The Senate version of the prison privatization effort will get a second stop before a full floor vote that is expected to again have the state seeking to outsource 26 correctional facilities in Central and South Florida.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, announced Friday that the bill, SB 2038, will go to the Budget Committee on Wednesday if, as expected, the bill gets a favorable review from the Rules Committee on Monday.
Haridopolos directive only addresses the privatization of the prisons. A companion effort, SB 2036, which is expected to draw more questions, was not mentioned in the Haridopolos release.
The second bill would alter how the state handles future privatization efforts to allow the process to proceed out of the public view until a contract is signed.
The Rules Committee gave tentative support for both proposals on Wednesday.
Haridopolos made the change after Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, requested the Senate spend more time on the privatization issue.
These bills deal with potential changes to policy of such a magnitude that they should not have originated in a procedural committee such as the Rules Committee, Fasano stated. However, they were and have now been referred back to that very same committee with no further referrals.
Fasano would have preferred each bill appear before three committees.
Haridopolos, in announcing that SB 2038 would go before a second committee, noted, I have decided to proceed in an abundance of caution.
The prison privatization effort, opposed by Democrats on the committee and by corrections officers, follows steps outlined last year by a circuit court judge.
Rules Committee member Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, who is the chairman of the Budget Committee, has estimated the privatization effort could save the state $22 million to $45 million a year.
These are real dollars and they are difficult decisions, Alexander said on Wednesday. But if we dont save them here, then those are dollars we dont have, to meet the needs of our state from K-12 to folks with disabilities.
Under the dual outsourcing effort, the state is seeking at least 7 percent savings by having the facilities run privately. The bills also would change the process for future state privatization efforts by keeping any such effort out of public view until the contract is signed.
Legislators approved the proposal last year as part of the overall budget.
However, before the bid process could be completed, Leon County Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford in September sided with Florida Police Benevolent Association attorneys who argued that lawmakers should have put the potential privatization effort into a separate bill, rather than as a proviso to the budget.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has contested the ruling to the 1st District Court of Appeal.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
