The good ideas they passed — no, really

By Howard Troxler, Times Columnist
In print: Tuesday, May 6, 2008

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The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones.

— Some dead guy*

It is no great shakes to criticize the Legislature. You and I could criticize the Legislature all day long while chewing gum and standing on one foot. We could keep going right through suppertime, too.

And yet, in the end, complaining about the Legislature is akin to yelling at a donkey — the donkey does not particularly notice, and we just get frustrated and hoarse.

For a change of pace and our own mental health, then, we might consider some of the good things passed by the 2008 Legislature.

This is not to say that they outweighed the bad, but only that such things exist:

• The renewal of the Florida Forever program for another 10 years, allowing the state to continue to acquire land for preservation.

• The good parts of the energy bill that moves Florida toward cutting down on greenhouse emissions. (There were bad parts of this bill, too.) Also, allowing hybrid vehicles to use high-occupancy lanes on the highway.

• Long-overdue compensation for Alan Crotzer, an innocent man wrongly imprisoned, as well as a system for compensating others in the future.

• A little bit of cracking down on Florida's insurance companies, adding some regulatory bite (although it still doesn't solve the underlying market problems).

• A plan for Florida's community colleges to grant more four-year degrees, a much-needed "middle tier" of higher education. A reasonable tuition increase to help state universities.

• $50-million for the Everglades, which could have been worse.

• A plan to get more health insurance to Florida's uninsured, offering stripped-down basic coverage for a reasonable monthly premium. Also, a requirement that insurance companies cover autism.

• An apology by the state for the past institution of slavery. Let's throw in there the overdue change to the state song, which once used the word "darkeys."

• A new state advocate to look out for the impact of laws, rules and regulations on Florida's small businesses.

• A new state license tag to support historic lighthouses. (I would get rid of all tags, but who hates lighthouses?) Let's pair this with the bill naming the gopher tortoise as the official state tortoise.

• Some education ideas: considering factors besides the FCAT to grade schools; new efforts to combat bullying; better physical education requirements.

• A new emphasis on crosswalk safety in Florida. The idea is, pedestrians in the crosswalk have the right of way and you're supposed to stop. Really.

In all, the Legislature considered 2,503 bills, resolutions, memorials and such, but ended up passing only 313, and that's a good thing, too.

No doubt there are good things left off this list; no doubt more bad ones will come to light as well.

• • •

Let's use the 2008 Legislature as the kickoff for today's weekly live Web chat.

I'll be taking comments and questions about current events from noon to 1 p.m. at blogs.tampabay.com/troxler.

* Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2.