CRIST UNWORRIED ABOUT TENSION WITH LEGISLATURE
Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday that he was not worried about his frosty relationship with the Legislature that has colored his final session as it winds down. Crist has vetoed two measures passed by the Republican-led Legislature and flirted with leaving the party to run for the U.S Senate. The Legislature has voted down his nominee to head the state's health care agency and stalled confirmation of his picks for the Public Service Commission, though most lawmakers say publicly the decisions were not retribution. But even if they were payback, that's OK, Crist said Wednesday. "The founders set it up pretty well to have three branches with equal authority," Crist told reporters. "It's important from time to time to exercise that authority when you deem it appropriate." Crist said that Legislature may have expected less involvement from a governor in his last year in office and pledged to continue the course he has set this session. "Maybe they were surprised that I take the job of governor very seriously," he said. "When it's time to exercise the authority and the trust that the people put in you, you need to do it and I'm going to keep doing it." Crist hinted that more vetoes may be coming, saying he had concerns about a proposed Medicaid overhaul and still did not like a bill to deregulate property insurance he struck down last year. "I vetoed the bill last year that would have allowed for higher insurance rates because I think it was the right to do. I think they have a pretty good indication of how I feel about it this year," he said of the insurance bill.
HEALTH DEPT RE-ORG PASSES HOUSE
The House voted 81-30 Wednesday to dramatically reshape and downsize the state Department of Health with little discussion, sending the bill (HB 7883) to the Senate, where its propsects are uncertain. The measure's sponsor, Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, has said the department needs to focus on certain core public health and medical missions, and the bill would shuffle much of the agency's work to elsewhere in the government. The agency opposes the bill, which hasn't been heard in any of the Senate health committees, making its chances at that side of the Capitol appear dim. The vote was mostly along party lines with Democrats against it.
PSC CONFIRMATIONS LIKELY TO BE PULLED FROM PANEL
Public Service Commissioners David Klement and Benjamin "Steve" Stevens will likely get a vote on the floor of the Florida Senate without having to be approved by a Senate committee that declined to vote on them this week, the panel's chairman said Wednesday. Sen. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, who chairs the Senate Ethics & Elections Committee, said that Senate President Jeff Atwater will likely pull the nominees from the panel to set up a confirmation vote by the full Senate. "He can pull them straight to the floor," he said. "I suspect he'll do something like that." If that happens, they will not have Alexander's vote. "I just have different philosophy about how to regulate than the governor does and I just didn't find that those folks had the right perspective," he said. "I will vote no when they come to the floor and express that again." A vocal critic of Florida power companies and the PSC who supports Klement and Stevens' nominations, Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, also said he believed the commissioners would come to the Senate floor before the end of the legislative session next week. "I think the President wants to give them that courtesy and allow all the members to make that decision of whether they support the two Public Service Commissioners," Fasano said.
MEDICAID OVERHAUL OPPO RAMPS UP
Calls for a veto of a far-reaching Medicaid overhaul awaiting a Senate vote poured in Wednesday as Gov. Charlie Crist acknowledged he too has concerns about the proposal. Crist met Wednesday with two representatives of AARP, who told the governor the senior lobby is strongly against the legislation. It's such a huge reform proposed in the waning days of the Legislature, said Leslie Spencer, one of two AARP officials who met with Crist. The group's main concern is a House bill's shifting of nursing home patients into managed care programs. It's a big change, said Spencer, who added that Crist didn't give any indication of his thoughts on two companion bills, which have passed the House, but are awaiting Senate approval (HB 7223, HB 7225). Crist did weigh in a bit, however, earlier in the day, acknowledging that he also is concerned. "I have some concerns about it, Crist said. I want to make sure whatever is passed doesn't unfairly treat the most vulnerable in our society as well as our senior citizens." Meanwhile, more than 100 nurses planned to come to the Capitol on Thursday to urge Crist to veto the legislation, even as it awaits a Senate vote. Low income children, the developmentally disabled, pregnant women and seniors would face delays and denials in care if they are forced into for-profit, managed-care Medicaid, the Service Employees International Union, which represents many nurses, said in a statement announcing its opposition to the proposal.
'OBAMACARE PROPOSAL ADVANCES
Following questioning over the role of the federal government in health care issues, the House on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a proposed constitutional amendment preventing the federal government from requiring that Floridians carry health insurance. Backers say the proposal, HJR 37, would allow Florida voters to take a stand against mandated care in the new federal law. We get to make the choice, said Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood. Even if the federal government comes up with a public (insurance) option, we should have the choice. Democrats argued that taxpayers already pay for uninsured care through Medicaid program. Debate on the measure, is expected to continue when the bill comes up for final passage, which could be as early as Thursday.
SPACE, THE FINAL MEMORIAL
Hoping to do whatever it can to keep Floridas space industry intact, the House on Wednesday passed a flurry of memorials urging Congress to help the state to retain the nations only human flight workforce and help the state remain a player in space. In separate proposals, House lawmakers asked for a space shuttle to put on display at Kennedy Space Center once the program ends and asked Congress to help encourage commercial space ventures.
