With the Legislature meeting in a special session next week followed by the regular session in January, the leaders of the two chambers weighed in on their agendas on Wednesday.
Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, offered their plans for the upcoming sessions at the 2015 AP Florida Legislative Planning Session in Tallahassee.
Noting his son has Down syndrome, Gardiner focused on families with disabilities in his remarks.
“We will lay out a road map,” Gardiner said for families impacted by disabilities and he offered them a simple message. “The state of Florida is with you.”
Gardiner called for improving McKay scholarships and Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for disabled children and for expanding Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts, ensuring they remain permanently in statute.
“Too many times these issues are not at the forefront,” Gardiner said. “These are the types of things we should be advocating for.”
Gardiner also called for more access to higher education and better employment options for the disabled. Despite tensions with the House in regular session and special sessions earlier this year, Gardiner said he expected the other chamber to work with the Senate on these matters.
“The House has been very supportive,” Gardiner said. “The governor has been very supportive.”
Turning to taxes, Gardiner said he was open to Gov. Rick Scott’s call for eliminating the manufacturing sales tax but said there would be a debate on the matter.
Crisafulli spoke at the event later on Wednesday morning and urged the media not to make too much of his not appearing alongside Gardiner, something the two legislators did at last year’s event. Still, the House speaker conceded there have been tensions between the chambers.
“We had more conflict last year than we had in recent years,” Crisafulli said, but he added he was “comfortable” in working with Gardiner and the Senate.
Crisafulli pointed to the work the Legislature did in increasing the education budget, lowering assessment on Florida students and offering tax relief earlier in the year, calling it a “record both chambers can be proud of.”
Praising Gardiner as a “champion of the disability community,” Crisafulli promised to work with him on that agenda.
Pointing to California as a state that did not plan ahead on the matter, Crisafulli called for a “proactive” strategy in handling Florida’s water management, noting the decline in quality and projections showing 4 million additional residents of the Sunshine State over the next 20 years.
Turning to fiscal matters, Crisafulli promised the House would push “bold, conservative reforms” to aid the economy, including cutting taxes and lowering regulations on businesses.
Crisafulli also pledged to fight for more school choice options. “Parents, not bureaucrats, know what’s best for their children,” he said.
Despite some opposition in the Senate, Crisafulli said the House had an appetite for public pension reform. “The House is interested in finding common ground.”
Crisafulli also said anti-corruption legislation would also be on the House agenda and that members had shown a desire to push court reform.
As the Legislature gets ready for another special session over redistricting, this time drawing up the state Senate lines again, Crisafulli said he expected a “clean, transparent process” on the matter.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
