Drum roll please: House GOP plan on health care to be unveiled

Are Florida House Republicans ready to unveil their long-awaited alternative to Medicaid expansion?

Could be judging from the approval this week, through House Speaker Will Weatherford’s office, to block out four hours on Monday for the House Select Committee on the Affordable Care Act. The meeting hasn’t been posted yet, but House leaders are authorizing that the committee, which is chaired by Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, meet from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday.

The committee rejected Medicaid expansion on March 4 -- the day before legislative session began -- and has met sparingly since. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have proposed two alternative plans (one that uses federal dollars, one that doesn’t) and Gov. Rick Scott has continued to get national attention for supporting the expansion of Medicaid, something Weatherford and other top House Republicans oppose.

Weatherford lost support last week from Democrats for the House’s $74.4 billion budget because of the lack of a plan addressing Medicaid. For weeks, he has said that a House plan was going to be released, but hasn’t provided any details about it. Last week he said only that a plan was coming soon.

Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said he has heard about a proposed House plan that would include no federal dollars and about $300 million in state dollars. It would pay for a system that would expand coverage, but would also include higher deductibles, incentives for staying healthy and limit patient spending through “savings accounts.”

Health care costs Weatherford Democratic support of House budget

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford’s refusal to offer a plan in lieu of expanding Medicaid cost him votes on his biggest bill -- the state budget.

House Democrats on Wednesday voted against that chamber’s proposed $74.4 billion budget at its final stop before a floor vote. And they actually liked much of it, such as $1.3 billion increase on education spending.

All 10 Democrats voted against the spending plan. By contrast, the Senate’s six Democrats voted hours before in support of the Senate’s $74.3 billion budget. Unlike the House, the Senate is proposing an alternative to Medicaid expansion.

“An excellent job in some areas has been done,” said House Minority Leader Rep. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale. “But my main concern is not what’s in the budget but what’s not in the budget. It fails to adequately protect the uninsured in the state...it’s a budget that doesn’t recognize that many low income Floridians suffer from health and financial consequences and don’t have access to health care.”

PolitiFact Florida: Testing Weatherford's claims on tuition and cellphones, residents and freedom

It's a busy week for House Speaker Will Weatherford and the PolitiFact Florida Truth-O-Meter.

Weatherford touted the state's population boom, telling a group of Americans for Prosperity Florida activists recently, "You may not know this, but today almost 1,000 people a day are moving to the state of Florida. Do you know why they're coming here? Because they are more free here than they are in some other states."

He cited a reasonable estimate for the state's projected population growth. But the reasons people move to Florida -- family, new jobs and our weather, mainly -- do not align with his definition of freedom (the state's conservative fiscal policies). PolitiFact Florida rated his statement Mostly False.

Last week at a Board of Governors meeting, Weatherford was asked why the House recommended a 6 percent tuition increase. He said, "The average student in Florida, what they actually pay out of pocket at our major universities" for tuition is as much or less than what they spend on cellphones.

We had never heard the comparison before. PolitiFact Florida compared the average out-of-pocket tuition payments for full-time, in-state students against average cellphone bills. Out-of-pocket expenses vary widely by family income group, but Weatherford has a point using average data.

Of course, because he specified tuition, this analysis does not account for the thousands of dollars that students spend on other college expenses, such as books and room and board. This statement earned a Mostly True.

Of eight fact-checks, Weatherford has not yet earned a True or a Pants on Fire! rating. Browse the rest of his file and other PolitiFact Florida fact-checks from the legislative session.

Weatherford: 'Never say never' to federal funds for Medicaid alternative

House Speaker Will Weatherford's opposition to accepting federal money to expand Medicaid has been well documented and made him a darling among conservatives who oppose the health care law.

But Weatherford indicated Tuesday that he may be open to accepting some federal money to provide health care to at least some of Florida's uninsured, perhaps the disabled or adults with children. The House hasn't finalized its Medicaid expansion alternative, and Weatherford said he won’t eliminate any options.

“You never say 'never’ in this business, I’ve learned that,” Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, replied when asked about his willingness to accept some federal aid as part of a House alternative to Medicaid expansion.

Read more here.

Joe and George Scarborough, meet Will Weatherford

Morning Joe co-host and former congressman Joe Scarborough mingled with a few House leaders at the Capitol Wednesday, including House Speaker Will Weatherford.

In tow: his brother George Scarborough, a Pensacola consultant mulling a run for the Panhandle House seat formerly held by Clay Ford, who died last week of cancer. George Scarborough lost the Republican primary for that seat to Ford in a 2007 special election.

"It wasn’t a meeting to discuss his brother’s potential candidacy for Ford’s seat," said Weatherford spokesman Ryan Duffy of the impromptu meeting. "The speaker had never met him and wanted to introduce himself and say hi."

The brothers met with speaker-designate Steve Crisafulli and had lunch with "old friend" Rep. Matt Gaetz, whose sister Erin is a producer on MSNBC's Morning Joe, at the Governor's Club.

"He's thinking about it," Gaetz said of George running for HD 2. Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, also likes another candidate for the seat, Gulf Breeze financier Ed Gray III, so he's not endorsing one over the other.

Rick Scott emerges as critic of House campaign finance bill

TALLAHASSEE — A year after redistricting made legislative districts more competitive, the Florida House on Friday passed a campaign finance bill that raises contribution limits and appears to give incumbents a political advantage.

The 75-39 vote was mostly along party lines. Democrats say the measure — which raises the cap on political contributions and lets incumbents roll-over $20,000 toward the next election — gives Republicans more fundraising leverage because they control the Legislature.

"I can't support this blatant, brazen incumbent-protection plan," said Rep. Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg. "It ensures a small group of people will run for office."

Gov. Rick Scott's office criticized raising the cap on Friday, which put him at odds again with House Speaker Will Weatherford, who supports the bill. Earlier this week, the two clashed on supporting Scott's request for a $2,500-across-the-board teacher pay increase.

"Every time I've met with him, he's told me that he supports our bill, so that's news to me," Weatherford told reporters. "I think when he sees the wisdom of what we're trying to accomplish, he'll come around."

Read story here.

Weatherford's pension bill passes House, but path in Senate unclear

TALLAHASSEE — House Republicans on Friday voted to close Florida's pension system to new state and local government workers, forcing them instead into 401(k)-style investment plans that would shift the financial risk away from taxpayers.

The proposal, a priority of House Speaker Will Weatherford, passed along party lines 73-43 after nearly four hours of debate Thursday and Friday. It now moves to Senate, where members have yet to fully embrace the dramatic change.

The legislation, HB 7011, would prohibit government employees, police and firefighters and teachers across the state hired after Jan. 1, 2014, from enrolling in the state's pension fund.

It does not affect the Florida Retirement System's current 1 million members.

Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said changes are necessary to prevent the $132 billion pension fund from going bankrupt.

"If we do nothing then the state of Florida will continue to spend money that should be going to education and health care, and it's got to be spent on things like a broken pension system," said Weatherford, who posted a message on his Twitter account saying that pensions have gone the way of Betamax, a defunct video cassette format.

Read more here.

 

Democrats lose enthusiasm for Weatherford's campaign finance overhaul

A day before they vote on overhauling the Florida’s campaign finance laws, deep divisions emerged between Republicans and Democrats on the House Floor.

Along mostly party lines, the House on Thursday rejected efforts by Democrats to limit campaign contributions to $500, prohibit the governor from raising campaign cash during the legislative session, and prevent candidates from hoarding up to $50,000 in campaign cash to use in their next political races.

“I was disappointed we didn’t get support,” said Rep. Allan Williams, D-Tallahassee. “They weren’t partisan amendments. They were good government amendments.”

On Friday, representatives will vote on HB 569, which, while touted by Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford as a bipartisan approach to campaign finance reform, has attracted growing opposition among Democrats.

It increases the current $500 campaign contribution limit. For statewide offices, such as governor or Commissioner of Agriculture, candidates would be allowed to collect up to $5,000 per individual or company. For legislative offices or multi-county offices like circuit judge, contributions could be increased to $3,000.

Weatherford says Florida Polytechnic's future far from certain

So perhaps JD Alexander should be worried that his dream of a 12th university in Polk County will get dashed.

A day after the Florida Senate excised the $22 million for the yet-to-be-built Florida Polytechnic from its education budget, House Speaker Will Weatherford said he’s open to reevaluating whether it belongs in the state university system.

“We do  have the responsibility to make the best lemonade that we possibly can out of the situation and  hopefully turn that into a world-class institution,” Weatherford told reporters Thursday. “The Board of Governors (which oversees the university system) and the Board of Trustees should get creative about what that institution could be.”

Asked if that meant not turning it into the state’s 12th university, Weatherford replied: “Yes.”

He suggested it could team up with another existing state university, such as the University of Florida, or MIT or polytechnics out of state, in effect turning the school into a satellite campus for another university.

Galvano not so sure on JD Alexander's Florida Polytechnic

A major turkey in this year’s $70 billion budget was the creation of Florida’s 12th university, with the Senate’s powerful budget chairman, JD Alexander pushing for it for reasons only he can explain.

But with Alexander no longer in the Legislature, is support for Florida Polytechnic University waning?

Perhaps, if you go by the $14.2 billion education budget for next year that was released Wednesday by Alexander’s old chamber, the Senate. The $22.4 million that lawmakers had set aside for the university wasn’t included in the Senate budget. (House leaders say they won’t release their education budget until next week).

The chairman of the Senate’s education committee said the reason for the omission is simple: when he asked the university how they were to spend the money, he never heard back.

“Before I included that in our budget, I wanted to see what the plan was,” said Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton. “Is this for capital or for operations? Given the amount of money, the way the law reads, the lack of an existing program, I just wanted to see where we are.”