7 things to know about special session.
Starting today, you, the Florida taxpayer, will begin paying about $60,000 a day for legislators to convene a special session to do the work they couldn’t accomplish during their regular one.
Political gridlock isn’t unusual. But in Tallahassee, the same party controls every single part of the grid.
This isn’t Republicans and Democrats bickering with each other. It’s Republicans bickering with themselves.
So now the public will pay for them to try again — with each legislator allowed to spend up to $150 a day for food and housing. That’s more than many Florida workers make in their full-time jobs … all because these guys couldn’t do their part-time ones.
Still, in relative terms, the costs aren’t that much. More important is what’s at stake.
So here are seven things you need to know about the special session you’re about to fund.
Education funding may get better … but only slightly.
Florida has traditionally ranked somewhere around 40th nationally when it comes to per-pupil spending. This probably won’t change much. The original budget would have increased Florida’s $7,200-a-head funding level by about $25. That’s a rounding error. Now they are talking about $125. So we’d go from a rounding error all the way up to 1.7 percent during a year of record-high spending … and still rank around 40th.
School-voucher scandals
will increase. Mark my words on this. Legislators want to funnel millions more into vouchers that are spent without serious checks and balances. Teachers at voucher schools don’t have to be certified or even college graduates. We’ve already seen scandal in Orlando with two schools accused of stealing money meant for therapy for special-needs students. Yet instead of monitoring that money — and the education it allegedly pays for — legislators are simply throwing more cash at an unchecked system. It’s a recipe for disaster. It’s also wildly hypocritical for legislators who constantly yap about “accountability.”
Medical marijuana is in
limbo. Voters sent Tallahassee a clear message last fall: They voted overwhelmingly to legalize medical marijuana. It wasn’t a suggestion. It was an amendment to the Florida Constitution. But, just as they have before, legislators ignored the will of the people during the regular session and didn’t make it happen. They may try during the special session. They certainly should. But they haven’t made any promises.
Chest-thumping about Visit Florida may have been a farce.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran spent the better part of a year railing about how he wanted to curb “corporate welfare” for the tourism industry.
But in negotiations with Gov. Rick Scott, Corcoran appeared willing to wave the white flag and give Scott every bit of the $76 million he wanted for Visit Florida and tourism promotion — though, Corcoran stresses, with greater accountability. Corporate handouts may
actually be cut. Corcoran also vowed to cut off Enterprise Florida’s incentives spigot. And he maybe holding firmer here. Instead of Enterprise Florida giving incentives directly to companies, the state may pay for job-training and infrastructure that companies want. That’s a better way to do things. But the devil will be in the details. And you can bet lobbyists will be working hard to create loopholes that will keep the taxpayer-funded goodies flowing to some businesses and not others.
Many of the deals involving your money were hammered out in secret. Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron unveiled a massive 278-page education bill at the last minute, which many legislators blindly approved without fully reading or understanding. Scott blasted that secretive process … and yet then entered his own secretive negotiations with Negron and Corcoran to craft new deals for the special session. Legislators from both parties — including Republican senators — have decried these backroom deals as bad for policy. Some even predicted the laws were so rushed and flawed that they will have to fix them later. Still, most will probably end up going along for the ride. After all, they get paid either way. And history suggests their constituents will re-elect them no matter what they do.
They’re still arguing. As late as Tuesday night, Corcoran and Negron were trading barbs ... suggesting you may be paying $60,000 a day for many days to come.
To contact your senator or House member, visit www.leg.state.fl.us.