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Latvala's 'breaking arms' comment irks Haridopolos
During a lengthy floor debate on prison privatization Monday, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, wanted to know why Senate leaders are so aggressively pushing the project if, as some believe, Gov. Rick Scott can privatize prisons by himself.
"Why are we here doing this now?" Latvala asked Sen. JD Alexander. "I mean, in other words, if the governor has the authority to do it within current statutes, why are we breaking arms to get it done?"
Before Alexander could answer, Senate President Mike Haridopolos quickly interjected: "Senator Latvala, I'd like you to refrain from that question, because that's not accurate."
"I'm sorry," Latvala said. "That was meant as kind of a joke. Why are we pushing so hard?"
"There you go," Haridopolos said. "Thank you." Said Alexander: "My arms are still working pretty good, Senator. I've certainly not broken any arms or twisted anyone to do anything other than what they believe is right." ... Read more
Capitol Buzz for Tuesday, 2/14
Five Stories To Think About Today
* Happy Valentine’s Day! What’s more romantic than prison privatization? The Senate is scheduled to take a dramatic up or down vote on a controversial plan to privatize south Florida prisons and work camps. The vote is too close to call and Senate President Mike Haridopolos declined to predict the outcome Monday.
* The House is in session too, with a bill to create 2012’s sales tax holiday listed as its first order of business. For three days in August, clothing, wallets, and bags less than $75 and school supplies less than $15 will be tax-exempt. ... Read more
Senate budget includes nearly 60 percent cut for USF
Days after the Florida Senate surprised the University of South Florida with a proposal to immediately spin off its Lakeland branch campus into the state's 12th university, Senate budget writers proposed slashing USF's state funding nearly 60 percent.
The common denominator: influential budget chairman and supporter of the standalone Lakeland school, Sen. JD Alexander.
Read the story here.
House subcommittee rejects ban on sweets for food stamps
A House panel on Monday defeated a measure that would ban food-stamp users from purchasing sweets, sodas and salty snacks.
The proposal was part of a controversial bill from Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, meant to reform the electronic benefit transfer program -- and promote healthy eating.
Critics, however, said government had no business dictating Floridians' grocery lists.
On Monday, Rep. Dana Young, R-Tampa, introduced a pair of amendments that substantially changed the bill. The first removed the ban on sweets, snacks and sodas.
Young's amendment passed unanimously.
"I will definitely come down on the side of us not being big government and telling people exactly what to eat," said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala. "Thank God there is still freedom and a fat guy can get a Coke once in a while." ... Read more
Obama for America launches 'Truth Teams'
The Florida branch of Obama for America today announced the launch of its "Truth Teams," which Democratic leaders say were formed to combat lies about President Barack Obama put forth by Republicans during the 2012 campaign.
Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith said the teams would refute negative ads about Obama, but do not aim to pour more poison into the political atmosphere.
"You can't let things go unanswered, you have to respond," said Smith, standing alongside Rep. Darren Soto, Orlando-D, Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, and Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee.
Soto said one aim is to make sure people don't believe the Republican mantra that the economy is still in the dumps.
"We are moving in the right direction," he said.
Court schedules Legislative redistricting arguments for Leap Year Day
The Florida Supreme Court has scheduled to hear oral arguments for the Legislature's redistricting maps on Feb. 29, Leap Year Day. (The day is added to the Gregorian calendar every four years to synchronize with the astrological drift.)
Meanwhile, briefs are due from the intervening parties -- from the Legislature to the Florida Democratic Party to the Fair Districts coalition of voters -- by noon Friday. The court will then have to decide by the last day of session whether to accept or reject the Legislative maps.
Another option: the court could accept the maps without prejudice, basically waiting for a legal challenge like the one being pursued by by the Democrats and Fair District opponents to provide the evidence to challenge the maps. Stay tuned.
How senators voted on anti-privatization "study"
Here's how members of the Florida Senate voted Monday on an amendment that would have gutted a major prison privatization bill (SB 2038) by replacing it with a study. A yes vote would have effectively killed privatization; a no vote keeps the measure alive. The Senate has 28 Republicans and 12 Democrats.
YES (19)
Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens; Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami; Charlie Dean, R-Inverness; Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami; Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland; Greg Evers, R-Baker; Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey; Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville; Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa; Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater; Gwen Margolis, D-Aventura; Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee; Steve Oelrich, R-Alachua; Nan Rich, D-Weston; Jeremy Ring, D-Margate; Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach; Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale; Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood; Ronda Storms, R-Valrico.
NO (21) ... Read more
Split Senate defeats killer privatization amendment
A tense, divided state Senate voted 21-19 on Monday to keep a controversial prison privatization plan alive.
The vote was on a so-called killer amendment by Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, that would have substituted a study of privatization for the actual outsourcing of 27 prisons and work camps in 18 South Florida counties. Fasano's amendment would have gutted the bill (SB 2038).
The vote followed more than two hours of questions and debate. Backers emphasized the cost savings, at a minimum of $16.5 million the first year, which they said would boost education and health spending. Opponents argued that cost savings are unreliable and that public safety is too basic a government service to be outsourced to profit-making companies. ... Read more
Democrats in the House push leadership to act on Brody, Dillon claims bills
They were the first bills heard on the Senate floor back when the 2012 Session kicked off on Jan. 10, but measures that would compensate a South Florida man injured by a speeding cop and a Brevard County man wrongfully jailed for 27 years haven't made a peep in the House.
Curious about the delay, House Democrats have sent a letter to speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park and Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, urging them to set the claims bill for committee hearings as soon as possible.
House minority leader Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West, penned the letter on Monday, urging House leadership to move on the bills, which would allow Eric Brody, of Sunrise, to collect a $10.8 million settlement and William Dillon, of Brevard County, to collect $1.35 million. ... Read more
Committee postpones plan to make it easier to raise rates for power plants
A Senate committee postponed a vote on plan to restructure the way electricity customers pay for new power plants when the author of a late-appearing amendment, Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, withdrew it.
The amendment, proposed to be tucked into a clean energy bill, would make it easier for Florida's electric companies to raise rates to pay for modernizing or building their power plants. Florida Power & Light currently has a proposal before state regulators to allow it to spend $1.1 billion to modernize its Port Everglades power plant.
"There's been a lot of mischaracterization and that has caused some confusion,'' said Mike Sole, lobbyist with Florida Power & Light, after the Senate Agriculture Committee postponed a vote on the amendment.
The proposal would allow utility companies to bypass the traditional rate case before the Public Service Commission for certain construction projects, and instead receive an "incremental adjustment to base rates." ... Read more
School prayer bill nears House floor
The so-called school prayer bill is zooming toward the House floor.
On Monday, the House Education Committee approved the proposal by a 9-6 vote.
All six Democrats on the panel voted no.
The proposal comes from Sen. Gary Siplin, a Democrat from Orlando. It would allow student volunteers to deliver inspirational messages at public-school functions. School district employees could not participate or control the message.
Siplin's bill found some bi-partisan support in the Senate, where it was recently approved on the floor.
Not so in the House Education Committee, despite pleas from Siplin before the vote took place.
Rep. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, said the proposal would open the door to hate speech in public schools.
Said Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami: "I have a big, big concern with first-graders and kindergartners determining what is an appropriate inspirational message." ... Read more
Florida lawmakers tread carefully with deregulation of professions this time
Rather than reignite a bitter debate over whether to remove from state oversight a series of professions including hair braiders and interior designers, lawmakers in 2012 are treading lightly in their quest to create jobs and spur the economy.
But it doesn't mean everyone is liking it — especially Florida architects.
Small but specific moves to scale back professional laws are proceeding through the legislative process, addressing a spectrum of regulations from continuing education hours to work experience and, most controversially, eliminating "protectionist" policies that keep out newcomers.
Read the whole story.
Tea Party, NAACP oppose prison privatization plan
The Tea Party and the NAACP are at opposite ends of the political spectrum on a lot of things, but on one pressing issue in Tallahassee they are in sync: prison privatization. As the Senate prepares again to debate the controversial issue, the Tea Party and the nation's oldest civil rights group have issued statements opposing the proposed outsourcing of more than two dozen South Florida prisons.
The Tea Party, usually opposed to more government spending, isn't buying the notion that private prisons save money. Henry Kelley of Fort Walton Beach, speaking for the Tea Party Network, a coalition of 80 groups statewide, said they are concerned about "crony capitalism and deals that ultimately turn out bad for taxpayers." He said the Tea Party Network is not convinced that the bill (SB 2038) will yield the proimised savings, and that the group favors an amendment by Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, that would substitute a study or privatization for the plan itself. ... Read more
Winner and loser of the week in Fla politics
Winner of the week: Kathy Castor. The Tampa congresswoman's district is so heavily Democratic she never looked to be in serious trouble. Still, Republican Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe would have made it interesting, and his decision to scrap his campaign means Castor won't even have to break a sweat winning a third term.
Loser of the week: Jim Norman. He averted criminal prosecution, but the ethics cloud hanging over state Sen. Norman, R-Tampa, isn't going away. The Florida Commission on Ethics last week found probable cause that Norman failed to disclose that Ralph Hughes, the late Hillsborough conservative activist, gave his wife a $500,000 gift used to buy a lakefront home in Arkansas.
USF gets disproportionate cut in Senate budget recommendations
The University of South Florida is reeling today after the Senate's budget recommendations over the weekend revealed a disproportionate cut to the school compared to other universities.
Of the $400 million recommended to be cut from the entire state university system, $79 million of that -- or 20 percent -- would come from USF.
Another $25 million would be held in "contingency," pending USF's cooperation in immediately severing its branch campus in Lakeland. That move, pushed hard by Senate budget chairman JD Alexander, would require giving the new "Florida Polytechnic University" all USF Polytechnic's money, property, foundation dollars and more with USF retaining all USF Poly's faculty and staff. Absorbing all those people is expected to cost another $16 million to the university, said USF Provost Ralph Wilcox. ... Read more
State Sen. Gary Siplin, a Central Florida Democrat, doesn't fall in line
State Sen. Gary Siplin charts his own path through the Florida Legislature.
He's a Democrat who cuts deals with Republicans. Even in hard times, he brings home money to his inner-city Orlando district. Despite a series of missteps during a 12-year political career and well-financed campaigns to oust him, Siplin has never lost an election.
Now facing the inevitability of term limits, he is arranging for his wife to take his place.
Siplin, 57, is a survivor, a political operator and a throwback who puts his district first.
This year, he is working with Republicans, not Democrats, to pass a bill expanding prayer in public schools. Last year, it was supporting reforms to public schools that tied teacher pay to the performance of students.
"It ain't about Republican or Democrat," Siplin said last week during an interview in his office. "It's about District 19."
Read more here.
Capitol Buzz for Monday, 2/13
Five Stories To Think About Today
* Today the Legislature returns for the sixth week of the session. Now that they've passed the midway point, expect the pace of lawmaking to quicken. Subcommittees in both chambers are no longer meeting, and the Senate is readying its budget to match the House's or begin negotiations with the House.
* This afternoon the Senate will again take up prison privatization, SB 2038. The issue is a priority of Senate leadership, but there are a number of Republicans who are opposed, lead by Sens. Mike Fasano and Paula Dockery. The vote appears too close to call, with the Senate sharply divided.
* Also on the Senate calendar Monday are several items related to veterans issues. That includes a bill to create a Combat Infantry Badge license plate and a bill urging Congress to support efforts to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. ... Read more
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For Florida political news today, the Buzz is your can't-miss-it source. Tampa Bay Times writers offer the latest in Florida politics, the Florida Legislature and the Rick Scott administration. Keep in mind: This is a public forum sponsored and maintained by the Tampa Bay Times. When you post comments here, what you say becomes public and could appear in the newspaper. You are not engaging in private communication with candidates or Times staffers.
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