The House and Senate are still at loggerheads over the state budget, and with time running out to appoint conference members and agree on a number, its getting more and more likely the 2011 regular legislative session will run past its 60-day term, which is set to expire on May 6.
Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, chairman of the Budget Committee and the Senates chief negotiator with the House, said hes been more than reasonable with the opposite chamber, making fair offers while the Senate was off last week, but receiving little in the way of meaningful responses until Monday.
I believe we have a very fair offer that was presented very publicly today that should get us very close to resolving these issues, Alexander said.
The House and Senate were originally $3.3 billion apart in the budgets they passed through their respective chambers, with the difference mainly due to accounting differences. Alexander said he compromised on the water management districts in his offer, which were included in the Senate version but not in the House, but maintained the property tax cuts the Senate outlined.
Other differences between the two versions include the House plan to prompt state workers to contribute 3 percent toward their pensions, while the Senate favored a tiered approach in which the contribution rate would increase based on salary. Alexander said his latest offer to the House eschewed the Senate plan for the flat 3 percent rate.
The House was very strong that they didnt want to do the tiers; I still think that the tiers are an equitable way to try to do that, but in an effort to try to bring this thing in for a landing, we had offered to go with the 3 percent, Alexander said.
More than just policy issues, though, are affecting the negotiations. The personal animus between Alexander and House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, which started two years ago during the 2009 budget negotiations, flared up again Monday.
Quite frankly the speakers done everything he can to not deal with me, because I know the budget well and I can figure out his gamesmanship pretty quickly, Alexander said.
This, despite Alexanders move Monday in the Budget Committee to include a shake-up of the state court system coveted by Cannon. He tacked on an amendment to SB 2086 that essentially mimics the court reform passed by the House last week.
The measure splits the Florida Supreme Court in half, with five justices deciding criminal cases and five judges deciding civil cases. Judges would be selected by the governor, reducing the role of the Judicial Nominating Committee in the process, with final approval sanctioned by the Senate, a la the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate measure also calls for the court system to be funded at 2.25 percent of general revenue.
Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, found fault with the plan and said that Cannon was possibly holding up budget negotiations until the Senate dealt with the Houses court reform proposal.
My legislative history here, of 17 years being a legislator here, I want to be careful in saying I know exactly, but one can assume that the budget is being held up by the House until (Speaker) Cannons No. 1 priority got passed out of here today, Fasano said.
Democrats also decried the court shake-up, calling it an unnecessary change and an attempt to pack the courts in a revenge move over the Supreme Courts decision last summer to strike a constitutional amendment allowing voters to opt out of the federal health care law from the ballot. They also balked at moving Cannons measure in order to kick-start budget negotiations.
I would rather just sit here for another month and not pass a budget if thats what they really need, said Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Miami.
Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, defended the proposal, noting that the minimum funding for the courts included in the measure would inoculate the courts from any political maneuverings from the legislative branch. He also said clearing the courts backlogged caseload was also a prime reason for the change.
The question is not Is the court effective?' The question is Is the court sufficiently efficient? Gaetz said.
Alexanders amendment passed, but even though the measure would be placed on the 2012 general election ballot and needs the approval of 60 percent of the voters, Fasano said its approval by the full Senate is far from assured.
If this was the final vote on this amendment, you probably would have seen a lot more members, including Republicans, vote against this proposal, Fasano said.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
