Coming attractions: The next battle between Florida and its workers

House Speaker Will Weatherford will battle state workers to get one of his top priorities passed.

Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has called Florida’s current pension plan a “ticking time bomb” in state finances because he fears it could require a costly tax payer bailout in the future. To prevent that, he says he wants to require new employees, starting on Jan. 1, 2014, to enroll in 401(k)-style accounts rather than rely on getting regular pension payments.

On Thursday, a week after the Florida Supreme Court ruled against state workers and upheld a 3 percent levy on state workers to shore up the pension plan, a retirement reform plan supported by Weatherford was discussed at a House Government Operations Committee workshop.

So far, the draft legislation prevents new employees from joining the pension plan and requires them instead to enroll in a plan in which they direct the investments. It also eliminates an option to apply for disability benefits for new employees, although Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, said it will be replaced by another option that has yet to be determined. Many other details still won't be known until a report on the Florida Retirement System and its $125 billion pension plan is completed in the next three to five weeks. 

Participants in the new plan will have more flexibility in deciding their investments, while taxpayers won’t be left on the hook if market conditions change, Brodeur said.

“There will no longer be a blank check written by taxpayers,” he said.

But the changes, as vague as they were, were denounced by representatives for state workers.

It might be a landmark bill now, but will ethics reform bill get watered down?

TALLHASSEE — Political ethics experts say they are impressed by many of the items in the proposed bill that a Senate ethics committee unanimously approved Tuesday.

"This sounds like Florida may be taking a big step forward in refining its ethics regulations," said Edwin Bender, executive director of The National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that analyzes the influence of money in politics in all 50 states. "As far as addressing the public's trust in the state Legislature, this is a good step."

Touted as the most far-reaching ethics reform in 36 years, the bill would:

• Extend a ban that currently prohibits lawmakers from lobbying their colleagues in the legislative branch for two years after leaving office to include the executive branch (the governor's office and state agencies);

• Prohibit lawmakers and all elected officials in Florida from accepting a state administrative job after getting elected;

• Require lawmakers to abstain from voting on issues that benefit them or family members;

• And prohibit lawmakers from using political committees for personal expenses.

The bill doesn't have a companion bill yet in the House, where Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has also declared ethics reform to be a top priority.

"We will shop it over there once we have a bill," said Senate President Don Gaetz, who thanked the chair of the committee, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, for the bill's quick passage Tuesday.

Latvala said he isn't naïve about the bill's chances, but said the committee's unanimous support, including from Democrats and representing a third of the Senate, boosts its chances.

Don Gaetz supports background checks for gun buys, wants Jeb to run in '16

The proud owner of a 16-gauge shotgun, Florida Senate President Don Gaetz said he supports requiring background checks for every gun purchase but does not expect the Legislature to address gun control in its legislative session.

"Congress is going to take that up," he said. "Let them have that debate."

He added: "I don’t know how a change in the gun laws would have prevented a Sandy Hook."

Gaetz met with the Tampa Bay Times editorial board for just over an hour on Friday, his first visit. Editorial writers asked him about Florida's response to the Sandy Hook tragedy, the state’s controversial "stand your ground" law and plans for implementing the health care law, among other topics.

Nuke cost recovery: Although a bill has not yet been filed in the Senate, Gaetz said he will allow lawmakers to debate repealing a 2006 law allowing utility companies to collect an advance fee for building new nuclear plants. 

"I'm going to make sure it gets a full debate, gets considered," Gaetz said. "Absolutely."

Ethics gets another dose of reform, this time from Fasano

Hoping the third time is the charm, Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has filed an ethics bill similar to ones he filed as a state senator in 2011 and last year.

Although Fasano’s two previous attempts failed – rather quickly -- the appetite for ethics reform is seemingly insatiable this year among Republicans. Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford have branded ethics reform as the cause celebre of this year’s session that start in March.

“I’m very optimistic, the leadership, the tone from both leaders gives us hope that if not our legislation, something similar to our legislation will deal with these issues,” Fasano said Thursday.

Three out of four $$ this election cycle went to no-limits committee accounts

Florida’s sputtering economy did not stop interest groups and donors from spending $306 million this election cycle on state political campaigns, according to final election year tallies released Friday.

The number is lower than the $550 million reported in the 2010 election cycle and does not include the massive amount of federal cash spent in the presidential race. But it points to a new trend: more dollars are going to campaign committees rather than individual candidates.

Three out of every four dollars were unlimited checks to political committees, while the rest went into the campaign accounts of individuals, which are capped at $500 a check.

The shift is a sign that Florida’s $500 limit is outdated and dysfunctional — and ripe for reform, said Dan Krassner, executive director of Integrity Florida, which did the analysis of the campaign finance data released by the Florida Division of Elections.

“Candidate accounts have become nearly irrelevant,’’ said Krassner. The current system allows corporations to write unlimited checks to political committees with loose affiliations to candidates but require them to give no more than $1000 to individual candidates for both the primary and general election. The result is, he said, “the public cannot easy follow the money.’’

House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who has called for an overhaul of the state’s campaign finance reforms said Friday the numbers prove his point that the political committees – known as Committees of Continuous Existence, or CCEs – have gotten out of hand. Story here.

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Bondi outlines plans for $60 million in housing aid

Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Florida Legislature have announced the first plans for spending the state’s portion of a multi-billion dollar mortgage settlement with major banks.

At a Legislative Budget Commission meeting next week, Bondi will present plans to spend $60 million of the $334 million settlement on a wide range of housing aid programs.

If approved by the LBC, the cash will go to the following programs:

• --$35 million for Down Payment Assistance (Florida Housing Finance Corporation)
• --$10 million for Foreclosure Counseling (Florida Housing Finance Corporation)
• --$5 million for Reducing the Foreclosure Backlog  (State Courts System)
• --$5 million for Legal Aid (Various providers)
• --$5 million for Attorney General’s Legal Fees (Attorney General’s Office)

Florida has come under criticism for being the last state in the country to decide how to spend the state portion of last year's settlement. For several months last year, the money sat in escrow while Bondi and leaders in the Legislature debated who had the authority to spend it.

Watchdog groups: Gov. Scott can save Transparency 2.0

A day after Gov. Rick Scott told reporters that the fate of Transparency 2.0 budget accountability web site is not his problem because "that's controlled by the Senate," two watchdog groups have written a letter outlining his responsibility and urging him to save it.

Integrity Florida and the First Amendment Foundation urged the governor to put the $5 million already spent by the state into making the site public, instead of starting from scratch. Under state law, the governor is required to provide a budget transparency web site for the public.

The Florida Senate signed a no-bid contract with Spider Data Systems to develop the web site and make it available for staff and legislators to use. The web site has been ready to launch for a year but legislative leaders choose to keep it under wraps.

"You have set a goal of providing all citizens the information they need to make the same decisions as a legislator, which is exactly what Transparency 2.0, already paid for with nearly $5 million in taxpayer money would do. Why not let the public see the $5 million budget tracking program already paid for with their money?,'' wrote Dan Krassner of Integrity Florida and Barbara Petersen of the First Amendment Foundation in a letter to Scott on Wednesday.  Download Governor Scott can save Transparency 2.0 - Letter FAF IF 12.12.12

Senate committee on Affordable Care Act launches website for public input

 The Florida Senate has launched a Web page to make it easier for the public to track the discussions and give input to the special committee studying the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. From the website, citizens can download documents that have been distributed to the committee, contact members of Congress or fill out an online form to share comments with members of the Florida Senate committee.

Here is an excerpt of the news release announcing the Web page:

Florida Senate President Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) and Senator Joe Negron (R-Stuart), Chair of the Select Committee on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), today announced the creation of a PPACA page of the Florida Senate’s website. The PPACA page will provide constituents an easy way to access information and provide feedback to members of the committee who are tasked with making recommendations to the entire Senate regarding how Florida should respond to the implementation of PPACA by the federal government. To view the PPACA site, please click here.

“In the coming months, members of the public, health care providers, representatives from Florida’s insurance industry, and countless other stakeholders will provide valuable feedback as members of the PPACA select committee discuss, evaluate and debate Florida’s policy options under one of the most complex and far-reaching federal laws in the history of our nation,” said President Gaetz. “The new portion of the Senate website was created to serve as a centralized location for interested parties to watch meetings, read bills and share their viewpoints with the committee.”

Watchdog groups raise the heat as Gaetz increases distance from transparency program

Open government advocates increased the heat on state officials to unleash access to a budget transparency web site Friday as the Senate president continued to distance himself from the site under his control. 

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, announced the he was asking Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, to develop legislation to create a “user-friendly, accurate, cost-effective, web-based transparency tool”  for the state budget that could include or replace the system developed by Spider Data Systems.

The state has already spent at least $4.5 million on the Spider Data budget transparency program, called Transparency 2.0, under a contract signed by former Senate President Mike Haridopolos but kept under wraps. The sole-source contract allowed for the company to use its patented technology to merge state budget, contract, personnel and accounting data into a single portal to allow legislators and staff to track how government money is spent.  Download Spider

But the powerful search functions of the web site also weaken the ability of legislative leaders and budget staffers to control the flow of information in Tallahassee and the program has never been rolled out formally for lawmakers to use. 

'Obamacare' opponent sees veiled threat in email from Senate President Don Gaetz

 Senate President Don Gaetz says he was just trying to smooth things over with a constituent after a particularly testy committee meeting. But Kris Anne Hall, a "constitutional consultant" who led a contingent that opposes the federal health care law, took offense at the email she received from him.

Hall wrote on her website that she met Gaetz after Monday's meeting of the Senate Select Committee on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. She later sent him an email to explain her position that Florida lawmakers should nullify the law and refuse to implement it. He replied back, saying that he agreed with her belief that "Obamacare" is unconstitutional but took issue with her approach.

Gaetz then recounted a story of the "Nullification Crisis" facing President Andrew Jackson in 1832. According to Gaetz, an aide told Jackson that the nullifiers were in front of the executive mansion with torches and guns threatening to "burn us down." We'll let Gaetz tell the rest of the story: 

Without lifting his head from his reading, Andrew Jackson said, "Shoot the first nullifier who touches the Flag. And hang the rest."

Chaplain, I have sworn an oath on my father's Bible before Almighty God to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and government of the United States. And that's exactly what I intend to do. Count me with Andrew Jackson.

 Hall felt that reference of violence was pointed at her and the others who spoke at the committee meeting.