April 28, 2011. Nine days left in legislative session, Union gag bill hits bump in road
Day 51 of the 2011 Legislative Session
(April 27, 2011)
Less than 9 days are left of the 2011 Legislative Session … we hope. Budget negotiations have not gone as smoothly as legislative leaders had first hoped—the signs that things are not all warm and fuzzy within the Republican ranks. Tension between the House and Senate leadership is building and the horse-trading has begun.
Gag bill hits a bump in the road…but the road is long
SB 830 – the union gag bill- was scheduled to be first up on the Senate Floor calendar today. As the day comes to a close, the bill still has not been heard. Senate leadership continues to twist arms and bring in the big guns, but at the time this report was written, they did not have the votes to pass the bill. HOWEVER, we must stay vigilant and continue to keep the pressure on here in Tallahassee and back home in the districts. All of our hard work, here in Tallahassee by your FEA lobby team and your work back on the home front is having a positive impact in the Capitol.
Please continue to work with your legislators, thank them for standing strong for the rights of public employees and ask them to continue the good fight!
Budget talks finally begin
Last night the House and Senate leadership FINALLY announced budget committee conferees. There are still problems between the two chambers even though they have come to agreement on budget allocations for the various program areas. They are continuing to look at each area to find more ‘savings.’ As one legislator put it “we’re going to open up the wallet, again.” One area still in play is the Florida Retirement System. This process is fast-moving and fluid, so we will update you as agreements are finalized. Stay tuned…
To see which legislators are on the various budget conference committees click on the following links:
Questions? Call FEA Public Policy Advocacy at 850.224.2078