Bad revenues won't sharpen Crist's veto pen

Gov. Charlie Crist said continued bad news, when it comes to revenue numbers, won't make his veto pen more stringent. There's Buzz that April revenue dollars are going to be down even more.

"We're reviewing the budget right now. . .those aren't really determining factors in deciding on what may or may end up in the budget. But I look forward to being as fiscally prudent as I can," Crist said.

When asked if he or his office had already identified budget turkeys ripe for the veto pen, Crist said: "I've made no judgments yet."

Bigger travel budgets for the Supremes

An appropriations implementing bill awaiting a final vote (HB 5003) contains some unusual language that relates to the recent resignation of Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero. The provision tucked inside the 64-page measure allows justices to be reimbursed for up to 36 trips a year "from the county in which the justice resides" over the next year as long as that justice lives more than 50 miles from Tallahassee. Payments include travel, subsistence and a per diem allowance, and must be authorized by the chief justice.

It was brought to House Speaker Marco Rubio's attention that it was a challence for Cantero, a long-time Coral Gables resident, to maintain two homes while serving on the state's highest court. As of July 1, justices will earn $161,200 annually.

School budget a 'fund shift,' Pickens says

When the new state budget landed on legislators' desks Monday, Democrats quickly discovered a $365-million increase in property taxes statewide for schools next year -- despite what they recalled was a commitment by House GOP leaders not to increase those taxes.

"It's a shell game. It's a sleight-of-hand," said Rep. Dan Gelber, the House Democratic leader. "It's a bit of a swap."

Indeed, a closer look at the school funding formula shows a decline in two other discretionary school taxes by an amount that is actually $11-million more than the property tax increase. So Republicans insist they have kept their promise not to increase taxes.

"He's wrong," said Rep. Joe Pickens, the Palatka Republican and the House's education spending expert. "It's a fund shift. It was done without sleight-of-hand. It was done right in front of everybody." The tax shift was vetted with representatives of "about 20" school districts, he said.

Tampa Bay's school budget cuts

Florida's new state budget spends $18.4-billion in K-12 public education, a decrease of $332-million or 1.8-percent less than the current year. That's a per-pupil decline of $130.85 over the current  budget.

Here's what the numbers look like for Tampa Bay-area districts: Pinellas will take the hardest hit, with a $27.7-million reduction, or 3.6 percent, due in large part to the county's declining student enrollment. Hillsborough will take a $10.3-million reduction (0.8 per cent), while fast-growing Pasco gets an increase of $2.7-million (0.6 per cent). Hernando takes a $212,000 loss, or a decline of 0.1 percent).  Pasco is one of 10 districts out of 67 that gets more money next year, despite the bleak condition of state finances.

Legislature's school budget speaks volumes

You'll hear a lot of rhetoric in coming few days about how the Legislature "didn't raise taxes" this year. But anyone who can decipher the public school budget numbers knows better. Budget detail released Monday evening shows the following:

Property taxes for schools will increase next year by $365-million statewide, an 4.6-percent increase. (Lawmakers increased the tax rate for this tax by 0.189 mills to generate more money; they could have kept the rate the same as last year). To offset the increase, lawmakers fractionally lowered two smaller tax levies by school boards known as discretionary taxes, much of which is for construction. The bottom line is clear: The Legislature will require collection of more property taxes next year to run schools.

Now for the most revealing number of all. For the first time in memory, a greater share of the total K-12 budget comes from local tax dollars, not state dollars. To be precise, it's $9.4-billion in local money, and $9-billion in state money. (This year it's $9.7-billion in state money, $9-billion in local money). It's an historic shift in responsibility for public school operations from state taxes to local taxes. 

   

$50-million for 'Glades, House says

The two legislators who put the finishing touches on the budget Sunday afternoon said they agreed on $300-million for the Florida Forever land acquisition program but nothing for Everglades restoration. However, the always-entertaining overnight wrap-up from the House Majority Office has a different version (partial transcript follows).

"It was such a pleasure to see so many of you yesterday.  Nothing says weekend excitement like watching people gather to read numbers off spreadsheets to each other. And for our Wrap-up readers who spent the night at the Capitol finishing the budget, we salute you.  Wrap-up got 3 hours sleep last night and feels like a billion bucks compared to you all. Your hard work did not go unrewarded.

WHILE THE REST OF YOU SLEPT: Thanks to a joint House-Senate effort, the budget soon headed to the printer has $50 million for Everglades funding in it for next year.  Sometimes these things happen. When you source this fact, we expect you to cite the Wrap-up."

Consider it done. The final budget is expected to be available to the public later Monday.

State budget agreement reached

Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, left, and Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Osprey [Steve Bousquet,  Times]

Two key lawmakers quietly and efficiently settled a series of unresolved budget issues Sunday afternoon to keep the scheduled adjournment of the 2008 session on track for next Friday.

Among the issues resolved by Rep. Ray Sansom and Sen. Lisa Carlton were a 5-percent pay raise for state troopers in an effort to stem the high rate of turnover in the FHP; a 5-percent pay cut for members of the Legislature; an additional $55-million in Lawton Chiles health-care endowment money for health clinics and senior centers; a reduction of 199 probation officers in the prison system; a $164-million rate reduction to nursing homes; and a last-minute $7.5-million cost-of-living boost to the school system in one county, Miami-Dade, home of House Speaker Marco Rubio.

The budget that awaits floor votes includes no raise for state workers; no new money for Everglades restoration; a 6-percent tuition increase for community college and university students and an estimated $110-million in new fees, most of them in the court system, but no new taxes.

Staving off the worst Medicaid cuts

A key Senate budget negotiator, Durell Peaden, called it "manna from heaven." To some of Florida's poorest and sickest Medicaid clients, it might be just that. Lawmakers announced plans Wednesday to spend $300-million from a health care trust fund known as the Lawton Chiles Endowment to restore two programs known as Medically Needy and Meds AD (Aged and Disabled), which care for more than 40,000 residents. Had the programs been eliminated, those patients would have had no access to care.

The chief budget negotiators, Rep. Ray Sansom and Sen. Lisa Carlton, appeared at a midday meeting of health care budget negotiators to announce the decision. "With these dollars, we're hoping to help the poorest of the poor," Carlton said. The amount is $100-million less than Gov. Charlie Crist proposed, and the transfer is for one year only -- meaning that the patients likely will have to grovel for money again next year.

Advocates for hospitals and for Medically Needy patients praised the decision. But Mary Ellen Ross of Delray Beach, the founding director of the Florida Transplant Survivors' Coalition, bemoaned the necessity for an annual show of desperation in the state Capitol before the cuts are restored.

"Either we've been very bad teachers or the students (legislators) haven't been paying attention," Ross said.

   

Walkin' away from Lawton's endowment?

Legislators bargaining over the ugliest human services budget in decades convened for the first time Monday and senators abruptly "backed out," or eliminated $158-million in money from the health care fund known as the Lawton Chiles Endowment named for the late governor. But there was a sense that the decision might be temporary -- if the Senate and Gov. Charlie Crist can convince the House to open the fund and spend around $400-million, as Crist proposed in his budget. The governor remains astounded at the unwillingness of some lawmakers to dip into the "rainy day" fund.

"They (lawmakers) have the right to lobby their presiding officers to see if there's a change in temperament with all the cuts we've got," said Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, the Senate's No. 1 health care negotiator, who wants the pressure to build on House Speaker Marco Rubio.

A small glimmer of good news is headed DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth's way, as legislators found money to avoid eliminating 71 child-abuse investigator positions in the child welfare agency and 205 front-line positions processing requests for food stamps and cash support. But the two chambers are still at odds over cuts to Medicaid hospice patients and staffing reductions in nursing homes, just to name two areas.

 

The budget news keeps getting worse

As a long day ended in the House, Health Care Council chairman Aaron Bean rounded up committee members and delivered the bad news: Budget chairmen Ray Sansom has told the health-care panel to find an additional $83-million in cuts on top of the $1-billion they've already eliminated from programs that help the poor, sick, elderly and disabled.

"We've already cut everything. Nursing homes are cut 10 percent. Hospitals are cut 10 percent," Bean told the group, meeting in the "bubble," a small conference room just off the House floor. "Everybody is screaming. So who do we go at again?"

The new cut in human services is too big to make by nipping and tucking around the edges of specific programs, Bean said. He and other lawmakers fear they will have to get the savings by limiting the eligibility for certain Medicaid services, meaning fewer people can get them.

House, Senate settle budget issues

House and Senate budget chairmen said Thursday they have reached common ground on several major spending differences, which likely sets the stage for smooth negotiations over the next week. Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, the House budget chairman, said he and his Senate counterpart, Lisa Carlton, are in accord on the following issues:

* No increase in school property taxes to fund public schools (Senate agreed to House position). "There's not going to be a property tax increase," Sansom said. "They (senators) recognized that was an important position for the House."

* A scaled-back, seven-day back-to-school sales tax holiday in August on school items excluding books, which will reduce tax revenue by about $23-million (Senate agreed to House position).

* The diversion of about $333-million in transportation spending dollars to the general revenue fund for various uses (Senate met the House halfway).

* A $300-million borrowing program for Florida Forever, a land acquisition program (House agreed to the Senate position).

* An increase in various court system filing fees totaling about $83-million to alleviate cuts in the judicial system (House agreed to the Senate position).

The two budget negotiators have not come to terms yet on whether to use money from the health-care fund known as the Lawton Chiles Endowment to keep some Medicaid services afloat. The Senate wants to spend about $159-million from the fund.   

Realtors seek to 'evict' this new fee

Realtors are aiming an e-mail blast at legislators over one of many fee increases proposed by the Senate to minimize cuts in the state court system. What has the real estate lobby steamed is a proposal in a fee bill (SB 1790) to raise the fee from $75 to $265 for the filing of a tenant eviction proceeding. "While Realtors and property managers understand the tough budget times Florida is facing, this increase is dramatic and not in line with the other fee increases proposed," the group's alert says. "Please write your legislators today and tell them to remove this drastic fee increase."

Senators defend the lengthy list of fee hikes, saying the fees have not been raised in many years and the higher fees are an accurate reflection of the true cost of each one. The fees are not in the House budget and the difference must be resolved by a budget conference committee.   

It's Crist vs. the House on uninsured

At a news conference with medical experts, Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday emphasized the need for the House to follow the Senate's lead and pass his plan for a "market-driven" approach to finding affordable health coverage for the uninsured.

The House will consider a bill (HB 7081) that mixes Crist's "Cover Florida" proposal with its own separate program that includes a $1-million appropriation for a new corporation, Florida Health Choices, to manage the new initiative. Crist said the corporation is unnecessary but declined to say whether he would veto the bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Aaron Bean, if it reached his desk.

"I'm all for oversight," Crist said. "I'm not sure we need to spend an additional million dollars to do what they can do very well themselves."

UPDATE: House Speaker Marco Rubio says the goal is to pass a bill with both Crist's ideas and Bean's. In what sounded like a dig at Crist's call for his plan only, Rubio said: "This place always works better when it's a two-way street. So that's what we're going to try to accomplish in the last two weeks of session."

Crist: Lawmakers should cut gas taxes

Appearing on a Miami radio show Wednesday morning, Gov. Charlie Crist suggested legislators temporarily suspend gasoline taxes this summer (an idea that motorists would like, but would siphon millions out of the state road-building fund). Speaking by phone on Caracol Radio 1260, Crist said: "It's ridiculous to me what's being charged at the pump. This might be a way to alleviate costs for families." Crist said "a good start" would be to suspend gas taxes for a week. Lawmakers did this once a few years ago, but not since.   

-- Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler

A shorter sales tax holiday in '08?

Money is so scarce in Tallahassee that lawmakers are balking at renewing a popular 10-day back to school sales tax holiday on purchases of backpacks, books and other items in early August. In a year when many lawmakers have talked about the need to provide more tax relief, the tax holiday bill (SB 2094, sponsored by Sen. Dan Webster) is gathering dust in the Senate. "We're looking at something limited," the Senate's chief budget-writer, Republican Lisa Carlton, said Tuesday.

Perhaps lawmakers want to let the tax holiday languish for the moment so it can be available as an end-of-session bargaining chip. A more likely scenario: Lawmakers want to preserve maximum flexibility on spending as they develop a budget compromise, and may still approve the sales tax holiday ($41-million for a 10-day period, according to a House analysis) as the session winds to a close.

A second consumer-related tax break bill is also not moving in the Senate. It would mark the first week of hurricane season (June 1-7) with a tax-free week on storm-related items such as flashlights, portable radios, batteries and generators.

The PBA turns up the heat

The Florida Police Benevolent Association has had a strong track record with the Legislature, whether it's better pension benefits for PBA members or cost-of-living pay increases. But these are not normal times, and the budget headed for final-stage conference negotiations calls for huge cuts in both probation officers and correctional officers -- cuts the union says will jeopardize public safety.

Literally out in the cold, more than 200 members rallied in the chill outside the Capitol Tuesday, and were joined by Corrections Secretary Walt McNeil, who urged the union members to "turn up the heat" on lawmakers. Legislators usually elbow each other for camera position at PBA rallies, but not this year: Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa (left) was the only lawmaker who showed up at the PBA's event.

McNeil's troubles with the Legislature go beyond probation officers and prison guards: He's fighting an attempt by lawmakers to reduce or eliminate money for drug and alcohol abuse treatment for prison inmates.

"If they (legislators) forget us, I promise, we will forget them," the PBA's John Rivera told the crowd of uniformed officers. Adding to the PBA's anger is that for the second straight year they stand to get no pay increase, but legislators found $110-million to set aside to expand a private prison, long the bane of the union. 

   

New budget problem: Lottery revenue declines

Cash-strapped Floridians are even gambling less and that means millions of dollars in lost revenue for public schools.

A new state economic forecast predicts $159-million less in lottery proceeds over the next two years.

That complicates matters for lawmakers who already are grappling with months of unexpectedly lower tax revenue collections. School spending, already expected to drop for the first time in decades, might have to be cut even more.

The House OKs a budget

Following two more hours of floor debate, the Florida House voted Thursday to approve its version of a new $65.1-billion budget by a 72-41 vote. The action sets the stage for conference negotiations with the Senate, where there are major differences on spending in education, health care and trust fund diversions.

As the House voted, a group representing Florida's 14 public, teaching and children's hospitals released a paper saying the cuts in both chambers' Medicaid budgets will be "ripping holes in Florida's safety net." The report by the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida said: "Eliminating or reducing crucial Medicaid programs puts lives at risk and drives up the cost of health care for all Floridians."

Two of the biggest cuts cited by the alliance are in the Medically Needy program, which gives care for 19,500 uninsured working poor people who have catastrophic illnesses of organ transplants, and the Medicaid program for the aged and disabled for 24,000 people.

Crist's office criticizes House insurance plan

The governor's office issued a harsh point-by-point critique Wednesday of Rep. Aaron Bean's proposal to expand health coverage to 3.8-million uninsured Floridians, as House resistance to Crist's plan emerges as a major problem for the governor's health agenda. The stepped-up criticism of the House by Crist's administration is a sharp departure in tone from a governor who likes a non-confrontational approach with lawmakers.

While the Senate is moving a bill that mirrors Crist's approach, the House plan is different, chiefly by the creation of a 15-member corporation to administer a program that relies on private insurers to sell new, low-cost policies at premiums starting at $150 a month. (The Crist plan would require oversight by existing agencies).

Senate votes to cut back Medicaid services

The Florida Senate voted 23-to-14 (largely along party lines) to cut back on the type of services Medicaid covers to cut general revenue expenses by roughly half a billion dollars.

The bill limits Medically Needy program to pregnant women and children on Nov. 1 of this year. It stops Medicaid coverage for dental services for adults on Sept. 30th. It stops Medicaid coverage for hearing aides on Oct. 1.

The Senate did use non-recurring dollars, including $100 million from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, to help buffer the cuts, pushing back the expiration dates of the programs.

The Senate also voted to eliminate those automatic cost-of-living increases for Medicaid reimbursement for county health departments, nursing homes and inpatient hospital services (among others), making such increases depend on the budget funding each year.

Rubio creates select committee on autism

House Speaker Marco Rubio Friday created a Select Committee on Autism and Developmental Disorders, headed by Rep. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando. The action came two days after former Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino appeared with Gov. Charlie Crist to draw attention to the need to do more to help autistic children.

The dilemma facing Crist and legislators is that they generally oppose adding additional mandates to health care coverage, and autism care and treatment is very expensive. "There's a time for mandates and a time for which there are not mandates. It depends on the circumstances," Crist said last month. "We don't etch things in stone."

In a letter announcing creation of the House select committee Friday, Rubio made it clear he opposes additional mandates on health policies. At Wednesday's rally, Sen. Steve Geller told advocates to focus their lobbying in the House, and that there is strong support for his autism legislation (SB 2654) in the Senate.

The House GOP's 'message points'

As the House's $65-billion budget proposal was being sent to lawmakers Sunday night, the House Majority Office's spin machine swung into action by distributing a series of "message points" to Republican members. (The memo was not made public, but a GOP member passed it along).

"We have already seen the minority party attack these budget decisions, but they have yet to tell Floridians how they would budget differently without raising taxes or further jeopardizing our economy," said the message memo from Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, the majority leader. "We can expect more of the same criticisms without solutions in the weeks ahead." The e-mail also urged Republican lawmakers to emphasize the need for state government to "live within its means."

A day later, on Monday, House Republican leaders embraced an idea Democrats have championed for weeks: to allow the use of a Budget Stabilization Fund and the Lawton Chiles Endowment to minimize program cuts over the next year. And the House Democratic leader, Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, is growing weary of the Republican rhetoric on budget cuts. "'Living within your means' is not an economic principle," Gelber said. Among the Democrats' budget solutions: a $1-a-pack hike in cigarette taxes.

House leaders plan for a bleaker future

House Speaker Marco Rubio and budget chair Ray Sansom said Monday they will propose giving Gov. Charlie Crist new power to tap two reserve funds that, until now, have been off limits in keeping the state's budget out of the red. The announcement Monday was in part a concession to Democrats, who have repeatedly urged use of the billions in reserve, and partly an acknowledgement that the economy likely will get worse before it gets better.

Under an amendment to be proposed by Sansom, Crist could tap up to half of the money in the state's Budget Stabilization Fund (about $700-million) and another $1-billion in the Lawton Chiles Endowment, which uses tobacco settlement money to fund a variety of human service programs. Technically, Crist would have to ask permission from a panel known as the Legislative Budget Commission, which approves mid-year budget adjustments. The BSF is in the state Constitution (Article 3, Sec. 19), but gives the Legislature power to set criteria for withdrawals from the fund.

House sees the light on a Medicaid cut

It was a grim scene last Thursday as the House Health Care Council voted out a package of budget cuts that included elimination of eyeglasses, dentures and hearing aids for about 146,000 seniors who are Medicaid recipients. But public reaction to those cuts may have had an impact: In the House budget released Sunday evening, the cut had disappared completely after the Republican leadership used an unallocated $14-million to plug that hole.

"Dentures are a big deal if you don't have teeth, and eyeglasses are a big deal if you can't see," said Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, who said he was grateful to House leaders for eliminating the reduction. (The Senate's proposed budget eliminates coverage for hearing and dental care, but keeps eyeglasses).   

House looks at outsourcing state air pool

Here's a bit of House budget language (p. 307) that's sure to attract the Senate's attention. Speaker Marco Rubio & Company think it's time that the state looked at ways to save money by curtailing use of the state airplanes by "second and third scheduling priority users" (that would include legislators). Budget language directs the Department of Management Services to "conduct a business case study ... that analyzes the cost effectiveness of outsourcing the executive aircraft pool." Can you recall who were some of the aircrafts' biggest users in 2007? They happened to be state senators. More here.   

Budget cut proposal du jour: cut officials' pay

With legislators cutting some state programs by 10 percent across the board, there's beginning to be some editorial page chatter along this line: Why don't Gov. Charlie Crist and other top state officials take a 10 percent pay cut as well? "Sounds like something to explore," Crist said last week when asked about the decision by Escambia County commissioners to take such a pay cut. It would be more symbolic than substantive, but the proposed new state budget sets these salaries as of July 1:

Governor: $132,932

Lieutenant Governor: $127,399

Other Cabinet members: $131,604

Supreme Court justices: $161,200

DCA judges: $153,140

Circuit judges: $145,080

Public Service Commissioners: $128,825

 

Tough talk during tough times

House Democrats held a news conference Thursday to criticize Republican-sponsored budget cuts that might have been avoided or minimized if the GOP was open to some other ideas, like raising taxes or borrowing from a reserve known as the Budget Stabilization Fund.

Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, the House Democratic leader, was in rare form. "Their policy is tethered to a sound bite: 'We all need to live within our means,'^" Gelber thundered. "I wonder if any of them has a grandparent in a nursing home ... I don't understand what these folks are up here to fight for." Later, Gelber decried "the inhumanity that's flowing from this place," adding: "These are not things a civilized society does. It isn't fair, it isn't right, it isn't fair."

Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, the House budget chairman, didn't hear Gelber's comments directly. Told of them, he said: "It's very disappointing that the minority leader who preached bipartisanship as a hallmark has turned into the most partisan and divisive minority leader I've experienced in 20 years ... He's creating animosity and divisiveness ... I've offered a hand to them. That's not like Dan. He's a great guy, personally. I think he's letting partisan politics override common sense."

Counting the human toll of budget cuts

Senators who oversee health and human services spending slogged through dozens of proposed budget cuts Wednesday, including eliminating the Medically Needy program to about 16,000 people, most of them transplant recipients or victims of catastrophic illnesses as of Nov. 1. (As of that date, only children and pregnant women would be eligible under the program).

"This will eliminate pharmaceutical care for some people, and if they don't have that, they could die," said Tony Carvalho, a lobbyist for Florida's 14 so-called safety net hospitals that provide the highest levels of care to poor people.

Another cut would save $25-million by ending dental and hearing services for adult Medicaid recipients (an estimated 600,000 Florida adults are on Medicaid).

Budget reality setting in at home

For weeks higher ed folks and court advocates have had the stage largely to themselves decrying Florida's pending budget cuts.

But the breadth and depth of the state's dilemma is starting to sink in at the local level. See this story about the potential impact on the state's drug treatment programs.

Lobbyists caught in cross-fire

TALLAHASSEE — How's this for an awkward job? You are a lobbyist, charged with bringing home state money and support for the organization that employs you. But this year, money is alarmingly sparse. And your boss' boss is suing the very lawmakers you're trying to lobby.

Such is the situation facing Florida public university lobbyists, who are trying to work in the midst of an ongoing dispute over who should control university tuition — the Legislature or the Board of Governors.

Bracing for more bad revenue news

Like meteorologists anticipating a bad storm, a team of revenue forecasters met Tuesday to revise the official estimate of tax revenue available for the three-and-a-half months left in this fiscal year and beyond.

The 20-member group, officially known as the General Revenue Estimating Conference, is expected to reduce the revenue estimate by about $1-billion for the rest of this year and by as much as $2.2-billion next year, after having already lowered the official estimate three times in the past year. Next year's number will become a critical component as state legislators begin crafting next year's budget. The numbers are even bleaker in the so-called out years of 2010 and 2011 as Florida continues to be buffeted by a weak real estate market, a surge in mortgage foreclosures, high energy costs and population slowdown.

      

No Medicaid freeze now, but stay tuned

When the Florida Senate and House vote to pass the $500 million in cuts to the existing budget on Wednesday, it appears as though they won't be passing a separate bill to eliminate future automatic cost-of-living increases in Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals, nursing homes and county health departments.

The Medicaid freeze was the significant difference between budget cut packages the chambers passed last week. Senate Republican leaders called the freeze a necessary cost-cutting measure that also stopped a certain segment of Medicaid providers from getting an unfair perk. Democrats and some in the House called it "premature," since it impacts the next fiscal year budget.

However, the freeze isn't off the table.

Stop tax breaks, except for gambling?

Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller had just finished explaining why he opposed $500 million in budget cuts on Thursday. He said Republican leadership had focused only on cutting without looking into raising some tax revenue, like getting rid of some tax breaks. That got Sen. Ronda Storms got "fired up," she said.

The Brandon Republican pointed out that Sen. Geller had only hours earlier sponsored a bill in a finance committee to give tax breaks to slot machines.

"This morning the minority party offered the slot machine relief act," Storms said. "So put that in your peace pipe and smoke it." Listen to her speech here.

The House calls them reductions -- not cuts

[House budget chief Ray Sansom addresses reporters this afternoon. Times photo | Scott Keeler]

The House Policy & Budget Council, on a largely party-line vote, approved $543-million in cuts to the current state budget Monday. The unofficial 24 to 9 vote was routine, but it sets a downbeat tone in advance of the 2008 session that will open Tuesday.

One year ago at this time, Democrats and Republicans were infused with a cooperative, bipartisan spirit. A year later -- an election year, admittedly -- there is plenty of partisanship in the air. After ratifying the cuts with testimony from one member of the public, the panel's chairman, Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, disputed the Democrats' contention that they were cutting programs.

"There's a big difference between cuts and reductions," Sansom said. "We're not cutting anything. We have to balance the budget. We're doing what the people of Florida expect us to do ... This is not the United States Congress. We cannot spend in a deficit. We have to live within our means."

Crist (the other one) faults the House

Tensions over cutting the budget are evident in the Capitol, and the 2008 session hasn't even begun. At a crowded meeting of his committee Monday, Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, criticized the House for answering his call for a court-friendly budget compromise with a press release announcing a done deal, instead of a phone call to confirm a deal had been struck.

Calling the House response "shenanigans" that he hoped wouldn't be repeated, Crist said he was blindsided by it because the first he knew of it was a phone call from a St. Petersburg Times reporter last Friday. "That was just poor sportsmanship," said Crist, who chairs the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee.

Crist had more news to announce: He said he'll ask for an interim project studying the issue of just how hard judges around the state work. Amid the budget cutting, he said he has had calls from courthouse employees around the state saying judges don't put in 40-hour weeks and "take exceptionally long vacations." Said Crist: "We're going to look at hours worked and hours utilized."

   

Prepaid tuition -- not what we paid for?

The pitch is simple, the allure for families understandable.

Pay for college starting when your child is in diapers or grade school, with a state-guaranteed plan that lets you lock in today's prices. Yet, two decades into Florida Prepaid, tens of millions in budget cuts to the state's 11 public universities and 28 community colleges have some families questioning their investment choice. Universities warn of faculty layoffs and enrollment cuts up to 17,000 seats in the next few years, making it harder than ever for students to get accepted and could weaken already-strained academic programs.

What good is a lock on tuition if students can't get into the school they want, or if the quality of education has declined? Read the story here.

Crist: Proposed school cuts 'unfortunate'

A day after the House and Senate proposed more than a half-billion dollars in cuts to the current budget, Gov. Charlie Crist registered his opposition to the plan, calling it "unfortunate." After a meeting at the Governor's Mansion with a dozen African-American business owners, Crist called on lawmakers to raid reserves instead to avoid cutting K-12 education.

"I think it's unfortunate," Crist said. "This is just the beginning of the process, as we know." Crist has proposed a budget that includes $1-billion in new education funding, but that increase relies on higher property tax collections, diversions of trust fund accounts and new lottery games.

The legislature's proposed "cut" bill would reduce K-12 spending by more than $200-million. Legislators are expected to take up the proposal next week in the first week of the legislative session.  

Florida's population slows further

State economists have told legislative leaders that Florida's population continues to slow, in another sign of the poor economy and the loss of luster of the Sunshine State. Economist Amy Baker, in an email sent out a few days ago, reported that Florida's final population estimate as of April, 1, 2007, was 18,680,367, unchanged from the October 2007 estimate.

"In the short run, the outlook for population growth is for much slower growth than was previously forecast in October 2007," Baker wrote. "Instead of the increase of nearly 300,000 persons that was anticipated in the fall for 2008, the new projection calls for 171,608 or slightly less than 1 percent growth."

Starting in 2009, growth should exceed 1 percent a year, Baker said: "These increases approximate adding a city the size of Tampa every year." By April 2012, the state's estimated population should be 19,976,994, with Florida breaking the 20-million barrier around June of 2012.    

Sen. Crist fires back at judges

Sen. Victor Crist, the Tampa Republican who oversees state spending for courts and criminal justice, is firing back at circuit judges who have complained about the impact of budget cuts and have threatened to close their courtrooms to save money. At a public hearing Thursday, Crist delivered a lengthy speech that accused judges of engaging in "spin" to protect their own hides.

"There's a lot of rhetoric flying around," Crist said. If the state finds out that courts ignored an order to hold back 1 percent of their budgets per quarter and instead spent all their money, "that was flagrantly irresponsible," Crist said. His philosophy is to evenly distribute the cuts among all agencies across the criminal justice system, with the state prison as Priority No. 1.

Crist blasts state university presidents

In light of the dire assessments of state university presidents on the effects of more budget cuts, The Buzz asked FSU alum Gov. Charlie Crist if he sees himself as presiding over an historic deterioration of Florida's higher education system.

Of course not, he said. Universities should live within their means and be satisfied with his spending proposals, which include more money and no tuition increase. "They have a right to that view," Crist said. "We have great universities and their recognition of that fact is important, and I am very proud of my Florida State roots ... If they're unhappy, maybe they ought to turn the reins over to somebody else."

This means you, T.K. Wetherell, Bernie Machen, Frank Brogan, Judy Genshaft, John Delaney ...

University presidents sat around a conference table with House Speaker Marco Rubio a few days ago and ticked off a litany of horrible trends, including the highest student-to-faculty ratio in the U.S. and record numbers of students being turned away due to a lack of space. FIU President Mitch Maidique spoke of a system facing "the biggest threat in its history" with deeper cuts anticipated. 

Crist doesn't see it. "My point is, things are pretty good in Florida," he said. "We have it pretty darn good here."

State revenue picture worsens

Florida's revenue picture continues to worsen. Preliminary figures show January's tax collections will be at least $138-million below previous estimates, to put the cumulative shortfall for November, December and January at about $230-million.

The state bureau of Economic and Demographic Research will formally announce the January revenue number in about a week, and it likely will be lower than forecast. Because tax revenue numbers are reported in the month following actual collections, the low January number reflects the 2007 holiday shopping season. A quirk in the tax picture is that gift card sales were up in 2007, but the sales tax from those cards isn't counted until the cards themselves are redeemed.

Bottom line: the Legislature's job of cutting the state budget just got a little bit tougher.

Budget woes could shrink SUS by 17K seats

These numbers are still soft because the state's budget situation remains  uncertain in terms of just how bad it will get, but university system Chancellor Mark Rosenberg is warning college presidents that they might need to cut enrollment by as many as 17,000 students to match their dwindling financial resources.

The cuts could come over time, rather than all at once.

Still, that's a lot of rejection letters for high school seniors. And that's a lot of angry parents who vote...

Budget crunch hits Florida's medical schools

The state leaders who embraced new multimillion-dollar public medical schools in Orlando and Miami insisted their creations would not diminish Florida's investment in existing medical schools.

But two years later, Florida's public university system is losing tens of millions of dollars because of a statewide revenue shortage. And the state's oldest public medical school is in trouble with national accreditors because its state funding has dropped as enrollment climbed - leaving its lecture halls and student clinical facilities overcrowded. As the legislative session nears, UF and University of South Florida officials are lobbying hard to make sure their decades-old medical schools don't suffer so the newer ones can flourish. Read more here.

A hostile House views Crist's budget

For more than four hours, Gov. Charlie Crist's budget chief, Jerry McDaniel, fielded questions from a skeptical House Policy & Budget Council Tuesday. It was the first sign that Crist's $70-billion spending plan will receive a very cold shoulder in the Legislature.

The chief objections, lodged by Republicans and Democrats alike, were a proposal by Crist to collect $338-million more in school property taxes next year; more than $400-million in revenue increases based on more slot machines and state lottery games; and $1.1-billion in transfers from dedicated money sources known as trust funds. The trust fund transfers would include $400-million in principal from the Lawton Chiles health care endowment, funded with tobacco settlement money, which would breach a constitutional limit of 3-percent of one-time or non-recurring money for recurring programs.

"Not good public policy," said the House budget chief, Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin. He also essentially declared dead one of Crist's new revenue ideas, $34-million from overweight truck fines that have not been increased since 1953. "I don't think that's how we get the economy going again in Florida," Sansom said.

The panel's vice-chairman, Democratic Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Wilton Manors, described Crist's budget as a "fallacy" built on too-optimistic revenue projections. "The governor's budget has created skeptics of us all," Seiler said. On the issue of spending, it's starting to look like it could be a long spring for Florida's governor.   

    

Time for FL Democrats to caucus?

Now that Florida's rogue Democratic primary is over, maybe it's time for Florida Democrats to  start talking once again (as Gene Smith does here) about holding caucuses to divvy up Florida's Democratic delegates and ensure Florida actually winds up with a voice at the national convention. So far we've failed to get calls returned from Karen Thurman, but the Buzz is that Florida Democrats are talking about that very idea or at least leaving it on the table as an option.

But then we caught up with Bill Nelson today: "Absolutely not," he said when asked if caucuses might be a good idea. "It's a huge cost."

Nelson, a Clinton backer, remains confident Florida's delegates will be seated, though he said Howard Dean keeps insisting he's powerless to make it happen. "It hasn't sunk into their their thick heads, the chairman and the DNC, the train wreck that's about to come if we don't get those delegations seated."

Budget woes close higher ed doors to minorities

Between 40,000 and 60,000 students - many of them minorities - could be denied an education in one of Florida's 11 public universities, thanks to years of insufficient funding and complicated political factors that have college presidents preparing to slash enrollment for the first time in decades.

So concludes ENLACE Florida, a grant-funded group that promotes college access and readiness for minorities, in a report sent today to lawmakers and education officials across the state. Read more here.