Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Session Near MidPoint
March 29, 2014
Tallahassee was coated in yellow as the session neared its midpoint this week.
Some legislators may have wished that the film of pollen blanketing the city was pixie dust as the reality begins to set in that “bills will die.”
Capitol denizens were handed at least a temporary distraction from the sneezing and sniffling, overshadowed by giddiness spawned by soccer superstar — and all-purpose hunk — David Beckham. Numerous lawmakers, along with Gov. Rick Scott, flooded Twitter with “selfies” shot with the entrepreneur, who made the rounds in search of funding for a pro-soccer stadium project Beckham is planning in Miami.
Red-light runners got watery-eyed for a different reason. Sponsors in both chambers put the brakes on a red-light camera repeal this year, admitting they don’t have the votes to turn off the mechanical watchdogs.
As the azaleas burst into bloom, budget writers in the House and Senate put the finishing touches on their respective versions of the state’s roughly $75 billion spending plan for the upcoming year. The proposals are separated by different approaches to four-year college degrees and spending on water projects.
And with nothing related to spring but perhaps a lot to do with the fall election season, Gov. Rick Scott’s elections chief announced he is dropping a controversial process to scrub the voter rolls of non-U.S. citizens. Secretary of State Ken Detzner blamed the federal government for his reversal, but critics say Scott’s administration backed off because the process risked alienating Hispanic voters considered crucial for a re-election win in November.
DUELING BUDGETS HEADED FOR FLOOR VOTES
The House and Senate budget committees finalized their preliminary spending plans with few — but noticeable — differences.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a $74.9 billion budget, one day after its House counterpart signed off on a $75.3 billion spending plan.
The Senate blueprint includes more funding for higher education and water projects in South Florida, while the House earmarks more for public education and state springs preservation. The House plan (PCB APC 14-09) would plow hundreds of millions of dollars more into education-construction projects. Lawmakers have plenty of time to iron out differences between the two spending plans during conference meetings over the next few weeks.
The Senate budget writers spent the bulk of their meeting Thursday debating a portion of the proposal that could potentially pit state colleges against state universities. The Senate plan (SB 2500) would cut $3.5 million cut from state colleges’ four-year degree programs and steer those funds toward state universities.
Scaling back four-year degree programs at state colleges, which were at one time community colleges that offered two-year degrees, has been an ongoing dispute between colleges and universities. Critics accuse the State Board of Education, which oversees the colleges, of too readily granting four-year degree programs.
At Thursday’s meeting, several senators complained that the colleges are creating too much competition for the universities, overseen separately by the Board of Governors. The four-year degrees at state colleges are supposed to cater to local workforce needs, the critics said.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said there were now 175 four-year programs offered at state colleges, which have veered away from their core mission of two-year degrees and prepping students for university study. Negron said he wants Florida universities to be in the same “elite level” as the University of Virginia, the University of North-Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan.
“And we can’t do that if we’re running two systems that are overlapping,” he said.
Negron also pointed out that the proposed cut is just a fraction of the nearly $1.2 billion in funding for state colleges, which would still see an overall increase when other spending is factored in.
But Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who is in a battle against Negron for a future Senate presidency, slammed the proposal. He said it would lead to lawmakers protecting their pet colleges and could run counter to the Legislature and Scott’s drive to lower tuition costs.
“When our governor made a bold request to try to find institutions that would give a $10,000 college degree, I didn’t see any universities step forward and say that (they would do it),” Latvala said. “It was our state colleges that stepped forward to do that.”
RED-LIGHT CAMERA BLUES
Red-light cameras won’t be turned off in Florida this year. House and Senate sponsors of measures that would repeal the traffic monitors this week put the brakes on what has become a perennial fight in the Legislature.
Senate Transportation Chairman Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, backed away from a repeal effort (SB 144) after it became clear he did not have the votes to pass it in his own committee. Instead, he proposed changes to increase regulations on red-light cameras, but the bill remained stuck in his committee.
On Wednesday, the panel shot down attempts by Brandes to amend the bill. The committee rejected an amendment that would have allowed motorists to employ a “rolling stop” at speeds up to 15 mph when taking right-on-red turns if no pedestrians were in the crosswalk. The Florida Police Chiefs Association and Florida Sheriffs Association opposed that plan. And the committee also red-lighted an amendment that would have required warnings instead of tickets to be issued to owners of vehicles caught on camera going through traffic signals 0.5 seconds after the colors changed from yellow to red.
“Clearly if I don’t have the votes to adopt simple amendments that are common sense, such as standardizing turns throughout the state of Florida, clearly you would see that the broader issue was not long for this world,” said Brandes, a harsh critic of the cameras first authorized by the Legislature four years ago and now in use by 77 county and city governments across the state.
Brandes and Rep. Frank Artiles, a Miami Republican who is sponsoring a House companion, contend that the cameras are cash cows for local governments and are an invasion of privacy.
To keep his proposal on track earlier in the week, Artiles backed down from his original plan to ban new cameras from being installed.
The revised measure (HB 7005) would allow new cameras at intersections but only if their use is justified through traffic engineering studies.
Artiles’s original proposal would also have reduced fines from $158 to $83, eliminating the money local governments could collect from the red-light runners.
In early February, Artiles and Brandes held a press conference in the Capitol to highlight a report from the Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability, the Legislature’s non-partisan policy office. The report found there were fewer fatalities but more crashes at electronically monitored intersections and that fines issued due to the technology cost motorists nearly $119 million last year.
But groups such as the Florida League of Cities have opposed legislative attempts to dramatically change red-light camera programs. Those groups contend the cameras are a public safety tool.
“It’s about revenue, it’s not about safety,” Artiles told the House Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee on Monday. “What good is it for cities and counties and the state to collect this revenue and not implement it for safety purposes?”
VOTER SCRUB SCRUBBED, REDUX
Detzner went on the road in October to pitch a controversial cleansing of the voter rolls. The state had won its battle with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and gained access to a database Detzner and his lawyers insisted is crucial to guaranteeing that people registered to vote in Florida are U.S. citizens. Use of the database would give the state the opportunity to revamp a previously flawed process that misidentified thousands of eligible voters in 2012, Detzner said at the time.
Less than six months later, Detzner took many by surprise with Thursday’s announcement that he is scrapping the scrub. Despite its seemingly benign “Project Integrity” label, critics of the process insisted it was designed to target minority voters, especially Hispanics.
Detzner blamed the feds for his turnaround, saying that the database was undergoing changes that won’t be complete until 2015. As a result, Detzner told elections supervisors he decided “to postpone implementing Project Integrity” until the modifications are complete, which would be long after the November election — with Scott on the ballot — is over.
Supervisors abandoned the 2012 effort, which was the brainchild of Scott, after discovering that the lists of voters flagged by Detzner’s office as potential non-citizens were riddled with errors.
Of the 2,600 targeted voters, 85 were found to be ineligible to vote and dropped from the rolls. After the U.S. Department of Justice sued Scott over the purge, Scott took the Obama administration to court to get access to the database. A deal between the state and the Department of Homeland Security was struck last year.
Critics of the purge accused Scott of trying to prevent minorities in Florida — a critical swing state — from voting in the 2012 presidential election because many of the voters on the list had Hispanic-sounding last names. Hispanics are considered a crucial voting bloc in the upcoming governor’s race.
The voter purge turnaround comes as Scott, whose 2010 platform included support of an Arizona-style immigration law, is embroiled in controversy related to former campaign finance chairman Mike Fernandez’s resignation from the team. Fernandez complained, in part, about campaign officials ignoring his advice about how to deal with Hispanics.
In a series of internal e-mails leaked to The Miami Herald and Politico, Fernandez, a billionaire who raised more than $30 million for the governor’s re-election effort, criticized the campaign for being insensitive to Hispanics. The Herald reported that Fernandez complained about two campaign aides making jokes in a Hispanic accent while en route to a Mexican restaurant.
Scott’s campaign manager Melissa Sellers said that Fernandez was not in the van when the reported comments were made.
“If something was said in an accent, no one remembers what it was. We are a diverse organization and we do not tolerate inappropriate comments,” Sellers said in an e-mail.
While civil- and voting-rights organizations applauded Detzner’s announcement, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant accused Scott’s team of an attempt at “damage control” by abandoning the purge.
“Now, embroiled in a scandal involving racist jokes targeting Hispanics, the governor suddenly has made (an) about-face and suspends the latest attempt to kick voters off of the voting rolls — attempts that have overwhelmingly targeted Hispanics in the past. It is now clear to all that the original reasons given for the voter purge (were) mere pretexts to intimidate voters Rick Scott would frankly rather not vote,” Tant said in a statement.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Florida drops controversial election-year voter purge.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “In November, I will vote for every Florida politician that doesn’t have a selfie with David Beckham. Both of them.” — Documentary film director Billy Corben.
by Dara Kim, The News Service of Florida
Scott Says FHP Bonuses Won’t Be Tied To Tickets Written
March 29, 2014
Gov. Rick Scott on Friday rejected the possibility that bonuses for Florida Highway Patrol troopers could be connected to the numbers of traffic tickets they write.
Scott issued a strongly worded statement after media reports raised questions about whether the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles was considering such a plan.
“The idea that FHP would tie officer bonuses to the number of tickets they write is absolutely outrageous and wrong,” Scott said in a prepared statement. “All state worker bonuses should be based on better — not worse — outcomes for the people of Florida who pay the taxes to fund state government.”
The Tallahassee Democrat reported Sunday that the Florida Police Benevolent Association was concerned that the department, which oversees the Highway Patrol, would link trooper evaluations with “public contacts,” which include traffic stops, traffic citations, written warnings and arrests.
In contract offers with the union, the department said traffic-citation quotas would not be put in place, the Democrat reported. But Scott appeared Friday to try to end any speculation on the issue.
“Floridians paying more in tickets is not a better outcome. Period,” he said. “If this idea comes across my desk, I will reject it.”
Rain Forces Tate, Northview Softball And Baseball Cancellations
March 28, 2014
Tonight’s Tate Lady Aggies “Strike Out Cancer” game versus Navarre High School has been rescheduled for Monday at 6:30 p.m. due to weather.
Northview vs. Jay softball has been canceled for today. The games have been rescheduled for Monday, JV at 4:00 and varsity at 6:00. Northview vs. Chipley will be play varsity only on Friday, April 4 at 4:00.
Northview vs. Jay baseball has been canceled for today, both JV and varsity. The varsity has been rescheduled for Saturday at 2:00 at Jay.
Tate’s ninth grade baseball game for today has been canceled and has not yet been rescheduled.
Weather Causes Scattered Power Outages, Downs Trees
March 28, 2014
Scattered power outages were reported Frodau morning by both Gulf Power Company and Escambia River Electric Cooperative. Most of the outages were small, impacting just a few customers each. Pictured above: A tree down across power lines and Molino Road near Highway 99 that caused an estimated six Gulf Power customers to lose power. Submitted photo by Tom Dickson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Century Leaders Looking Toward China To Land Local Jobs
March 28, 2014
Two Century leaders are in Dothan today with their eyes on China for possible jobs.
Mayor Freddie McCall and Century Chamber Economic Development Coordinator Cindy Anderson are attending the U.S.-China Manufacturing Symposium. Co-organized by SoZo Group and China Chamber of International Commerce, the symposium brought to about 400 Chinese businessmen looking to bring businesses to American soil.
The Dothan event is the combination to two events, including the smaller Alabama-China Partnership Symposium that was held a few years ago in Monroeville, Ala. That event paid off for Thomasville, , a town of 4,209 people just over 100 miles northwest of Century, landed a deal with the Golden Dragon copper tubing plant that now employs over 100 people with plans to triple that workforce in the next year. The town was able to recruit the Chinese plant that employees local Thomasville residents without ever traveling to China.
Century was the only small Florida Panhandle community invited to participate.
Century’s price tag for attending the event includes $2,400 in registration fees, hotel expenses for McCall (Anderson’s lodging is being paid for by the Century Chamber), and $1,253 for ad agency Ideawörks to create and print 500 tri-fold brochures promoting Century.
Mira Awards Honor Escambia’s Most Creative High School Seniors
March 28, 2014
Seventy of Escambia County’s most creative high school seniors were honored Thursday night during the 2014 Mira Creative Arts Awards Banquet at New World Landing.
Mira Creative Arts Awards recipients were nominated for the award by their high school teachers and will receive commemorative engraved medallions as well as Certificates of Special Congressional Recognition from Congressman Jeff Miller.
Northview High School
- Kasie Braun, Graphic Arts
- Taylor Brook, Instrumental Music
- Hunter Dettling, Instrumental Music
- Morgan Digmon, Dance
- Anna Donald, Theatre
- Anna Fischer, Dance/Journalism
- Cory Hester, Instrumental Music
- Justin King, Journalism
- Chloe Leonard, Dance
- Victoria Wright, Graphic Arts
Tate High School
- Eion Blanchard, Vocal Music
- Jacob Charles, Instrumental Music
- Raylee Cowart, Journalism
- Adrianna Cutaio, Drama
- Arielle Foster, Creative Arts
- Graham Gardner, Instrumental Music
- Jack Gonzalez, Graphic Arts
- Noah Heintz, Instrumental Music
- Justin Ritchie, Visual Arts
- Chance Taylor Sturup, Debate
West Florida High School
- Garrett Brooks, Theatre
- Jasmine Keiarra Clark, Theatre
- Dominic Jacob Estares, Instrumental Music
- Teal Garth, Mulitmedia
- Lindsey Briana Granger, Visual Arts
- Miller Hawkins, Journalism
- Tabbitha Bree Kirby Manzanet, Visual Arts
- Scooter Nix, Journalism
- Shelby Spiegelhalter, Multimedia
- Krista Leigh Weaver, Instrumental Music
Escambia High School
- Danica Rose AlinsodApin, Journalism
- Cody Edward Blum, Digital Media
- Zachary Callahan, Instrumental Music
- Christopher Epps, Culinary Arts
- Emily Hausner, Theatre
- Katie Winters, Visual Arts
- Shelby Leclaire, Vocal Music
- Ryan Murphy, Instrumental Music
- Taylor Renae Walden, Visual Arts
- Ashton Williams, Instrumental Music
Pensacola High School
- Mary Catherine Bond, Visual Arts
- Freda Britton, Color Guard
- Keegan Jo Heye, Drama
- Pauline Lara, Drama
- Kathryn Maher, Photography
- Clara Noelle Ortega, Visual Arts
- Victoria Patton, Drama
- Cyrus Barron Player, Instrumental Music
- Anne Marie Tamburro, Instrumental Music
- Krista Woods, Instrumental Music
Pine Forest High School
- Diamond Brundidge, Vocal Music
- Megan Krist, Digital Production
- Katelyn Newsom, Journalism
- Rachael Nipple, Theatre
- Brittani Osborn, Yearbook
- Leonardo Reeves-Casas, Industrial Technology
- Rosa Reeves-Casas, Visual Arts
- Desjuan Waiters, Culinary Arts
- Asia Walker, Fashion Design
- Savannah Wright, Instrumental Music
Washington High School
- Savannah Rae Caton, Visual Arts
- Sarah Emily Crawford, Instrumental Music
- Marcus Gillard, Instrumental Music
- Mark Hibyan, Instrumental Music
- Alyx Levesque, Drama
- Colleen Mason, Visual Arts
- Meagan McNease, Instrumental/Vocal Music
- James Safko, Visual Arts
- Kayla Simoné Townsend, Vocal Music
- Carla Villafane, Vocal Music
In 1987, a group of teachers at J. M. Tate High School created the Mira Awards to recognize talented and creative students in the arts and sciences. The following year, the committee approached the Escambia County Public Schools Foundation to bring the awards under its umbrella and to initiate county-wide student participation each year in the areas of writing, performing and visual arts, and other creative disciplines. The term “Mira” is Latin for the name of the brightest star in the constellation Cetus.
Pictured top: Northview High School Mira winners (L-R) Morgan Digmon, Anna Donald, Victoria Wright, Taylor Brook, Chloe Leonard, Anna Fischer, Justin King, Hunter Dettling and Cory Hester. Submitted photo by Connie Brook for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
State Drops Election Year Voter Purge
March 28, 2014
In an election-year turnaround, Gov. Rick Scott’s administration is dropping a problematic voter purge aimed at keeping non-U.S. citizens from casting ballots.
In the fall, Secretary of State Ken Detzner held five forums with supervisors of elections and the public seeking input on what he called “Project Integrity,” a revamped process in which voter registration records were to be matched with a federal database to ensure that prospective voters were eligible to participate in elections.
But on Thursday, Detzner sent supervisors a memo saying he is scrapping the scrub.
Detzner blamed changes to the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Eligibility, or SAVE, database, for his decision.
“In early February, we received notice that the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE program would be undergoing a multi-phase redesign. On February 23, Phase One was officially launched and included, at a minimum, a revised screen design, new fields and features,” Detzner wrote to the supervisors.
“These changes will enhance and improve the credibility and reliability of the potential ineligible matches, but DHS anticipates Phase Two will not be complete until 2015. For these reasons, with your input, I have decided to postpone implementing Project Integrity until the Federal SAVE Program Phase Two is completed,” he wrote in a memo issued after a conference call with the supervisors.
Many supervisors — the only officials who have the authority to remove voters from the rolls — were wary of the new process despite assurances from Detzner that it would include documentation that targeted voters who were ineligible to vote.
“I politely informed the secretary that Florida could not afford to repeat what happened in 2012,” Pasco County elections supervisor Brian Corley told The News Service of Florida after Thursday’s call with Detzner. “If there were concerns about it being done right and the timing of it, then I was all for delaying for that reason.”
The 2012 voter purge, which Corley called “an embarrassment,” was the brainchild of Scott, who is running for re-election this fall.
But supervisors abandoned the 2012 effort after discovering that the lists of voters flagged by Detzner’s office as potential non-citizens were riddled with errors.
Of the 2,600 targeted voters, 85 were found to be ineligible to vote and dropped from the rolls. After the U.S. Department of Justice sued Scott over the purge, Scott took the Obama administration to court to get access to the database. A deal between the state and the Department of Homeland Security was struck last year.
Critics of the purge accused Scott of trying to prevent minorities in Florida — a critical swing state — from voting in the 2012 presidential election because many of the voters on the list had Hispanic-sounding last names. Hispanics are considered a crucial voting bloc in the upcoming governor’s race.
Detzner’s announcement comes as Scott’s campaign is embroiled in a drama related to former finance chairman Mike Fernandez’s resignation from the team. Fernandez complained, in part, about campaign officials ignoring his advice about how to deal with Hispanics.
Fernandez, a billionaire who raised more than $30 million for the governor’s re-election effort, quit the team last week. In a series of internal e-mails leaked to The Miami Herald and Politico, Fernandez, who is Cuban, criticized the campaign for being insensitive to Hispanics. The Herald reported that Fernandez complained about two campaign aides making jokes in a Hispanic accent while en route to a Mexican restaurant.
Scott’s campaign manager Melissa Sellers said that Fernandez was not in the van when the reported comments were made.
“If something was said in an accent, no one remembers what it was. We are a diverse organization and we do not tolerate inappropriate comments,” Sellers said in an e-mail.
Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant accused Scott’s team of an attempt at “damage control” with the purge.
“Now, embroiled in a scandal involving racist jokes targeting Hispanics, the governor suddenly has made (an) about-face and suspends the latest attempt to kick voters off of the voting rolls — attempts that have overwhelmingly targeted Hispanics in the past. It is now clear to all that the original reasons given for the voter purge (were) mere pretexts to intimidate voters Rick Scott would frankly rather not vote,” Tant said in a statement. “While this move is clearly an act of damage-control from a campaign in chaos, this represents a major victory for the people of Florida who have suffered so many voter suppression efforts under the Rick Scott administration.”
by Dara Kim, The News Service of Florida
Senate Panel Appoves Raising Florida’s Speed Limits
March 28, 2014
As the speed limit is increased from 55 to 60 mph Friday on I-10 from Davis Highway to west of Highway 29 in Escambia County, a measure that could raise the speed limits by 5 mph Florida roads zoomed through its final Senate stop.
With a 15-4 vote, the panel approved the measure (SB 392) that directs the state Department of Transportation to determine the safe minimum and maximum speed limits on all divided highways that have at least four lanes.
Supporters of the bill say many drivers are already going faster than the current top rate of 70 mph. But critics, including Negron, say increasing speeds could lead to more accidents.
Negron, R-Stuart, contends that government-imposed speed limits have helped decrease highway injuries and fatalities because studies show that drivers have a greater likelihood of crashing at higher speeds.
“I think that once you start getting into the 80s and 90s that the opportunity for serious injury and death go up significantly,” said Negron, who noted that many motorists already drive nine to 10 mph above the posted limit.
The bill could eventually allow state transportation officials to increase speed limits on Florida’s “limited access highways” to 75 mph and raise the maximum posted limits on divided four-lane highways in sparsely populated rural areas from 65 mph to 70 mph. The transportation department could hike speeds to 60 mph on other roads they deem safe. And the department would also have the authority to set minimum speeds on certain highways.
“What’s important is that people travel at the same speeds,” Sen. Jeff Clemens, a Lake Worth Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said after the meeting. “If you have people who are able to travel at a much higher speed, traveling with people who are traveling at a much lower speed, that’s what’s actually creating a much more dangerous situation on our highways.”
Florida’s highways have had a 70 mph maximum since 1996, the last time the speed limit was reviewed.
In other states, higher speed limits have resulted in more deaths from speeding accidents because drivers’ reaction times are reduced and the severity of injuries is intensified, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The Senate proposal is now geared up for a full vote, but the House companion (HB 761) has been idling in the Economic Affairs Committee, the bill’s final scheduled stop, for more than three weeks.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
Four Northview Lifters Qualify For Regionals
March 28, 2014
Four Northview athletes qualified to complete at the regional boy’s weightlifting meeting April 9 in Panama City.
Advancing to the regionals were:
- Everette Garvey (JR) in the 119-lb. class. Everette had a 150-lb. bench press and a 135-lb. clean and jerk for a total of 285-lbs., which earned him a first place finish in the weight class.
- Dezmine Moorer (SO) in the 154-lb. class. Dezmine had a 215-lb. bench press and a 185-lb. clean and jerk for a total of 400-lbs., which earned him a second place finish in the weight class.
- Jacob Weaver (FR) in the 199-lb. class. Jacob had a 175-lb. bench press and a 165-lb. clean and jerk for a total of 340-lbs., which earned him a third place finish in the weight class.
- Austin Whitehead (SO) in the HVY class. Austin had a 250-lb. bench press ans a 225-lb. clean and jerk for a total of 475-lbs., which earned him a third place finish in the weight class.
Northview’s top lifter, senior Luke McDaniel who lifts in the 219-lb. class, sustained an injury during the meet and was not able to finish. McDaniel had won each of his previous meets this season.
The regional meet will be held April 9 at Arnold High School with 17 schools competing.
West Florida Lady Jags Win Daytona Beach Grand Slam
March 28, 2014
The West Florida Lady Jags won the Third Annual Daytona Beach Slam recently. The Lady Jags went 4-0 in the tournament and remain undefeated on the season. Pictured: (front, L-R) Kayla Miller, Jasmyn Nguyen, Nachelle Watson, Korina Rosario, Kristin Gunter, Emily Loring, Lauren Carnley, (back) Coach Angie Johnson, Maegan Freeman, Ali Cutaio, Farrah Nicholas, Head Coach Jessica Smith, Jordaine Watkins, Manager Kathleen Smiley, Breana Rogers, Danyelle Black, Jibrasha Moore and Coach Gary Jackson. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.