Broward delegation to lobby legislature

Money for kids tops agenda

More money for Broward County’s children in need — and more taxpayer dollars to pay for it — could be the result of one of several local bills the Broward County Legislative Delegation approved to take up to Tallahassee in the legislative session that begins Jan. 9.

A majority of the 19 state representatives and senators that make up the delegation met Wednesday at the Sunrise Civic Center to consider the bills specific to Broward that they’ll try to get passed.

One of the bills, sponsored by state Rep. Shevrin Jones, DWest Park, would allow the Broward County Children’s Services Council to increase the tax from 0.5 percent to 1 percent. Currently, that rate is at 0.4882.

Jones said the change would be a “precautionary measure just in case the council decides that they need to raise it; this gives them the room to do so. … The current millage does not allow the Council to respond to the demand of what’s to come when it comes to children and families services.”

The bill won approval and will now be considered during the legislative session.

Other bills discussed by the delegation include:

Water districts: Four bills would create general elections for the Coral Springs and North Springs improvement districts and Sunshine and Pinetree water control districts, which handle drainage and canal maintenance in northwest Broward. They’re funded by taxpayers within the districts, but those taxpayers don’t necessarily get a vote on who runs the districts. Instead, only landowners get a vote, with one vote per acre, according to state Rep. Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek, who sponsored the bill.

Hospital districts: Another bill would establish a study group to look at potential changes in Broward’s two hospital districts. That follows last year, when state Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, proposed a more-radical local bill that would have merged the two districts. That bill was too much, too fast for many stakeholders in the district. Waterway anchoring: The delegation also approved a bill that would declared certain waterways in Hollywood to be “narrow state waterways,” limiting anchoring in those areas. That bill comes after a similar bill restricting anchoring in areas of Fort Lauderdale passed two years ago following complaints that boats were anchoring longterm and clogging waterways.

“The fact that you have people who effectively become water squatters, what do you do with the waste?” said lobbyist Ron Book, speaking in favor of the idea behind the bill. “Here’s what you do with the waste — you pump it right into the waterway.”

But Book didn’t necessarily favor the bill itself, saying that the issue shouldn’t be tackled in a local bill.

Hollywood has become a haven for derelict boats, and the city has already taken measures to crack down in certain areas.

Pembroke Pines annexation: A controversial annexation bill was put off by the Broward delegation. The bill involved Pembroke Pines’ desire to annex a portion of Southwest Ranches for development, though the latter city was opposed to the annexation.

“This is just another attempt in a very long line of attempts by Pembroke Pines to de-annex parts of Southwest Ranches,” said Keith Poliakoff, a lawyer representing Southwest Ranches.

The move was the latest in a 20-year fight between the two cities that includes three ongoing lawsuits, the largest in terms of monetary value being Pembroke Pines’ failure to provide sewer and water to a proposed immigration prison Southwest Ranches had wanted to build on city land that is wholly within the boundaries of Pembroke Pines.

The prison deal fell through and Pembroke Pines could wind up paying hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

The annexation, favored by the city taking the land but not by the city losing it, proved too controversial for the delegation.

“Candidly, I question whether a legislative delegation should ever engage in a battle between two municipalities,” said Farmer, who was voted in as chair of the delegation at Wednesday’s meeting.

“This is not about being anti-development, this is not about being pro-development, this is not about taking one side or another. We’re just not ready to do this at this point.”