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High salaries and lavish spending outlined in audit joint legislative committee takes up today

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Lavish expenses of the Florida Municipal Power Agency — including providing healthcare for life for its chief executive officer, nearly $13,000 in holiday parties and a pair of season tickets to Orlando Magic games — will be center stage when the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee meets Monday afternoon. The Auditor General’s final report on the operational audit on the power agency showed that it spent $7.2 million for administrative and general salaries and $2.4 billion on FMPA employee benefits. In all, the…

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Speaker Crisafulli: Don’t look for a House Republican health plan

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House Republicans are not working on a Medicaid expansion plan. And they are not working on a healthcare bill that would impact commercial offerings outside of Medicaid, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli told reporters Thursday in a media availability after the full House adjourned. “We are focused on the position we are on and we are consistent with that,” Crisafulli said when asked if House Republicans were offering a Medicaid expansion model. “At this time the House is still in the position…

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House minority leader says there’s a chance for Medicaid expansion this year

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There may be hope this year for Medicaid expansion in the Florida House of Representatives. House Minority Leader Mark Pafford said at a press conference on Thursday that he believes House Speaker Steve Crisafulli may agree to a healthcare plan that would tap into federal Medicaid dollars to craft a plan for Florida. Why? “He is a never type of never type of guy,” said Pafford. “I think we all need to be optimists. I think there is a way…

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House Democrats say “equality issues” aren’t moving in the Legislature

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A quartet of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday held a press conference to discuss issues  they say will help women in the workforce. However, they are having a hard time getting those “equality” bills heard. For five years, Rep. Janet Cruz has filed an equal pay for equal work bill. Dubbed the Helen Gordon Davis Fair Pay Protection Act after a long-serving Tampa senator, Cruz said she has been unable to get HB 25 heard in one committee this year. “This…

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Short on time, Senate committee asks Dep’t of Elder Affairs Secretary nominee to come back next week

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Time ran short on Thursday before the Senate Children and Families Committee could weigh in on whether to approve Samuel P. Verghese as the Secretary of the State Department of Elder Affairs. Verghese, a New Jersey transplant, began his testimony by telling the committee that serving as secretary is about “serving others.” “Plain and simple, it’s about public service. It’s about serving others,” Verghese said. “It’s about about serving a purpose that’s so much greater than myself: the elders of…

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No supplemental Medicaid dollars? Then no tax breaks or member projects, says Senate budget chief

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Budget chief state Sen. Tom Lee said on Wednesday that tax cuts and member projects will be put on hold in the Senate until there is some resolution of whether Florida will receive additional Medicaid supplemental dollars to help pay hospitals, federally qualified health centers and Medicaid HMOs. After a marathon seven-plus-hour meeting where the committee tackled everything from Medicaid expansion, to land-buying, to education reforms, Lee said in a press availability with reporters that the $800 million in tax…

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House and Senate budgets fund additonal residency slots for docs but target far less than what Scott wants

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While they are far apart on Medicaid funding, both the House and Senate budgets have money enough to fund more residency slots to train physicians to help abate a looming shortfall in specialties such as psychiatry, general surgery, thoracic surgery and rheumatology. The House budget appropriates nearly $3.8 million in total funds for graduate medical education. The Senate budget is nearly $1.27 million in total funds for training. Additionally, the Senate budget establishes a new graduate medical education or GME…

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