With just over three weeks of the 2013 session remaining, Sunshine State News asked six of the state's most prominent lawmakers to tell us what the toughest votes were that they've had to take in the course of their legislative career.
Some of these elected officials stand by their votes, others wish they had it to do over again, while others voted the way they did in deference to their constituents or the perceived needs of the state.
So, just which votes have caused Florida's House and Senate leaders the most agony?
House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel
The toughest vote I ever took, by far, was one of the first I took as a legislator back in 2006. We got elected, Charlie Crist was the governor, and we had a special session two weeks after that [election]; we passed an insurance bill that lowered premiums for Floridians.
Of course, what it also did was chase out the entire insurance industry. It really allowed Citizens [Property Insurance Corp.] to grow dramatically, chased out a lot of private capital, and, frankly, set us back five or 10 years in our insurance market.
If I could go back ... that's [a bill] I thought had a really negative impact on the state. I would have voted differently, knowing what I know now.
House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale
A vote of mine several years ago in favor of economic incentives to help, among others, yacht builders was a difficult decision because the vote was taken when the Legislature also was cutting important services and benefits for our most needy citizens. The incentives, by contrast, would purportedly benefit, in the name of job creation, those with high-end luxury vehicles. In final consideration, I supported the incentives because I believed it would promote our economy, sustain an important industry, and create jobs for Floridians.
Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Destin
My toughest vote was for a bill that then-Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie sponsored. ... He sponsored a bill to decouple [the] Bright Futures [Scholarship Program] from tuition increases. Until that time, tuition increases and Bright Futures were linked so that the value of your Bright Futures scholarship would increase with tuition increases. President Pruitt had been the father of Bright Futures.
The bill has had the effect of devaluing Bright Futures; tuition has gone up, but Bright Futures hasn't.
It used to be that a Bright Futures scholarship would be for all of your tuition, now it's not the case anymore, and that was a very tough vote for me, because I believed that students who earn, through their own academic merit, a Bright Futures scholarship, should not have that scholarship devalued by universities that want to raise their tuition. ...
I was persuaded, I was just tipped over just barely, with a feather by my respect for Ken Pruitt. I said on the [Senate] floor, It is only because [Pruitt] is offering this, because I know he has the interests of our higher educational institutions and our students at heart, that I agree to vote for it. ...
I think the vote was necessary, to allow our universities to have more tuition revenue, and for our tuition to be more competitive ... I would cast the same vote today, but it would be by a hair's breath.
Senate Minority Leader Christopher Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale
On his vote against a bill to speed up the death penalty process, which was the subject of a special session in January 2000:
It was the toughest vote because Im very pro-death penalty, and the vote I cast [against the legislation] was against my own convictions. I voted the will of my district [which is very anti-death penalty] -- not my own personal feelings.
Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey
The toughest vote, and consequently the most historic vote, I ever cast during my 19-year legislative career was a vote during the heat of the 2000 presidential election recount. For the first time in the history of our nation a state legislature had to intervene to help decide the outcome of a national presidential election. When I voted on a joint concurrent resolution to appoint delegates who will choose the next president of the United States the weight of its import was not lost on me.
As any student of history knows, the outcome of not only the 2000 presidential election hung in the balance, but also the direction the United States of America would take for a decade or more. As majority leader of the Florida House of Representatives at the time, I played a key public role speaking on behalf of the speaker of the House to explain to the American people what Florida was doing and what role the Florida Legislature played in the electoral process.
Floridas intervention in the 2000 presidential election was crucial. If the Legislature did not act to appoint delegates to the Electoral College, then the voice of millions of Floridians would most likely have been silenced by the numerous lawsuits and other legal challenges that were under way in our state. Of all the issues I have been involved in, I would say without a doubt this was the single toughest vote I ever made. It was not tough in the sense of not knowing where I stood. It was tough because I knew that precedent was being set that could impact our state and nation for decades to come.
Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville
One of my hardest votes was on legislation in 2011 banning pill mills in Florida. While I voted for the bill, and had very serious concerns about the operation of rogue pain-management clinics, I dont feel that the Legislature sufficiently studied the issue and dealt with all the possible ramifications of what we voted out. The Legislature just didnt put in enough time and effort to address the crux of the problem. As a result, I believe there have been unintended consequences from the legislation that have negatively impacted some of Floridas legitimate physicians and pharmacists.
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
