The Fine Print

'Everything is awesome' in the Florida Legislature: Broken promises, triangulation and the road ahead

Late last week, music started blaring over the sound system at the Florida House of Representatives:

"Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you're part of a team. Everything is awesome, when you're living out a dream."

Since the song was likely chosen by Kathy Mears, the chief of staff for House Speaker Steve Crisafulli you can be fairly confident that it was chosen for the rich irony the lyrics say about the current budget stalemate that has thrown the Florida Legislature into a bit of chaos (and which will likely result in a special session.)

The origins of the standoff - over health care funding, hospital dollars and the connection to Medicaid expansion linked to Obamacare - can at times seem bewildering and confusing.

Here's what not confusing:

Despite the promises of pleasantries, the divide between the two chambers is real.

And a copy of Crisafulli's script from his closed door meeting last week with House GOP legislators bears that out.

Crisafulli makes it clear that the House did not have a lot of warning that Medicaid expansion would be in this year's legislative mix. Senate President Andy Gardiner opened the door to expansion during a speech he gave on opening day.

"I worked with President Gardiner all summer to develop a work pan and talk about how we would handle session issues,'' states the script. "Expanding Medicaid was never part of the agenda. In fact, he stated that he knew where the House was, and did not plan to push the issue in the Senate. Obviously, things have changed and rather than getting caught up in the why, or the how, we are where are today."

The script also includes the House perception that a number of GOP senators oppose expansion. (Although one can argue, they have already voted for expansion since it's in the budget and was included in a budget bill that passed the Senate by a 35-1 vote.)

It's worth noting that House Democrats contend that there are plenty of GOP House members who would vote yes on expansion.

As recounted last week _ and as shown in the script _ Crisafulli urged his members to "stand like a rock." And when it comes to expansion, the House has done that.

The House made one last-ditch effort on Friday to salvage a budget deal before the May 1 deadline. They offered to put a total of $600 million of state money into health care to help keep hospitals whole in the event that the federal government does not extend the hospital funding known as low income pool beyond this summer's deadline.

For House leaders this was an attempt to call the Senate out: Is this about the loss of hospital dollars, or is this is about Medicaid expansion? In other words, you can expect House Republicans to start saying - we are willing to take care of any perceived crisis, but the Senate doesn't want to go along.

Past legislative battles - and sessions - have almost always featured the prospect of one chamber aligning themselves with the governor - to force the other chamber to bend.

Look no further than last year when then-House Speaker Will Weatherford was willing to halt all work on the budget unless then-Senate President Don Gaetz allowed a vote on the bill that would offer in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants. By that point Gov. Rick Scott also wanted the legislation, which would help him with Hispanic outreach during his upcoming re-election.

The triangulation has occurred again this year.

But one big difference is that last year's battle was waged behind the scenes and wasn't widely known initially. This blow-up has been a lot more public.

Scott and the House are aligned now on expansion after Scott reversed his reversal on expansion. (Pick your rationale here - Scott never really liked expansion anyway, he's running for U.S. Senate etc. etc.)

In theory, that should have helped resolve the standoff, although former Gov. Jeb Bush told Scott when he first came into office that you have to be careful because you can wind up "enabling" the conflict.

As first reported by The Miami Herald, Scott targeted several senators in an effort to get them to resist the plans of Gardiner and Senate leadership. Some senators - such as Sen. Thad Altman - called the meeting cordial. Other senators such as Sen. Denise Grimsley turned down the invitation to talk to Scott.

But if the idea was to peel off reluctant senators it may have had the opposite effect and helped cement - for now - the Senate.

Where does this leave Florida and the Legislature?

Let's recall that Gardiner has been in the process a long time. He was there back in 2007 when House Speaker Marco Rubio was forced by the Senate to retreat on an ambitious proposal to expand insurance coverage to children with developmental disabilities.

Rubio told his House members at the time:

"This is not a tax cut,'' he said. "This is about real children and real parents and real families who are struggling every day to make ends meet...I am saddened that we will not have legislation before us that will address your concerns."

In that same speech Rubio predicted that Gardiner would be elected to the Senate and he would "rise to leadership."

So Gardiner knows full well that it may require brinkmanship - the June 30 deadline and potential shutdown of state government - to get the House and governor to change their minds.

But as evidenced by House budget chief Richard Corcoran's angry tweets over the weekend there's little movement.

Given that dynamic, one can anticipate that the session will end on Friday - with no extension (and all non-budget related bills dying.)

The posturing will then give way to who will call the special session - Scott or legislative leaders.

A Scott called special session could result in the Senate returning and then quickly ending without any action.

The big question then is how long will the Senate hold out?

Will they go long enough to even contemplate passing just a status quo budget in late June to avoid a shutdown - but with the prospect of stretching this out to the last quarter of the year (in hopes to hear an answer from federal authorities - and allow the pressure to build as the threat of cuts to hospitals becomes more likely?)

Or is the strategy to at least hold off a final resolution until the U.S. Supreme Court deals with the challenge to the federally-run health exchange? That decision could be rendered in June. The Senate plan contemplates creating a state-run exchange that could help absorb the 1.6 million Floridians if the Supreme Court strikes down the federally-run exchange. Senators will be able to argue they have a plan to deal with this scenario.

Yes any of that could happen. And a bonus question is would any of these scenarios result in collateral damage - both in the Scott administration for pursuing a strategy that didn't render a solution, or in the legislative ranks?

In the end, "everything is awesome."

Secrets, power, and the law: A quick guide to Florida's redistricting trial

More than two years after lawsuits were first filed a trial is scheduled to open up this week in Tallahassee that challenges the constitutionality of Florida's current congressional map. The trial could last up to 11 days.

Here's a quick run-down to explain what it's about and what's at stake.

WHAT'S HAPPENING: Two different sets of plaintiffs, including a coalition led by the League of Women Voters, have challenged the legality of maps drawn up and passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature. The lawsuit asks Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis to declare the congressional maps invalid because they violate a constitutional amendment that requires districts to be drawn in a way so they do not favor any one political party or protect incumbents. The "Fair Districts" amendment was passed by voters in 2010. This lawsuit will answer questions on whether legislators complied with these new standards _ after opposing them initially _ or instead gave them lip service and engaged in a "shadow" process as the plaintiffs allege to draw up districts that favored Republicans.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: Ultimately the makeup of the Florida delegation of the U.S. Congress.

Right now there is a 16-10 GOP edge (although one vacant seat is expected to be won in June by Republican Curt Clawson). The judge could decide that the current map is in fact unconstitutional and require that the map be redrawn. The plaintiffs behind the lawsuit argue that no less than 10 existing seats violate the standards: CD 5 held by U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown, CD 10 held by U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, CD 13 held by U.S. Rep. David Jolly, CD 14 held by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, CD 21 held by U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, CD 22 held by U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, CD 26 held by U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, CD 27 held by U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, CD 15 held by U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross and CD 25 held by U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

It's Brown's district, which winds its way all the way from Jacksonville to Orlando, that may be the one that is most impacted by the litigation.

That's because in the middle of the 2012 session two legislators in charge of redistricting - now Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford met privately with staff and decided at that time to boost the number of African-Americans in Brown's district so that it was a so-called "majority minority" seat instead of having roughly 48 percent African-American voters in the district.

When asked about this in a deposition Weatherford contended that the Senate had made a "compelling" argument to do this because it would help any legal challenges to the maps. The plaintiffs allege that this action wound up taking Democrats from other Central Florida districts and was done to make two other GOP seats safer.

KEY MOMENTS TO WATCH FOR DURING TRIAL: It is expected that during the trial both of Florida's legislative leaders Gaetz and Weatherford will be asked to take the stand. The two men were in charge of the redistricting process in 2012 before they ascended to their current positions. The two men are being forced to testify because the state Supreme Court in a 5-2 decision ruled that legislators and legislative staff are not covered by legislative privilege when it comes to deciding whether or not they violated the "Fair Districts" amendment. Other people who could testify include former House Speaker Dean Cannon as well as legislative staffers, lobbyists and consultants.

THE ALLEN WEST DEFENSE: Another thing to watch for is how many times former U.S. Rep. Allen West's name is mentioned during the trial. It's no secret that some conservatives howled at how the changes proposed by the Florida Legislature wound up affecting West who wound up losing his re-election bid after shifting to a new district. In the past Weatherford and other legislative leaders have insisted they were following the law and that they did not intentionally target West.

But West is already being used by attorneys representing the Legislature as defense exhibit No. 1. House attorney George Meros cited the loss of West - as well as the losses of several other Republicans - as evidence that everything legislators did was on the up and up. The question is how this defense will be viewed by the conservatives and tea party groups that like West.

WHY TALLAHASSEE INSIDERS CARE SO MUCH: While the lawsuit could have reverberations for members of Congress, the litigation also threatens to expose the behind-the-scenes relationships that exist between consultants, lobbyists and Florida politicians. The plaintiffs allege that GOP consultants played a role in helping craft the maps. One of Cannon's top aides - and now working with him at a lobbying firm - sent draft maps to a Republican political consultant. Meros publicly told Judge Lewis in a recent hearing that Kirk Pepper had "breached" his duty to Cannon and that Cannon was furious at him over it.

But there's more than just that: Documents and emails produced in connection with the case have highlighted meetings between legislative staff and GOP consultants and even national GOP officials right after the amendments were passed. What has surfaced so far has also raised questions as to the relationships between legislative leaders such as Cannon and Gaetz and well-known Tallahassee consultants Rich Heffley and Marc Reichelderfer. The Naples Daily News pointed out that Heffley for example was paid $10,000 a month as a redistricting consultant while Gaetz was drawing maps for the Senate.

Meanwhile, for those pushing the lawsuits they have had to answer questions about their own motivations since documents have shown that it was Democratic consultants who helped produce a map that was initially submitted to the judge as an alternative to the map now being challenged. In one colorful passage, a consultant talked about wanting "to scoop as many Jews" out of particular neighborhood in order to bolster the district of U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and who is also the chair of the Democratic National Committee.

CONFIDENTIAL AND HUSH-HUSH: One of the other big storylines for the trial is why Republican consultant Pat Bainter and his firm Data Targeting are fighting so hard to keep out of public view hundreds of pages of documents taken from the firm. The groups pushing the lawsuit want to use slightly less than 100 pages as exhibits in the trial. But Bainter's attorneys _ who are being bankrolled by the Republican Party of Florida _ have now gone to an appeals court to fight from making the documents public. The court last Friday said it would keep the material secret while it considers the appeal.

On the very least this means the trial will have to start without these secrets from spilling out, and in the end it's possible that the judge can still use the evidence even if the public never knows what it is.

The battle, however, points out that the attorneys pursuing the case are relying a great deal on material they got from consultants because they were less successful in obtaining a lot of behind-the-scenes material from the Legislature itself.

Let's not forget that it was just winter that legislators acknowledged that some records related to redistricting had been destroyed although they contended was not to thwart the lawsuit.

COST TO TAXPAYERS: And while this drags on taxpayers keep footing the bill.

In the build-up to the trial, the state's taxpayers have spent a lot of money to defend the GOP-controlled Legislature's actions. The Florida Senate has spent at least $2 million, while the House had spent more than $600,000 by last fall. (Still awaiting a more to up to date figure from the House.) You can expect that cost to rise significantly after a trial - and possible appeals depending on which side loses.

WHEN WILL THIS BE DECIDED: Very soon. The trial is not being decided by a jury but the verdict instead will handed down by Lewis. He said at a recent hearing that he plans to make his decision between now and the end of June. That's because Lewis is being switched over to criminal proceedings in July. He said he wants to have this wrapped up before he makes that move.

5 biggest questions of the 2014 session answered

The 2014 session of the Florida Legislature is expected to end sometime Friday night after lawmakers vote on a new $77 billion budget.

The session for the most part did live up to billing as an election-year offering designed to help Gov. Rick Scott.

That didn't mean there wasn't some of the usual tension and drama that accompanies every session.

Here then are this year's biggest questions answered:

1. Is this year's gambling legislation the real deal, or is it all for show? It was pretty much just a show. The deep divides over gambling remained in force and halfway through the session both the House and Senate shut down any consideration of any serious legislation.

At the tail end of the session Scott and his staff floated the idea of bringing a finished compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to legislators. One idea was to hold a special session in May to consider it.

That trial balloon was quickly shot down. And Democrats - who are seen as vital in approving any bill due to longstanding Republican opposition - locked down and said they wouldn't approve any deal unless they were involved in negotiations.

So at this point it's hard to imagine anything productive happening until maybe after this fall's elections.

2. Will the Republican-controlled Legislature really approve in-state tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants? Yes. The Florida House is poised on the final day of the session to pass the bill and send it to Scott. And Scott plans to sign the bill once it hits his desk.

The issue of in-state tuition deeply divided GOP legislators, especially those in the Florida Senate. The bill nearly died a couple of times in that chamber as some Republicans accused Scott and others of "pandering" and not sticking with the GOP idea of requiring people to follow the law.

Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater and Senate sponsor, credited House Speaker Will Weatherford and just as importantly, Scott for keeping the issue from dying this year.

Scott, who is caught up in a tight re-election this year, halfway through the session embraced the idea of in-state tuition even though just a year ago he vetoed a bill that would have helped these same DREAMers get a temporary driver's license. Democrats accuse Scott of a cynical election year ploy, but the fact is that after years of trying those pushing the issue are finally going to get the bill passed.

As a sidelight it's interesting that while one potential 2016 presidential candidate - former Gov. Jeb Bush - came out forcefully in favor of the bill U.S. Sen. and former House Speaker Marco Rubio did not. Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times even noted in a posting that it appears that Rubio's position on the issue has changed since assuming federal office. Rubio supported the legislation when he was still a South Florida legislator.

3. Testing vs. vouchers Well, this one is headed down the wire.

Concerns over testing prompted the Senate sponsor of this year's bill to expand Florida's private school voucher program to pull his bill from consideration. But the House then attached the bill that would offer vouchers to middle-income families to a bill that also deals with educational services for disabled children that is a top priority for Senate President-designate Andy Gardiner.

The Senate responded with crafting a bill that includes some testing language, but not a requirement that private schools have their students take the same test as public school students. Instead the revamped proposal includes a requirement that schools with a majority of voucher students to publicly report student performance on standardized testing.

But the Senate bill got tangled up on the 59th day and Democrats refused to allow the Senate to take up the House legislation. The procedural misstep has put the bill in jeopardy of dying on the final day. Weatherford predicted that the bill would still pass before the Legislature ends Sine Die. (UPDATE: Weatherford was right. The Senate attached the legislation to another bill and pushed it through despite the objections of many Democrats.)

4. Could Rick Scott still have a tough session?

The answer was sort of.

Clearly the looming prospect of Scott's re-election hung over the entire session. Controversial proposals were jettisoned repeatedly as it became apparent that legislative leaders had no intention of sending anything too polarizing to Scott's desk.

But Scott's decision to get behind the in-state tuition bill forced the governor to engage on a tough issue. After coming out in favor of the bill, the Senate repeatedly came close to scuttling the entire proposal.

Scott's effort to get legislators to consider a deal with the Seminoles also fell flat.

But in other ways Scott fared well. He got most, if not all, of his tax cut package. His spending recommendations were not completely followed but he got a lot of what he asked for and the Senate gave a thumbs up to his appointments.

5. Will there be a libertarian wave during this year's session?

Kind of, sort of. The Legislature is expected on its final day of session to pass a bill that would authorize the use of a strain of marijuana known as "Charlotte's Web" for medical purposes.

During his defense of the bill Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, even noted that by passing the bill Florida was in fact deciding to ignore federal laws that completely outlaw all forms of marijuana.

The Legislature also - albeit narrowly - approved raising the state's speed limits.

But many other pieces of legislation to loosen up on government regulation crashed and burned, whether it was getting rid of red light cameras or deregulating the sale of liquor in grocery stores.

And then there was the big cluster over craft breweries and whether or not they could sale certain sizes of beer known as growlers. The intense firefight between the big beer distributors and the craft breweries over what kind or regulation is needed has not been resolved and the bill is expected to die in the Florida House on the final day.

The 5 bills that could determine the final hours of the session

House Speaker Will Weatherford witnessed on Wednesday the demolition for he second straight year in a row one of his top priorities: An overhaul of the state pension plan.

The Senate voted 21-15 against taking a House bill that would have steered certain public employees away from the Florida Retirement System and into a 401 (k) investment styled plan run by the state.

But with just two days left in session it's important to note that there are a handful of other bills - some that have not gotten as much attention - that will decide whether the 2014 session of the Florida Legislature lurches to the finish or implodes.

And some of those bills are in the hands of Weatherford as he waits to see whether or not the Florida Senate act on some of his remaining priorities.

Weatherford acknowledged even as much during a brief availability with reporters after the pension bill met its demise.

"i think we have plenty of time to take up some of those priorities,'' Weatherford said. "I think you will see some bills that have been viewed as priorities of both the House and Senate start to get some legs."

So what are some of the important bills left in play:

SB 1512: This is a bill that merges an expansion of Florida's private school voucher program with legislation that would provide additional assistance to families with special needs children. But the bill as it now stands includes additional testing provisions for schools accepting vouchers that private school operators are likely unwilling to accept.

Weatherford conceded that there remain conversations about how much "accountability" should be placed on those private schools.

Now adding to the intrigue is a late-filed amendment by Sen. Kelli Stargel. Her amendment keeps largely intact the testing provision but would allow the program to begin accepting middle income families in three years.

This bill is no doubt an important one to Weatherford. And how the Senate treats this bill could well determine what happens to other important remaining pieces of legislation.

HB 5601: The package of tax cuts that comprises the remaining $100 million or so that legislative leaders promised before the session has been a constantly evolving piece of legislation that has been changed substantially several times in its trip through the House, over to the Senate and is likely to be changed once again when it comes up for a final vote.

Along the way the bill has contained multiple sales tax holidays, a cut in the state's communication services tax and the current version even has help for Daytona International Speedway.

No doubt this is supposed to be a must-pass bill. But so far it's not clear if a final deal has been reached.

But to register the seriousness of this bill Rep. Ritch Workman, the chairman of the House Finance and Tax committee, acknowledged that he's been negotiating directly with Sen. Joe Negron, the Senate budget chief, on the final version of the bill and bypassing Sen. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, who is his counterpart in the Senate. There was reportedly a deal reached on this important bill late Wednesday evening.

HB 851: This is the bill that would allow students who are in the country illegally qualify for in-state tuition rates. Right now it would appear the Florida Senate will pass the bill and send it over to the House. But of course that only came after a lot of drama and public lobbying for the legislation by Gov. Rick Scott. Passage of this bill gives Scott the ability to declare victory for the 2014 session.

SB 1030: This is the bill overwhelmingly passed by the Florida Senate that allows a certain strain of marijuana to be used for medical purposes. The House version, sponsored by Rep. Matt Gaetz, has never made it to the floor. Yet it's clear that this bill has become a priority of many Republicans. Weatherford sounds as if he plans to allow the bill to be considered. But it also appears that this might be one of those bills that remains in play till near the end.

SB 1216/HB 7095: Resolving the pro stadium controversy once and for all is a top priority for a lot of legislators, including incoming Senate President Andy Gardiner, not to mention a lot of lobbyists Just this week in the rotunda Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer was introducing Sen. John Thrasher to the owner of the new Orlando soccer team. When Dyer thanked Thrasher for his help on the bill, he paused and told them the person they ought to thank is Gardiner. Now of course it wouldn't be surprising if the back-and-forth over what should be in the bill, and what should not be in this bill will go down to the final hours.

Now this isn't to say there are not a lot of other important bills still in play, including a train of health care proposals. There are rumblings that other bills, such as the film incentives legislation, may be resurrected as well.

As we get closer to the end it will be interesting to see whether or not Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz remain cordial - at least in public. The tension between the two presiding officers has been building all session but so far it has remained largely out of sight. If something happens to some of these bills then that could change quickly.

 

 

Budget sleuthing, smoke and mirrors (Part 2)

So the public and press have a hard time figuring out sometimes where items stashed in the $70-billion plus state budget came from originally.

But there's one person who legislators make sure to know where items in the budget came from.

And that's Gov. Rick Scott.

For Scott's first three years in office he had his budget office led by the same man - Jerry McDaniel - who also helped draw up budgets for Gov. Charlie Crist when he was in charge.

Part of the annual budget process under McDaniel was to make sure that the governor's office had a fairly comprehensive list of where specific budget projects originated from - and just as importantly - who had an interest in making sure a project was spared a line-item veto.

This process isn't all that public, but you can see it play out in various public records (meaning it doesn't really get discovered until after the fact.)

Still you get a feel for how important certain projects are and who they are linked to when you go through emails and other documents.

And emails from May 2013 illustrate that clearly.

On May 6 - the Monday after the end of session Scott's legislative affairs office had already distributed a spreadsheet that contained a list of budget priorities associated with the various budget chairmen in the state Senate.

On May 7 - McDaniel holds a meeting where he asked Office of Planning and Budget staff to bring "whatever you have regarding budget priorities for the members of the Fl Legislature."

Later that day McDaniel emails his staff: "As you call to associate projects in the budget with members, please insure that they understand that you are not in search of priorities - just their particular interest in seeing projects occurring in the budget become law. Senior staff are calling separately for top 3 priorities."

That same day emails start to come in from legislative staff outlining what parts of the budget legislators are interested in.

Of course not everything was enshrined in an email.

On May 10 McDaniel emails top deputies in Scott's office with the subject line "Need."

Those emails simply included the names of several legislators including Sen Bill Galvano, Sen. John Legg, and Rep. Richard Corcoran.

Before Scott had finally acted on his line-item vetoes his staff compiled a nearly 400-page document that listed every individual spending item. And next to many lines were the name of a legislator.

$400,000 for a statewide charter school waiting list database? Rep. Erik Fresen

$2.5 million for a Florida State University Center for Reading Research pilot project? House Speaker Will Weatherford.

$1 million for a University of West Florida economic security report? Senate President Don Gaetz.

To be fair, there are many, many pages that list spending items without any legislators names on it.

But there are legislators associated with dozens and dozens of items, from funding for hospitals, mentoring programs, to money for Boys and Girls Clubs.

Gaetz, for example, backed $610,000 to help Bay County pay for indigent health care, while Weatherford was one of three legislators supporting a $250,000 appropriation for the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa.

But it's clear that sometimes asking the governor to spare an item doesn't help.

An aide to Rep. Mike LaRosa, R-St. Cloud, in a May 7 email highlights 6 items included in the budget for Osceola and Polk counties, including money for program for homeless veterans in Osceola County. All six are vetoed by Scott.

Yet Rep. Ken Roberson, R-Punta Gorda, managed to get his two projects spared, including $75,000 for a feasibility study to develop a research education aquarium in Charlotte County.

Some of the other legislators who also reached out in emails include Rep. Bill Hager, Rep. Dennis Baxley and Rep. Marti Coley.

Coley wrote a lengthy email to McDaniel where she defended several projects, including a $400,000 line-item for Liberty Hospital in Calhoun County where she argued the money was needed to help foster economic development in the rural Panhandle county.

From her email:

"Calhoun County is in my former district (Just a side note - I was born in this hospital). When I first came into office in 2005, I worked tirelessly to help keep this hospital open. The citizens rallied together and today it is a vital part of the community's economy and healthcare system. The upgrades would further help this community to continue to help themselves to attract economic development to the area. They are largely dependent on DOC (Department of Corrections) and this hospital for jobs and are diligently working to attract other industries to the area."

Scott, whose background includes running a for-profit hospital chain, vetoed the money. In his veto message, Scott said he killed the funding because it was going to pay for construction costs at the hospitaL

Just to note:

Of the 12 projects associated with Weatherford, Scott wound up vetoing five of them including money set aside for the Pasco County sheriff, a medical training and simulation lab for the University of Miami, a STEM Magnet Education Academy in Pasco County and the FSU reading pilot project.

Of the 18 projects associated with Gaetz, Scott vetoed 11 of them including $14 million for Gulf Coast State College, the $1 million for the UWF economic security report, $610,000 for indigent care coverage at the Bay County Health Department, $1 million for Building Homes for Heroes.

5 biggest questions of the 2014 session

The annual 2014 legislative session kicked off on Tuesday amid the usual ceremony, speeches and even a brief round of protests.

But it appears so far that this year's 60-day march will be relatively low-key, and perhaps, much less contentious than the last three years since Gov. Rick Scott took office. (Example: The 2011 session may remain one of the most substantive sessions in the last decade.)

Still there may be a few flashpoints between now and early May when legislators wrap up their work and hit the campaign trail.

Here are the 5 biggest questions that should be answered between now and then:

1. Is this year's gambling legislation the real deal, or is it all for show?

Here at the start of the session we now have dueling versions of gambling bills that have been rolled out by House and Senate leaders. One of the substantial differences between the two bills is that the Senate version would allow the establishment of two major casinos in South Florida, while the House bill is more of an overhaul of existing gambling regulations. The Senate bill also has wording right now that appears to allow slot machines at some pari-mutuels outside Broward and Miami-Dade although that has been explained as inadvertent.

House Speakr Will Weatherford has maintained that the House will not move forward on any gaming legislation without a constitutional amendment that subjects gambling expansion to voter approval and a new compact negotiated between the governor and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The rationale for waiting on a new compact is that any new gaming bill could affect the agreement that brings in more than $200 million a year to the state. A key portion of that agreement expires in 2015. The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald reported on Tuesday that Scott has opened negotiations with the tribe.

So that could put the entire deck of cards in play if Scott does produce a new compact with the tribe in the new few weeks.

But what's significantly different about the gambling debate from other high profile issues is that it pits some of the biggest political heavyweights in Florida in direct competition with each other, whether it's Disney and the Florida Chamber of Commerce (which oppose expansion), the tribe (which is fighting to keep its existing monopoly that lets it make money off its Tampa casino), or the pari-mutuels (which are fighting to remain viable) or the Las Vegas casino owners who want to build in South Florida.

Now maybe Disney and Central Florida business owners come to the grudging realization that the best deal is to accept one in which they accept casinos in South Florida, but with the understanding that nothing happens north of the Broward county line. Some cynics, however, have suggested this entire process may continue to get dragged out, especially since it has produced hundreds of thousands in political contributions for both parties.

Still there are some legislators who have suggested that the Legislature remains too fractured over the issue and unable to come up with a deal. Right now there isn't even a plan to bring any bills up for a vote for at least another two weeks. Sen. John Thrasher, the veteran North Florida Republican and former head of the party, on opening day called the entire debate a "distraction" and said he hoped they would just quickly kill off the discussion for another year.

2. Will the Republican-controlled Legislature really approve in-state tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants?

Weatherford on opening day made an impassioned plea for legislators to approve legislation that would allow children of illegal immigrants who had been brought to this country, but had graduated from a Florida high school, to be eligible for the same tuition rate that is charged to other Florida residents. He said it was wrong to "punish" children who had done nothing wrong.

Last year the House considered a similar bill but the key difference here is last year's bill applied only to U.S. born-children of illegal immigrants and it largely codified an existing federal court ruling.

This issue of in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, sometimes referred to as "Dreamers," is not new. There have been numerous instances in which one chamber or the other has pushed this proposal and other high-profile Republicans such as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio backed the idea.

But as Rubio showed as he weighed into the debate over immigration, this can trigger some intense debate among the conservatives that make up the base of the Republican Party. It could be argued it also was one of the things that wounded the presidential campaign of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Senate President Don Gaetz has already said he is opposed to the legislation and that he could not explain to his constituents why he could support, in his words, give benefits to someone ahead of someone else who played by the rules.

The question, however, remains whether or not the Legislature wants to put this bill on the desk of Gov. Rick Scott during a critical re-election year.

There's no doubt that Scott's signing of the bill could potentially help him with some Hispanic voters in Florida. Hispanic Republican legislators have been among the steadfast supporters of this legislation for many years.

But would Scott be tempted to veto the bill in an effort to show loyalty to the conservatives who help propel him into office? Would signing the bill risk keeping them at home in a year when he needs every vote?

Scott for his part keeps saying he is "considering" the bill because he remains concerned about the high cost of tuition for all families. Still it's worth wondering whether or not Scott's team quietly asks legislators to push this off in order to avoid the publicity and contentious debate that it could trigger.

3. Testing vs. vouchers

Since entering the Florida Legislature one of the most ardent champions of vouchers, or "school choice" as he and supporters term it, has been Weatherford.

Both Weatherford and Gaetz have said that one of their priorities remains yet another expansion of the state program that offers tax credits to companies that steer money to organizations that hand out vouchers. This year's proposal is significant because it would offer a tax credit for sales taxes, which is the biggest chunk of the state budget and which is paid by lots of companies. The bill would also widen who could qualify for vouchers.

Yet Gaetz has thrown in his own requirement that could ultimately doom the effort.

In his opening day speech, Gaetz told his fellow senators that children who go to private schools courtesy of these vouchers "should be assessed just like the performance of any other child. Why? Because testing is not just about score-carding. It is about measuring academic progress so schools and teachers can customize instruction to meet individual student needs, so parents will know how their children are really doing, so taxpayers can be sure how their money is used."

Let's be clear - it is not unusual for private schools to require standardized tests of students. Jon East, who works for one of the organizations that back vouchers, even points out this out in a recent blog item that students who receive the scholarships have been required to take a norm-referenced test since 2006.

But those tests are not the state-sanctioned tests such as the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and private schools may not use these standardized tests in a way that comes even close to how the public schools use them (such as ranking schools and evaluating teacher performance).

And there's where the debate, and resistance lies. Private schools operators would argue that it would be unfair to mandate a particular type of standardized test. You can go even further. Some private schools in recent years have touted the fact from a marketing standpoint that their schools DO NOT require FCAT testing.

East himself nails the point: "It's which test, not whether to test."

So how will private schools respond if the state says, ok, in the future, students who accept vouchers must take the same test that all students will start taking in 2015 (which is when a new test tied to Common Core.) Some may have no problem since some are in fact tying their curriculum to Common Core just like the public schools. But this debate could cause enough division that it complicates the voucher expansion effort.

4. Could Rick Scott still have a tough session?

Both Weatherford and Gaetz have in many ways cleared the way for Scott to have one of the smoothest sessions he has had since he took office in 2011. They quickly embraced his call for $500 million in tax cuts - and they have already pledged to keep college tuition flat this year as the governor asked.

So does that mean Scott will get everything he wants?

That's not entirely clear.

One early flashpoint has to do with Scott's call to completely eliminate the differential tuition that universities are now allowed to charge.

The universities got the Florida Legislature to give them some limited amount of discretion to raise tuition a maximum of 15 percent a year regardless of the tuition rate set by legislators. The argument at the time was that Florida tuition is low compared to the national average and that students should pay their fair share. This change in law was championed initially by the University of Florida and Florida State University, both of whom have a sizable number of alumni in the Legislature.

The two legislative leaders have initially said that they are willing to lower the differential tuition rate from a maximum of 15 percent to 6 percent.

But Scott wants it entirely eliminated. So far, Weatherford has said he understands the governor's position but he has not endorsed doing that. This could be an interesting and evolving debate for most of the next 60 day session.

Another potential area of discord: Will Scott's appointments - particularly his agency heads such as Department of Economic Opportunity director Jesse Panuccio - get confirmed? There are rumblings that Panuccio may have a tough time. One recent article pointed out that Gaetz himself would not say for sure if he would be confirmed.

Part of this could be the constant dance between legislators and the governor as each side tries to have some small bit of leverage. There was another small bit of evidence of behind-the-scenes intrigue when Rep. Seth McKeel gave the Department of Management Services a dressing down and floated an amendment to take away Scott's control of DMS and instead place it under the governor and Cabinet.

5. Will there be a libertarian wave during this year's session?

Republicans in the Florida Legislature have long wrestled with questions of deregulation, government intrustion versus the need for stability and order.

For example, one big battle early in Gov. Jeb Bush's first term was whether he would sign a bill that eliminated the helmet requirement for motorcyclists. Bush eventually signed the bill into law despite a heavy veto push, including from those in the insurance industry.

This year we have bills to loosen up speed limits, get rid of red light cameras, authorize certain sizes of beer bottles, let grocery stores sell liquor, and even a measure that would permit a certain strain of marijuana to be legal in the state.

For many regular Floridians these arguments over pot, booze and speeding may wind up being the most important things that legislators wind up doing.  But some of these bills have also sparked a fair amount of lobbying in opposition from various interest groups whether it's law enforcement authorities, liquor store owners, and driver safety groups.

Don Gaetz's $4200 close-up

Another round of Inside the Tallahassee bubble news:

The tradition in Tallahassee is that the second year of legislative leadership inevitably brings the unveiling on an oil portrait for the House speaker or Senate president about to depart.

As anyone who's been in the Capitol knows each time a new portrait is brought in the ones already in the chambers are rotated to make room for the newest arrival (and one portrait is taken down and placed in storage.)

The Senate recently signed a contract with Alabama-based artist Leon Loard to pay for Gaetz's oil portrait. The cost is a total of $4,258.

The cost of the portrait _ which falls in line with previous purchases _ is not the most expensive one done in recent years.

The portraits of Senate President Toni Jennings and John McKay cost $7,000 while Jim Scott's was $6,800 according to information compiled by the Senate. The portraits of Jim King, Tom Lee, Ken Pruitt, Jeff Atwater and Mike Haridopolos ranged from nearly $3,200 (King) to close to $4,000 (Haridopolos).

But the most expensive legislative leader portraits of late have been of two House speakers: Johnnie Byrd and Marco Rubio.

House records show that Byrd's portrait cost $10,500 and included the cost of the frame.

Rubio's portrait was initially $9,500 but the cost was lowered by $500 after the artist asked to not be responsible for the frame.

By contrast the portraits of both House Speaker Larry Cretul and Dean Cannon have been considerably less: $3,380 for Cretul and $4,052 for Cannon.

The House has not yet signed a contract for House Speaker Will Weatherford's oil portrait. But it may be worth noting that the cost for Allan Bense (Weatherford's father-in-law) was $6,000.

Oil portraits, some may recall, played a small but interesting role in the saga of the Republican Party of Florida under the direction of former chairman Jim Greer.

According to reports at the time the party agreed to spend $7,500 on oil portraits of both Greer and then-Gov. Charlie Crist.

5 biggest questions of the 2013 session answered

So closing the loop from two months ago, here's the 5 biggest questions of the 2013 session answered (and with some thoughts about what happens next):

1. Will lawmakers agree to expand Medicaid? The answer wasn't just no. For the Florida House Republicans it was hell no (and even when the proposal moved beyond Medicaid to the idea of using federal aid to purchase private health insurance)

The decision to reject expansion probably doesn't hurt GOP lawmakers right now. (Of course that could change when all the ramifications of the rejection begin to hit home to businesses and individuals next year.)

But it could be seen as a defeat for Gov. Rick Scott in more ways that one.

He already got hammered by conservatives for his decision to go along with Medicaid expansion after being one of the most ardent opponents to "Obamacare." But with no resolution Scott continues to get hit from Democrats who say this just shows he has no leadership skills. They contend he failed to use his clout to get it passed.

The governor made sure to say that Medicaid expansion was not one of his top priorities, but in the end he remains the one who probably loses the most from both sides of the political spectrum. Not sure how this helps someone whose poll numbers remain below 50 percent.

Democrats have started going on about a special session, but so far Scott has been skeptical about such an approach. Last Friday he said that state lawmakers had made their decision and the "answer is no." Just not sure how that plays - with anyone regardless of their political persuasion.

2. Will Scott get his pay raise for teachers? Kind of.

Yes, lawmakers did put $480 million in the budget, but at first they said it couldn't take effect until June 2014 (or in other words after another session had passed.) Then top legislative leaders said that the June 2014 was Scott's idea (although an email exchange from one of Scott's top aides showed that wasn't the case.)

Lawmakers also tied the pay raise to performance standards instead of an across-the-board $2,500 pay raise. While school districts have the final say over the raise, it remains to be seen how it will be distributed.

Scott has already gone out this week on a five-stop "victory" tour to tout the pay raise.

It's worth remembering that when Scott first pushed the pay raise he wanted it with no strings attached as a reward to the good work that teachers have done so far. "We don't want a war on teachers, we want a war on failure," was the line that Scott gave at the onset of the session.

But Senate President Don Gaetz and Weatherford had their own ideas - and they kept bargaining over the fine print of how the raises would be handed out until the very end of session. They gave Scott enough for him to use for his re-election campaign, but they stopped short of giving the governor exactly what he asked for.

3.Is Jeb Bush still in charge? No. But that doesn't mean he still doesn't have influence. And it may have showed up in key places.

Let's not forget that a few weeks before session that Bush privately told House Republicans that they should reject Medicaid expansion. But Bush added an important element: Make sure to offer up an alternative deal instead of just saying no.

And while many complained that it didn't go far enough House Republicans did in fact unveil their own plan to use state dollars to provide health insurance to roughly 115,000 uninsured Floridians.

Toward the end of the session Weatherford channeled Bush when said: "In politics these days a lot of people say ‘No’ and walk away. We didn’t say no. We offered up an alternative.”

But in other places Bush's influence was not as significant. An example is the defeat again this year of the controversial "parent trigger" bill in the Florida Senate despite Bush's fervent support.

And it was Florida's other famous Republican _ U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio _ who also may have had just as much influence as his one-time mentor. The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald, for example, reported that Rubio played a role in the last-minute decision by legislators to push back the date of Florida's presidential primary. This was a big deal since it was Rubio who pushed for the change to begin with.

4. A kinder, less partisan Legislature? Nope.

There had been signs right before the start that the Legislature might chart a less confrontational path than in previous years. But the impasse over Medicaid expansion and disagreement over election law changes resulted in a whole lot of acrimony in the waning moments of the session.

Republicans complained that the opposition by Senate Democrats to the election bill (after it was first appeared to be a bipartisan effort) was all about politics.

House Democrats meanwhile used a procedural move to slow down the pace of the session in the final few days that left both sides fuming and scowling. And it turns out that one of the casualties may in fact be Scott's proposal to eliminate sales taxes for manufacturers who purchase the equipment. The tax cut was pushed through by Republicans who refused to answer questions or even debate the measure when it came on the evening of May 1. The result was a vote much closer than anticipated and one that turned to be under the two-thirds requirement for bills that affect local tax revenues.

Weatherford and House staff contend the tax cut bill is not in danger of falling due to a legal challenge. They offered several theories that hinge on your definition of words like "aggregate" and "insignificant."

Weatherford for his part questioned who want to sue over a tax cut. Fair enough. But it's worth wondering whether or not the vote would have been that close if House Republicans weren't scrambling to push through the tax cut bill. (The reason for the rush, of course, was that there were fears that Scott would veto bills being sought by Weatherford and Gaetz if he didn't get his tax cut proposal. Scott signed the bills within an hour of the House vote.)

5. Is this really the year for serious ethics reform? Actually, the answer to this is yes.

While the final ethics bill isn't as far-reaching as some have advocated this is a still an accomplishment given that grand juries and former governors have tried to get the Legislature to crack down on public officials in the last decade.

The final bill for the first time a mechanism that allows the Florida Commission on Ethics to initiate an investigation based upon a referral from the governor or law-enforcement agencies. (It also makes it harder for people to file complaints right before an election based on newspaper stories.)

It puts additional restrictions on lobbying and dual employment by legislators, requires posting of financial disclosure forms on the Internet, and allow the state to go after public officials who have refused to pay fines.

There are some question marks about a couple of the final provisions. But several advocacy groups have noted that the final bill is more than has been done in the area in quite some time.

Budget battles 2013: A big behind-the-scenes tug of war

In their final public session together the two men (pictured left) leading the 2013 budget negotiations over education spending gave each other a hearty hug.

Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, even boldly proclaimed that while some items remain outstanding in this year's budget that top Republicans had closed out "99 percent" of the line items before them. (That's Tallahassee-ese for reached agreement and therefore there's no need to talk about it again.)

But in actuality the House and Senate budget negotiators "bumped up" the entire main funding program for public schools also known the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP). (More Tallahassee-ese - this means they kicked up the final decision to the top budget chairs because they failed to reached a decision.

And one of the main sticking items that has snagged the budget negotiations has gotten very little public discourse in the meetings between Sen. Bill Galvano and Fresen.

It's called "compression."

So what is this?

In theory it's an attempt to compress the per-student funding ranges that exist from one district to another. It's an effort to recognize that property values (which drive property taxes) are not in the same in every county. So the state adds extra money to help smooth out the range.

The way it's handled can be a big, big deal, however.

And that's what's happening this year.

The Senate is insisting on pumping $30.5 million more into compression than the House.

And right now the House isn't budging on this. Said Fresen: "We believe that the FEFP works the way that it is."

Translation: The Senate way of using compression creates a geopolitical rift. That's because pouring extra money into compression in essence dramatically impacts some counties more than others.

Duval County, for example, got a $411 per-student increase in its funding under the initial Senate plan compared to $401 in the House plan. Miami-Dade got a nearly a $417 increase in per-student funding in the initial House budget compared to a $399 per-student jump in the Senate budget.

Miami-Dade schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Tuesday that the difference between the House and Senate approaches in compression amounted to a $4 million difference.

It's not entirely easy to do an in-depth county-by-county analysis of the impacts because the House budget also included a $10 million increase in what is known as "sparsity."

This is extra money that goes to smaller districts that is meant to help districts whose buying power is diminished because they can't buy things in bulk like the larger counties. But the bottom line is that the House budget helps out many rural districts. Calhoun County, for example, gets a $512 per-student increase in the House budget versus nearly $445 in the House budget.

One thing worth noting: The House budget increases funding to Pasco County, the home county to House Speaker Will Weatherford by nearly $403 per student, while the Senate plan bumps it up only by $390. The Senate plan increases funding to Okaloosa County - and home to Senate President Don Gaetz - by nearly $448 per student. The House budget would boost Okaloosa's per-student funding by $450.

and how about this twist? The Senate plan is more generous to the home county of House budget chairman Seth McKeel. Polk County would go up $380 per student in the Senate budget compared to $366 for the House budget. But the House budget brings up the per-student funding in Martin County by $450 compared to nearly $443 in the Senate budget put together by Sen. Joe Negron.

These differences aren't as dramatic as the tug-of-war in the last decade over district cost differential (a battle pitting urban South Florida districts versus the rest of the state) but it's clear that so far this skirmish has kept the House and Senate from reaching a resoluton on the education portion of the budget.

And while teacher pay raises and tuition hikes are important so is how much money each legislator brings back to their home county.

5 biggest questions of the 2013 session

Florida's GOP-controlled Legislature kicks off its annual session on Tuesday amid the backdrop of Gov. Rick Scott's aggressive move to the center as he continues to battle stagnant poll numbers. Both House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz have their own agendas but the big focus for the next 60 days is whether or not lawmakers will help the incumbent Republican governor or damage him further as he gets prepared for what could be a very tough re-election campaign.

Here then are the 5 biggest questions of the 2013 session:

1. Will lawmakers agree to expand Medicaid? This is a decision that could have repercussions for years to come.

Scott's decision to endorse the expansion of the safety-net health care insurance program for three years to take advantage of billions in federal aid was widely criticized by conservatives and even top fellow Republicans.

The governor has said this is not one of his top priorities, but his decision to endorse the expansion right before the session means that if the Medicaid expansion is rejected it will be seen as a loss for Scott.

The House has already come out forcefully against the expansion and Weatherford is expected during his opening day remarks to articulate the rationale behind that stance. The Senate has taken no official position yet although comments in recent weeks suggested that Senate Republicans have been contemplating expansion seriously.

There are some suggestions that the House may use Medicaid expansion as a bargaining chip for other issues which if true carries its own share of risks, including bringing down the wrath of conservatives and tea party groups on to House Republicans if they change their mind over the next nine weeks. But if the House and Senate goes different routes it sets the stage for an impasse over the entire budget...which means the session may not end on time.

What could emerge is a hybrid solution: Some limited expansion of Medicaid that comes without the full funding of the federal government, but offers an answer to critics who contend the state is turning its back on roughly 1 million uninsured residents. There is also a lot of interest in the deal offered to the state of Arkansas which has been allowed by the feds to purchase private health insurance for those below 133 percent of the federal poverty line instead of placing those people into Medicaid.

2. Will Scott get his pay raise for teachers? The debate over Medicaid expansion has overshadowed what could have been the biggest storyline of the session: Will Republican legislative leaders go along with Scott's budget proposals, including his pitch for a $2,500 across the board pay raise for teachers in the state.

Scott has made it clear that the teacher pay raise - and his push to eliminate sales taxes on equipment purchased for manufacturing - are his top two priorities this year.

In his State of the State speech Scott will tell lawmakers: "Some say they are afraid that giving raises to all teachers may mean that a teacher doing a bad job gets rewarded. But, thanks to our work, we are now in a better position than ever before to reward good teachers and move bad teachers out of the classroom....We don’t want a war on teachers; we want a war on failure"

But both Weatherford and Gaetz have so far given only lukewarm endorsements of the proposal. Instead the two legislative leaders have questioned if the raises would undermine the new merit pay system that is supposed to take effect next year.

Again, we have a potentially awkward situation where the Legislature has the power to either help Scott as he moves forward - or damage him.

3.Is Jeb Bush still in charge? Former Gov. Bush visited Tallahassee a few weeks ago and he met with legislative leaders as well as an enthusiastic group of House Republicans. At the tail end of a closed door session with the House members he was asked about the contentious Medicaid expansion issue. Bush told them that they should reject the expansion, but that they should offer up an alternative deal. So far the House has followed through on part one of that advice.

But that's far from where the Bush influence ends. Bush - who battled mightily against the state's teacher union while he pushed education changes  - refused during that brief stop to publicly take a position on Scott's pay raise proposal. No one should believe he doesn't have an opinion. Instead it should be viewed that Bush adheres to the protocol of avoiding any public policy disagreements with a sitting Republican governor.

There is also expected this year to be a repeat of last year's heavily-debated "parent trigger" bill. Bush steadfastly supports the legislation, which is expected to have a smoother trip this session. So if Medicaid expansion and teacher pay raises go down and parent trigger is passed then Bush will have a better session than the current occupant of the plaza offices in the Capitol.

4. A kinder, less partisan Legislature? In the run-up to the start of the session (and before Monday's Medicaid expansion stance that drew the wrath of Democrats), there had been signs that the Legislature may chart a less confrontational path than in previous years.

Case in point is the proposal to revamp the state's election system. It was the supercharged 2011 Legislature that passed the controversial election law that cut short early voting days. Republicans - who enjoyed a super-majority at the time - pushed the bill through despite strong warnings from Democrats it would backfire on them.

This year we have Republicans attempting so far to work with Democrats on rolling back some of the provisions of the 2011 law and making other changes in order to avoid a repeat of last fall's election where people wound up waiting hours in line in order to vote. Democrats are not in complete agreement, but this is still a marked change from just two years earlier.

It could be that the 2012 elections - where President Barack Obama won Florida a second time and Republicans lost seats in the Legislature - might have been a wake up call that the GOP needs to moderate its message and image.

So far we have not seen a wave of legislation that is intended to fire up the Republican base heading into 2014. The normal pattern is that the off-year session is the year that lawmakers are more likely to adopt controversial items. This could be the year that breaks that trend.

5. Is this really the year for serious ethics reform? Both Weatherford and Gaetz have vowed that this is the year that legislators will enact far-reaching changes to the state's ethics laws. The Florida Senate is expected to take up - and probably pass  - the ethics bill on the first day of session.

The reason this is a big deal is that grand juries and former governors have tried to get the Legislature to crack down on public officials in the last decade but those efforts went nowhere.

The Senate bill creates for the first time a mechanism that allows the Florida Commission on Ethics to initiate an investigation based upon a referral from the governor or law-enforcement agencies. (It also makes it harder for people to file complaints right before an election based on newspaper stories.)

Weatherford for his part supports ethics reform, but he also said time and time again that ethics reform can't be done without "campaign finance" reform. Translation: We take your bill if you take our bill.

It's likely that some kind of deal will get reached and legislation dealing with both will pass. But the key is what gets dumped, altered and changed by the time legislators reach the finishing line.

Will it be the far-reaching changes that legislative leaders have vowed? Or will it be incremental changes that maintain some of the current loopholes in the system?