Legislators kick off challenging session
3/2/2010
By Bill Cotterell Florida legislators converged on the Capitol Monday for an election-year lawmaking session marked by an unprecedented $3 billion revenue shortage and wide-ranging political ambition.
From a dawn breakfast of Republican women to the traditional session-eve welcoming gala of Associated Industries of Florida, downtown Tallahassee came to life with preparations for the 60-day session. House and Senate committees have been working for months and a few held hearings on bills for the early part of the session.
The House and Senate convene this morning and Gov. Charlie Crist is scheduled to make his State of the State address at 5:30 p.m. The Senate has a bill on its agenda to postpone for two years a major increase in unemployment-compensation taxes for employers.
"We have 60 days to do our work and that's not a countdown, just a fact," said House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala. "We have a very, very narrow window to accomplish what we need to do and we're facing some unprecedented times — we're facing the possibility of as much as a $3.2 billion deficit in our budget, before we even start."
Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, jointly announced a resolution the GOP leadership plans to pass calling on Congress to balance the federal budget and rein in spending. Although federal stimulus money has been vital to state budgeting, the leaders said future generations will be saddled with an impossible debt if federal spending continues at its current pace.
While House and Senate staff aides ran equipment checks and got ready for the traditional opening-day festivities, a few lawmakers got a little fund-raising done before the two-month cutoff. At least nine legislators are running for Cabinet offices or Congress, and will be legally forbidden to take campaign contributions while the Legislature is in session.
"I just thank God for every dollar I can get," said Rep. Greg Evers, R-Baker, who scheduled an evening reception for his state Senate campaign. Evers said "this being an election year doesn't make any difference for me" legislatively.
But Sen. Paula Dockery — a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination — said she's seen some differences in political conduct in even-numbered years over her 14 sessions.
"Generally in election years, the leadership of both houses will try to be a little less controversial and confrontational, so you may not see some of the hot-button issues come up," said Dockery, of Lakeland. She said her own fund-raising will suffer because Attorney General Bill McCollum, her opponent in the GOP primary, and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the major Democratic contender to succeed Crist, are not restrained by the 60-day ban on fund-raising.
"My fund-raising, which just got started, is going to come to a screeching halt, while theirs doesn't," said Dockery. "That means I'm going to need a dynamite May and June, after the session, but I'll still be campaigning hard without raising any money."
Aside from Dockery, Atwater is running for CFO, Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, is running for Congress and Sens. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres and Dan Gelber of Miami Beach are fighting for the Democratic nomination for attorney general. Several other legislators are running for Congress or county offices.
Source: Tallahassee Democrat