James Call
Wednesday at the state Capitol we learned that when the House and Senate begin talking to each other about a state budget what the focus of the discussion will be.
We’ve watched the respective leaders draw lines in the sand. And we’ve seen the positions harden. And now, as we approach the midpoint of the 10-week Legislative Session it’s clear that the major difference between the House’s $76.2 billion proposed budget and the Senate’s $80.4 billion spending plan rests on an interpretation of the word “responsible.”
Re-spon-si-ble: having the job or duty of dealing with taking care of something or someone; able to be trusted to do what is right or to do the things that are expected or required, according to Merriam-Webster.com.
The House Appropriations Committee approved its spending plan Wednesday.
“The Florida House remains committed to fiscal responsibility so that our government continues to live within its means,” said Rep. Richard Corcoran, the committees’ chair.
“We are able (to) propose a budget that is balanced and still maintains strong reserves to plan for the future. We were also able to provide the largest tax cut package since 2000, which will provide substantial savings to all Floridians and help boost Florida’s economy.”
The Senate sees things differently. It wants to know how the House proposes to close a more than $1 billion hole in next year’s spending opened by the scheduled close of a federal reimbursement program for hospitals caring for the uninsured.
“If we don’t get some results out of CMS (Centers for Medicaid Services) and some collaboration with the House to fill that hole we are going to have a big problem,” said Sen. Tom Lee, Senate Appropriations chairman.
Lee said items like tax cuts and members’ projects should wait until high priorities items, like health care are taken care of.
“It would be irresponsible to allocate too many resources to tax cuts just like it would be irresponsible to allocate a large amount of resources to lower priority projects from a statewide basis,” Lee said.
The House has a “responsible” plan and the Senate thinks any talk about anything but closing a shortfall created by the end of the Low Income Pool is “irresponsible.”
The question is, can the House and Senate close the nearly $4 billion difference in their proposed spending plans during the month of April and avoid “the big problem” Lee mentioned?
Buckle your seat belts: This is going to be a wild ride.
The Senate has more money in its budget because it backs a proposal by Sen. Aaron Bean to draw down Affordable Care Act money to make up for the loss of Low Income Pool money. Bean concedes the House has expressed no interest in his plan.
Speaking of wild rides, one paragraph up. Space Shuttle commander Mike McCulley spent Wednesday at the Capitol urging support for the state aerospace industry. Here’s a five-minute interview with McCulley.
A House subcommittee Wednesday took a big bite out of Florida’s growth management laws. Cities, counties and environmentalists objected to an amendment that eliminates the “development of regional impact review” of proposed developments and also requires a private property rights provision in local comprehensive land use plans. The story is here.
It’s a good business model to be nice to people, according to a new study called Equality Means Business. It found that discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transgendered individuals costs the state more than $362 million a year.
“It is clearly in the state’s interests to provide equal protection for all employees against discrimination,” the study concluded. “It will allow the businesses based here to prosper by improving employee productivity, curbing turnover and addressing current disadvantages in the recruitment of top talent.”
The situation keeps growing murkier for Florida’s medicinal marijuana law. Two more challenges have been filed against a proposed rule. That story is here. And although a proposal designed to fix problems with a law approved last year is in the Senate, the House has expressed no interest. A hearing on a challenge filed by the family of a child with brain cancer is scheduled for April 14. The Division of Administrative Hearing has 30 days to schedule hearings for the two challenges filed Tuesday.
