The Fine Print

Crist's demise leaves an uncertain legacy

With polls showing that he continues to lag behind rival Marco Rubio, the hour that Gov. Charlie Crist spent with David Gregory at Tuesday night’s U.S. Senate debate might be his final time in the national spotlight.

Crist, who had successfully climbed from the ranks of the state senate into the governor’s mansion, is now confronted with the prospect that his political career for now is over. His decision to bolt the Republican Party and run as an independent means that he will have few options after this year.

His political ascent was marked by several twists and turns and it is hard to imagine that the man now preaching about independence and moderation once accused Democrats of dirty tricks in getting then-Gov. Lawton Chiles elected over Jeb Bush back in 1994.

But as Crist exits the stage, he leaves behind an uncertain – and largely incomplete – legacy as Florida’s governor. Crist became the first governor to voluntarily give up the post after one term in the 40-plus years that governors have been allowed to seek re-election.

Lance deHaven-Smith, a professor of public administration and policy at Florida State University, said Crist’s legacy actually depends on how the election turns out next week.

“Crist tried to move his party and the state back toward the middle after eight rather polarizing years under Jeb Bush,'' notes deHaven-Smith said in an e-mail. “He did not accomplish much policy-wise compared to many other governors, but he contributed to significant improvements in the state’s civic culture.  If he is elected to the Senate, Florida is likely to see a continuation of this moderation in public office for both parties.  If he loses, well, his legacy of compromise and pragmatism may be short-lived."

David Colburn, a professor of history at the University of Florida and a long-time scholar of state politics, said that Crist clearly tried to work with both political parties and was not ideological in how he approached problems. An example of this, of course, was Crist's decision to embrace the federal stimulus in order to help ease Florida's budget woes.

“I think it is easy to dismiss Crist as a politician who is only interested in getting and holding office and that there really is not much to him,’’ Colburn said in an e-mail.  “Clearly he is not ideological and he made clear to more than one state political leader that "he was not Jeb Bush." By that he meant that he was willing to work with both parties to find solutions to critical issues facing Florida and that he did not dismiss government's role in improving the quality of life for Floridians.”

But Colburn also made it clear that Crist is unlikely to leave the same kind of impact that other governors left.

A full look at Crist's uncertain legacy can be found here at the Florida Tribune.

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.

Class size amendment could give Republicans a weapon against Meek

The class size amendment was barely passed by Florida voters in 2002.

Then-Gov. Jeb Bush led the charge against the amendment - which called for capping class sizes in public schools - by saying the cost of the amendment would "blot" out the sun.

Bush tried to get the Legislature to freeze or even scale back the amendment, but his efforts came up short, most notably in 2005 when it was defeated in the GOP-controlled Senate by a 21-19 vote.

Flash forward to this year when it looks inevitable that a new measure to change the class size caps will clear the Senate. Republicans who opposed it five years ago have flipped their votes and not even all Democrats are standing in opposition.

Still some Democrats are wondering why Republican legislators are doing this. They say the final restrictions required by the amendment can be met by changing state law to give districts some wiggle room.

Republicans say that they can't ignore the constitutional requirements and that the final caps that kick in this fall are just too expensive to pay for.

But it's worth noting that the original 2002 amendment was championed by U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami and the likely Democratic nominee this fall for U.S. Senate.

If the class size do-over is on the ballot, then Republicans would be able to point a finger at Meek and ask why he wants to impose expensive restrictions on schools at a time the state is grappling with budget problems.

Remember it was Bush who used the original class size amendment as a way to brand his Democratic rival Bill McBride as a tax and spend liberal. During his entire 2002 re-election campaign Bush kept asking how McBride would pay for class size. Now of course Alex Sink - the husband of McBride - is running for governor and she could have to deal with the same question.

Read more about the class size fight here.

The entitlement reform that Republicans aren't talking about

Later today the GOP-controlled Legislature will have done something once unthinkable:

Rein in the Bright Futures Scholarship Program, the wildly popular scholarship program begun in 1997, that has continued to grow in the cost over the last dozen years. Between 2002 and 2008 alone the cost of Bright Futures - which provides anywhere from 75 percent to 100 percent - grew from $190 million to $383 million. In the last school year, nearly 160,000 students across the state received a Bright Futures scholarship. The great majority of these students were white and attended a 4-year state university. For example, nearly 27,000 recipients alone attended the University of Florida.

The House is expected to take up and send to Gov. Charlie Crist SB 762, the tuition differential bill that would allow Florida's 11 public universities to move tuition rates to the national average. The legislation mandates that part of the money goes to undergraduate education improvements, while some of it will be set aside for financial aid.

But the most important part of the bill may be that it exempts differential tuition rates from the Bright Futures scholarship program. Translation: As universities raise tuition rates, students will become responsible for paying the higher rates instead of the state picking up the tab.

Most of the discussion about this bill has centered around the potential for 15 percent a year tuition hikes, but a bigger impact from the legislation will be what it means for some Bright Futures recipients. The Senate analysis spells out in stark terms: By the start of the 2013 school year students attending the University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida International University, University of Central Florida and University of South Florida would be paying 45 percent of the cost of their education while those attending other schools would pay 41 percent.

The bill does not apply to any students who entered a university prior to July 2007 but it means that Florida Academic Scholars - those Bright Futures recipients who now get 100 percent (or close to it depending on which school they already attend) of their tuition and fees paid - will see the value of their scholarship decline by nearly half.

This is monumental given that Frank Brogan, now the president at Florida Atlantic and former Education Commissioner, and Sen. Ken Pruitt, the sponsor of this bill, were among those who vowed to never break the promise of Bright Futures. (And of course the irony here is that the scholarship program was begun as a way to blunt criticism that lottery revenues were not being used to enhance education.)