The Fine Print

The Constitution, an obscure legislative panel and millions of dollars in the balance

Twelve years ago Florida lawmakers created a unique new entity that was intended to deal with budget matters that could spring up during the 10 months in between the annual sessions.

It was called the Legislative Budget Commission and it is a joint panel of 14 House and Senate members.

One of its champions was veteran legislator Jim King.

King, a Jacksonville Republican and evental Senate President who died three years ago, said he wanted to create more openness about important budgetary decisions.

King said each year the Florida Legislature would approve budget items only to discover later that they were changed or ignored by budget amendments that were adopted once lawmakers had left town. Before the creation of the commission budget changes could be agreed to by concurrence of the governor and a handful of top legislative leaders.

The Senate placed the commission in a budget planning bill that was passed in 2000 and signed into law by then Gov. Jeb Bush.

It didn't take too long for the use of the commission to become a flash point. When King was president he found himself in a tug-of-war with the House over the proper role of the commission.

Back in 2003 then Rep. Bruce Kyle questioned whether or not the commission had the constitutional power to approve changes to the budget instead of forcing a vote by the entire Legislature. The argument - and similar to one that would also be at the heart of the bitter dispute over Terri Schiavo - was whether or not the Legislature could delegate some of its prime duties to others.

Kyle said at the time about a pending budget request that it was "best to let them wait for both chambers." Kyle added that it was not the job of the commission to "rubber stamp" spending requests from state agencies.

The Senate responded to the ongoing criticism by placing a constitutional amendment on the 2006 ballot that enshrined the commission in the constitution.

The measure, which included other issues including the creation of a yearly three-year fiscal outlook and a cap on the use of non-recurring funds in the budget, was sponsored by then-Sen. Jeff Atwater and was a top priority of then-Senate President Tom Lee.

Flash forward to Wednesday when the Legislative Budget Commission is scheduled to take up a controversial plan to privatize health care prison operations.

The union that represents state workers is already arguing that the LBC lacks the legal ability to approve such a change because it was not expressly approved by the entire Legislature. Tom Brooks, an attorney for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told reporters this week that AFSCME is prepared to sue to stop the privatization plan that could affect nearly 3,000 employees.

The debate should be interesting because behind closed doors there are routinely debates about whether or not a budget amendment should be taken up and considered by the LBC.

For example, earlier this summer some Senate Republicans were quietly opposed to a plan to approve new funding to the county clerk of courts. Their argument? The Florida Legislature had approved a budget without the extra funding - and therefore the commission could not contravene that decision.

But thanks to a push by incoming House Speaker Will Weatherford the commission went ahead and approved the extra funding at its August meeting.

Many of the decisions by the commission are routine such as granting budget authority for agencies to spend newly-received federal grants or letting the Department of Transportation roll forward $1.6 billion worth of road-construction money from one fiscal year to the next.

There is sure to be some legal arguments that the commission has the ability to approve the privatization plan thanks to this law.

In the end, however, if AFSCME does take the privatization plan to court it could finally answer lingering questions about the legality of the budget commission and the limits on what types of budget decisions can be decided by 14 legislators or must be decided by the entire Legislature.

(UPDATE: The commission approved the privatization move as expected. And as expected the union went ahead and filed a lawsuit.)

Rick Scott vs. the Tea Party?

Last fall a group of conservative activists including some Tea Party leaders who backed Rick Scott for governor went into court to get a federal judge to strike down some of the state's campaign finance laws.

Flash forward several months and it turns out that backing Scott doesn't guarantee a free pass with his administration.

The state of Florida -- led by the top elections official appointed by Scott - is actually mounting a vigorous legal defense.

If the lawsuit is successful, groups could raise money to challenge constitutional amendments without having to disclose their donors or include disclaimers on any ads that they run. There are already seven amendments on the 2012 ballot.

This week both sides laid out their legal arguments that will be used to decide whether the state’s campaign finance laws are constitutional. The case is scheduled to go to trial in September but a ruling is expected without having to hold a trial.

Most of the arguments center on recent federal campaign finance rulings - including last year’s contentious Citizens United case that struck down restrictions on independent  “electioneering communications.’’

But lawyers for Secretary of State Kurt Browning -- who is now the main defendant in the lawsuit -- argued in their filings that “invalidating Florida’s challenged political committee laws will destroy the well recognized informational interest of the public to know who is speaking to them about campaign issues.”

You can read more about it here at the Florida Tribune.

Scott promises "eight years" that won't be boring

Rick Scott, the Naples businessman who shocked the political establishment in 2010, appears ready to push ahead with plans to shake up all of state government.

In a lengthy interview given days before he will sworn in as governor Scott even joked: "You think the next eight years will be boring? You will have plenty to write about."

You can read about the entire interview here at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

During the interview, which was given in the same room in the Capitol that former Gov. Jeb Bush used as his office, Scott touched on a number of subjects. But he didn't provide a lot of details, insisting instead that he will unveil comprehensive proposals between now and Feb. 4 when he must submit his first budget recommendations to the Florida Legislature.

But here are some key highlights:

* Scott still plans to donate his salary to charity, sell off the state plane and put his assets in a blind trust. The governor-elect says he has not yet decided who will get his more than $130,000 a year salary but that hasn't stopped people from already asking him for the money.

* Scott will decide by next week whether to withdraw some of the appointments that Gov. Charlie Crist has made in the waning days and weeks of his administration. Scott can call back the names of anyone who has not yet confirmed by the Florida Senate. "We're keeping all of our options open on what we're going to do," he said.

* The governor-elect has still not made his mind on what changes he will push to the Florida Retirement System other than requiring employees to contribute part of the cost.

* Scott wants to push ahead with his ambitious plan to expand the use of school vouchers, but he is still not sure if he will first ask the Florida Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would help make such a program immune to legal challenges.

* Scott will not back down from his promise to cut property taxes - even as the state struggles with a $3.5 billion budget gap. He also seems confident that he can accomplish his agenda - and take on other big items as well.

"It's not daunting,'' Scott said at one point. "It's going to be fun. It's going to be exciting."

* Scott said he will weigh in during the month of January on who he thinks should be the next chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. Scott personally interviewed candidates for the job at the party quarterly meeting last month.

* Scott, who has never held public office before, said he tried to turned to those from the private sector for top jobs in his administration because "I want to have people who have accomplished things and know what they are doing."

 

 

 

 

Florida's wild expensive election could have big stakes

Florida's bitter, expensive and wild election season will finally lurch to a close on Tuesday.

Voters, besieged by a barrage of political ads, could be forgiven for thinking that the main issues are Medicare fraud, lockstep devotion to President Barack Obama and reckless plans to raise taxes.

But the election's impact on a state with a million residents out of work and hundreds of thousands of homes in foreclosure looms far more prominently than all that campaign vitriol filling airwaves and mailboxes.

"I think that Florida is at a crossroads and so is our country, and the Florida election can make a determination of the future of America," said Gov. Charlie Crist, running as an independent for U.S. Senate.

Crist's decision to leave office after just one term to run for a Senate seat helped spark a frenzied run for governor and marked the first time in more than 100 years that both the governor and all the seats on the Cabinet were open at the same time.

Democrats hope to win back the governor's mansion after 12 years of Republican control and begin to chip away at GOP dominance of the Florida Legislature.

"There's an opportunity here in this election to bring some balance back," said Karen Thurman, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party.

Florida voters could help decide the direction of the country and the state. They could help Republicans seize the U.S. House, give the Legislature a veto-proof majority, or pass amendments that could alter the state's political makeup.

A longer look at Florida's high-stakes election can be found here.

Next Senate President not bothered by a no vote on all amendments

Florida voters were supposed to get a crammed ballot this November that would ask them to weigh in on everything from school class sizes to federal health care reform and property taxes.

But a flurry of lawsuits coming from opponents of the amendments -- most of which were placed on the ballot by the Republican-controlled Legislature -- could block many of those proposals from being voted on this fall.

Six of nine proposed constitutional amendments on the 2010 ballot are tied up in court fights. And two measures have already been tossed from the ballot by lower court judges, although each of the cases probably will not be resolved until the state Supreme Court rules.

The latest to fall came Friday when a Leon County judge threw out a proposed amendment that advocates said would have been a boost to Florida's ailing real estate industry.

One lawyer involved in the fights is putting the blame on state lawmakers for crafting amendments that he says are intended to "deceive" the public. But Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, asserted that lawmakers have done all their work in the "sunshine."

But Haridopolos said with all the confusion surrounding the amendments voters could wind up rejecting all of them. And he says he has no problem with that.

"I would be fine if everyone voted no on all the amendments."

Here's the full story at the Sarasota Herald Tribune.