Florida Weekend Recap – April 17

Florida Weekend Recap – April 17

A recap of this week’s best political and policy happenings; Historic City News brings you what you missed this week in Florida policy and politics.

The Week in Review for April 13-17, 2015

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
Five Florida cities (Tampa, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and Jacksonville) made the list of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest projected rent increases in the next year while RealtyTrac’s monthly foreclosure report found Florida still ranked first among all states for the number of foreclosures in the first quarter of 2015. ♦ It was fun and games in the Florida Legislature Thursday, when the House approved a bill by Rep. Jay Trumbell that fully legalized amusement games, like those offered by popular family restaurant Dave and Busters. ♦ In a victory for red-light camera opponents, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal in a case that has forced Hollywood, and several other cities, to stop their current red-light camera programs. ♦ Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet accepted a plan to buy billions in foreign reinsurance for the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which would further reduce the impact of a hurricane to the state’s finances but could also cost policyholders and domestic insurance companies. ♦ Pour one out for the whiskey and wheaties bill, which died a quiet death after Sen. Denise Sebring pulled the Senate version of the bill following a defeat of the House bill in the Regulatory Affairs Committee.

ECONOMY
29,400 — that’s the number of private sector jobs created in March, which left the state’s unemployment rate virtually unchanged from February’s revised 5.7 percent unemployment rate despite significantly stronger hiring than last month. ♦ A study by the National Partnership for Women and Families said that a pay gap existed between men and women of all races in Florida, but was significantly worse for Asian-Americans, blacks and Latinas. ♦ Florida lawmakers showed little inclination to renew Florida’s enterprise zone program, which provides tax breaks in specially designated areas of the state, despite the pleas of city and county officials. ♦ Film incentives experienced a temporary setback in the Legislature, when the House proposal was temporarily postponed before it came up for discussion on the floor. Rep. Mike Miller said the delay was due to a ‘timing issue’ with the Senate, where Sen. Nancy Detert’s version of the proposal must still pass the Senate appropriations committee.

EDUCATION
Gov. Rick Scott signed a new standardized testing law which aims to scale back testing in public schools. “This legislation reduces the number of tests our students take, including the 11th grade English Language Arts test that we eliminated this year through an Executive Order in February. I agree with many teachers and parents who say we have too many tests, and while this legislation is a great step forward, we will keep working to make sure Florida students are not over tested,” Scott said. The new law requires an independent review of the test’s validity before the state releases annual A-to-F school grades or uses the data in teacher evaluations. The release of both grades and evaluations will come later than planned, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said, with the grades not likely to be announced until November or December. ♦ Julio Frenk was confirmed at the new president of the University of Miami. He previously served as dean at Harvard’s school of public health.

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
HB 1205, the House version of a bill implementing fracking in Florida’s current regulatory framework for energy, was amended and passed by the House State Affairs Committee. The measure was earlier amended to mandate the state study the effects of hydraulic fracturing and later amended to include a $1 million appropriation to conduct it. ♦ Energy legislation seems to be running out of power. SB 400 by Sen. Jeff Brandes would provide a ballot measure to extend a residential property tax exemption for renewable energy, as already is provided in the state Constitution, to commercial property. SB 402 is an implementing bill, also filed by Brandes. Both bills passed their first committee stops on March 10 but then they quit moving with three committee stops to go. ♦ A similar ballot measure proposed by Floridians for Solar Choice has collected enough signatures for Florida Supreme Court review, but has also drawn the ire of a few groups including some conservatives, cities and utilities. ♦ Florida is bringing back a public hunt for invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades. The move comes weeks after a recent study showed that the snakes have been constricting the populations of native mammals.

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Federal health officials said publicly for the first time that they want expansion of Florida’s Medicaid program as part of any deal to grant Gov. Rick Scott’s request to help the state’s hospitals treat poor patients. Scott is refusing and that could lead to the Legislature failing to pass a budget before the scheduled end of its annual session May 1. Senate leaders say they will not approve a final budget that includes large cuts to hospitals. Federal officials, however, continue to dispute that they halted negotiations. Emails obtained from The Associated Press and The Scripps/Tribune this week show that state officials and federal officials remained in contact over the past two weeks but the Scott administration has drawn a distinction, saying there haven’t been any face-to-face meetings or scheduled phone calls since late March. Now Scott says he’s suing the federal government over coercing the state to expand Medicaid. The governor contends that a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision bars the federal government from coercing states into expanding Medicaid. Yet, that’s what the Republican governor says the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is doing because the agency insists that the hospital funds and Medicaid expansion should be part of the same discussion.

LAW & ORDER
A bill enhancing penalties for sex solicitation passed the House of Representatives Thursday, with sponsor Rep. Ross Spano saying that it sent a message that people are not commodities to be bought and sold. ♦ The House and the Senate closed some of the distance between them on prison reform, with the two lead reformers in both chambers agreeing to establish an independent oversight commission for the state’s prisons but to fill it with lawmakers instead of civilian volunteers. ♦ The Senate holstered a proposal to allow some officials to carry guns at K-12 school after education committee chairman Sen. John Legg postponed the proposal’s consideration for a second time. ♦ Another controversial gun bill that would have extended concealed carry permit holder’s rights to college campuses is similarly held up in the Judiciary committee by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla. ♦ Don’t shoot the messenger, even if he is entering restricted national airspace: Doug Hughes, a 61 year-old Ruskin mailman, was unharmed after he landed a gyrocopter on the U.S. Capitol building’s lawn to deliver 535 letters of protest to Congress.

POLITICS
Secretary of State Ken Detzner continued to oppose a bipartisan bill for an online system of voter registration by 2017, citing “forces of evil” that could disrupt elections through cyberattacks. SB 228 passed the Senate Committee on Appropriations and now heads to the chamber floor. ♦ The Senate and House have agreed to give Detzner’s agency $1.8 million to start planning for online registration. The House version of the bill was temporarily stalled, delaying a House floor vote, because of a minor disagreement over the source that money which is meant as “veto insurance” to prevent Scott from killing the bill because there’s no money for it. ♦ Family Ties: Martin County School Board member Rebecca Negron, wife of state Sen. Joe Negron, announced she filed to run for congressional District 18. ♦ Sen. Don Gaetz said he’s considering entering the 2016 U.S. Senate race. He said his wife Victoria is totally on board with him leaping into the void created by CFO Jeff Atwater’s unexpected decision to not seek the seat held by Sen. Marco Rubio. Gaetz, who hits term-limits in 2016, is likely to be replaced by his son, state Rep. Matt Gaetz.

PUBLIC SECTOR
A controversial House growth management bill (HB 933) passed its final committee stop on the way to the House floor. The bill, which originally combined seven separate House growth management bills, includes provisions eliminating the “development of regional impact” review process for larger developments and requiring a property rights considerations in local government comprehensive land use plans. The bill was amended to remove a section that would extend a loan program for clean energy and wind resistance to ground subsidence and repair. ♦ The House State Affairs Committee substantially amended Rep. Janet Adkins’ local pension reform bill (HB 1279) over fears that it unfairly punished local pension funds statewide for the problems unique to Jacksonville. The committee backed an amendment by state Rep. Shawn Harrison that struck out language creating eight-year term limits for police and fire pension board trustees. ♦ Let’s get to work … it out. The Florida Cabinet and media outlets will try to hash out their differences in mediation instead of going to court over allegations that the state officials knowingly violated Florida’s open records laws during the firing of former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey.