With the legislative committee weeks coming to a close, and the end of the year in sight, there were plenty of finales showing up in Tallahassee this week.
One phase of a nearly four-year-long legal battle over the state's congressional districts reached its conclusion. A race for the Senate presidency that at times threatened to tear the chamber apart was finally, definitively set aside. And the head of Gov. Rick Scott's economic development agency bowed out.
Meanwhile, Scott's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year got a rough reception from the Legislature --- which is never eager to just rubber stamp any governor's spending plan. It might be too early to say it's over for Scott's blueprint, but the end could be in sight for that as well.
'A REALLY POWERFUL PRECEDENT'
Even lawmakers say that, in retrospect, they're not surprised that the Florida Supreme Court decided to go with a set of congressional districts proposed by voting-rights organizations. In the long line of court fights that have followed the 2012 redistricting process, the House and Senate have lost far more often than they've won.
"It's not a mystery as to where the Supreme Court has been throughout this litigation," said Senate Reapportionment Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton.
The justices, who approved the map on a 5-2 vote, were upholding an earlier ruling by Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis. The voting-rights organizations, which included the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause Florida, were thrilled.
"The court has set a really powerful precedent which is sure to forever change the practice of drawing congressional district lines that favor incumbents and whichever political party happens to be in the majority," said Peter Butzin, chairman of Common Cause Florida, one of the groups that challenged a congressional redistricting plan approved in 2012 and tweaked in 2014.
Redistricting in Florida has no doubt been changed since voters added the anti-gerrymandering "Fair Districts" standards to the state Constitution in 2010. But federal law hasn't changed, and that's where some opponents of the map approved by the court were already looking.
Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown promised to keep up her court challenge. Brown has expressed outrage that her district, which once ran from Jacksonville to Orlando, now has an east-west orientation and goes from Jacksonville to the Tallahassee area.
Under the new plan, African-American voters could not elect a candidate of their choice, Brown says, even though President Barack Obama carried the revamped district by more than 28 points in 2012.
"Today's ruling by the Supreme Court of the state of Florida is just what I expected because the entire process has been tainted from the very beginning," said Brown, who is black. "Beyond a doubt, today's ruling and the proposed congressional map is a direct attack on minority voters and a clear example of voter retrogression and disenfranchisement."
Already, Brown was facing the possibility of a primary challenge from Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, whose camp sent a coy statement to reporters Friday.
"People are reaching out to Mayor Gillum because Washington desperately needs the type of energy and focus he brings every day as Mayor, creating new jobs and opportunities to get ahead," said Kevin Cate, an adviser. "He's listening and will make his decision on how he can best continue creating new jobs and opportunities, while also being a great husband and father."
TROUBLE FOR SCOTT'S BUDGET?
Governors' budgets are often regarded by the Legislature as little more than a suggestion, carrying some ideas that lawmakers could use and some that they would just as soon discard. And that appears to be no different this year.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, was among those already casting doubt on two of Scott's key spending initiatives: $1 billion in tax cuts and a $250 million "Florida Enterprise Fund" to give the state another tool to draw economic development projects.
Lee raised questions about the need for those initiatives for the same reason that Scott now says they are affordable: an economic recovery that has boosted state revenues and pushed the unemployment rate down to 5.1 percent.
"There are going to be diminishing returns to some of the tax cuts and some of the incentive programs that we implement," Lee said. "And, moreover, it might make some sense as we work through this as a legislature to perhaps get more selective and more targeted in terms of what we're trying to attract to our state."
Scott's allies were already rallying the troops, but Lee was hardly alone. Democrats hammered the plan for tax cuts that were friendly to businesses --- a reduction to the corporate-income tax would cost $770 million --- alongside increased property tax bills for owners who saw the value of their property rise.
The growth in property tax revenue, which would come even though the rate of the tax remains the same, forms the backbone of Scott's increased education funding.
"How do I go back to my district if the governor's budget is passed the way it is and rationalize those extra dollars from that local base...offsetting the budget and providing an ability to provide corporate welfare, in my opinion, to these large corporations?" asked House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach.
The governor himself got into the act of selling his ideas, making a rare appearance before the House Finance and Tax Committee to pitch his plan.
"We want to diversify our economy so we can survive the next recession," Scott said.
Committee Chairman Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, prompted Scott on Tuesday by asking if another round of tax cuts could improve the economy of what is now the nation's third most-populated state. Scott responded, "Absolutely."
"We've got to figure out how to continue to have productive citizens move to the state, which is happening," Scott said.
As the governor pushed his plans for keeping the state's economy going, it turned out his jobs chief was already heading for the exit. Jesse Panuccio announced Friday that he was stepping down. He was expected to face intense scrutiny during upcoming Senate confirmation hearings.
The governor's office said Panuccio is seeking "new opportunities" and that his replacement will be named in the coming weeks.
Panuccio, who has been with Scott since shortly after the governor took office in 2011, said in a resignation letter that his last day as executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity will be Jan. 8.
"This is a bittersweet decision for me, as it has been a joy and honor to serve the people of Florida," Panuccio wrote in the letter to Scott. "Nonetheless, it is time for me to begin a new chapter in my career and life."
NO MORE FIGHTING
It was all love in the Senate chamber Wednesday, as Stuart Republican Joe Negron was designated the chamber's next president after one of the more contentious and expensive leadership battles in recent memory.
There were no signs of the bitter back-and-forth between Negron and Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who recently threw his support behind Negron in exchange for being named chairman of the powerful, budget-writing Senate Appropriations Committee.
Instead, members of the Republican caucus praised Negron's "matter-of-fact style" and watched a video message about leadership from former Atlanta Braves star Dale Murphy. The vote for Negron was unanimous.
"Today brings unity to the Senate Republican caucus," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who has shared a home in Tallahassee with Negron since the pair served together in the House.
The wonky Negron, a 54-year-old attorney who has become a champion for South Florida water issues, said he intends to make priorities of state university affordability and juvenile-justice reform.
"My vision is for our universities in Florida, which are good, to go to the next level, to become national elite destination universities like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Virginia, the University of Michigan, the University of Texas at Austin," Negron said. "Just as students in Florida apply to these universities and many times attend them, imagine a time when students from around the country will apply to Florida universities to come to Florida to get a great education at a national destination."
STORY OF THE WEEK: Hoping to bring closure to a yearslong legal battle, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed a plan for the state's 27 congressional districts. But federal challenges to the new plan loomed.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "The efforts to paint this process as partisan or invoke the antebellum period are an unjustified attack on the integrity of our judicial system…Originally, the right to vote was limited to white male landowners. Others had to fight and die for the privilege to be extended to them. It is an insult to their struggle for politicians to now use that sacrifice for personal benefit."---Florida Supreme Court Justice James E.C. Perry, one of two African Americans on the court, in a thinly-veiled shot at Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown. Brown had compared changes to her district, order by the Supreme Court, to slavery during a press conference last month.
