With flooding and damage in the NE, will talk of a cat fund re-emerge?

Remember four years ago, when the candidates actually talked about a national catastrophic reinsurance fund to spread the risk of natural disasters across state lines, provide a cushion for reinsurance and make insuring disasters more affordable? 

The concept, which first came to life after Hurricane Andrew devastated Miami in 1992, emerged again after the seven-hurricanes of 2004 and 2005. Then-Sen. Barack Obama and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani embraced the idea.

A group of U.S. House members, including then-Reps. Ron Klein, a Democrat, and Ginny Brown-Waite, a Republican, won support for a plan to create a voluntary catastrophe fund modeled after Florida’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.

Write-in candidates: Sham or sincere?

TALLAHASSEE — They are the candidates you don't see. They don't collect signatures or pay fees to run. They almost never raise or spend money. They don't attend campaign forums or knock on doors. Their names never appear on the ballot. And they always lose.

Yet, write-in candidates matter in Florida.

When they run, voters lose.

This year alone, more than 900,000 Floridians were stopped from casting a ballot in 15 competitive state House and Senate races because a write-in candidate signed up to run.

It's a loophole in Florida's quirky election system that can be exploited to prevent Democrats and independents from choosing a representative from among only Republicans, and vice versa.

"It's a sham," said Carl Domino, a Jupiter Republican.

VISIT Florida president leaves to head up fed's new tourism org

Chris Thompson, the president and CEO of VISIT Florida, was on Thursday named president and CEO of Brand USA, a public-private partnership recently created to support the nation’s travel industry.

Thompson, who oversaw the expansion of VISIT Florida during the last three years, will join the federal government’s version of Florida’s public-private tourism promotion arm.

“I congratulate Chris on this exciting opportunity to replicate at the national level the successes he has achieved at VISIT FLORIDA,” VISIT Florida board chairman Glenn Hastings wrote on the organization’s blog. “In the past three years, Chris has proven he has the vision, passion and commitment to build and lead a world-class organization that will increase the economic impact of international visitors to the United States.”

President Obama signed the bipartisan-supported Travel Promotion Act in 2010, creating the Brand USA program. The program will spend $200 million annually to promote the US to potential travelers overseas. It is funded by fees charged to international travelers to the US, and private sector contributions.

Florida, which has seen tourism levels reach new highs in recent years tied to increasing international interest, could benefit from having Thompson at the helm of the national tourism group.

Census report: Number of Floridians in poverty rose as income gap widens

Florida residents are among the poorest in the nation as median income in the state dropped 2.9 percent in 2011 and the state had some of the broadest gaps in income equality, according to 2011 U.S. Census Bureau data from the American Community Survey released on Thursday.

One in six Floridians lived in poverty last year, and the median income dipped from $45,609 in 2010 to $44,299 in 2011, according to the survey. The national median income is $50,502 and one in five Americans live in poverty.  

The survey also found that the income gap in Florida widened by 3.6 percent in 2011, a reflection of the state’s stagnant unemployment and slow jobs market. The income disparities in the state also remain among the highest in the nation, although they are on par with other states in the Southeast.

Seventeen percent of Florida’s population – 3.1 million people -- lived in poverty in 2011, up from 16.5 percent in 2010 and above the 15.9 percent national average. According to the survey, 48.5 million people had income below the poverty rate in the U.S., 2.2 million more than the year before.

Scott cuts off reporter asking about unemployment numbers

Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday cut off a reporter who tried to ask him about a report from a top state economist who said Florida’s drop in unemployment is almost exclusively due to people dropping out of the workforce.

The question pointed out that the Florida Legislature’s top economist has regularly said that unemployment is dropping in Florida due to a shrinking workforce, not job creation.

That message is in stark contrast with Scott’s message—which is that Florida’s unemployment rate drop (the nation’s largest over the last 20 months)—is on the decline due to an improving economy.

When a Bloomberg reporter asked Scott what happened to the people no longer looking for work, Scott pivoted by pointing out that the state has created 130,000 private sector jobs under his new watch. Then he shut down the  questioner.

Here’s the transcript:

Scott spins subpar economic data into 'reason to brag'

Gov. Rick Scott continued to tout a drop in Florida’s unemployment rate Thursday, despite objective data from economists that say the reduction is nothing to celebrate.

We covered this dissonance yesterday, and last month, so check out the full fact-check here. 

Specifically, Scott grabbed two data points that actually indicate an underperforming economy, and used them to boost his record.

“We have every reason to brag about what’s going on in our state,” he said. “We have the fastest drop in unemployment, it’s down 2.3 percent in the last 20 months… The number of people on unemployment (aid) has dropped about 40 percent. “

We’ve previously covered why the unemployment rate statistics are nothing to brag about.

The Florida Legislature’s chief economist summed it up yesterday during a Legislative Budget Commission meeting.

“What we’re seeing is that our participation in the labor force is declining,” said Amy Baker, pointing out that the unemployment rate would be 9.8 percent without the contraction in the workforce. “And because it’s declining, that’s really leading to… much of the improvement in the unemployment rate.”

Economists say people tend to leave the labor force when they give up on searching for work. Florida is ranked last in the nation when it comes to long-term unemployment, so economists say the shrinking labor force is a natural result.

What about the 40 percent drop in those receiving unemployment aid?

Anti-muslim preacher captures attention again after Libyan attack

GAINESVILLE _ The retired Florida pastor who attracted international attention two years ago for threatening to burn the Quran was again in the media spotlight on Wednesday for purportedly promoting a video that may have incited the violent attacks in Egypt and Libya.

But Terry Jones, 60, told reporters from his now-dismantled church here that his organization’s website was hacked and that he had not been able to post the short video mocking the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Whether he promoted the video or not, U.S. authorities were so concerned about Jones that Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, asked him not to post the controversial 14-minute video in fear it could further inflame tensions in Libya or Egypt.

Jones said he told Dempsey in a phone call Wednesday that he would “definitely consider it,” but later told reporters he would ignore the request during a lengthy interview in the building that once housed his congregation.

U.S. State Department officials believe the video, a trailer for a longer movie entitled "Innocence of Muslims," may have contributed to the violence in Egypt and Libya, where four people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, were killed. But Obama administration officials also believe the attacks — which happened on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — may have been planned.

The Associated Press reported late Wednesday that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, has acknowledged that he was manager for the company that produced movie but denied he directed the film and said he knew the self-described filmmaker, Sam Bacile. But the cellphone number that AP contacted Tuesday to reach the filmmaker who identified himself as Bacile traced to the same address near Los Angeles where AP found Nakoula.

Jones said Wednesday he spoke with the movie's director on the phone and prayed for him. He said he has not met the filmmaker in person, but the man contacted him a few weeks ago about promoting the movie.

"I have not met him. Sam Bacile, that is not his real name," Jones said. "I just talked to him on the phone. He is definitely in hiding and does not reveal his identity. He was quite honestly fairly shook up concerning the events and what is happening. A lot of people are not supporting him. He was generally a little shook up concerning this situation."

Photo: Pastor Terry Jones shows reporters his 40-caliber handgun he carries with him.

New report undermines Gov. Scott's rosy jobs message

The Florida’s Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research came out with another report Wednesday that refutes Gov. Rick Scott’s claims that Florida’s unemployment rate is dropping rapidly because the state is creating jobs.

According to the report, titled “Florida: Long-Range Financial Outlook,” the drop in Florida’s unemployment since December can overwhelmingly be attributed to a shrinking workforce.

“If the [labor] participation rate had held steady since 12/11, the unemployment rate would have been 9.8 percent—91 percent of the drop in the unemployment rate is due to people dropping out of the workforce.” (emphasis added)

A similar trend emerged nationally last week, when the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent despite lackluster job growth in the U.S.

Gov. Scott released a new chart last month, stating that the unemployment rate in Florida has dropped 2.3 percentage points during his term to 8.8 percent, a faster drop than in any other state.

"Florida continues to see evidence that Governor Rick Scott’s strategy for growing private-sector jobs is the right direction for Florida’s economy," Scott's office said in a statement accompanying the chart.

But a deeper dive into the federal data shows that the rate of job creation has been below average in Florida in the last year, and the falling unemployment rate offers little evidence of above-average job creation.

As we pointed out last month, Florida has created 69,900 jobs in the last year, a growth rate of less than 1 percent that trails the national growth rate and is worse than a majority of states. For comparison, Florida lost more than 715,000 jobs during the 18-month recession.

Citizens Insurance to offer reinspections of its reinspections

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. announced Friday it is making significant changes to its home reinspection program following an outcry from consumers and recent media coverage over a staggering $137 million in premium increases tied to the initial program.

Under its new plans, homeowners who lose insurance discounts due to a reinspection can receive a second inspection free of charge and will have new tools to dispute first inspectors' findings.

"In response to policyholder and agent feedback, Citizens is implementing changes to its inspection program to address concerns about the implementation and quality of the program as well as provide better education on the importance of protecting homes against storm damage," said Citizens board chairman Carlos Lacasa.

Citizens is still deciding whether to apply the changes retroactively. That decision could impact more than 175,000 property owners, who have lost an average of $800 in credits after their inspections.

The announcement comes less than a week after the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau published a series of stories documenting how hundreds of thousands of Floridians have seen premiums soar as the state-run insurer intensifies its plans to raise rates through reinspections and reduce coverage.

Read more here: 

@ToluseO 

 

Report claims Florida lawmakers do bidding of corporate-funded ALEC

Some of the most controversial bills introduced recently in the Florida Legislature were thought up by out-of-state corporate interests with financial motives, according to a report released Thursday by a two national watchdog groups and Progress Florida. The report says the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is a shadowy force exerting an uncanny amount of power over Florida’s lawmaking process.

ALEC advances so-called “model bills” on items like public education, immigration, labor issues, healthcare, gun rights and voter rights. Replicas of those business-friendly bills often end up in legislation sponsored by Florida lawmakers who are ALEC members, the report found.

Dozens of Florida lawmakers have ties to the group, which has been thrust into the spotlight this year as the main force behind the rapid spread of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law across the country.

“We realized that this was a massive corporate agenda that often puts the corporate agenda in front of public interest and in some cases, public safety,” said Doug Clopp, of Common Cause, a liberal group. “What ALEC represents is the poster child for a non-transparent [political process] that puts corporate profits ahead of the public interest.”

Common Cause, along with the Center for Media and Democracy, and Progress Florida, authored the 50-page report.