Peter Schorsch
So lawmakers are supposed to come back to Tallahassee on June 1.
Sounds logical. The state constitution requires them to have a budget done by the end of the sixth month and what better time to get started than at its beginning?
But there is this one itty bitty little problem: for the vast majority of members, there simply won’t be anything for them to do.
What could possibly go wrong?
As of today, we are no closer to getting a LIP number from the feds than we were when Session broke down. The whole Medicaid/LIP thing was kind of a big deal then, it is right now, and by all accounts, it will still be a big deal in three weeks. Even the feds have conceded they won’t have something more tangible until mid-June.
So other than a few leaders wrangling over department budgets without the benefit of some VERY LARGE NUMBERS, there really won’t be a whole lot to keep lawmakers busy.
What on earth will they do?
Now I am reasonably certain that I am not the first person to compare Florida’s lawmakers to teenagers left home alone for the weekend, but with all that time and so little to actually do … isn’t a June 1 start date a little risky?
I mean things could get out of control pretty fast.
All those legislators sitting in their offices answering constituent emails, or trying their hands at Skyrim and in walks Rebecca De Mornay. She offers a few suggestions and temptation gets the better of folks.
“Hey, since you all are sitting around doing nothing, would it really hurt to see about wrapping up some unfinished business?” she might slyly offer.
Now, I am not suggesting that House members will be sliding up and down the hall in their underwear lip-synching Bob Seger or that anyone will turn the chambers into a brothel (insert well-worn joke here) but with all those folks roaming the halls, you just know someone’s Porsche is getting dumped into the lake.
I just hope they clean it up in time for when the real Session begins.
Time of your life, huh kids?
