Florida lawmakers will undoubtedly boast of their accomplishments during the 2011 legislative session, but there are plenty of disappointed lobbyists and special interest advocates that are shaking their heads at a missed opportunity at the session's end.
Medicaid reform, teacher merit pay, state worker pension reform, and a slew of conservative constitutional amendments all crossed the finish line, giving the Republican majorities in both chambers plenty to post on their resume.
But immigration control advocates, businesses facing large assessments and increases in unemployment compensation taxes and property insurers will all be wondering what went wrong.
Considering the Republican veto-proof majorities in the Legislature and the election of business-minded Gov. Rick Scott, fiscal and social conservatives had reason to hope that the entirety of their agenda could get through the Legislature. Yet time constraints, the natural tension between the House and Senate, and political machinations conspired to thwart some bills.
Stricter immigration control was high on the wish list of tea party advocates who swept the GOP to victory after victory in the 2010 election, but the House and Senate were unable to agree on an immigration control bill.
Several hours of hearings were held in each chamber on immigration, but on the last week of the session, an impassioned speech from Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, helped defeat an amendment including penalties for private businesses that did not use E-Verify and were caught using undocumented workers. Alexander was tapped to lead the underlying bill by Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, after his first pick, Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, expressed concerns about the bill.
Both Flores and Alexander voted against the final bill in the Senate, which would have required the use of E-Verify, a federal program that screens the legal status of potential workers, by one-stop employment centers and for those seeking federal or state benefits, and allowed law enforcement officers to investigate the legal status of people who have been arrested.
The House refused to accept an immigration bill without the E-Verify provision for private businesses.
"I think too often politicians operate through bumper stickers. Everyone's against illegal immigration, it's when you actually look to solve the problem and you hear all of the facts and not just some of the facts. And I think that some of the concerns that members had on the floor and the reason we came up four votes short was that J.D. Alexander pointed out the real flaws in E-Verify and how it could affect people," said Haridopolos, who voted for the E-Verify amendment.
Insurance companies got one of their top priorities through the Legislature, but will still see the session as half empty, as bills went nowhere that would have helped transform state-run Citizens Property Insurance in order to help bring private industries into the state and help the existing property insurers compete.
A bill that imposes greater restrictions on sinkhole claims, which have risen exponentially in recent years with the suspicion of fraud hanging over many of them, and allows insurers to raise rates as much as 15 percent over their initial request with the approval of the Office of Insurance Regulation, is on its way to Gov. Scott's desk. But the bills that failed would have increased rates for the 1.3 million customers of Citizens and prevented the state-run insurer from coveringmillion-dollar homes.
Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, who sponsored the Citizens bill, said the changes are needed in order to prevent the exodus of customers from the private market into Citizens, which received a three-year rate freeze during the administration of Gov. Charlie Crist. Hays and insurance industry lobbyists have maintained that encouraging other companies to enter the Florida market will foster competition and help drive premiums down.
Since Citizens' rates are not based on actuarial tables driven by true-risk assessments and the private market, premiums are kept artificially low and homeowners in Florida's coastal areas are not exposed to the true cost of insurance. The low rates have also left Citizens unable to cover claims in the event of a catastrophic hurricane, which Hays has said could leave Florida taxpayers with a $14 billion bill once Citizens' surplus and the state catastrophe trust fund have been exhausted.
"When you subsidize a risk, you deprive policyholders of the truth about the risk they are taking by living in coastal zones and building in areas that are dangerous and not good public policy," said Lisa Miller, an insurance industry consultant and former deputy insurance commissioner.
Unions, already taking hits in reductions to state worker pensions, thought themselves under siege when Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, filed his "paycheck protection" bill that would have prevented public-sector unions from automatically deducting dues from member paychecks for political purposes. After a bumpy ride with narrow margins through three committees, the bill never garnered enough support among the full Senate, and never came up on the floor.
The unfinished business will ruffle the feathers of some, especially immigration control advocates in the tea party, some of which are already grumbling at the lack of action, but hope springs eternal, as there's always next year.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
