Visit Florida funding cut in Senate budget

Proposal only sets aside half of the $100 million Gov. Scott seeks

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott is once again battling with the Legislature over funding for tourism marketing, but this time it’s the Senate that’s drawn his anger.

Senate leaders unveiled initial budget plans Wednesday showing $50 million for Visit Florida, the state’s public-private tourism promotion group, a $26 million cut from the current year.

“I completely oppose the Florida Senate’s proposal to cut Visit Florida’s budget by a third,” Scott said in a released statement. “After the devastating hurricane season we faced last year, we shouldn’t be playing games with our state’s tourism industry.”

Sen. Wilton Simpson, RTrilby, chair of the tourism portion of the budget, said the spending plan was just a “starting point” for negotiations with Scott and the House.

“The Senate fully supported [Scott’s] appropriation request last year, and we’re just working through all the numbers to make sure we’ve got money in the budget to be able to do these things,” Simpson said.

The House’s spending plan keeps Visit Florida’s budget at $76 million, still short of the $100 Scott requested.

Scott clashed with House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, last year over Visit Florida, which Corcoran initially wanted to eliminate completely after a series of news stories detailing questionable spending and secret contracts. Scott responded by running attack ads against Corcoran.

The feud between Scott and Corcoran needed a special session to resolve, with Scott agreeing to stricter transparency measures for Visit Florida and Corcoran agreeing to fund it at $76 million.

A “growth fund” of $85 million also was set up to give grants to local governments for job training and infrastructure projects. The fund was created in lieu of taxpayer incentives paid directly to companies relocating or expanding in Florida, a key component of Scott’s jobs plan.

But the deal between Scott and Corcoran was paid for when Scott vetoed local projects favored by the Senate. That angered Senate leaders.

The Senate’s budget would give the growth fund another $85 million, but makes that money contingent on receiving reimbursements from FEMA for million