April 2, 2010. Florida Education Association lobbyists report on week five of the 2010 legislative session.
The phrase ‘arm-twisting’ is one of those ubiquitous terms in politics. If you Google the term you’ll get 603,000 hits – though we didn’t look at every entry, you could probably bet that 99.7% of those hits have something to do with passage of legislation or some other politically related persuasion. Curiously, the other competing inspiration for this week’s Frontline beat out the ‘arm-twisting’ Google hits by nearly 90,000. Let’s just say you were spared from 200 words about ‘church billboards.’
If you walked the halls of the Capitol this week, you’d probably see weary Republican legislators favoring their sore arms. The generally lock-stepping Republican legislators have hit some road bumps this week because some have voiced serious concerns with some of the proposals on which they have been told to cast ‘yes’ votes. The GOP leadership has been resorting to grabbing hold and twisting until their members were ‘calling UNCLE!’
We have an arm-twisting epidemic in Tallahassee. It is only a matter of time before they twist one too many times and find their well-behaved team going rogue.
Budget Week in Tallahassee
This was an abbreviated week for the Legislature due to observance of religious holidays. But for two fun-filled days legislators wrangled over the state budget. The House and Senate each develop their version of the State Budget – then rant and rave for hours in debate – pass the bills usually along party lines. Then the bills are sent to Conference Committees to work out the differences.
Late Thursday afternoon both chambers passed their versions of the Budget. Here’s what they look like now:
Senate House
Fed Stimulus $907 million $865.3 million
# Students Increase of almost 20K Same
.25 Mill Levy $348.9 million $105.8 million
Total FEFP $18.23 billion $17.99 billion
$/UFTE +$39 or 0.57% -$52 or -0.76%
The next step: members of the Conference Committees will be announced then they will begin meeting to work out their differences. But negotiations are probably not going to start until the U.S. Congress decides what rate they are going to fund Medicaid – which will be after their Easter recess ending April 12.
Once the legislature knows what to expect from D.C., they will begin negotiations, eventually agree on all the numbers and place the final product ‘on the desk’ to sit for the required 72 hours before they take up the full appropriations bill. After the cooling off period, each chamber will vote for final passage and send it to the governor for his signature. The governor may use his line-item veto power if there are portions of the bill he finds objectionable.
What’s next with SB 6/HB 7189
The House Education Policy Council will be hearing two bills on Monday during what has been scheduled as an eight-hour meeting. The Council will be hearing the House version of SB 6 – HB 7189 Teacher Quality — and HB 7053Public School Assessments.
HB 7053 would revise the statewide student achievement testing program, discontinue administration of certain FCAT assessments in specified school years and require end-of-course assessments in certain subjects beginning with students entering grade 9 in specified school years.
HB 7189 is nearly identical to SB 6. The supporters of this bill have been throwing everything they have at FEA and the public. They’ll be trotting their so called ‘experts’ in to testify how critical this bill is to improving education in Florida – AND that they must pass it to win the second round of Federal Stimulus funded Race to the Top Grant (that’s poppy-cock). The business community has stepped up their support and has been waging a campaign to grow support for the bill – you have probably seen the Florida Chamber’s so called “survey” which is one of their tactics to prove that teachers really love SB 6/HB 7189!
We’re lining up top-notch and highly respected experts of our own to testify Monday. Members and parents from all over the state are making their way to Tallahassee to attend the marathon meeting. So far, public opinion has been leaning our way. This toxic bill does nothing to help students who are struggling, and the public knows it!
In the Capitol the tide is shifting. We fully expect the Council to pass the bill and send it to the full House for a floor vote. But quietly, more and more Republican House members are moving away from the bill. We need 17 Republican votes to kill this bill on the House Floor. Every minute counts, every email and phone call to legislators are crucial to our success. We don’t know if the GOP leadership will be able to keep up the arm-twisting, we don’t know if we’ll be able to find all the votes we need to kill this bill. This week will be another big push to stop this bill, so get ready!
Retirement Bill Digest
Politicians don’t like to raise taxes. Accordingly, when legislators increase a fee or eliminate of a benefit for state employees, those are not tax hikes – they are just balancing the state budget. So when the Florida House Republicans voted Thursday to approve a sizeable benefit cut to Florida’s public employees, including firefighters, teachers, police officers, and government workers throughout Florida – they weren’t enacting a tax only on a certain segment of society – they are making the tough decisions needed to balance the state budget. The vehicle: HB 5701 by Rep. Rivera, (R- Miami) a bill eliminating the Health Insurance Subsidy (HIS) for FRS retirees.
According to reports House Bill 5701 will cost retirees with 30 years or more of public service $1,800 a year. For retired couples with 30 years or more of service, the hit will be $3,600 a year.
To pass HB 5701 to eliminate the health insurance subsidy GOP leadership had to resort to some pretty rigorous arm twisting of Republicans that we heard had ‘’left the reservation.”
On the first floor vote, 15 House Republicans bucked their leadership to vote with House Democrats. But on a ‘do-over’ vote procedural maneuver, Republican Representatives Ed Homan (R-Temple Terrace), Charles McBurney (R-Jacksonville), Paige Kreegel, (R-Punta Gorda), and Trudi Williams (R-Fort Myers) switched their votes.
Three other House Republicans who missed the first vote – Representatives Sandra Adams (R-Oviedo), Eric Eisnaugle (R-Orlando) and Kurt KellyGOP. The final vote — after winning the Motion to Reconsider—the House passed HB 5701 on a vote of 63 to 56. (R-Belleview) voted with the
The bill is now in Messages – which means the House has sent it over to the Senate and the ball is in the Senate’s court. The Senate leadership could take the bill out of Messages at any time and place it on their Special Order calendar to be heard by the full Senate.
SB 2022 by Senator J.D. Alexander (R-Lake Wales), the FRS Employee Contribution bill passed the Senate by a vote of 26 to 7. Voting against the bill were Senators: Lynn (R), Joyner (D) Justice (D) Rich (D) Smith (D) Sobel (D) and Wilson (D). Excused or not voting were Senators: Deutch (D), Hill (D), Gelber (D), Oelrich (R), Ritcher (R) and Villalobos (R).
The bill has drawn strong opposition from FEA, AFSCME, the Police Benevolent Association, and the Firefighters.
SB 2022 re-establishes an employee contribution – which has not existed since 1974. If passed by the House and signed into law by the Governor, beginning July 1, 2010 public employees participating in the FRS plan AND the optional retirement plan will be required to contribute at rate of 0.25 % of their gross annual compensation. After that, the contribution rates would be set by law in the annual rate bill. This bill will likely be sent to the full House but so far has not been placed in Messages by the Senate.
HB 1319 by Rep. Grady (R-Naples) Public Employee Retirement Preservation Act which would have made substantial changes and reductions of benefits to state employee retirement plans remains stalled in the House Committee on Governmental Affairs Policy. The bill has never received a hearing in the Committee and is unlikely to be taken up. Yet, we have to remain vigilant since the possibility remains that provisions in 1319 could be amended onto another piece of legislation
Member lobbyists visiting Tallahassee
Yes, even during spring break we have member lobbyists visiting us to experience the roller-coaster ride of Tallahassee politics and the legislative process! Thanks to our visitors from Pinellas, Palm Beach, Alachua, and Leon counties… we fear their view of Tallahassee and politicians will never be the same!
Questions? Call FEA Public Policy Advocacy at 850.224.2078
Thanks to Pat Dix for her contributions on all things retirement and Marshall Ogletree for his analysis of the state budget!
See also:
Tampa Bay Online: Orlando Florida House Budget Cuts Aid to Education, Hikes Tuition