Big-money doc donors to Scott, Cannon, Haridopolos try to kill pill price-fixing

n the opening days of the lawmaking session, two low-profile South Florida doctors helped funnel $70,000 to politicians and political groups, bringing their total contributions to an eye-opening $3 million in just one year.

In the next two days, as lawmakers hammer out the state budget, it’ll become clear if doctors Paul Zimmerman and Gerald Glass will get a return on their political investments.

The two doctors are the founders of a Miramar-based company called Automated Healthcare Solutions, which sells software that workers-compensation doctors use to dispense medications in their office.

But that profitable practice could be undermined by a little-debated provision slipped into an under-the-radar Senate budget bill at the behest of the insurance lobby, which says that doctors who dispense in-house are driving up the workers-compensation costs.

The dispute is just one example of how the agendas of special-interests crop up with little discussion and tie up state lawmakers as they try to write the state budget.

The workers comp language doesn’t exist in the House, where the political committees run by House Speaker Dean Cannon and budget chief Denise Grimsley each received $10,000 from Automated Health Care Solutions just before the start of the lawmaking session, when fundraising is banned.

Why did the doctors contribute so much?

“Because I’m a nice person,” smiled Grimsley, a Sebring Republican who’s one of the most well-liked legislators in the Capitol. 

Zimmerman and Glass have given more than $1 million to the Republican Party of Florida, $615,000 to a committee once run by Haridopolos, $610,000 to two committees linked to Cannon, $295,000 to Scott’s political committee and $60,000 to the Florida Democratic Party.

More here

 

Dean Cannon's 6-day, $364k fundraising binge

Boy, did we miss this. House Speaker Dean Cannon's new political committee, Florida Freedom Council, pulled in $364,500 in just one week before the start of session. The Capitol Press Corps can't complain because some of the money was used to purchase Press Skit tickets, clearly a political manuever that ensured freedom in Florida for the "council."

The contributors are a who's who of who wants what during the legislative session:

$  25,000.00	BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF FLORIDA
$  25,000.00	THE GEO GROUP, INC
$  25,000.00	REALTORS PAC FLORIDA
$  25,000.00	UNITED STATES SUGAR CORPORATION
$    2,500.00	FLORIDA PODIATRY PAC
$    5,000.00	JAKS TRUST, LLC
$    7,500.00	RIVERSTONE CLAIMS MANAGEMENT, LLC
$    5,000.00	DAVID GRIFFIN CONSULTING
$  25,000.00	MARSHALL THOMAS BURNETT, PL
$  25,000.00	INTERNATIONAL INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
$  25,000.00	FLORIDA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, PAC
$  20,000.00	MILLENNIUM LABORATORIES, INC
$  10,000.00	AUTOMATED HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS, LLC
$    5,000.00	HCR MANORCARE
$    5,000.00	HOMEWISE MANAGEMENT COMPANY
$    5,000.00	HOMEWISE MANAGEMENT COMPANY
$  25,000.00	DISNEY WORLDWIDE SERVICES, INC
$    5,000.00	MEADOWBROOK, INC
$  10,000.00	UNITED GROUP UNDERWRITERS, INC
$  10,000.00	DOSAL TOBACCO CORPORATION
$    5,000.00	SOUTHERN FIDELITY INSURANCE COMPANY
$    5,000.00	CAPITOL PREFERRED INSURANCE COMPANY, INC
$    5,000.00	HEALTH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES
$  15,000.00	HARTMAN & TYNER, INC
$    5,000.00	LARRY J OVERTON & ASSOCIATES, INC
$    2,000.00	FLORIDA HORSEMEN'S BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION/PAC
$    5,000.00	AZTEC GROUP, INC
$    2,500.00	ACTION FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE
$  25,000.00	FLORIDA CRYSTAL CORPORATION
$    5,000.00	PREFERRED CARE PARTNERS HOLDING CORP

Hissing. Ostracisim. And Scott Randolph's psy ops against Daphne Campbell

House Democrats are ostracizing one of their own, Miami Rep. Daphne Campbell, after she backed a Republican abortion bill and quoted the Bible on the floor of the Florida House.

On Friday, Campbell was pressured to cancel a press conference where she wanted to demand public apologies from Democratic leader Ron Saunders and from Rep. Scott Randolph who clashed with her two days before over the abortion bill.

Another Democrat, Janet Cruz of Tampa, hissed when Campbell spoke on the floor during a debate about a bill limiting lawsuits, and was quieted by Republican House Speaker Dean Cannon. And then, during debate, Randolph began bringing up grisly cases that occurred in group homes Campbell ran years ago.

"If I come in with something like an obstructed bowel, in an emergency situation, and have to go into emergency surgery, coming then into the ER with an obstructed bowel, I would not get to choose which doctor may have liability insurance and which may not?” Randolph asked as Campbell — his back-bench mate — stood by.

Randolph’s reference: Reports about an August 2006 case in which a resident of one of Campbell’s Miami group homes died of a suspected obstructed bowel after he was hospitalized.

More here

Scott commends lawmakers for 'modernizing' outdated pension system

Gov. Rick Scott's first session has been true on-the-job training and Florida's new governor has clearly learned how to find the silver lining. In a statement issued Saturday, he commended lawmakers for "a great first step" in requiring state workers to contribute three percent of their salaries into their retirement system.

The agreement, reached by lawmakers late Friday, falls short of the 5 percent Scott called for and it also excludes the other major reforms he sought -- such as eliminating DROP, ending the defined benefits plan and using the money to offset what he considers an unhealthy unfunded liability in the Florida Retirement System. The Legislature, by contrast, believes the FRS is one of the strongest in the country, embraced DROP, and warned that eliminating the defined benefit plan will be too expensive to abandon. But it did move toward the shared retirement contribution that the governor sought, as well as his idea of ending the cost-of-living adjustments for new hires.

Here's the governor's statement:

House zips through approval of environmental permitting overhaul

With head-spinning speed, the Florida House took up and passed a major rewrite of state environmental permitting laws late Friday that Florida conservation groups had warned could be one of the worst environmental bills in decades.

The time spent discussing, amending and voting on the 80-page bill just before the House was scheduled to adjourn at 8 p.m.: 7 minutes.

In that time, lawmakers accepted six amendments that attempt to mitigate environmentalists’ concerns over provisions they had described as a “monstrous threat to the environment.” They added the content of another bill making it easier for ports to dredge to accommodate bulkier ships. And they removed a section that prevented the ability of citizens to challenge environmentally-sensitive projects.

House Speaker Dean Cannon, with the cadence of an auctioneer, then recognized bill sponsor Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, for a brief explanation, accepted no questions or debate, and the House voted 95-16 to send it to the Senate.

Budget deal: 18 counties to be privatized, interior designers (only?) de-regged

The House Senate afternoon budget committee ended with another accord: The House agreed with the Senate position to privatize prisons in an 18-county region from Miami-Dade to Manatee counties. About 3,000 jobs are at stake, though legislators say the prison guards can move from the public to the private system. Either way, its a big win for the Geo Group and Corrections Corp. of America.

The de-regulation talks are over and it looks like commercial interior designers will be the only industries to be de-regulated. Sports agents, talent agents, dance studios and gyms will remain regulated.

Rick Scott and Pam Bondi talk pill mills on Fox News

With House and Senate leaders struggling to find a compromise on differing bills to combat the Florida's prescription drug abuse epidemic, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Governor Rick Scott appeared Saturday on Fox News to talk about the state's attempt to deal with the issue.

Scott made no mention of the Senate pill mill bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. But he did talk about the House bill being managed by Rep. Robert Schenck, R-Spring Hill.

"We have a great bill coming through the House that will prevent doctors that prescribe from dispensing drugs," Scott said. "We're going to track from the manuuaturer, to the distributor, to the doctor to the user. We're going to stop this."

That tracking system, as well as a dispensing ban for doctors and small pharmacies and a 5,000 monthly dosage limit on prescriptions for each pharmacy are in the House bill only.

Scott also touted his law enforcement Strick Force, and Bondi talked about the prescription drug monitoring database.

"These are drug dealers wearing white coats. We have a lot of great pain management doctors but that's not who these guys are. They're a cash only business. It's to $200 to $300. They have armed guards at the door. There are lines of people around the building. And they're drug dealers. And they're addicts going in to get more pills," she said. "Once the governor and I, and the House and Senate get done with our legislation, we're going to do everything in our power to put them out of business because we've got to have people stop dying from this."

At least seven people die day in Florida because of prescription drug abuse. And easy access to powerful painkillers has made Florida a destination for addicts and drug dealers around the country. That's put Florida in the national spotlight as other states attempt to combat their own prescription drug abuse epidemic.

The House bill, though, has raised raised concerns that it will hurt the business of small pharmacies and make it difficult for people who legitimately need pain medication to get it. Expect a compromise on that issue next week --  perhaps a loosening on the pharmacy restriction and an increase in dosage limits.

Shades of Free Shoes University. More deregulation problems.

As the House and Senate go back and forth in budget talks, Senate budget chief JD Alexander said he's uncomfortable with the House plans to deregulate gyms, dance studios and sports and talent agents. He said a young woman he knew was almost taken advantage of by a talent agent.

And, he noted, athletes can be abused by sports agents -- a subtle reference to some of the old scandals at universities, notably Florida State University.... er... Free Shoes University, which received a spot of bad press in the 1990s when an unregistered sports agent took some FSU players on a shopping spree. Then there was the University of Miami, where players were incentivized by rap star Luther Campbell to make big hits. Campbell is now a candidate for Miami-Dade mayor.

Alexander said UF athletic director Jeremy Foley called him to lobby against the deregulation of sports agents.

"I really have some angst on talent and sports agents being de-regged," Alexander said. "I think there are real abuses there de-regging on. I’m just very hesitant to deregulate this particular one."

On gyms: "Historically, before regulation, I’m told there were ongoing recurring credit card charges where people couldn’t get them stopped. When we regulated it, all of a sudden, we got our hands around it."

 He said older people used to be taken advantage of by some dance studios. But reports of those problems are in the past. At least for now. "Some of that is the result of regulation there that kept things we have heard about on the front pages of papers," Alexander said.

Schools budget talks wrap up

The recap from the final day in schools budget negotiations:

• The House and Senate remain close on per-pupil funding, but still disagree on how much money should be given to rural counties as part of a special calculation in the funding formula, and how much should be spent on virtual education. The House wants to put $21 million toward virtual education; the Senate $9 million.

• The Senate is still pushing for an extended school day (by one hour) for failing schools, a pet project's of Sen. David Simmons, the Altamonte Springs Republican who chairs the education budget. The House put forth a much diminished extended-day plan; the Senate said no.

• The two sides agreed to slash extra money schools get for high school grades -- a big part of former Gov. Jeb Bush's education reforms. They are also cutting funding for Miami's New World School of the Arts by half. New World, which also gets funding for each student, is the only school in the state with a line-item on the education budget.

The royal wedding and the Florida House

A marathon session in the Florida House ended Friday night with Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, wearing what looked like a makeshift crown.

The prop, she said, was in honor of her British son-in-law and the royal wedding of William and Kate.

"We need to congratulate our mother country," Rehwinkel Vasilinda said.