Florida Weekend Recap – April 24

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 20-24, 2015

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
The housing market continued to improve last month, with both home price and total sales rising for the 40th consecutive month, according to new numbers from Florida Realtors. Underwater mortgages are still a problem in several areas of the state, however, with several Florida metropolitan areas including Tampa and Orlando topping the list of cities with the highest number of seriously underwater mortgages according to real estate analysis firm RealtyTrac. ♦ A new report by Florida TaxWatch found that Florida accounts for more than a third of the nation’s cruise ship traffic, with the industry serving over 9 million passengers in 2013 and producing $7.3 billion in direct spending. ♦ A bill that would allow dog tracks to hold other gambling events without hosting a requisite number of greyhound races advanced through the House on a razor thin 8-10 vote — but don’t start laying down your money yet. According to Sen. Rob Bradley, talks with Seminole Tribe showed little advancement, making any gambling bills in the Legislature a risky bet at best.

ECONOMY
Good news for sports fans and owners of billion dollar sports stadiums, the Senate has revived a proposal to distribute millions in incentives to stadium projects in Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami. House budget chief Richard Corcoran, hearing the news, remarked that “I don’t understand how you can claim to have a fiscal crisis on health care but can find millions of dollars in subsidies for billionaire sports owners.” ♦ Sen. Nancy Detert’s reform of the state’s film incentive programs were tacked onto the same bill, while the House version of that overhaul was delayed in the lower chamber once again. ♦ The state dropped a lawsuit over whether it can drug test state employees that has been wrapped up in litigation since 2011 after agreeing to pay the public workers’ union $375,000 in compensation for the suit. ♦ A new impact analysis by EDR found that an imminent loss of funding from the state’s low-income pool would have a significant impact on the economy as hospitals would have to cut back on services and jobs.

EDUCATION
Private schools in Florida are becoming vastly more dependent on state voucher programs that pay all or part of tuition for students with disabilities or from low-income families. About 45 percent of private schools in Florida have a majority of students utilizing those programs. That is up 30 percent from three years ago. Jon East, a vice president at Step Up for Students, which administers almost all of the tax-credit scholarships, said many private schools turned to them for survival as fewer parents could pay tuition during the economic downturn. ♦ State lawmakers seized the opportunity to publicly blast the state’s testing vendor for its second high-profile blunder in two months. Sen. Alan Hays went as far as to say Florida should end its contract with American Institutes for Research. “…I think we as responsible agents of the taxpayer dollar need to stop this $225 million contract dead in its tracks,” Hays said. ♦ The House passed HB 7137 which could make it easier for students to take classes at one school but participate in sports at another school and it could also make it harder to prove that a student is ineligible to compete.

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Amendment #1 advocates are crying foul over the Legislature’s inclusion of $2 billion in the state’s budget to buy up land for transportation projects. That’s because lawmakers seem to have taken a detour on funding conservation land acquisition that environmentalists say is necessary for the future of the state. ♦ Drill, baby, drill, but not without a permit: A Senate bill (SB 1468) allowing the practice of fracking with a permit and setting regulations for the energy extraction process passed its final committee stop. Though it faced continued opposition from environmentalists and other advocates. ♦ Another Senate measure (SB 918), this one dealing with water policy in the state also got its final approval. The measure replaces a Lake Okeechobee pollution permitting program with more reliance on water cleanup plans, which drew some concern from environmentalists. But hope springs eternal, as most groups though unhappy with that specific change, support the upper chamber’s bill over the House version. ♦ Tegu Tango! An Orange Park man discovered that an invasive Argentine tegu lizard doesn’t make for a good dance partner as he was chased out of his own garage. “I heard this very loud hissing sound and I boogied back inside,” said Bradley Arington.

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Medicaid expansion: the saga continues… At the start of the week the Agency for Health Care Administration announced it was submitting a Senate plan to continue the state’s Low Income Pool program. AHCA, as required by law, also announced the scheduling of three, two-hour meetings in Orlando, Miami and Tallahassee April 29, April 30 and May 1, respectively to take public testimony. The announcements came as the Senate Appropriations Committee held a four-hour meeting on LIP and how it could be funded. Senate President Andy Gardiner announced the meeting April 17. ♦ Meanwhile, the House Republican Caucus held a LIP meeting of its own, but barred the public and the press from attending. The week’s series of events culminated in the governor threatening to veto Senator’s projects and release of a possible plan in both the House and Senate for dealing with the budget hole left by the absence of LIP. The House proposes using $200 million in General Revenue to draw down another $305 million in federal matching funds, while the Senate wants to “backfill” the program with $600 million in state reserves.

LAW & ORDER
A ban on backyard (and front yard) gun ranges was revived in the Legislature, after a compromise proposal was added to another piece of legislation on the House floor. ♦ The so-called “Waldo” bill, named after a notorious speed trap along U.S. 301, which bans traffic enforcement agencies from instituting ticket quotas sped through the Legislature and was sent to the governor’s desk. ♦ The House also passed a bill that strengthens penalties for soliciting prostitutes, which supporters hope will reduce the demand for human trafficking in the state. ♦ Ready for your close-up? Too bad! The Senate passed a bill that provides several public record exemptions for footage captured by police body cameras over the opposition of groups like the ACLU, who say the proposal defeats the whole purpose of using the cameras. Bill sponsor Sen. Chris Smith, though, said those critics don’t seem to fully understand the bill. “If the police came in your house and they smacked you around and beat you up, why the hell wouldn’t you release the video?” he asked.

POLITICS
Republican James Grant returned to the Florida House after winning a special election for District 64 in Tampa. “After a short time away, The House of Representatives welcomes Representative Grant back to the Florida House.” said Speaker Steve Crisafulli in a statement. “With Representative Grant’s return, our Republican Majority is complete with 81 members.” ♦ Musical chairs: U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney said he will not seek the U.S. Senate seat held by presidential contender Marco Rubio in 2016. There is still a long list of potential candidates coming from the state government or Congress. ♦ An omnibus ethics bill by Sen. Don Gaetz has made it through the upper chamber’s committee process. The bill requires all local government lobbyists to register, extends the two-year lobbying ban to former board members of Enterprise Florida and allows school districts to garnish wages of employees with unpaid ethics violations. Political calculus: ♦ The Florida Ethics Commission fined the former treasurer of the Sarasota County Republican Party $20,000 for failing to properly account for campaign donations during the 2012 cycle.

PUBLIC SECTOR
The Senate passed a bill (SB 1298) instituting new insurance requirements for ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft. The Senate version requires companies to carry insurance for drivers regardless of whether they’re logged in to the app, actively looking for drivers. Uber opposes the Senate version, which also requires the company to get coverage from a company regulated by the state instead of the unregulated surplus lines insurer it currently uses. The House bill imposes minimum insurance levels, vehicle inspections and background checks for drivers, but also preempts all local regulations of ridesharing companies. ♦ The Florida Senate says it’s not a threat, but a promise that it won’t confirm Gov. Rick Scott’s agency heads. Speaking one day after Scott threatened to veto Republican senators’ bills and budget items if they reject his package of tax cuts, Senate President Andy Gardiner said, “Certainly I hope nobody’s threatening anybody in this process.” ♦ A divided Senate committee advanced a bill that could allow oil and gas companies to shield the chemicals used in the fracking process from public records laws. The measure builds on legislation pending before the House and Senate that, among other things, bans local governments from prohibiting the controversial activity.