Democratic Women's Club
of Sarasota County
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mark Hollis
March 2, 2010 (850) 488-9622
Florida House Democrats Agree With Speaker Cretul
Republicans Are Mismanaging Florida and
It Is Time to Do Government Business A New Way
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- After 12 years of Republican control of state government, House Speaker Larry Cretul today admitted Republican mismanagement and confessed that it is time to “do government business a new way.”
In response, House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands urged Republican leaders to embrace good-government initiatives backed by Florida House Democrats.
“Today, I heard Florida House Democrats call for bipartisanship and good government, and I heard Republican leadership admit that 12 years of total Republican control of state government has failed Floridians,” said Sands, D-Weston. “It is time to bring real change to the way business is done in Tallahassee.”
During House floor remarks, Speaker Larry Cretul stated:
· “I am asking you to do government business a new way…”\
· “To make government work, we are going to have to change the way we approach it and the way we think…”
“I am thrilled that Florida Republican leaders are recognizing what Floridians have seen for a long time. Republicans have done such a lousy job of running state government that even they admit that it’s time `to do government business a new way’ for the good of our state.
“It is interesting to hear Speaker Cretul confess that Republican leadership since 1998 has led to unnecessary spending and a failure to follow basic government accountability measures that Florida put in place in the Government Performance and Accountability Act of 1994.
“Today, Speaker Cretul also called for greater budget transparency. I urge Republican leaders to consider the merits of House Joint Resolution 241 by Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota.”
House Joint Resolution 241. Expanding The Public’s Access. Rep. Keith Fitzgerald. The constitutional amendment requires budget documents be user friendly and easy to understand. The amendment would prevent last-minute backroom budget and legislative deals that avoid public input and scrutiny. The key components include these requirements:
· Budget documents must be user friendly, easy to read and understandable;
· A three-fourths vote is necessary to allow an amendment on the House floor during the last week of session to reduce the back room last minute deals showing up for a vote without public scrutiny;
· Members of conference committees are prohibited from discussing legislative matters among themselves, except at noticed public meetings;
· A two-thirds vote of both chambers is required to enact public records or public meeting exemptions;
· Citizens are allowed the right to challenge in court, the rules governing public access to documents and meetings.
Mark Hollis
Communications Director
Democratic Office
Florida House of Representatives
850-488-9622
Democrats, say they will fight any attempts to tap into state trust funds to balance the budget. Rep. Adam Fetterman (D-Port St. Lucie) is leading that charge with House Joint Resolution 389, which proposes an amendment to the constitution that would require a two-thirds vote of each house of the Legislature to expend money from a state trust fund for any purpose other than the one that was intended when the trust fund was created.
Fetterman says his bill will help force future legislatures to keep their word. “My idea is simple in that it says when we make a promise to taxpayers, we keep that promise,” he stated in a release.
JOBS:
With the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund depleted, Florida employers are facing a record tax increase this year. In August, as the state’s unemployment rate climbed toward a 35-year high of 11%, the trust fund went broke, and the state began borrowing about $300 million a month from the federal government to pay its unemployment compensation benefits.
The depletion of the trust fund triggered an automatic readjustment of unemployment tax rates that will bump the minimum annual rate from $8.40 per employee to $100.30. The maximum annual rate, meanwhile, will rise from $378 per employee to $459.
The large increase could “break the backs of many employers” who are hanging on by a thread, warns David Daniel, vice president of governmental affairs for the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “Frankly, we have to look at a way to soften the blow.”
Options could include lowering the automatic trigger in the law, which occurs if the balance in the fund falls below 4% of the total taxable payroll in the most recent state fiscal year, or allowing employers to pay their taxes quarterly and forgiving the interest they are normally charged for late payments.
In the meantime, the situation has reignited a partisan debate over the Republican-led Legislature’s refusal of $444 million in federal unemployment aid offered last year. Democrats have called Republicans to task for not accepting the stimulus money to help out-of-work Floridians and “modernize” Florida’s unemployment system. Republicans, however, say there were too many strings attached — that the state would have been required to expand the pool of unemployed workers eligible for benefits, thereby putting the state on the hook for even more money down the road. Florida lawmakers will take another look at the controversial issue of whether to open the state’s coastline to oil and gas exploration. Proponents of lifting the state’s two-decade ban on drilling in state waters argue that allowing drilling in Florida’s near-shore waters will provide the state with new revenue and help the nation move closer to its goal of energy independence. “The fundamental question is, should Florida, given that we are the third-largest consuming state and the world’s largest consuming nation, play any role in America’s energy supply system? I and many believe that the answer to that is yes,” says Dave Rancourt, a Tallahassee-based lobbyist who represents Florida Energy Associates, the group behind the push for drilling. Corporate Tax Enticement One way to fuel job growth and economic development would be to scrap the state’s corporate income tax, says Dominic Calabro, president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. A more practical approach, he suggests, would be to change the formula used to calculate the tax. While Florida currently calculates a company’s tax burden based on the percentage of its in-state sales (50%), property (25%) and payroll (25%), several states including Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina, California and Texas have all moved to a “single sales factor”of taxing businesses. Proponents of the simplified tax formula say a single sales factor makes a state more attractive for businesses to expand their property and payroll. The Senate Finance and Tax Committee held a workshop on the issue last October, and a TaxWatch work group is assisting lawmakers in drafting legislation to address the issue. The move has garnered bipartisan support. Sen. Jeremy Ring (D-Margate) is pushing the issue in the Senate. Key House supporters include Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-Fort Lauderdale), chairwoman of the Finance and Tax Council, Rep. Dean Cannon, chairman of the Select Policy Council on Strategic & Economic Planning, and Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel). Tax Holidays The Florida Retail Federation is asking the Legislature to reinstate several sales tax holidays for consumers to purchase items such as school supplies and hurricane preparedness items. Lawmakers decided not to pass bills creating the tax breaks last year because of budget constraints — a move that federation President Rick “We’re working hard to ensure those holidays get preferential treatment and are viewed not as a cost to the budget of Florida but as a stimulus,” says McAllister. The 20-year compact crafted by Crist would have allowed the tribe to operate slot machines and blackjack tables at its seven Florida casinos in exchange for $150 million a year to the state. But lawmakers rejected that deal, arguing that it would adversely impact the state’s already struggling pari-mutuel industry. While Crist continues to press the Seminole’s case, the pari-mutuel industry is asking lawmakers to level the playing field by reducing their tax rates and allowing them to expand their operations to include slot machines and other Las Vegas-style games. At the same time, some of the nation’s largest casino operators have been trying to persuade Florida lawmakers to auction off full casino licenses regionally around the state so they can operate full blown casinos and Marc Dunbar, a gaming expert who also teaches gambling and pari-mutuel law at Florida State University’s law school, says voters will likely weigh in on the controversial debate. In order to get the conservative caucus of the Republican Party to agree to any potential gaming expansion in the state, “it’s going to have to have a local option, where the county has to affirmatively ratify any type of gaming expansion.” “Our bill puts children first by giving parents, school professionals and the education community the power to work out a plan that everyone can buy into,” said Rep. Dwight Bullard (D-Miami), a teacher from Miami and the lead Democrat on pre-K through 12 education policy matters. One bill sponsored by Bullard would phase out the FCAT in the 2014-15 school year. Florida Forever A broad coalition of environmental groups is pushing for the state to restore funding to Florida Forever, the state’s land conservation program. Faced with a severe budget shortfall, the Legislature last year pulled funding for the state’s premier land-buying program. Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and Attorney General Bill McCollum, both of whom are running for governor, have joined with the Florida Forever Coalition in asking lawmakers to back documentary stamp taxes for Florida Forever bonding. With just $15 million in state revenue, the program could raise up to $300 million annually for land acquisition. Lawmakers are likely to take another stab at energy legislation this year, though Republicans seem averse to any sort of renewable portfolio standard. Instead, look for legislation directing the Public Service Commission to order utilities to undertake more renewable energy projects and to incorporate more renewable energy sources into their portfolios. Rep. Keith Fitzgerald (D-Sarasota), a member of the Select Policy Council on Strategic & Economic Planning, hopes his colleagues take more interest in the topic this year. “We know that renewable energy is going to be a growth industry nationally and internationally, and Florida is well-situated to be an exporter of these products. I hope it’s not a quiet year. I hope it is a year where it comes back.” Under current law, anyone who purchases more than seven condo units — or a lender who takes back a title through foreclosure — is deemed a “developer” and thus becomes liable for any construction defects on the property. “I realized a couple years ago, as the market started to turn down, that the way the law is written, these bulk buyers are going to be exposed to potential liability for all developer obligations — and that is going to discourage bulk buyers,” says Ruden McClosky attorney Mark Grant. Grant and Charles Brecker, a lawyer with Stearns Weaver, convinced Rep. Julio Robaina (R-Miami) and Sen. Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood) to introduce legislation that would remove developer liability for bulk buyers and bulk assignees who close their transactions within the next two years.
Offshore Oil Drilling :
TAXES:
McAllister says hurt retailers, particularly when neighboring states like Alabama and Georgia had their own sales tax holidays.
Open Gambling:
With Gov. Charlie Crist’s Seminole gambling deal all but dead, House Speaker Larry Cretul (R-Ocala) and Rep. Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton), the Legislature’s chief gaming negotiator, are planning to conduct a comprehensive review of state’s gaming policy to try to decide what the state’s $7-billion gambling industry should look like and how it should be structured to optimize revenue for the state.
create destination gaming resorts.
Education:
Republican will fight class sizes while democrats fight to DUMP the FCAT.
Dump the FCAT?
House Democrats want to dump the FCAT and create a new set of comprehensive end-of-course exams in a variety of subjects and expand the way schools are held accountable by focusing on the entirety of a students’ work throughout the year, in addition to the subject-area assessment tests.
Environmental Issues:
Housing Relief
Real estate attorneys say that Florida’s distressed real estate market could get a boost if lawmakers pass the Distressed Condominium Relief Act.