Lawmakers kick off
Education, housing, opioid crisis, more on state agenda
LOCAL & STATE
the legislative session today facing a wide array of major issues, such as education funding, affordable housing and the opioid crisis. Yet other, smaller topics will be center stage, too.
TALLAHASSEE—Lawmakers kick off the legislative session today facing a wide array of major issues, such as education funding, affordable housing and the opioid crisis, but other less high-profile bills affecting the bottom lines of influential industries will be on the legislative agenda as well.
For instance, Associated Industries of Florida, a major business lobby that has given heavily to powerful politicians, is fighting SB 98, which would give physicians greater leeway in prescribing treatment options and medication. The bill would require insurers to approve treatment within 24 hours in emergency situations, a provision AIF thinks would increase costs for insurers that would be passed on to businesses.
Since the end of the last legislative session, AIF’s political committee, the Voice of Florida business, has given $100,000 to Watchdog PAC, a committee headed by House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes; $10,000 to a committee controlled by Sen. Rob Bradley, RFleming Island, the Senate budget chief; and $50,000 to Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton.
AIF isn’t the only group interested in the bill, however, with pharmacy groups and health insurers also concerned about the measure. The bill will likely be one of the most heavily-lobbied of the session, with 158 lobbyists registered to influence it.
Groups supporting and groups opposing school choice policies favored by Republicans gave big bucks ahead of the session, as lawmakers take up proposals to give vouchers to students bullied in public schools to attend private schools.
Charter Schools USA, a charter school management company, has given $45,000 to Corcoran’s committee and $25,000 to Galvano’s committee since the end of the last legislative session. The Florida Education Association, which generally opposes most school choice legislation, has given $15,000 to the Florida Democratic Party in that time.
Corcoran is considering a run for governor and is no stranger to asking for and receiving hefty donations from special interests. But he’s also pushed for strict ethics and lobbying reforms he says he thinks have reduced the influence of special interests in the Capitol.
New House rules put in place when he became speaker in 2016 required lobbyists to disclose which bills they were lobbying and clamped down on the “cozy relationships” between lobbyists and lawmakers.
“The reforms that we’ve done I think are great in cleaning up the process making it more transparent and accountable ... ” Corcoran said.
Ethics watchdogs applaud the moves made by Corcoran but say special interests still control much of the agenda in Tallahassee.
“Rep. Corcoran’s ethics proposal would at least have some effect,” said Ben Wilcox, research director of Integrity Florida, an ethics watchdog group. But “he hasn’t touched the campaign finance side of the equation.”
Corcoran isn’t the only politician looking at running for higher office. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has already announced his campaign for governor; Gov. Rick Scott is considering a run for U.S. Senate; three Republican House members are running for attorney general; and two GOP lawmakers have jumped in the race to replace Putnam as agriculture commissioner.
Tobacco product companies, like Doral Tobacco Group and R.J. Reynolds, have given heavily to lawmakers, too. R.J. Reynolds gave $50,000 to Bradley’s committee, and Doral gave $50,000 to Galvano’s committee and $25,000 to New Republican, a federal committee helmed by Scott.
Those companies are opposed to a bill, SB 124, to remove the cap on security payments while companies are appealing payments for cases stemming from the tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s, which could cost tobacco companies millions if it made it into law.
Legislators can’t raise money during session, scheduled to last until March 9, but Scott and Cabinet members can. That’s prompted a move to ban fundraising by statewide elected officials during session, but that bill, HB 707, hasn’t been heard.