Charlie Crist's big week ahead

Coming out of the Memorial Day weekend, Gov. Charlie Crist has a desk full of legislation that he must act upon by May 30, or this coming Saturday.

The bills now sitting on Crist's desk include several of the biggest and most important pieces of legislation passed - including the $66.5 billion budget. But they affect everything from workers' compensation insurance, to higher education, to cigarette taxes and Florida's fragile property insurance market.

In the run up to this date, Crist has been asked by the trial lawyers, Republican and Democratic lawmakers, state employees, the NRA to use his veto power to kill bills or slice out parts of the budget that they dislike.

Crist can sign, veto, or allow to become without law any piece of legislation that comes to his desk. Here's a guess on what he will do in the week ahead.

* SB 2600 - This is the actual budget that spells out spending for the coming year. Various groups want Crist to use his line-item veto power to undo sweeps of trust funds - such as the one that pays for concealed weapon permit checks - that were authorized by lawmakers. Prediction: Crist will sign the budget, but will wind up using his line-item veto power in some places, albeit small places. Some of the ideas suggested - like a veto of the state budget cuts - may be practically impossible to actually carry out because of the way the budget was constructed.

* HB 903 - Workers' compensation attorney fees. Of all the measures on his desk this one is just too tough to call. Crist has been very cautious and not dropped any real hints of what he plans to do about this legislation. It was a top priority of the business community, but it is staunchly opposed by the Florida Justice Association, the group that represents trial lawyers. Here's a separate question to ponder: Would trial lawyers help Crist's U.S. Senate campaign if he vetoes the bill?

* HB 1495 - Property insurance. While some lawmakers have in recent days called on Crist to veto this bill, it would be hard to imagine that the governor would actually do that. He has expressed support for the fact that the Citizens Property Insurance rate hikes included in the bill wound up lower than what was initially proposed by the House. The legislation also scales back the size of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund right as the state heads into another hurricane season.

* SB 2694 - Contracting bill. This bill is not about now, but it's about the future and whether Crist wants to hand over more control of state contracts to the legislative branch right before he leaves office. Associated Industries of Florida has called for a veto, but this bill is a top priority of Sen. J.D. Alexander, who will be around another year as Senate budget chairman. Crist expressed some reservations about this bill last week, but it's not clear he would go as far as a veto.

* SB 1840 - Cigarette tax. After some unsure moments, Crist has now said he will in fact sign the $1 a pack cigarette tax hike into law. He has downplayed the revenue aspect, and instead mentioned that the higher tax would be a deterrent to smoking and ultimately save the state money in health care.

* SB 1778 - Motor vehicle fees and taxes. This measure includes a plethora of fee hikes including raising the initial registration fee from $100 to $225, hiking the cost of a license plate from $12 to $28, increasing the charge on specialty plates by $3, and raising the cost of getting a copy of crash reports from $2 to $10. That last hike has drawn the ire of auto insurance companies. Crist so far has said very little about this particular bill, but since this measure generates so much money for this year's budget it would appear unlikely he would veto it.

* SB 1696 - Higher education. This conforming bill is actually quite substantial. It modifies Bright Futures scholarships to require a refund from a student if they drop a course, it allows up to 15 percent tuition hikes in graduate programs, it cracks down on students trying to change their residency in order to qualify for lower tuition, it imposes a new fee on students who don't graduate on time, it allows Florida State University to impose a student health fee above current legal limits to pay for a new student health center, and it places a moratorium on any universities from enacting a health insurance mandate for the next year. The legislation does not impact FSU's current mandate - but it will stop other colleges from imposing one until a study on the issue has been finished.

Comments

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Thanks for a great run down of what's going on.

The issue with the Trial Lawyers is definitely the one to watch. For that group to back a Republican in congress would be news.

Keep up the good work!