Remember last October, when there were all those ads on TV about woodsheds and other peripheral nonsense? Well, roughly half of the people you saw in those commercials are in Tallahassee now, makin’ laws. And you know what they say about laws and sausages — you don’t want to see either of them being made.Especially in Florida.
The current session, which continues into early May, is likely to be as unappetizing a sausage party as ever (and we’re not just talking about the prevailing gender of legislators). Yes, your State Senators and Representatives could turn out some pretty tasty products, if they make good on their populist campaign promises and make laws that fight monolithic power companies and fix the broken child welfare system. But they could also be stymied (or corrupted) by a legislative process that yields great benefits for monied interests while stalling bills that will actually, you know, help people.
Our lawmakers have spent months filing bills they hope their colleagues will consider. Mark Ferrulo, executive director of Progress Florida, a nonprofit that spreads awareness of environmental, LGBT and other progressive issues, chatted with us about what’s on the agenda, what’s missing and what’s straight crazy.
Utilities and the regulators that love them
Pinellas County voters, most of whom are compulsory Duke Energy customers, are familiar with the company’s schemes, like charging everyone for nuke plants that won’t get built and extending the billing cycle in the height of summer in order to collect on higher kilowatt hours. Rs and Ds alike railed against the company (and the Public Service Commission, the entity that’s supposed to regulate it) in 2014, promising big reforms. And they delivered, at least when it came to introducing bills. Rep. Chris Sprowls (R-Palm Harbor) co-sponsored HB 199, which would revamp the PSC, with Rep. Chris Latvala (R-Clearwater) and Amanda Murphy (D-New Port Richey). Rep. Kathleen Peters (R-South Pasadena), along with Sprowls and others, filed HB 219, which among other things would bar utilities from using dubious billing practices; Senate powerhouse Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater) is a co-sponsor. Pinellas Republican State Rep. Larry Ahern and others have also filed HB 472, which would eliminate the nuke cost recovery fee.
Chances of passing? While these bills have co-sponsors in both the House and Senate as well as backing from high-profile names (i.e. Latvala), we’ll give it a maybe.
Why? These lawmakers seem to have the interests of everyday constituents in mind, but everyday constituents aren’t known for their ability to flood campaigns with dark money the way Duke and other utilities can — and did in 2014.
“It will be an uphill fight,” said Ferrulo, “but we’re glad to see the fight is being engaged, that the fight is going to at least happen.”
Sugar water
You’d think everyone would agree that toxic sludge is bad, especially if baby dolphins (not to mention Florida’s tourism economy) are on the line. That’s why environmental groups want the state to buy up some 46,800 acres of US Sugar Corp. land south of Lake Okeechobee for $350 million as part of an Everglades restoration effort. The land would be used to treat polluted storm water from the lake and reroute clean water to the thirsty Everglades. Right now that nasty water flows into coastal waterways via canals, causing fish kills and algae blooms.
The purchase was supposed to be part of a bigger land deal that fell apart when the economy tanked. Environmental groups are now calling on lawmakers to put the land deal into next year’s budget or use voter-approved Amendment 1 funds.
“This is now the opportunity … for this critically important project,” Julie Hill-Gabriel of Audubon Florida said in a recent story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Chance of passing? Slim.
Why? Florida lawmakers haven’t made it a priority, which is no surprise when you do the math. Besides, remember U.S. Sugar’s treats to lawmakers (and Gov. Scott) in the form of hunting trips at King Ranch in Texas?
“It is unbelievable how much power that [sugar corporations] wield in the legislature,” Ferrulo said.
Medicaid, schmedicaid
More than a million Floridians are uninsured because they’re not poor enough to get Medicaid, but don’t make enough to qualify for a federal healthcare subsidy. About $51 billion in federal (OK, fine, Obamacare) money is on the table for lawmakers to change that. What should probably force lawmakers’ hand is the impending disappearance of federal low-income pool (LIP) dollars this summer, funds the state has relied on to reimburse hospitals that serve the poor.
The push has become bipartisan, and even the business community has come out in favor of expanding Medicaid via the “A Healthy Florida Works” proposal.
“It's clearly one of the most profound issues that the legislature will deal with this session because it’s not only a budget issue, but more importantly it impacts nearly a million Floridians that currently fall in the coverage gap,” Ferrulo said.
Chance of passing? A solid maybe.
Why? Florida now has the most Obamacare enrollees in the country, and the program’s stigma is subsiding somewhat. But lawmakers are still floating the notion — fiscally prudent or willfully paranoid, depending on your perspective — that the feds will pull the Medicaid funding sometime down the road. Still, Senate President Andy Gardiner supports the Medicaid expansion (as the Senate has for years), and while House Speaker Steve Crisafulli does not, he has said that could change. The business community support can’t hurt, either.
“There are a lot of dynamics that are different this year that make us more optimistic, frankly,” Ferrulo said.
Now for the batshit stuff
As the legislature engages in what we hope will be a rational debate on the above issues, some lawmakers have sponsored ideology-driven bills that hinge on the bizarre. A handful deal with abortion, ranging from a perennial all-out ban to HB147, which requires doctors who work at women’s health clinics to have admitting privileges at a hospital.
“The legislature has a track record of interjecting itself between a woman, her family, her doctor and her faith, which you’d think a true conservative would find appalling,”
Ferrulo said.
There’s also a bill that would require transgender people to use public bathrooms designated for the sex they were assigned at birth instead of their current gender identity. Another bill requires schools to show filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s ultra right-wing agit-prop “documentary,” America: Imagine the World Without Her to all 8th and 11th graders. Oh, and don’t forget guns on
college campuses.
Chances of passing? Better than most years, but no holes-in-one.
Why? Flash back to 2011, when Republicans had a supermajority in the legislature and Scott was new to Tallahassee. It was like that scene in Ghostbusters where all of the city’s ghastliest monsters were unleashed in the city at once. What resulted in Florida where laws linking teachers’ contracts to standardized test results and banning doctors from asking their patients if they own a gun. While there is once again a GOP supermajority, political observers say, leadership might not have the stomach for such bills. Nonetheless, all of these have sponsors in both chambers and have been sent to at least one committee.