When the Florida Legislature wants to transfer revenues from trust funds to the general budget, it should be required to introduce a separate bill for each trust fund sweep,according to a Briefingreleased Tuesday by Florida TaxWatch, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit taxpayer research institute and government watchdog headquartered in Tallahassee.
"We have to put the trust back in trust funds. Florida individuals and businesses pay those fees, expecting them to be used as outlined in law," Dominic M. Calabro, president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch, said in a statement announcing publication of the Briefing. "When these types of trust funds are swept and those monies go to the general budget, the fee paid by individuals and businesses becomes more like a tax. Nothing is more important than transparency and integrity in the use of taxpayer dollars."
According to the Briefing, adding the requirement of a separate bill would allow input from legislators and testimony from concerned parties, require an up or down vote on each sweep, and result in the drafting of staff analyses which could compare what would be funded with and without the sweep and the associated costs and benefits.
"One of the major problems of raiding these trust funds is that while the swept funds may provide other public benefits, the benefit of their intended purposes may be lost" said Kurt Wenner, VP of Tax Research. "Some of the sweeps, such as the one to the Department of Financial Services Anti-Fraud Trust Fund, can potentially cost the state future revenues, or lessen taxpayer protections."
Wenner told Sunshine State News his organization would not be drafting proposed legislation, or a proposed constitutional amendment, to implement the ideas suggested in the Briefing. "We just wanted to put the idea out there, and see where people go with it," he explained.
The 2012 Legislature transferred $542 million from trust funds to general revenue to help balance the budget.Almost 65 percent ($350 million) of that was taken from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund,which was established with some of Floridas tobacco settlement monies to provide funding for health maintenance and research programs related to tobacco use.An additional $96.7 million came from the Local Government Housing and State Housing trust funds.
Gov. Rick Scott's proposed budget for 2013-14 includes $174.2 million in trust fund sweeps.
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
