The Florida chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) came to Tallahassee this week to highlight its legislative priorities and encourage legislators to get behind it.
Defining itself as the “conscience of the Republican Party,” the RLC backs small government, less regulation and free enterprise solutions. Earlier this month, the national RLC endorsed U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for the Republican presidential nomination.
Members of the RLC from across the Sunshine State met up in Tallahassee this week and met with legislators, including incoming House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Trinity, and candidates for office including businessman Randy Fine who is running for a state House seat in Brevard County.
The RLC showcased its legislative agenda in recent days which includes campaign reform at the top of its list. Currently the RLC is backing a proposal from Sen. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, and Rep. Amanda Murphy, D-New Port Richey, to add more transparency for PACs and other campaign organizations.
Sunshine State News asked Robert White, the chairman of the Florida RLC, about his group’s efforts on campaign reform. White said “progress” was being made but did not expect the bill to be passed this session.
“It's hard to get Republicans interested in sponsoring controversial legislation that's not on the leadership’s priority list, especially in the House where each member can only sponsor six bills,” White told Sunshine State News. “Since we see this as a non-partisan issue, we had no hesitancy working with the minority party to at least get legislation sponsored. Having actual legislation to talk about helped us in bringing up the issue with Republican leadership. We had a good conversation with Rules Chair Ritch Workman and Government Ops Chair Michael Bileca. Ritch said he would talk to Bileca about workshopping the issue which would be a very positive step. More importantly though, we had a very positive meeting with Speaker Elect Corcoran who was very interested in the issue in general. We believe we have a new direction to take next year working with the new speaker on this and other issues as well. It was more difficult to get any traction in the Senate. But we knew when we took up this issue it would be a multi-year process. 2017 could be a year of great progress if we can work out a successful collaboration with the new speaker.”
The RLC is also behind Sen. Aaron Bean’s, R-Fernandina Beach, and Rep. Larry Metz’s, R-Groveland, call for an Article V convention to push congressional term limits.
White sounded an optimistic note about Bean’s and Metz’s effort.
“The memorials in both chambers have passed out of all their committees,” White noted. “It should be heard on the House floor next week. No date certain for the Senate floor but soon. Our friends at US Term Limits, who were with us on the trip, Phil Blumel and Nick Tomboulides, have legislation in seven other states this year and are making progress in those states as well. Florida will likely be the first state to pass it but others will should follow soon.”
The RLC also backs Sen. Jeff Brandes’, R-St. Petersburg, and Rep. Frank Artilles’, R-Miami, push to repeal a low allowing red-light cameras though White was not high on its chances.
“The Senate continues to be the stumbling block in the repeal effort,” White noted. “It didn't look like anything was going to happen on the House side because of the consensus that nothing would happen in the Senate. It's interesting though how you can effect progress just by showing up and making your case. When we met with House leadership on Tuesday morning, there was obvious hesitation because of the Senate not wanting to take it up. We encouraged them to move the bill in the House anyway in order to keep the pressure on in the Senate. We were pleased to find agreement and later that day HB 4027, the red light camera bill, was scheduled for it's first committee hearing in Economic Affairs this morning. John Hallman and Paul Henry from Liberty First Network will be there to testify on the bill and waive support for the bill from the RLC Florida.”
On Second Amendment issues, the RLC backs Open Carry and Campus Carry bills and supports tax cuts, including Gov. Rick Scott’s call for $1 billion in tax cuts. But the RLC breaks with Scott over his proposal to send an additional $250 million to Enterprise Florida to help lure businesses to the Sunshine State. The RLC supports Rep. Debbie Mayfield’s, R-Vero Beach, proposal to return the state education commissioner to an elected position.
White told Sunshine State News that the RLC’s legislative agenda was linked to its campaign efforts later in the year.
“If you're going to make an impact in the election cycle it helps significantly to be involved in policy debates during the session,” White noted. “The bills we choose to support or oppose are influenced by our mission as an organization: limited government, low taxes, free market capitalism, constitutional rights, personal freedom and responsibility. Because we continue to come to Tallahassee during the session year after year, our reception from the members and leadership gets better and better each session.
“Part of the appeal of our organization is that we do get involved in the primaries,” White added. “At the local level, county Republican executive committees typically wait until after the primaries are over and then support whoever the nominees are. We give party activists and conservatives in general that want to participate in the primaries an opportunity to do so as part of an organization instead of having to go it alone. Our local chapters can endorse in county and local races. Our state board makes the decision to endorse in state House and Senate races, governor and other Cabinet races. The local chapters make recommendations to the state board in the House and Senate races.”
As the RLC endorsement of Paul earlier in the month showed, the RLC could also get involved in congressional races across the Sunshine State. “Endorsements in federal level races are made by the national board with recommendations from state boards around the country,” White noted.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
