After earlier committee weeks that were largely devoted to learning the ropes of the legislative process and learning what, precisely, respective committees do, House and Senate members this week started tackling some of the thornier issues they'll face when the annual session begins March 7.
Higher education changes, liquor legislation, gambling and guns were among the headline topics that spent time in the spotlight. That doesn't even count the impeachment proceedings the House was ready to start against one judge, before the jurist apparently figured out what was happening and left his job before the mob could catch up to him.
Doing his own preparations for the session, Gov. Rick Scott rolled out a $618 million tax-cut package, one that could quickly run into the realities of a tightening budget environment. At the same time, two of the agency heads who answer to him (or him and the Cabinet in one case) decided to leave, presumably with a greater degree of personal input in their decisions than the aforementioned judge.
Next week will add even more noise to the legislative maelstrom, with Scott set to unveil his recommended spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1. And some of the sharpest debates of the session --- such as House Speaker Richard Corcoran's drive to impose term limits on appellate judges --- have yet to truly begin.
'THIS IS THEIR CHANCE'
With the state's budget surplus hovering somewhere between "tiny" and "nonexistent," questions had been raised about just how big of a tax cut Scott would ask lawmakers to consider this year. (Whether there would be a tax cut was a foregone conclusion.) The answer, revealed by Scott this week: pretty big.
The governor asked legislators to slash state revenues by $618 million, with most of the proposed cuts going to business that pay sales taxes on their leases. The "Fighting for Florida's Future" tax-cut package was, in Scott's framing, a gut-check to see whether lawmakers really believe in reducing taxes.
"Most people, when they run for office, they always talk about how they want to reduce taxes. This is their chance," Scott said.
In addition to cutting the sales tax on commercial leases --- which is unique to Florida --- by $454 million, Scott proposed a series of sales-tax breaks on everything from back-to-school purchases to camping supplies. Even book fairs would get an exemption. There would also be a $15 million cut to the corporate income tax.
Business groups were enthusiastic. Randy Miller, president and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation, said his organization "is excited about what the governor's tax cut package will mean for growing Sunshine State businesses, creating new jobs for Florida families and ensuring our state remains competitive."
The budgetary math for a big tax-cut package, though, could get a little more complicated. Scott said the state will bring in $2.8 billion more in the coming budget year than it will face in year-to-year expenses --- which is true enough, but leaves out some key realities.
For example, expected increases in funding for education and health care, some of it driven by increased demands for state services, aren't factored into that number. When all the projected spending by lawmakers is thrown into the picture, the real surplus is probably somewhere south of $200 million.
And lawmakers are nervous about the future, with a shortfall of $1.3 billion projected the year after next and a gap between expected revenues and spending of nearly $1.9 billion in the third year of the forecast.
For now, at least some legislative leaders are playing things close to the vest.
"The Senate president gives great consideration to any proposal put forward by Governor Scott," a spokeswoman for Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said in an email. "In the coming weeks, Senate committees will discuss a broad range of tax cut options, including those outlined today by Governor Scott."
BUSY WEEK FOR COMMITTEES
House and Senate committees, meanwhile, were hammering out legislation dealing with issues outside of tax cuts. The Senate Education Committee voted unanimously to move forward with two measures (SB 2 and SB 4) that form the backbone of Negron's proposed overhaul of the state's higher education system.
Among other proposals, the bills would extend Bright Futures merit scholarships to cover the full tuition and fees for top-performing university and college students, known as "academic scholars." The overhaul also would double state support for scholarships for "first generation" university students. It would require the 12 state universities to create block tuition programs.
But state-college officials questioned the Senate proposal to hold their 28 schools to a new performance measure based on how many students finish their degrees "on time" --- two years for an associate degree and four years for a baccalaureate degree. Meeting the performance standard would make the colleges eligible for more state funding.
"These are working adults who may not be able to realistically set aside all of their life responsibilities to attend college full time and attain that baccalaureate degree in that neat little four-year period," said Michael Brawer, executive director of the Association of Florida Colleges.
Sen. Bill Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who is sponsoring the legislative package, said the performance standards were only aimed at "full-time" college students and would exempt students like adults going to college part time while working and raising families.
The Senate Judiciary Committee this week, meanwhile, loaded up one gun-related measure: a proposal (SB 128) that would shift the burden of proof in "stand your ground" self-defense cases to prosecutors. The panel approved it on a party-line, 5-4 vote.
Opponents contended at Tuesday's committee meeting that the "stand your ground" law has disproportionate effects, as it is used more successfully as a defense when white shooters kill African-Americans. But Sen. Rob Bradley, the Fleming Island Republican who is sponsoring the bill, called it "color-blind."
"What I hope is the outcome of this is something that I hope we all agree on, that people who should not be arrested are not arrested and people who should not go to trial do not go to trial," Bradley said.
But caution about gun bills also meant one measure will have to change. Senate Judiciary Chairman Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, said he intends to break up a proposal (SB 140), which includes allowing people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry handguns in public and carry firearms on college and university campuses, into smaller pieces to try to get parts of it approved.
Elsewhere, the Senate Regulated Industries Committee passed a sweeping gambling bill (SB 8) with virtually no debate. It would broadly expand the presence of slots in Florida, and allow jai alai operators, greyhound tracks and all but thoroughbred horse track operators to do away with live racing or games while still keeping more lucrative gambling activities like cardrooms or slots, a process known as "decoupling."
But the bill would only go into effect if lawmakers also approve a new gambling agreement, called a "compact," with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
Meanwhile, a potentially dramatic committee hearing ended up without much drama after a Jacksonville circuit judge accused of making racist and sexist remarks abruptly resigned before the House Public Integrity and Ethics Committee could begin weighing impeachment.
Judge Mark Hulsey III submitted his resignation letter Monday morning to Scott, saying he was stepping down immediately.
Hulsey, who narrowly won re-election last year in the midst of a high-profile probe by a panel that oversees judges, was accused of saying that blacks should "get back on a ship and go back to Africa" and referring to women staff attorneys as being "like cheerleaders who talk during the national anthem."
His lawyer denied that the judge made inappropriate comments "as he is not a racist or a sexist and does not conduct himself as such."
HELP WANTED
After a pair of less eventful resignations, Scott and the state Cabinet began taking the first steps toward filling the agency-head positions.
Scott will hold a conference call next week with Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Attorney General Pam Bondi to determine how to replace departing Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Jon Steverson.
"I know our office has received questions on his successor, and the process for that appointment, and I'm sure your offices have also," Scott said.
Unlike most agency heads who answer only to the governor, Steverson's position falls under Scott and the Cabinet.
Scott will have a little freer hand in replacing Transportation Secretary Jim Boxold, who is leaving Feb. 3 to join Capital City Consulting's Tallahassee-based group of lobbyists.
Scott has named Rachel Cone, the Department of Transportation's assistant secretary for finance and administration, to serve as interim secretary starting Feb. 4.
"It's hard to be an agency head, sometimes the media is not very nice to them," Scott replied when asked if other agency heads may too be leaving for the private sector. "So I think if they're working hard and they have these opportunities, I'm glad for them."
STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott unveiled a $618 million tax cut proposal days before he was set to release his entire budget plan for the year that begins July 1.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "There are three 7-year-olds somewhere in the state of Florida that committed one of these misdemeanors and were put into the criminal justice system --- at 7 years old. That is wrong. It is wrong. And we have an opportunity to get it right."---Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, on a bill aimed at expanding the use of civil citations, instead of arrests, for juveniles who commit misdemeanors.
