Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz concluded a highly contentious 60-day session Friday, celebrating several legislative victories while counting their losses on other fronts.
I have an important announcement to make: Acrimony between the House and Senate is over! Gaetz announced to thunderous applause in the Capitol's fourth floor rotunda, just outside the legislative chambers, and shortly after he and Weatherford dropped the ceremonial handkerchiefs signifying the session's conclusion.
And I have a second announcement, Gaetz continued. We will have our differences, we will have our debates, we will have our opinions and we will work together for good policy from every partisan point of view and from different chambers; but the era of effective and civil leadership between the House and the Senate has opened, and the reason is Will Weatherford!
Applause erupted again, though not much of it came from either chamber's Democrats. Weatherford then took to the podium:
We talked about having priorities; we didn't say they'd be House priorities, or Senate priorities, we said they would be the Legislature's priorities, and I'm here to say [we did] pretty darn good!
Behind the speaker's podium hung five placards, listing seven legislative priorities, all but one of them accompanied by a red check-marked box, signifying accomplishment: Election Reform, Campaign Finance Reform, Ethics Reform, Education Reform, Online U[niversity], and Local Pension Transparency.
Under [Florida Retirement System] Reform were written the words, to be continued ...
Gov. Rick Scott joined Gaetz and Weatherford to celebrate the triumph of two of his three priorities: a still-controversial exemption of manufacturing goods from state and local sales taxes, and raises for public school teachers.
This Legislature cut taxes so we'll have more jobs across the state, Scott applauded. We will be the No. 1 state in the country ... We dramatically increased funding for education, we're giving teachers a pay raise. These are great victories for Florida families!
Scott's major legislative failure went unmentioned: Obamacare Medicaid expansion.
Other Florida leaders weighed in with their own public remarks after the session concluded.
I am pleased that we have successfully worked with the Florida Legislature to protect taxpayers, consumers, and members of the military. Together, we have made Florida a safer state for us all, Attorney General Pam Bondi stated in a release issued by her office. Her statement explained that she had worked closely with the Legislature on bills that: safeguard consumers and businesses from organized retail theft; prevent deceptive practices targeted at military personnel and their families; better protect taxpayers from false claims against the government; direct $200 million of the national settlement funds to help homeowners; remove restrictions on funding the life-saving Prescription Drug Monitoring Program; and rid Floridas streets of dangerous synthetic drugs.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam thanked the Legislature for passing a budget that adequately funded his department.
This budget will help us in our battle against citrus greening, an existential threat to Floridas signature crop, Putnam said in a statement. It will also allow us to work with partners across the state to accurately and consistently estimate our water needs so that we can ensure an adequate water supply for future generations.
The mood was not all celebratory. House Democratic leader Perry Thurston wasted no time repeating his caucus' complaint that the Legislature has not accepted federal funds to expand health care, and he called on Scott to convene a special summer session to work out another compromise.
Unfortunately for our state, the Florida House of Representatives, under Republican leadership, failed to meet the health care needs of our citizens, Thurston pouted in a statement released by his office. Therefore, I call on Governor Scott to take prudent action and to please order the Florida Legislature into special session at the earliest convenience to pass a bipartisan health coverage expansion plan for Floridas working families.
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenew.com or at (954) 235-9116.
