With nearly 15,000 businesses off the tax rolls, less regulations and red tape to get through, and a move to consolidate and streamline state government bureaucracies, Florida businesses got nearly everything they wanted in the 2011 legislative session.
Many leaders think the new business-friendly climate will reignite the state economy.
One of the biggest scalps for businesses was the repeal of much of the states growth-management laws from the last 25 years. Executives have cited the Department of Community Affairs as the impediment to potential growth and activity in the state, but environmentalists and detractors note that the same factors were in place during the boom years that paved the way for the burst of the housing bubble.
Barney Bishop, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida, called the DCA a bogeyman that didnt deserve all of its bad rap, but all of the complaints businesses typically have about government regulations impeding private enterprise were embodied in that agency.
I would have to admit to you, (DCA) was not everything it was hyped up to be. But lets be honest: In every legislative session, in every election, you need a bogeyman, and our bogeyman was DCA. DCA stood for the things that we didnt want, where you have to get so many permits and you get delayed so long that the opportunity for you to create jobs, to create a business, to create and build our economy in Florida doesnt happen, Bishop said Tuesday during a meeting of the Northeast Florida Business Association.
Business also will benefit from a legislative scramble in the last two weeks of session to include a business income tax cut in the budget -- a top priority for Gov. Rick Scott. Instead of the reduction of the overall state corporate income tax rate of 5.5 percent, as Scott suggested, lawmakers raised the exemption from $5,000 to $25,000, booting nearly 15,000 businesses off the tax rolls.
Other wins for industry included the deregulation of land-line phones --which Sen. David Simmons, R-Maitland, the bills sponsor in the Senate, called the last vestiges of telecom regulations in the state -- and unemployment compensation reform.
Business leaders urged lawmakers last year to put off assessments on the interest payments from the debt incurred by the rapid increase in the unemployment rate resulting from the deep recession in the hopes that the economy would turn around and the rate would decrease.
That didnt happen, and now businesses are paying off assessments on a $2 billion loan from the federal government that was needed to pay for the influx of claims. Also, the minimum unemployment compensation tax rate tripled this year from about $25 per employee to about $75 per employee.
After some haggling between the House and the Senate, a deal was worked out on the last day of the session to reduce the number of state unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 23 weeks. The package also requires claimants to take a skills test and makes it easier for employers to challenge suspect claims.
Perhaps the biggest coup for the business community this year was an issue that had momentum heading into the session, but never made it to the finish line --immigration reform.
Scott touted the issue as one of his top priorities during his primary race with then-Attorney General Bill McCollum, calling for an Arizona-like law that would allow law enforcement officers to investigate legal status during traffic stops. But he largely backed off the issue during the session, focusing on fiscal and economic issues instead.
For the business community, immigration reform would have a real economic impact, with some questioning the effect it would have on agriculture and food prices, as well as the possibility of a negative public image pushing tourists away from the states vital hospitality industry.
I recruited Governor Rick Scott to be on the board of AIF about four years ago in 2007; he served almost three years. He dropped off, I didnt know that he was going to be running for governor, obviously, but were certainly pleased that he did. So we have a particularly good relationship with him, Bishop said.
He warned, however, that immigration as an issue is not going away.
Because he got elected without anybodys help, really, hes going to do exactly what he wants, Bishop said.
The new business-friendly climate in Tallahassee may encourage a spark in hiring throughout the state, but there are still obstacles inherent in the current business cycle that could impede job creation.
"But you still have to have accesss to capital, and thats still a very difficult thing to get. And the other situation that you have to worry about is whether the economy is really growing enough to warrant you bringing on more employees or building up the goods that are in your store that you want to sell, your inventory," Bishop said.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
