A morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.
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DEMOCRATS LEAD IN GENERIC CONGRESSIONAL BALLOT POLL
A new Quinnipiac poll finds American voters, by a slim margin, say they are more likely to vote Democratic than Republican for Congress in 2014 — 41% to 37% — “which would violate the historical model of the president’s party losing ground in the sixth year of a presidency.”
RUBIO TALKS IMMIGRATION IN PASCO, RECEIVES STANDING OVATION via Molly Moorhead of the Tampa Bay Times
Speaking to 600 diehard Pasco Republicans, Senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday night cast the sensitive work of immigration reform as a national security issue that can’t be ignored.
“We have to deal with the people who are here now, and I want to know who they are so I can run them through a background check and a national security check,” Rubio said in his keynote speech at the local party’s annual Reagan Day dinner fundraiser.
The crowd seemed to be with him, responding with big applause when he said none of the 11 million people in the country illegally would have access to food stamps or welfare under a bill proposed in the Senate.
The bill, being put forward by a bipartisan group known as the “Gang of Eight,” would require people who arrived in the country illegally or overstayed a visa to pass a criminal background check, pay a fine and wait a decade to seek a green card. It would then take another three years for naturalization, making for a 13-year path to citizenship.
The legislation provides at least $5 billion for more border security and would require 100 percent “awareness” at the southern border with Mexico and a 90 percent effectiveness rate. It mandates that all employers use an electronic verification system, phased in over five years, to check the legal status of workers.
RUBIO PREDICTS GAY RIGHT ISSUE COULD IMPERIL IMMIGRATION REFORM via Mike Allen of POLITICO
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has told advocates that he will offer an amendment during the bill markup next week allowing gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners for green cards, just as heterosexual couples can.
The measure is likely to pass because Democrats face pressure from gay rights advocates to deal with it in committee, rather than on the Senate floor, where the odds of passage are far less favorable.
But by doing so, Republicans warn that Democrats will tank the whole bill. ‘It will virtually guarantee that it won’t pass,’ Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Gang of Eight negotiating group, told POLITICO in a brief interview. ‘This issue is a difficult enough issue as it is. I respect everyone’s views on it. But ultimately, if that issue is injected into this bill, the bill will fail and the coalition that helped put it together will fall apart.”
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DWS SAYS RICK SCOTT NEEDS TO GET OFF SIDELINES via Kathleen Haughney of the Sun Sentinel
Debbie Wasserman Schultz blasted Speaker Weatherford for letting the Tea Party run the agenda in the House and said Gov. Scott needed to “get off the sidelines” and use his clout to pass health care.
Wasserman Schultz, who is also chair of the Democratic National Committee, was in Tallahassee Wednesday to stand with House and Senate Democrats in favor of an expansion of health care, which would mean offering coverage to roughly 1 million low income Floridians.
BWasserman Schultz said that refusing the federal money to help pay for health care will mean that poor people will still be suffering and going to the emergency room for care, driving up cost of care for the insured population.
“If Will Weatherford has his way, we will all continue to pay,” she said.
FIVE GOP SENATORS SAY SCOTT HAD NO ROLE IN KILLING ‘PARENT TRIGGER’ via Steve Bousquet of the Tampa Bay Times
Five Republican senators who voted to defeat the so-called parent trigger bill said Gov. Rick Scott did not lobby them to oppose the controversial legislation. There has been much speculation in the Capitol and an unsourced story on one news website that said Scott was instrumental in the bill’s failure on a dramatic 20-20 vote Tuesday.
Not true, Republican senators said.
“I wouldn’t say there was any direct contact from his office on his opinion on this,” said Sen. Nancy Detert, leader of the anti-trigger forces in the Senate. “There were rumors that he’d just as soon not have it on his desk (but) it really doesn’t make any difference, because this was going to be the outcome whether he wanted it or not.”
SENATE APPROVES SCOTT’S MANUFACTURING TAX BREAK via Jason Garcia of the Orlando Sentinel
On a 37-3 vote, the Senate approved a measure that would let manufacturers avoid paying any sales tax on new machinery and equipment they buy for use in their factories. The manufacturers’ tax break is one of Scott’s two chief priorities this legislative session, along with pay raises for teachers.
As part of an apparent deal negotiated with Scott’s office, the Senate limited the break to a three-year period: April 2014 until April 2017. Of course, the Legislature may very well extend the break before it expires, once the business lobby begins warning about an impending “tax increase.”
Delaying the start of the tax exemption until April 2014 also helps blunt the immediate budget hit to the state, whose fiscal years begin in July. Sen. Dorothy Hukill said the tax break would cost the state under $20 million in lost revenue for the 2013-14 fiscal year, though the annualized cost is well over $100 million.
“I support the governor’s initiative. He’s had modest requests this session. I think we need to get behind him,” said Sen. Rob Bradley.
ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: CFO Jeff Atwater will join Governor Scott, Senator Flores and Representative Mayfield at a bill signing ceremony for SB 464, which allows the CFO’s Bureau of Unclaimed Property to create a fully automated claims process. 9:30 a.m., Governor’s Large Conference Room.
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SCOTT SIGNS CAMPAIGN FINANCE, ETHICS BILLS…
Scott signed a bill late Wednesday that would inject more cash into elections as part of a broader reform that eliminates some political slush funds politicians have used to support their “filet mignon” lifestyles.
The campaign-finance bill boosts contribution limits for statewide offices such as governor, attorney general and chief financial officer from $500 per person to $3,000 per person, and to $1,000 for legislative and county candidates and judges. It was backed by Weatherford, but Scott had said he opposed the higher contribution limits.
The campaign-finance bill, while far-reaching, still preserves a major reporting loophole by excluding state parties from new requirements that candidates report contributions and expenditures at least monthly during election years – and weekly and then daily as Election Day nears.
The bill also would do away with what are called “committees of continuous existence,” vaguely named groups that lawmakers use to raise big checks, often from special-interest donors, and either funnel them elsewhere or spend them on travel, hotels, food and entertainment.
But it would change the rules for other “political committees” and allow them to operate much like the now-outlawed CCEs, including taking big checks.
…VETOES SO-CALLED ALIMONY REFORM
The bill would have banned permanent alimony, while also limiting alimony payments based on income and the length of marriage.
In vetoing the bill, Scott said he could not sign it because the law would be applied retroactively and would “tamper with the settled expectations of many Floridians who have experienced divorce.”
As the measure marched to passage, lawmakers heard painful tales of ex-spouses who have suffered financially due to either too much alimony or not enough. Workman brandished a binder he said was full of such horror stories supporting the measure.
Opponents – including the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar – say the bill would have been unfair to those who have been out of the workforce for years to raise children, predominantly women.
WEATHERFORD: GOOD WILL, NOT QUID PRO QUO via Matt Dixon of the Florida Times-Union
Scott signed overhauls of the state ethics and campaign finance laws, which were top priorities for the Legislature.
The campaign finance bill included a provision increasing campaign contributions to candidates, a change Scott opposed.
On the same day, both chambers passed the elimination of the sales tax paid by manufacturers on equipment purchases. The House rammed it through with no debate. If you didn’t know the manufacturer tax cut was one of Scott’s two priorities, you’ve been living under a rock.
So, was a deal cut?
“The governor never said it was a quid-pro-quo, I believe the words he utilized was good will. Both chambers and the governor’s office … are looking to build good will as we close out session,” Weatherford told reporters after the House’s all day floor session.
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THE SLOWDOWN CONTINUES IN THE FLORIDA HOUSE
Maneuvering by Democrats as a protest against the GOP majority’s insistence against using federal money to expand health care coverage to more people continued Wednesday in the House. The Democrats, as they did on Tuesday, moved to have bills read in their entirety, slowing down the movement of legislation through the chamber. In response, the Republicans used a procedural maneuver known as moving the previous question to limit debate to 3 minutes per side. In response to that, Democrats began taking up their full 3 minutes by reading from the state Constitution.
TWEET, TWEET: @fineout: After Rep. Waldman said that House Dems respect @willweatherford he responds: “You have a funny way of showing it.”
GAETZ AND ROUSON GET SNAPPY via Katie Sanders of the Tampa Bay Times
House Democrats gathered behind closed doors on the floor late Wednesday to talk strategy.
They were interrupted by a bright flash from outside — from Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz’s iPhone.
Rep. Darryl Rouson left the bubble and confronted Gaetz in the middle aisle of the House floor. He whipped out his own phone and took video of Gaetz. (Rouson sent us the video, which even features a kiss to the camera from Gaetz.)
Gaetz went through with his tweet: “44 democrats huddling in the bubble. Greatest liberal brain trust since Lawton Chiles dined alone.”
Rouson didn’t know he did it until asked about the incident by a Times reporter. He says he was just teasing Gaetz.
“I didn’t like it because we were conducting serious business about people, our constituents, things like that,” he said. “I just didn’t think it was too cute to take a picture of us and then tweet it.”
Last we checked, Gaetz and Rouson were joking with each other on the floor.
HOUSE PASSES MANUFACTURING TAX CUT W/O TWO-THIRDS VOTE; DEMS PROMISE LAWSUIT via Aaron Deslatte of the Orlando Sentinel
House Republicans rammed through a 96-page tax bill with no debate Wednesday night and a potentially illegal tax-break for manufacturers which did not get the two-thirds majority required constitutionally change local government tax rates.
After locking down the chamber, Speaker Weatherford told reporters after the 68-48 vote that his lawyers had reviewed the bill and it did not require a two-thirds vote.
But House Minority Leader Perry Thurson, a lawyer, said that was plainly wrong, and a lawsuit challenging the tax-change would be coming “immediately.”
“The legal implication is that it requires a two-thirds vote on at least on bill in the package. We don’t know everything that as in there. They did not get two-thirds vote,” Thurston said. “Unfortunately, it looks like that is something that has to be challenged, and we’re sure it will be challenged with all due speed.”
The section of the constitution relevant states that “Except upon approval of each house of the legislature by two-thirds of the membership, the legislature may not enact, amend, or repeal any general law if the anticipated effect of doing so would be to reduce the authority that municipalities or counties have to raise revenues in the aggregate.”
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MED MAL BILL GETS OK via Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida
In the latest skirmish in a long-running battle about Florida’s medical-malpractice system, the House gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that includes tightening requirements for expert witnesses in malpractice lawsuits.
The 77-38 vote, which sends the bill (SB 1792) to Gov. Rick Scott, was a victory for medical groups that have lobbied year after year for changes that could help shield doctors from costly lawsuits. The Senate passed the bill in April.
“For years, we have fought to correct unfair imbalances in the tort system that are hostile to doctors,” Florida Medical Association President Vincent DeGennaro said in a prepared statement. “The passage of (the bill) isn’t just a victory for physicians. Making our state a friendlier place to practice medicine attracts more doctors to Florida, which increases Florida patients’ access to care.”
But the Florida Justice Association, which represents trial lawyers and lobbied heavily against the bill, argues that increased legal restrictions will make it harder for malpractice victims to get compensated for injuries. The bill, sponsored in the House by Rep. Matt Gaetz also includes a controversial change related to defense attorneys interviewing patients’ doctors who are not parties to the lawsuits.
“The Gaetz legislation that passed this morning violates patient privacy, harms doctor/patient relationships and may not even be constitutional,” said Debra Henley, executive director of the Florida Justice Association. “Today is a bad day for the rights of patients, consumers and the entire state of Florida.”
The bill focuses on details of how malpractice cases are carried out, rather than high-profile issues such as capping legal damages. As an example, it would require that expert witnesses in malpractice cases have the same specialties as the doctors who are defendants. Current law allows expert witnesses to have similar specialties.
NUKE FEE BILL DIMMED, BUT BENCHMARKS MAKE KEEP LIGHTS ON
Enthusiasm may have dimmed for the measure to rein in the pre-construction fees that power companies may charge for nuclear power plants, but not enough to shut down the effort, reports Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida.
Sen. John Legg said he would have preferred the measure (SB 1472) now returning to the Senate to have retained the possibility customers could get a refund when future plant plans are scuttled. However, the review benchmarks now in place may be enough to advance the bill, he said.
“This late in the session, seeing the situation over in the House, there are a lot of good provisions, like the various trigger mechanisms to review it,” said Legg, who has carried the bill for the Tampa Bay-area senators backing the measure.
“Sometimes a half a loaf is better than no loaf at all,” he added. “While I’d like to see that refund mechanism stay in there, it may be too late to send something back.”
… The changes in the nuclear cost bill establish a series of benchmarks for a utility seeking to build a nuclear power plant to follow in order to impose pre-construction fees. The amendment also removed a provision that would have required the companies to refund money if they halted their plans.
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‘LET THE PEOPLE BE HEARD’ LEGISLATION GOES TO SCOTT
Heading now to the Governor, SB 50 would require that people be given the right and opportunity to speak at public meetings, with the exception of emergency meetings. Time and decorum limits could still be set. Fans of NBC’s Parks & Rec, this could mean some more Pawnee-style hearings for municipalities around the state.
PENSION TRANSPARENCY MEASURE HEADS TO GOVERNOR via contributor Karen Cyphers
Heading to the Governor’s desk is a long-debated bill that, if signed, will bring Florida the most transparent municipal pension system in the nation. SB 534, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Brandes, prohibits the state from bailing out local pensions that declare bankruptcy, creates new reporting standards for defined-benefit plans as adopted by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), standardizes some of the assumptions that pensions use in their actuarial assessments, and requires new disclosures of plan performance to the public. The Senate bill passed narrowly by a vote of 22-18; and the House by 71-45.
TEXTING WHILE DRIVING BAN PASSES HOUSE RETURNS TO SENATE
Florida’s proposed texting while driving ban sees its own yellow light, as it returns to the Senate with an amendment that cleared the House on Wednesday, making its passage once again uncertain. The House amendment would prevent the driver’s cell phone records from being available to prosecutors unless there had been an injury or death. There are lots of eyes on the legislative road for this one.
WORKERS COMP DRUG BILL PASSES via the News Service of Florida
The House gave final approval Wednesday to a compromise plan aimed at ending a long-running battle about the costs of drugs dispensed by doctors to workers-compensation insurance patients. House members voted 115-0 to approve the bill, which also has passed the Senate and is headed to Gov. Rick Scott. The issue has long been controversial because business groups contended that physician dispensing of what are known as “repackaged” drugs increased workers-compensation insurance costs. Physicians, however, argue that such in-office dispensing helps ensure that patients get and take needed medications. The compromise allows doctors to charge 112.5 percent of drugs’ average wholesale prices — a measuring stick in the pharmaceutical industry — and $8 dispensing fees. Those amounts are higher than what pharmacies can charge for providing medications to workers-compensation patients.
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AARP JOINS COURT FIGHT AGAINST FPL RATE HIKE
AARP has filed a “friend of the court” brief with the Florida Supreme Court objecting to Florida Power & Light Co.’s rate increase and what it calls the failure of state regulators to protect residential consumers.
FLORIDA’S SMALL BUSINESS SURVEY PORTRAYS BOTH OPTIMISM AND CONCERN
The Florida Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index Survey, released Wednesday, reveals optimism among small business owners despite ongoing concerns with economic uncertainty and government regulations impacting small business growth. The report was released during National Small Business Week and shows rising numbers of small businesses feeling better off today than six months ago (36 percent, up from 32 percent in December 2012). Further, 42 percent of business report higher sales compared to the same period last year, 55 percent believe the economy will improve over this coming year, and 61 percent believe it will improve over the next three years. More markedly, about 52 percent of respondents in this survey who needed financing during the pas six months report that they were able to obtain it, compared to only 17 percent who were able to do so in December 2012.
Nevertheless, nearly 7 out of 10 small businesses are worried or very worried that regulations, restrictions and taxes will negative impact their ability to do business this year, while only 31 percent are not worried. As reportedhere earlier, the US census released an update on Wednesday showing that across the nation, and in Florida, fewer business are in operation this year than last year — a trend that has been in place for the past four years. This decrease is certainly felt more dramatically among small businesses.
OCALA HAS HIGHEST RATE OF UNMARRIED MOMS, AND OTHER BREAKING CENSUS NEWS via contributor Karen Cyphers
According to new US Census data released Wednesday, the Ocala metro area leads Florida in the rate of births to unmarried women, at a staggering 60 percent. While this is the highest rate in Florida, the Miami Herald reported that Ocala ranks at 16th in the nation. The metro area between Jacksonville and Daytona beach had the state’s lowest rate at 6.2 percent. These data, collected within the American Community Survey, reveal that nationally about 36 percent of all children were born to unmarried mothers in 2011. Overall, these rates increased about 20 percent between 2002 and 2007; and up by over 80 percent between 1980 and 2007.
This wasn’t the only news today to hit the airwaves regarding the US Census. The Census release also included evidence of a national increase in total employment, with the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector leading the way with a 12 percent increase in employment. This is the first year since 2008 in which increased employment was shown over the prior year, however not all the news was positive: nationally and in Florida, this year marked the 4th consecutive year with a decline in the total number of US businesses. Also just announced, a group of congressional Republicans filed a bill to bar the Census Bureau from conducting all surveys except for its decennial population count — meaning, it would repeal the agricultural census, economic census, government census and the American Community Survey which together gather data essential to uncountable studies including oft-reported unemployment rates across the nation. A repeal of the ACS was passed by the House last year but died in the Senate, and it appears this current bill is likely to meet the same fate.
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IN TAX BREAK REQUEST, WEATHERFORD PROMOTES CLEANER NON-COMBUSTION ENERGY via contributor Karen Cyphers
Writing for the Orlando Sentinel, Jason Garcia describes what he considered an “usual, late-night meeting” in which Speaker Will Weatherford engineered a tax break for a California company that had hired Southern Strategies to do its legislative bidding — yet digging in a little deeper on the nature and purpose of this tax break reveals nothing sketchy or uncommon, but instead reflects a move toward consistent tax policy in the promotion of cleaner energy. The tax break, seen here as three short lines within Section 212.08, Florida Statutes, would exempt from sales tax the purchase of natural gas used to generate electricity in non-combustion fuel cells. Seem unusual? Ill-placed? Not quite. A read of this statute reveals a laundry list of related exemptions, all of which suggest the appropriate inclusion of fuels for non-combustion cells.
Currently exempt from sales tax: all fuels used by utilities in the generation of electric power or energy for sale; the transmission or wheeling of electricity; the purchase of equipment necessary in the production of electrical or steam energy resulting from the burning of boiler fuels; boiler fuels, when purchased for use as a combustible fuel; the purchases of natural gas, residual oil, recycled oil, waste oil, solid waste material, coal, sulfur, wood, wood residues or wood bark used in the manufacturing, compounding or production process; the sales of utilities to households, including oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, coal, wood, and other fuel products; and finally, materials used in the distribution of biodiesel, ethanol, and other renewable fuels up to $1 million in tax each state fiscal year.
In contrast to the above methods of energy production, non-combustion fuel cells are a nascent technology with a promising future in which energy could be generated with reduced emissions. Bloom Energy, the California company who signed on with Southern Strategies, has a track record in developing these technologies and sells its cleaner energy to Wal-Mart, Google, AT&T and others already. Weatherford’s request to exempt fuels used for non-combustion cells serves to put this cleaner energy alternative on more even footing with other forms of energy production. At an estimated cost to the state of just $100,000 per year, this seems like a gamble well worth taking.
RAMBA: CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM WILL JUST SHUFFLE PAPERWORK via Aaron Deslatte of the Orlando Sentinel
One of the lobbyists in the middle of the game of creating the “committees of continuous existence” said outlawing the CCEs would actually be good for his business. That’s because while the bill outlaws CCEs, it allows lawmakers and interest-groups to transfer their money from those funds into political committees (PCs) and for the PC’s to operate largely like the old CCEs, spending money on campaign-related travel and expenses as well as ads.
“I’m ready. I’m going to get paid a lot more this summer to change the paperwork,” said David Ramba, a Tallahassee lobbyist whose office handles the paperwork for dozens on CCEs for Republicans and Democrats.
“I’m not even going to change the names.”
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4TH FLOOR FILES: The latest installment of the 4th Floor Files features Sebastian Aleksander. His clients include Palm Beach County Firefighters, Novomatic (Austrian Gaming Industries), and Yahoo. Here’s the file on Sebastian.
CAPITAL CITY INSIDERS TO HONOR, HOST FUNDRAISER FOR KEN PLANTE ON SESSION’S FINAL DAY
Florida’s capital city insiders will honor and assist Ken Plante on the final day of the 2013 legislative session with a special “Get Well” card posted for signatures on the Fourth Floor of the Capitol. Donations to help Plante’s continued medical treatments will also be accepted at the same place from 10 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
Plante, who served in the Florida Senate from 1967-1978, has been a professional lobbyist for much of the last half century. He helped conceive and found the Florida Association of Professional Lobbyists. He was recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting nerve cells in the brain and leads to a progressive loss of muscular control. Typically, the outcome is not positive.
According to Ron Sachs, “Kenny is at home, but is using a ventilator to help him breathe, and his home health care is not covered by insurance. He also suffers as a result of the Medicare “doughnut hole” in which his prescription medicine costs are astronomical. So, Kenny Plante’s many friends around Florida have banded together to help cover some of these health care costs.”
The suggested donation is $250, but all contributions are appreciated and welcomed. Checks can be made payable to “Kenneth A. Plante Trust Fund.”
NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS
Erika Carter: Target Corporation
Fred Dickinson, Dutko: PRIDE Enterprises
Thomas Hobbs: Expedia, Inc.
Raquel Rodriguez, McDonald Hopkins: Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida
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DENNIS ROSS TO HOST SERVICE ACADEMY DAY IN BRANDON
Saturday, May 4, students and their families are invited to a Service Academy Day session in Brandon, hosted by the office of US Rep Dennis Ross. The academy day serves as an information session for students in eighth-eleventh grades to learn about opportunities to attend a US Military Academy upon graduation from high school, and will include details about the application process and academy requirements. Representatives from the United States Military Academy, the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Naval Academy, the United States Coast Guard Academy, and the United States Merchant Marine Academy will be in attendance. Saturday’s event will be held at the Brandon Regional Service Center at 311 Pauls Drive. For more information, please contact Laura Rodriguez in the district office (863) 644-8215.
