adam Hasner said putting term limits in the veterans plan will kill the latter's chances in his chamber.

"I think that's disrespectful to those men and women who have served our country and are disabled veterans," said Hasner, R-Delray Beach. "If we're going to take a vote on property tax relief for disabled veterans, let's not muddy the waters by putting in an amendment like expanding term limits."

Bennett, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, bristled. "There may be a lot of things I might be guilty of; disrespectful of veterans ain't one."

The Bradenton Republican said he disagreed with Storms about the public's commitment to current term limits, saying that voters understand the need for expertise in dealing with the state's overwhelming budget problems.

He produced his amendment Tuesday, he said, because he missed a deadline for filing standalone legislation. If the process allows the proposals to advance independently, he may work to separate them. "I'm not going to do anything that's going to screw up that veterans resolution."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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