Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Crunch Time
February 21, 2016
Members, bills are dying.
Those four words — or something like them — have long been used by legislative committee chairmen and presiding officers to try to get lawmakers to focus on the task at hand or to move quickly through contentious agendas. The line also happens to fit what starts happening as the session enters its second half.
Some of this year’s bills that are in trouble — such as gun bills bottled up in the Senate by Judiciary Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami — have been on the brink almost since the legislative session began. Others, like legislation to formalize a gambling agreement between the state and the Seminole Tribe, are “heavy lifts,” to use the phrase almost always attached to gaming bills. One high-profile health-care bill is already formally dead in the Senate.
But other fights live on. The House and Senate are still trying to reach a compromise on Gov. Rick Scott’s two biggest priorities, tax cuts and a package of economic development incentives, though it’s not clear how interested the governor is in compromising on either. And a House floor fight on education this week might act as a preview to even more controversial initiatives on public schools in the weeks ahead.
The more time that the Legislature spends on those proposals, the larger the number of bills that will die.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL
Scott came into the legislative session with two key priorities. And whether planned or not, the House and the Senate each seem willing to give him one. Lawmakers in the House favor a $1 billion tax cut, albeit one structured differently than the governor’s idea, and the upper chamber is willing to go along with a $250 million “Florida Enterprise Fund.”
That scenario makes it very likely that each side will get part of the governor’s agenda, and Scott will end up with half a loaf (or maybe a little more) on both issues.
“I think it’s important that everybody is going to have to give, everybody is going to have to give a little,” Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, told reporters Thursday. “The House is going to have to give, the Senate is going to have to give, and the governor is going to have to give.”
At the same time, Scott’s economic development plans seemed to gain some momentum in the House, where the chamber moved closer to the Senate on a new process for approving incentives. But the funding for the effort remains a sticking point between the two sides.
“We’ve got to start sitting down with the Senate and you’ve got to look at the numbers,” House Appropriations Chairman Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, said. “I think the House is committed to doing as much as we can in tax cuts and that’s what we’ve rolled out in our budget.”
Both the House and Senate are now proposing that any incentive deals through the Florida Enterprise Fund would have at least a 20 percent local financial match. Projects would be intended to create at least 10 jobs, and no payments would be made until performance conditions are met.
The Senate incentives-policy proposal (SB 1646) also would require projected economic benefits to provide a 2.5-to-1 return on investment. The House measure (HB 1325), which initially stood at 5-to-1, has been moved down to a 3-to-1 return on investment.
The talks could affect the Legislature’s one constitutionally required duty of passing a budget before the session adjourns. The tax cuts and incentives are at the heart of discussions about allocations — how much money will be put in each part of the spending plan — that must be done before budget negotiations begin. Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, said those negotiations wouldn’t begin until at least early next week.
SUPREME COURT AND SCHOOLS
The House floor was consumed this week with two issues: how to fix the death penalty after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down Florida’s process for sentencing and whether to give parents more choices in education.
A compromise with the Senate on the death penalty, which emerged as an issue when the high court handed down its decision on the first day of the legislative session, overwhelmingly passed the House.
The bill would require at least 10 jurors to recommend the death penalty for the sentence to be imposed and would empower juries to decide whether defendants should die or be imprisoned for life without the chance for parole.
The House and Senate had been split on whether jury recommendations for death sentences should be unanimous, an idea supported by the Senate while the House proposed 9-3 jury decisions. Under current law, simple majorities of juries have been able to recommend execution to judges.
Crisafulli praised the legislation, saying lawmakers have complied with the Supreme Court ruling.
“Changing the requirement for a jury’s sentencing verdict to be agreed upon by at least 10 of the 12 jurors has moved us to a position where we have gone beyond what was asked of us by the Supreme Court. These reforms will allow us to keep the death penalty in our toolbox to punish our most violent criminals,” Crisafulli said.
The education legislation caused fiery clashes in the chamber. The House pushed through bills aimed at giving bonuses to teachers based partly on their scores on college admissions tests (HB 7043); easing the path for some charter school providers to open additional campuses (HB 7029); and allowing students to go to any school in the state that has open seats (HB 699).
Democrats hammered away at the provisions they found objectionable. House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, lambasted the bill that would allow high-performing charter school providers to more easily expand, saying that calling charter facilities “public schools” was a ruse.
“The rigged system that we have continues to channel public tax dollars to a private-school system that over time is diminishing our traditional schools,” Pafford said.
Republicans responded, as they often do on choice bills, that approaches like charter schools increase the chances that students will get high-quality educations.
“We have to break the chains of the prison guards of the past who want to preserve just what was, and open these doors of opportunity for the future,” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
TAKING A SHOT WITH SLOTS
Following months of negotiations between the Seminole Tribe and the state on a new gaming compact, the Senate Regulated Industries Committee approved legislation that would likely require more negotiations between the Seminole Tribe and the state.
“We are not back to square one, at all,” committee Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told reporters after a meeting Wednesday at which the bill was approved.
Whichever square lawmakers are now on, the Senate legislation would allow pari-mutuels in at least six counties to add slot machines, a move that drove a wedge between the House and the Senate on the $3 billion deal signed by Scott and the Seminoles. Under the compact, the tribe would add craps and roulette to its casino operations in exchange for a guarantee of $3 billion in payments to the state over seven years.
The House is considering a less expansive proposal that would ratify the agreement and allow slots at the Palm Beach Kennel Club and at a new facility in Miami-Dade County, items permitted but not expressly authorized by the compact.
Under an amendment folded into the bill (SB 7072) by Bradley’s committee, pari-mutuels could add slots in six counties where voters have approved the machines — and other counties where voters sign off on them in the future. The six counties are Brevard, Gadsden, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach and Washington.
Sen. Joe Negron, who sponsored amendments adopted Wednesday and is set to take over as Senate president in November, insisted that the changes to the compact struck by Scott and the tribe were necessary to keep the measure alive.
“If you have a pure compact, and that’s all you have, it’s not going to pass out of this committee,” Negron, R-Stuart, said before the vote. “It’s very important that we have geographic concerns echoed in the amendment, and I think we can go back to the Seminole Tribe and negotiate out a compact.”
House Regulatory Affairs Chairman Jose Felix Diaz, who worked with Bradley and Scott’s top staff for months to nail down the accord with the tribe, said that he wants state economists to evaluate the economic impact of the Senate changes. As a result, a vote from the House Finance & Tax Committee, expected next week, will be delayed, Diaz said.
“This bill will be touch and go all the way through to the end. I’m optimistic that there’s a path forward. I just don’t know what it is,” Diaz, R-Miami, said Wednesday evening. “It’s going to take some creativity and a lot of time.”
HOSPITAL BILL FLATLINES
During the 2015 legislative session, and the budget special session that followed, health-care bills were the hottest lawmaking fad. The Legislature was dealing with the fallout of a rapidly dwindling supply of federal money for hospitals, and Senate leaders were pushing for a version of Medicaid expansion. The House favored overhaul of health-care regulations, an approach that Scott seemed to share.
The hospital funding crisis has largely been resolved, and any Medicaid expansion is off the table for at least a few more years. But the idea of trimming some regulations has remained, and no potential change was more loaded than rolling back the “certificate of need” process for new health-care facilities.
A Senate version (SB 1144) ran into a wall of opposition from hospitals, nursing homes and hospice providers, and the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee voted 6-2 this week to kill it. The measure would have created exemptions to the certificate of need process, under which the state must review and give approval before new health-care facilities are built.
House Republican leaders want to eliminate certificates of need for hospitals. But the Senate proposal, sponsored by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, took a different approach — proposing exemptions instead of an outright elimination and also including nursing homes and hospice providers.
The defeat of Gaetz’s bill points to bipartisan opposition in the Senate to making major changes in the process and could signal the demise of the issue during this year’s legislative session. Moments after the vote, Gaetz said supporters of revamping certificates of need could try to add the issue to another health-care bill, though it was not clear how that might happen.
“I haven’t got a plan yet,” he said.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The House and Senate continued working toward an agreement on tax cuts and economic development incentives that could unlock negotiations on the state budget.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Always I have concluded the death penalty is wrong, because it lowers us all. It is a surrender to the worst that is in us. It uses a power, the official power, to kill by execution. That has never brought back a life, never inspired anything but hate. And it has killed many innocent people.”—Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Amtrak Rolls Into Pensacola On Day Two Of Gulf Coast Tour (With Gallery)
February 20, 2016
Day two of Amtrak’s inspection train across the Gulf Coast got underway Friday morning in Pensacola for a trip across the Panhandle and on to Jacksonville. The train was packed with Amtrak officials, local officials and VIPs and the media to gauge the reaction to the possible return of rail service to the Gulf Coast.
Amtrak’s Sunset Limited passenger train, which included service from New Orleans through Pensacola to Jacksonville, came to an end along the Gulf Coast due to damage from Hurricane Katrina.
The train is a test of sorts, testing the potential route and testing the willingness of state leaders from Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana to provide millions in funding for the daily train service
For a photo gallery, click here.
For an earlier story and photos from Amtrak’s arrival in Atmore on Thursday, click here.
Pictured: Amtrak’s arrival Friday morning in Pensacola. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Molino Park Elementary After School Students Learn Fire Safety
February 20, 2016
Volunteers from the Molino Station of Escambia Fire Rescue visited Molino Park Elementary School’s after-school program Friday afternoon to teach the students about fire safety. Photos by Kayla Bedell for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Safety Tips, Laws Apply For Burning Yard Debris From Recent Storms
February 20, 2016
In the wake of recent storms and tornadoes, officials with the Florida Forest Service are encouraging people to practice safe burning if and when they began burning yard debris and blown down limbs and trees.
The Forest Service regulates burning and there are several rules, regulations and tips that residents need to follow in order to stay safe, stay legal, and avoid undesirable impacts from smoke. These rules also apply within the town limits of Century.
Click the graphic to enlarge and see setback requirements for burning.
Some tips and requirements to keep in mind before you burn yard waste include:
- Legal burning hours are between 8 a.m. and one hour before sunset.
- It is illegal to burn household garbage (including paper products), treated lumber, plastics, rubber materials, tires, pesticide, paint and aerosol containers.
- Piles greater than 8 feet in diameter will require an authorization from the Division of Forestry.
- Clear down to bare, mineral soil around your pile to prevent the fire from spreading.
- Don’t burn on windy days.
- Never leave a fire unattended – even for a moment. One gust of wind can cause a fire to escape.
- Grass fires can spread quickly. Be prepared. Keep handy a water hose, shovel or other means to put out the fire.
- Make sure the fire is completely out before leaving it – no smoke and no heat.
- If your fire escapes, call for help quickly. Several minutes may pass before a fire department or the Division of Forestry can arrive on scene.
- If your fire escapes, you might be held liable for the cost of suppression and damages to the property of others.
Minimum required setbacks to legally burn yard waste:
- 25 feet from any forested area (grasslands, brush or other wildlands).
- 25 feet from your home or other combustible structure.
- 50 feet from any paved or public roadway.
- 150 from any occupied dwelling other than your own home.
Cantonment Residents Have ‘Coffee With A Cop’
February 20, 2016
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office held a “Coffee With a Cop” this week at the Greater First Baptist Church of Cantonment.
The Coffee with a Cop event provided an opportunity for community members to ask questions and learn more about what the ESCO is doing in their neighborhood.
Coffee with a Cop is a national initiative supported by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Similar events are being held across the county, as local police departments, sheriff’s offices, and state police forces strive to make lasting connections with the communities they serve. The program aims to advance the practice of community policing through improving relationships between law enforcement and community members one cup of coffee at a time.
Pictured: Coffee With a Cop at the Greater First Baptist Church of Cantonment. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Search Warrant Uncovers Drugs, Guns; Three Arrested
February 20, 2016
Three people were arrested Friday after the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office served search warrants on two homes near Warrington Middle School.
As a result of the search, Darryl L. Penn, James Melton and Dominic Robinson were arrested on multiple charges including drug possession and intent to sell. During the searches, deputies seized firearms, cocaine, marijana and prescription drugs from both homes.
Deputies said the search warrants and ultimately the arrests were the result of concern citizen and Crime Stoppers reports.
Walnut Hill 911 Service Restored
February 19, 2016
Repairs to Frontier Communications’ 9-1-1 service in Walnut Hill are complete and residents can once again dial 9-1-1 directly for emergency services. Service was interrupted earlier Friday due to a downed trunk system.
Escambia Commission Declares Emergency; Asks For State Recovery Help
February 19, 2016
The Escambia County Commission voted Thursday night to declare a state of local emergency and ask the governor to take action following Monday’s tornado.
In a letter from Chairman Grover Robinson, the commission is asking Gov. Rick Scott to issue and executive order also declaring a state of emergency in Escambia County due to the tornado and other severe weather. The letter points out that dozens of homes and structures are destroyed or have suffered significant damage in a “severely depressed socioeconomic area and most of these structures are not insured”. The order would allow the county to access as much aid as possible, including SHIP (State Housing Initiatives Partnership program).
The Escambia Commission also voted unanimously to approve a building inspection staff person to serve at the Century Town Hall from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. this Saturday and for a two week period beginning Monday, February 22 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Century Business Center.
The county also voted to waive any fees for building permits needed for storm recovery, and allow the land use certification issued by the Town of Century to serve as the documentation needed to pull the building permits.
The Escambia Commission also approved debris pickup throughout the effected area including both the unincorporated areas of the county and inside the incorporated limits of Century.
For additional tornado recovery information, click here and here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Amtrak Train Rolls Into Atmore (With Photo Gallery)
February 19, 2016
An Amtrak inspection train rolled into Atmore Thursday afternoon in advance of the possible return of rail service to the Gulf Coast.
Amtrak’s Sunset Limited passenger train, which included service from New Orleans through Pensacola to Jacksonville, came to an end along the Gulf Coast due to damage from Hurricane Katrina. The restored rail service would breathe life back into abandoned train stations in Pensacola and Atmore and other cities along the way.
Congresswoman Corrine Brown of Florida was on board the train. She told the hundreds gathered in Atmore that she’s wants to see the service eventually extended to Orlando.
The invitation-only train arrived in Atmore on Thursday/ Passengers boarded buses to spend the night at the Wind Creek Hotel in Atmore, while the empty train continued to Pensacola.. On Friday morning, the passengers were bused to Pensacola to re-board the train at 8 a.m. and continue on to stops in Crestview, Chipley, Tallahassee and Jacksonville.
The train is a test of sorts, testing the potential route and testing the willingness of state leaders from Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana to provide millions in funding for the daily train service. If funding were to be approved, officials said it would be about two years before the train would roll again.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Lawmakers Want More Recess Time For Elementary Students
February 19, 2016
The Florida House wants to give schoolchildren a little more time to go outside and play. House members voted 112-2 on Thursday to approve a bill that would require elementary schools to provide 100 minutes of recess each week — at least 20 solid minutes a day.
But the proposal might not get out the door in the Senate, where it has not been heard in any committees with only three weeks left in the legislative session.
Republican and Democratic House members praised the bill, with Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, saying children are not “little learning robots” and need recess.
“It has a huge impact on our children, and we need to make sure they have that free time,” said Rep. Bob Cortes, an Altamonte Springs Republican who helped sponsor the bill. Only Rep. Michael Bileca, R-Miami, and Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, dissented Thursday.
by The News Service of Florida