Associated Industries releases legislative wishlist, punts on Medicaid expansion

Associated Industries of Florida has released its list of legislative priorities. The business group’s wishlist covers a wide range of issues on the table for the 60-day legislative session beginning Tuesday: taxes, healthcare, education, insurance, regulations, energy and the environment.

Read the full report here:

Here a few highlights from the 24-page report:

- On Medicaid expansion, AIF punts like other business groups have done—opting not to take a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ position. AIF does appear to move closer to Gov. Rick Scott’s position than other groups, stating that rejecting the federal money associated with the expansion would be tantamount to giving it away to other states.

- AIF supports Scott’s push to eliminate the sales tax on manufacturing equipment and phase out the corporate income tax by increasing the exemption to $75,000

- AIF agrees with Scott on spending more for transportation infrastructure, including ports and airports. It opposes any sweep of Transportation Trust Fund.

- AIF supports loosening restrictions on certain tax incentives for businesses. It does not weigh in on some of the Republican-led efforts to increase transparency and accountability for incentives.

- AIF supports using $200 million in Sadowski Trust fund money for affordable housing and opposes plans to sweep that money. Scott wants to use only $50 million for affordable housing.

- On gambling, AIF has taken a much more muted position than last year, when it threw its weight behind a push for three casino resorts in South Florida. Since that measure by Genting failed last year (and has not been revived for this session), AIF is only pushing for a “rational and comprehensive statewide gaming policy.”

- On property insurance, AIF supports higher rates at Citizens and a smaller Catastrophe Fund, which could lead to higher rates for other insurers.

- AIF supports measures for Florida to consider offshore drilling.

- AIF continues to push for new laws requiring all online retailers to collect sales tax.

Read the full report here:

@ToluseO  

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Biz group releases Citizens Insurance map, hoping to get lawmakers to act

Weatherford's dance card getting full

Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford’s star continues to glisten in conservative circles.

The American Conservative Union announced today that Weatherford is a “rising elected leader” and will speak at its annual conference from March 14 to March 16 in National Harbor, Md.

The 33-year-old Wesley Chapel Republican, Florida’s youngest House Speaker in 55 years, will join eight other “featured speakers who will introduce what they are doing in their states to promote the conservative movement and agenda.”

They include:

 -- New Hampshire Rep. Marilinda Garcia

 -- Connecticut Senator Art Linares

 -- Michigan Rep. and assistant majority leader Lisa Posthumus Lyons

 -- New York State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis

 -- Nebraska Senator Beau McCoy

 -- West Virginia Delegate John B. McCuskey

 -- Franklin County, OH., auditor Clarence Mingo

 -- Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon

Other speakers at the 40^th annual Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC,  include Mia Love, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, UT and U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-WI, and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, who were on MTV’s The Real World.

“We are thrilled to welcome these young elected leaders to the CPAC, as they represent the bright future of the conservative movement,” said ACU chairman Al Cardenas, a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party. “This year in particular, we are focused on ensuring young conservatives have the tools they need to succeed.”

Lawmakers no closer in knowing cost of Weatherford's pension reform

A report on Friday was supposed to help lawmakers understand how much it would cost to do pension reform pushed by Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford.

The study only looked at what it would cost if new employees were prohibited from enrolling in the $136 billion pension system and were required instead to enroll in 401(k) style plans.

On Monday, Weatherford concluded he needed to compare the costs of keeping the plan in its current state before understanding the cost. But late Tuesday, representatives with Milliman, the Virginia actuarial firm that did the study, alerted state officials that the report was missing even more critical data.

They told state officials that when calculating the assets of the plan, they omitted the three percent contribution rates from employees that the Florida Supreme Court recently upheld.

"This caused errors in several columns within the report," said Ben Wolf, a spokesman with the Department of Management Services, which ordered the study.

An updated study with corrections and a comparison to the current plan's associated costs will be released on March 1.

"So we’re not better off than when the report was issued," said Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, who chairs the House Committee that is sponsoring Weatherford's pension reform.

Weatherford gets advice from former higher ed chancellor

His business cards might still say Chancellor of the California State University, but make no mistake, Charles Reed is back in Tallahassee.

Reed, the bombastic former chancellor of the Florida University System from 1985 to 1997, met for about a half hour with Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford on Monday. He was invited to talk with Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, after a speech he gave last year to the Florida Council of 100.

“I just wanted to know what he thought,” said Weatherford.

Reed, known for rarely holding back his opinion, said he was happy to visit with Weatherford.

“He’s asking for advice on higher education,” said Reed. “He has excellent values. He wants to dramatically improve higher education, so that Florida schools are nationally and internationally recognized. I was pleased he reached out to me.”

After retiring as chancellor of California’s system, where he served from 1997 to earlier this year, Reed has returned to live in Tallahassee. He said Weatherford called him while he was still in California.

Reed said he applauds Weatherford’s efforts to dramatically develop online education. He shared his experiences doing the same in California, where Reed, before leaving, signed two major contracts with online companies to provide significantly more virtual courses.

He also seemed to take a swipe at Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to provide the University of Florida with $15 million, while not providing a similar pot of money for the 10 other schools.

“You can’t treat your kids differently,” Reed said. “You have to treat them the same.”

Like Weatherford, Reed said a tuition increase is necessary.

“The state has to do its part with general funds, but the people who benefit have to pay more too,” he said. “Tuition is very inexpensive in Florida.”

Much has changed in Florida since he left for California, including the birth of Florida’s 12^th university, Lakeland’s, Florida Polytechnic University, the handiwork of former Sen. JD Alexander.

“Why did they build a polytechnic there?” Reed said. “Last time I drove through Lakeland, I didn’t see Silicon Valley.”

Fasano uses obscure committee post to blast Citizens Insurance

The gloves came off Monday and it was Rep. Mike Fasano vs. Citizens Property Insurance, Round 1 for the 2013 legislative session.

Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican who was conspicuously snubbed from a post on the Banking and Insurance Committee, used his chairmanship of an obscure joint committee to berate what he believes is an anti-consumer culture at Citizens.

As chair of the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee, Fasano held court over a number of state agencies who had failed to comply with state laws passed by the Legislature.

Last on the list was Citizens, which was supposed to begin offering a less comprehensive—and less expensive—policy option on Jan. 1, but has not yet done so.

“You said Citizens is concerned about the consumer. I laughed at that,” said Fasano, during a spirited back-and-forth with Citizens’ legislative director. “They’re more concerned about depopulating and raising premiums.”

Citizens countered that the company was working as hard as it could to implement the new policy, called an HO-8. The new policy is scheduled to begin rollout next week.

But Fasano is not happy with the way Citizens is implementing a law passed by the Legislature in 2012. The law calls for Citizens to offer the HO-8 policy, but the company is only planning to offer it to homeowners with homes that are at least 51 years old, and worth less than $200,000.

“We believe we are following the law,” said Citizens spokesperson, Christine Ashburn. She said the HO-8 policy offered by Citizens has certain "underwriting guidelines," just like all other policies. Those guidelines--the age and value requirements--were approved by the Office of Insurance Regulation, whom Fasano also blasted.

For the first time, Gov. Rick Scott needs votes from Democrats

For the first time in his brief and turbulent political career, Gov. Rick Scott needs a little help from Florida’s Democrats to turn one of his wishes into law.

Scott’s top legislative priority this year — a $141 million tax cut for manufacturers — comes with an asterisk: It has to garner ‘Yes’ votes from two-thirds of the Legislature to pass.

That means Democrats — whose gains in November breached the Republican supermajorities in Tallahassee — suddenly find themselves in an unfamiliar power position as they try to defeat Scott in 2014.

“I doubt that’ll be able to get a supermajority,” said Rep. Perry Thurston, a Plantation Democrat and minority leader in the Florida House. “It’s just another [business] incentive. We don’t know if it works.”

The bill seeks to eliminate sales taxes on all manufacturing equipment and machinery.

Scott has already put considerable political capital behind the tax cut, stating on numerous occasions that this was his top priority for 2013, along with a $1.2 billion boost in education funding.

“We need to build up manufacturing jobs in the great state of Florida,” he said in unveiling a $74.2 billion budget plan last month. Scott said the tax cut would create jobs and increase exports.

A failure on the measure would be politically embarrassing for Scott, who has staked his governorship on job creation and CEO-like efficacy.

Read more here: 

 

'How do you justify your existence?' And other lawmaker questions for Enterprise Fla.

“Why do we need $3 million to create a state business brand?”

“Do we have a way to show how much cash has been given out and what we’ve got for it”?

“Have you given any raises over the last five years?”

“How do you assure us that those board members that are paying $50,000 to sit on tyour board  are not receiving  special treatment?”

“How do you justify your existence?”

It was a series of tough questions Tuesday morning for Enterprise Florida, the public-private organization that helps run Florida’s job creation efforts.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle peppered EFI executives with questions about how the company is managing the state’s economic incentives program.

The program uses taxpayer funds and tax credits to draw companies to Florida—or, more often, to get companies that are already here to stay or expand.

Gov. Rick Scott released his budget proposal last month, including a massive increase in spending for these types of incentives. Scott wants legislators to approve nearly $300 million in incentives, up from about $110 million approved last year.

That proposal—and the high profile bankruptcy of Digital Domain, which received $20 million from taxpayers—has led to much more scrutiny into the economic incentives program. 

That has landed Enterprise Florida in the hot seat, with officials being called to testify before the Legislature more than a dozen times in the last few weeks.

Full story: Miami-Dade delegation stays silent on Dolphins bill

Earlier this week, the Miami Dolphins succeeded in getting a committee of lawmakers from across the state to vote for a taxpayer deal written exclusively for the team’s $400 million stadium renovation.

“I’ve never done a bill that benefits one person, statutorily, so I have real concerns with that,” said Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, before laying aside her concerns and joining 10 other senators to cast a unanimous vote for the measure.

The legislative triumph appears to be short-lived for the Dolphins’ top brass.

The reason: The Miami-Dade delegation of lawmakers decided not to give the proposal its full endorsement.

The 24-member delegation finalized its list of legislative priorities Thursday, naming goals like fighting insurance price hikes, funding Jackson Memorial Hospital and building a memorial for Bay of Pigs veterans.

Conspicuously absent from the list: any mention of a proposal to provide the Dolphins as much as $200 million for a stadium makeover.

      Read more here:

 

Dade delegation leaves Dolphins stadium off list of 2013 priorities

The Miami-Dade delegation of state lawmakers decided not to list the Miami Dolphins stadium deal among its legislative priorities for this year.

During a Wednesday meeting to plan out legislative goals for 2013, the Dolphins’ proposal was not even brought up, several members of the delegation said.

“The Dolphins bill is one of many member bills that was not discussed," said Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami. “Not one legislator moved to make the Dolphins bill one of our priorities.”

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens and Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, would provide the Dolphins with a multimillion-dollar tax deal to help fund a $400 million renovation of SunLife stadium.

The measure cleared its first hurdler earlier this week with a unanimous vote in the Senate Commerce and Tourism committee.

It’s not clear whether the delegation’s decision to not prioritize the Dolphins stadium will affect the bill's chances of making it through the Legislature. The Dolphins deal already faces long odds in the Miami community because of the much-maligned Marlins deal that left taxpayers on the hook for a new baseball stadium near Little Havana. Miami-Dade County commissioners and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce have thrown their support behind the project.

Diaz said the delegation decided to focus on broader issues like education, property insurance rates and funding for Jackson Memorial hospital.

“These are the things that our constituents want us to concentrate on right now,” he said. 

@ToluseO

Soto plans amendment to stop 'revolving door' of investigators to companies under investigation

Remember the tweet that roared -- the one that prompted Attorney General Pam Bondi to appear at a Senate committee meeting? The issue will return. State Sen. Darren Soto has filed an amendment to the Senate ethics reform package to be voted on in the Senate Community Affairs Committee Wednesday that would revive his proposal to end the revolving door of lawyers and investigators who leave the attorney general's office and go to work for the companies they had investigated.  Download 02.05.13 amendmentdraft35850 - Integrity of Investigations in CA (1)

Soto, D-Orlando, and two other Democrats filed the proposal last year but it never got a hearing. The proposal is aimed at stopping the practice that came to light after attorneys working for former Attorney General Bill McCollum went to work for companies that specialized in foreclosure law and services that were the subject of an attorney general's investigation.

"Right now, the attorney general doesn't have the authority to stop those folks because of Florida Bar rules,'' Soto said.