Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran is ushering in a new era in the Florida Legislature beginning Tuesday.
Corcoran gave his swearing-in speech Tuesday afternoon during the organizational session at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, pledging to uphold a new form of transparency between lawmakers, lobbyists and the public which has never been seen before.
Corcoran laid down the new law of the land in the Florida House, speaking to members and telling them it was time to make changes in the legislative process.
“Good government isn’t a process... It’s a struggle for us to do the right thing,” he said in prepared remarks. “We have to govern selflessly and we have to tell the truth.”
Corcoran honed his focus onto lobbyists, who wield significant power in influencing lawmakers to pass bills during each legislative session.
“Too many lobbyists see themselves as the power brokers of this process,” Corcoran said. “Too many appropriations projects are vendor giveaways and whether they make it into our final budget or not has far more to do with the lobbyists they hired than the merits of the project itself.”
Corcoran has vowed to not just talk the talk on cracking down on lobbying but to walk the walk. He recently proposed a variety of reforms to tighten up regulations on how lobbyists and legislators interact.
“It all ends today,” Corcoran said.
Among the proposed reforms include a texting ban prohibiting lobbyists from texting lawmakers during committee meetings as well as a ban on legislators flying in lobbyists’ private planes.
Lobbyists will also have to publicly announce which bills and budget items they are trying to influence.
Lawmakers will also be subjected to new limitations and won’t be able to slip last-minute items into the budget any longer. All local projects must now be filed as separate bills.
“If you can’t have your project withstand a few weeks of public scrutiny and you can’t give us detailed information on why that project is worthy, then you do not deserve taxpayer funding.”
Corcoran covered other hot button issues in his remarks, including the state’s teachers’ union, urging them to drop their lawsuit against Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
“The teachers union is fixated on halting innovation and competition in education,” Corcoran said, calling the group “downright evil.”
“They are literally trying to destroy the lives of 100,000 children,” Corcoran said.
The Lutz Republican also vowed to keep the judicial branch separate from the legislative branch and advised term limits on judges.
“We need judges who respect the constitutional system and who can resist the temptation to act like an unelected, super-legislature,” he said. “The problem with holding the same office for in essence life, is you start to think the office is far more important than the person in it – which is why 12-year term limits are a must for a healthy judicial branch.”
Earlier in the day the House adopted the new rules without a debate.
Corcoran vowed to dive headfirst into the battle to “do what is right” for Floridians statewide and to fight for the greater good, no matter how difficult the path seemed.
“The special interests will not stop us. The mainstream media will not stop us. Our own party leaders will not stop us,” he said. “We will fight.”
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
