The Fine Print

Scott's dinner conversation with J.D., Don Gaetz and Andy Gardiner

Gov. Rick Scott - after flying to Eustis to roll out his budget proposal at an event set up by Tea Party leaders - spent dinner with Sen. J.D. Alexander, Sen. Don Gaetz and Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner.

Here's the main things that they talked about during the conversation that began in the famed Florida Room of the mansion before it shifted to the State Dining Room.

* Gaetz and the governor talked with the others about the recent decision of Vision Airlines to come to Florida.

* Gaetz expressed his disappointment to Scott regarding some recent Visit Florida ads airing in Palm Beach County. Gaetz told Scott the ads featured Northwest Florida officials. He said he didn't understand the logic of targeting people from Palm Beach County to come north to the beach. Scott seemed surprised by the ads as well.

* Alexander, the Senate budget chief, told Scott that he had had the chance to meet the new Department of Management Services Secretary Jack Miles and that he had the right professional qualifications for the job.

* Alexander also said that he just been taking a first glance at Scott's budget proposal. He was urged to "just pass it." Later in the night that theme would be repeated when one of Scott's top aides would suggest to all three senators that the nation will be watching to see if the Legislature enacts Scott's "fiscally conservative" budget.

* There was some general conversation about Scott's flight to and from Eustis being waylaid because of bad weather. Scott also talked about the crowd that showed for the event. He briefly mentioned that those in the Tea Party - who he said included Democrats and independents - don't want to be "disappointed' by those they have supported. Scott also noted that he has had bigger crowds at Tea Party events than at Republican Party of Florida organized events.

* Gaetz said lawmakers were likely to start looking this year at the operations of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, which is responsible for providing money to help developers build low-income housing. Alexander said he has begun questioning why the corporation needs any more money right now when there are plenty of empty houses in Florida due to the recession. Scott noted that he did not recommend any additional funding for them.

* Scott and Alexander started talking about property insurance. The governor repeated his vow to make changes this year to Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-created carrier of last resort. "Everyone understands we need to fix Citizens this year,'' Scott said.

* During dinner, Scott repeated a line from his budget rollout where he said "we shouldn't have fiefdoms" in state government. This came from a discussion on why on Florida's highways there were separate weigh stations for Department of Transportation and interdiction stations for the Department of Agriculture.

* Scott expressed his amazement that the state does not have a unified e-mail system for all of state government.

* Scott also said he is a "few days" away from naming someone in state government to take control of economic development efforts. This was part of an overall discussion where Alexander asked questions about whether or not Scott has been successful in talking to companies moving here, and what kinds of things he is hearing about those who may, or may not, move to Florida.

Alexander also asked about Scott's proposal to have more control over economic development incentive dollars. Alexander asked if Scott would be opposed to some sort of provision that states that if a certain company promises a large number of jobs then Scott has the authority to use the dollars without additional legislative approval. Scott said he could go along with that concept and said he had no problem with having thresholds in place.

* Gardiner briefly mentioned to Scott concerns about the use of psychotropic drugs on foster children. He relayed how Sen. Ronda Storms cared very much about the issue and that she would be pursuing it again this coming session. Gardiner also said that Storms had already met the new head of the Department of Children and Families and "hugged him.'

* Gardiner also urged the governor to help Florida retain - and even attract - Major League Baseball teams to Florida. Scott, who once was a part owner of the Texas Rangers, said he wants to make sure the state doesn't lose any more teams and that he wants to "put a focus" on many things the state can to help its sports teams and have people come to the state because of the teams.

 

 

Rookie mistakes by veteran McCollum?

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum strode before group of newspaper editors and publishers June 17 in Sarasota and boldly proclaimed that, if elected to the state's highest office, he would impose a two-year freeze on tax rates for every local government in Florida.

When pressed for details, such as how his plan would affect schools and whether it would usurp local control of cities and towns, McCollum promised that he would spell it all out the next day.

He did not. Instead his campaign put out a vague press release that left as many questions as answers about a plan that, if enacted this year, would force local governments and schools to reduce spending by $3 billion.

Since then, McCollum has talked little about the tax rate freeze.

It seemed like a political mistake, pitching a far-reaching plan without having the consensus and details to sell it. The irony is that McCollum is anything but a newcomer, having held elected office for most of the last 30 years, from Congress to his current job as Florida attorney general. Indeed, McCollum's campaign has tried to portray his GOP opponent, Rick Scott, a health care executive who has never been elected to office, as someone that voters cannot rely on during such challenging times.

"They don't need a rookie up here running this place who doesn't know what Tallahassee is and what state government is all about," McCollum said earlier this month, referring to Scott.

Yet it is McCollum's campaign that seems to have struggled to show the strength of the candidate's experience.

Keep reading here.

10 things in the state budget you may not know about

Gov. Charlie Crist could act sometime Thursday on the $70.4 billion budget that state lawmakers adopted during their spring session.

Many salient facts about the budget have been reported including that it's bigger than what Crist himself proposed, that it includes money for items only if Congress kicks in extra federal help, and that it contains many projects pushed by the two budget chiefs in the Legislature.

But there's always some interesting odds and ends that haven't gotten much attention. Some of these spending items are perennials and have been in the state budget for years and are unlikely to get vetoed by the governor.

Still it's a testament to what can get wedged into a 444-page document.

1. School funding study - $100,000. The budget sets aside $100,000 to hire an “entity located outside the state of Florida” to study the state’s school funding formula and review it for the “sole purpose of recommending any improvements to the existing formula that would better reflect the varying characteristics of each of the 67 school  districts.” This study – which is due by Jan. 1, 2011 - is also supposed to assess the “equity” of the current school funding formula.This is a big deal for South Florida lawmakers still upset with a 2004 change to the state’s school funding formula that used to steer more money to urban school districts to cover higher living expenses. Legislators especially from Miami-Dade County want someone outside the state to look at whether the revamped formula is fair. This could be the prelude to another big fight next year over school funding.

2. Some college students helped, some college students hurt. There has been publicity surrounding the proposed changes to Bright Futures - the popular merit based scholarship program paid out of Lottery ticket sales. But less noticed was a decision by state lawmakers to actually increase the amount of financial aid set aside for needy college students.

Legislators for example cut by $1 a credit hour the money available for Bright Futures. This cut, however, could even be a bit larger since $25 million is contingent on getting extra money from the federal government to help with Florida's Medicaid bill. The move comes at the same time lawmakers increased tuition by 8 percent and universities are authorized to raise tuition even higher. But lawmakers also helped out Bright Futures students attending community colleges that offer four-year degree programs. 

Funding for two financial aid programs that help students at private schools - including the Florida Resident Access Grant - was cut by 4.1 percent.

But lawmakers did give a slight increase for need-based financial aid provided to both public and private school students. The maximum amount per award would go from $2,069 to $2,235.

Legislators also passed HB 5201 to accompany the state budget. This would make permanent changes to Bright Futures - including making the scholarship amount a flat rate in the budget instead of tying it tuition hikes - and would increase eligibility requirements over the next four years. This same bill also contains language that establishes the doctor of pharmacy program for the University of South Florida at the polytechnic campus in Lakeland. (It would not be all that surprising if Crist vetoes this bill.)

3. Anti-abortion counseling-$2 million. Legislators expect Crist to veto HB 1143, the health care bill that includes the requirement that women get an ultrasound if they are seeking an abortion during the first trimester. They have purposely held the bill back so there is time to mount a campaign to convince Crist to support it. What's lost in the dust-up is that more than a year ago Crist intervened and saved the state's crisis counseling program from getting cut. This program - which was started while Jeb Bush was in office - provides money for pregnancy support centers and advertising for billboards that direct people to a hotline. Lawmakers this year spared it from any cuts. There was a provision added that states 85 percent of the money will be used for "direct client services, website maintenance and Option line."

4. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty's summer homework. McCarty has been a constant target of some lawmakers the last few years especially after he urged Crist to veto last year's property deregulation bill. This year the Office of Insurance Regulation did lose 10 positions in the new budget, but its funding level was close to last year's spending. Lawmakers, however, have demanded that McCarty produce by Sept. 1 a detailed report of all residential property insurance rate filings submitted during the last fiscal year. The report has to include lots of information including the name of the OIR actuary who reviewed the rate filing and the days it took for regulators to act on the filing request. This move comes in the wake of grumbling that McCarty's office opposed some of the insurance proposals floating around this past session even though his office was approving rate hikes.

5. Motorcycle safety awareness-$250,000. This is a reduction in funding from last year, but the budget this year directly orders the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to provide this money to just one group: American Bikers Aiming Toward Education of Florida Inc. This is a group that lobbies on behalf of bikers and led the charge to repeal the requirement that bikers 21 or older must wear a helmet. The president of the organization says his group should get the money because it has a motorcycle safety awareness program in place that has helped reduce motorcycle deaths in Florida.

6. Banning assault rifles. The Sun-Sentinel first reported that there was a push to block Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink from using any money to purchase assault rifles for her fraud investigators. This led to a mocking ad from the Republican Party of Florida that prompted Sink to accuse the party of making fun of law-enforcement officers. Just to bring it full circle the final version of the budget included the provision that Sink's office cannot purchase "assault-type weapons."

7. Cancel this lease, we mean it. Last year the Legislature wanted to get a better handle of how land the state owned and how much office space it leased. Lawmakers weren't totally satisfied with the response they got from the state's main landlord - the Department of Management Services. This year's budget goes out of its way to specify how, when and where certain state offices are to be closed due to budget cuts. The budget orders the closing of 10 driver license offices around the state stretching from Fort Walton Beach to Vero Beach. But there's also language that lists the address and locations of other state offices in Key West, Chipley and Tallahassee that are to have their leases ended. Lawmakers also ordered the cancellation of a lease payment for a copier in a Key West office and for postage meters in several locations.

8. Unlicensed activity media campaign - $600,000. This has been in the budget for years, but it gets scant discussion. The state sets aside money to "publicize the dangers" of unlicensed real estate activity and unlicensed accountants. The money to battle unlicensed real estate activity can be used to pay for media production and advertising materials from a non-profit corporation that represents the largest number of licensed real estate professionals. The money to educate the public about unlicensed accountants will be spent in consultation with a company that represents the largest number of licensed CPAs.

9. Florida International University/Department of Health-$32.5 million. This has already gotten some publicity as a project associated with Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami and the powerful budget chief. But what's interesting is that the state plans to borrow money to construct and manage the building.

10. Free orange juice - $240,000. Of course what would a Florida welcome station be like if there wasn't free orange juice available to visitors. The Department of Citrus is authorized to spend this much for "citrus juice" to be handed out at the state's four welcome stations located in Escambia, Hamilton, Nassau and Jackson counties in North Florida.

Secession, robocalls, freedom: Day 1 after health care reform

Within 24 hours of health care reform passing in Washington D.C., we had here in Florida:

Attorney General Bill McCollum, the leading Republican candidate for governor, declare that he would file a lawsuit with nine other states as soon as Tuesday and that his decision had nothing to do with any political ambitions or attempts to place conservative critics of health care reform.

"No politics involved in this whatsover,'' said McCollum during a press conference held on Monday morning. It is all about the fact that the bill is bad and unconstitutional, he said.

About six hours later, McCollum's campaign sent out a press release attacking Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink that stated "while she provides lip service on addressing the serious challenges facing our state, Alex Sink refuses to stand with the small businessmen and small businesswomen who will be harmed by the higher taxes and government mandates this legislation will bring."

The release further states: "Fortunately, Attorney Bill McCollum is leading the charge to challenge the Democrats’ unconstitutional health care plan – showing the true leadership we need for Florida’s future.”

The attack on Sink came because after months and months of refusing to say whether or not she supported Obamacare she finally put out a statement that said she was in favor of the bill headed to the president, sort of.

"Though it is certainly not perfect, these long-overdue reforms are better than Washington continuing to do nothing to improve America's health care system.'' said Sink, the main Democratic rival to McCollum for governor.

While Sink and McCollum weighed in, the Florida Legislature jumped right into the fray as well, passing not one, but two bills out of legislative committees. One bill urges McCollum to sue, while the other would put a constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot that would say Floridians are not obligated to follow any mandates to participate in any health care systems.

"It is our duty to step up and reassert the rights of Floridians, in this case protecting our citizen’s rights and freedoms to make appropriate decisions as it relates to their own health care,”said Rep. Scott Plakon.

State House Democrats, in a bit of clever wordplay, announced that now was not the time to "secede" and that Republicans were having an outrageous display of partisanship and ignoring the fact that nearly 25 percent of adult Floridians were uninsured.

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio said he would launch a petition to repeal health care reform and chided his U.S. Senate rival Gov. Charlie Crist for not being strong enough on the issue. Crist's campaign pointed that he did in fact support repealing the measure. And if that wasn't enough, there was the release from the Rubio campaign that stated the road to health care reform started with the "Crist-Obama stimulus."

Lastly, the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd did robocalls to voters in the 2nd Congressional District trying to explain why he changed his vote from a no to a yes on health care reform.

His call touted the legislation as a way to stand up to insurance companies, while offering a tax credit to middle class families and help out with the deficit.

"For too long insurance companies have had too much power to determine patient coverage and care, premiums are out of control, and health care costs threaten our nation's fiscal future,'' Boyd declared in the phone call.

Health care reform he promised would "put a stop to insurance companies who deny care or cancel coverage when you get sick care."

He added that "I'm confident that with these reforms we will begin to control health care costs for our families and our country, reserve the right to choose your doctor and stop many of the abuses of the big insurance companies."

JD: I was wrong

Sen. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said that he no longer thinks that Florida’s insurance commissioner should be an appointed official.

Alexander, who has a series of gripes about current Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, made his comments following a contentious debate over whether the commissioner should be subject to a confirmation vote every 2 years. The bill, SB 740, barely squeezed out of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee by a 5-3 vote on Wednesday.

Alexander was one of the main architects of a bill in 2002 that changed the commissioner from an elected official, but he said that it was an “error” because he contended that McCarty “was more of a politician” than a professional regulator. McCarty has come under fire from some legislators for his handling of rate cases involving State Farm Florida and his opposition to a bill that would deregulate the industry.

Legislators got rid of an elected commissioner eight years ago because they did not want the newly created Chief Financial Officer position to have complete control over insurance. At the time the leading contender for the job was Tom Gallagher, who was eventually elected to the post.

“I am big enough to admit that I was wrong,’’ said Alexander.

More here from the Best of the Florida Current for March 17.

Sink doesn't get any help from fellow Democrats

Senators sitting on the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee had a chance on Wednesday to help out Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

Sink is one of those who wants to give more power and authority to the state's insurance consumer advocate, Sean Shaw. The idea is that Shaw - who reports to the CFO - should be able to intervene in insurance rate filing cases and force state regulators to receive his suggestions and recommendations.

But the amendment doing that was voted down on a narrow 5-4 vote. Guess what? It was three Democrats joining with two Republicans who killed it. The four senators who liked the idea were all Republicans.

Despite that the bill, however, got a rough hearing. Read more about it here.

Memo to state workers: This budget could be all about you

While there is lots of talk about changing Medicaid, there is a growing sense of inevitability of where state lawmakers will try to wring a large amount of savings when they craft the 2010-11 state budget. And that's from state workers.

Senate President Jeff Atwater in an interview last week couldn't have been more blunt. Layoffs of state workers he said is "unavoidable." And Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, made it clear that retooling health insurance benefits and even retirement accounts is also a distinct possibility.

Atwater said that he cannot justify protecting state employees while other businesses throughout the state are shedding workers and trimming costs.

 "They have changed their health plans for their fellow employees, they have had layoffs that tragically became necessary to keep the business afloat, they have furloughed employees, they have reduced wages, they have moved from the strip center back to their garage and the back bedroom to survive,'' he said. "If our orientation is that I should be preserving something here uniquely and differently than what my fellow Floridians have had to do to keep their own small business afloat, I have missed the correct orientation of my job.''

When Gov. Charlie Crist rolled out his budget proposal he made it clear that he did not think it was the "right time" to either cut state salaries or force state employees to pay more for their own health insurance, or even require the roughly 27,000 who pay no health insurance premiums to pay something.

That sentiment so far does not appear to be shared by the GOP-controlled Legislature. The political reality could be that it's easy to go after state employees because in the counties with the highest concentration of workers - except Miami-Dade - those areas lean heavily Democratic.

But it may have just as much to do with budget reality. Republicans have made it clear that they will not entertain tax increases during an election year. Federal stimulus money requirements mean that legislators can't slash expenses easily in places such as Medicaid or even school funding.

Last week the main Senate budget panel heard about how costs in the state health insurance plan are growing at 10 percent a year. That's significant since the state is expected to spend $1.8 billion on health insurance for state workers and university employees during the current budget year. Only an estimated $157 million of that will come from state worker premiums.

But it may not just be health insurance that legislators turn to. They may also force state workers to contribute to their retirement accounts.

Up until 1975 state employees did pay into the pension plan known as the Florida Retirement System. That year legislators opted against a pay raise - but wiped out the contribution requirement - a move that boosted the take home money in paychecks.

Forcing state workers to pay 1 percent of their salary toward their pension would generate an estimated $72 million a year.

Florida pays its employees on average less than employees in such states as Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky and North Carolina, according to a presentation made earlier this month by the Department of Management Services to the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee. But that same analysis showed that other states like Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana also require their workers to contribute anywhere from 1.25 percent to 7.5 percent to their retirement accounts. Tennessee does not charge employees, while Arkansas charges nothing for employees hired before 2005 but five percent for those hired after July 2005.

Crist, Sink and Bronson get free health insurance from state

When it comes to providing health care to Florida’s nearly 4 million uninsured, Gov. Charlie Crist urges “no government mandates” and “no tax dollars involved.” 

But Crist himself gets free health insurance, which covers all the usual health services, courtesy of the taxpayers. So do members of the Cabinet, the Legislature and 26,000 state workers.

The governor, asked about the free coverage this week, said he sees no reason to change things.  “I think we have a good setup right now,’’ he said.

Crist is not the only statewide elected official getting free health insurance. Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, both of whom are multi-millionaires, as Florida Trend reports, get free insurance, as well.

Attorney General Bill McCollum is the only member of the Cabinet who does not get free health insurance from the state, but instead he gets coverage through the federal government. More here.

Alex Sink's cold war with the insurance commissioner

Gov. Charlie Crist and two members of the Cabinet voted on Tuesday to select a new person to head the Office of Financial Regulation, the arm of state government charged with investigating financial fraud.

But in the two-and-a-half years since a new administration took over there has never been a vote to confirm Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, who was picked for his job when former Gov. Jeb Bush was still in office. And as long as Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink remains in office that won't likely change.

While McCarty has constantly been praised by Crist, it's clear that Sink has a completely different viewpoint. Sink has faulted McCarty on a number of times since entering office in 2007. Her displeasure flared up again at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting when McCarty presented a report on the entry of new capital into the property insurance market.

McCarty made the presentation at the request of Sink, who was following up on complaints from lawmakers who pushed the insurance deregulation or a.k.a the "State Farm" bill. These lawmakers have contended that McCarty misled Crist before he vetoed the legislation and there remains a quiet effort to get the Legislature to pass a new version of the bill if there is a special session later this year. The bill in essence would allow large capitalized carriers to have unregulated rates. (Sink refused to say Tuesday whether Crist should have signed or vetoed this bill - saying that was "the governor's decision" to make.)

McCarty for his part has refuted the suggestion he misled anyone, saying he and members of his office have been "candid" that a big chunk of new capital in Florida has come from unregulated surplus lines carriers which do not usually cover those in the residential homeowners market.

Sink on Tuesday morning chided McCarty for failing to get her the information she requested earlier, saying "it still stuns me" that his office was unable to get the information to her sooner. She added "It's really disturbing" and "I find it insulting."

The job of insurance commissioner used to be an elected position. But the 1998 reorganization of the Cabinet approved by voters collapsed the job of state treasurer and comptroller into the new chief financial officer position. But lawmakers uncomfortable with handing over all the power to the CFO - primarily Tom Gallagher since he was the main GOP candidate for the new job - placed the hiring and firing of the insurance commissioner under the governor and Cabinet.

But there was a twist in that 2002 law: It would take three votes - including yes votes from both the governor AND the chief financial officer - to either hire or fire the insurance commissioner. Translation: If the governor and the CFO don't agree, nothing happens. Sink has backed legislative proposals to change this, including an effort by Sen. J.D. Alexander to require an annual vote on whether to keep the commissioner, but that hasn't gone anywhere.

When asked on Tuesday whether she had confidence in McCarty, Sink instead repeated that he "didn't complete his assignment on time." When then asked if Sink would keep McCarty if she were elected governor, she said "that's entirely speculative."

She then added: "You always review the people who are there and evaluate their qualifications and then you make a decision."

Interestingly enough, Attorney General Bill McCollum - and Sink's likely rival for the governor's office in 2010 - praised McCarty's report, saying that Floridians should "very pleased" with the amount of surplus lines coverage since it has helped decrease the need to have commercial coverage picked up by state-created insurers.

End of freebie for legislators and other state workers?

The Florida fund that pays the health care bills for tens of thousands of state employees will become insolvent in two years unless something drastic is done, state economists say. Someone has to fix the fund, either the taxpayers or state workers, and a top state senator says it should not be the taxpayers.

It's time to end the free health-insurance perk that legislators and 26,000 state workers -- those who aren't part of the career-service system -- now receive, says State Sen. J.D. Alexander, a Lake Wales Republican and chairman of the Senate committee that oversees the state budget.

The Department of Management Services has concluded that the state would collect an extra $44.9 million a year if it charged all state employees the same amount for health insurance. Rank-and-file state workers pay $50 a month for standard individual coverage and $180 a month for family coverage. 

"Quite frankly, it’s time we have the same for legislators as everybody else,’’ Alexander said. More here.