Sexual conduct big legislative topic

Shaken by scandals, lawmakers focus on areas of misconduct.

TALLAHASSEE — Lubricated by cocktails at an annual presession Associated Industries of Florida fete Monday, the first week of the 2018 legislative session bore many of the usual hallmarks of the 60-day pageant.

Flowers festooned lawmakers’ desks Tuesday as the session began, and rhetoric-laden speeches were met with partisan appreciation or rebukes.

But with two empty seats in the Senate because of scandals about sexual misconduct, the opening-day atmosphere on the Capitol’s fourth floor wasn’t quite the same as it has been in sessions past.

Fist bumps replaced hugs, even between longtime colleagues. Men nervously joked about whether compliments about female acquaintances’ appearance would be misconstrued. Legislative aides sat in on tete-a-tetes where parties of two — a male lawmaker and a female lobbyist — once sufficed.

The changes came after Jeff Clemens, a Lake Worth Democrat, quit the Senate after admitting to an extramarital affair with a lobbyist, and Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican, resigned amid investigations that he allegedly groped a Senate aide and engaged in a pattern of verbal misconduct.

The weight of the sex scandals grew even heavier Tuesday, when Senate President Pro Tempore Anitere Flores, R-Miami, and Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, acknowledged they had an extramarital affair. They apologized after the launch of an anonymous website with photos and videos that showed Flores entering Braynon’s condo late at night and leaving the next morning.

Lobbyists and lawmakers had mixed views of the exposure of sexual high jinks and sexual harassment, which fall on two ends of the spectrum of inappropriate behavior.

“People are not infallible. There’s always been misconduct between humans. I don’t believe it is going to have an impact as far as the policy and the way the policy is shaped. I believe it will have an impact on the decorum. I’ve been doing this over 30 years. We need it to have an impact on the decorum because we lost decorum,” lobbyist Victoria Zepp said.

Meanwhile, in his last State of the State speech, Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday asked lawmakers to help make it harder to pass future tax increases by requiring “supermajority” votes by the Legislature.

“This is my last session to cut taxes,” Scott told House and Senate members on opening day. “And we must acknowledge that, unfortunately, at some point, there will be politicians sitting in this chamber who are not as fiscally responsible as we are today.”

Scott wants lawmakers to back a constitutional amendment, which if approved by voters in the fall, would require two-thirds votes by the Legislature to pass tax increases. The Republican-led Legislature can now pass a tax increase by majority votes, with the last increase being a $1 hike in 2009 on the tax on packs of cigarettes.

Scott discounted arguments that adopting a higher voting requirement on tax increases would hamper future state leaders in dealing with financial challenges.

Since moving into the governor’s office in January 2011, Scott has made lower taxes one of his calling cards. His final legislative agenda includes a modest package of tax breaks in addition to the constitutional proposal.

“There were the naysayers who told us there was no way that a businessman with no experience in politics or government could possibly be successful at helping turn Florida’s economy around,” Scott said. “Fortunately for all of us, the naysayers were wrong.”

During Tuesday’s speech, Scott also made a pitch for other 2018 priorities, which include spending $53 million to help abate a growing opioid crisis.

And with sexual harassment scandals rocking the nation and Tallahassee, Scott outlined steps his office has taken to help victims.

He called on lawmakers to pass legislation to protect state employees who may have witnessed harassment, encouraging them to participate in investigations.

“Things have got to change, and it starts right here in this building,” Scott said. “We all must join together and send a very strong message: Florida stands with victims.”

Senate President Joe Negron also touched on the issue in his opening-day speech, reiterating his chamber will have “zero tolerance” for sexual harassment or misconduct against employees and visitors.

“State government should lead by example in instituting policies that ensure employees feel safe when they come to work and comfortable to confidentially report inappropriate behavior by any person,” Negron, R-Stuart, said.

As part of the opening-day events, the Senate president and House speaker typically outline their priorities for the session. Negron, for example, spoke of the need to address impacts from Hurricane Irma and to further build up the state university system.

And Negron said the Senate will work with Scott on a request for additional pay raises for law-enforcement officers and with House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’ Lakes, on expanding school choice.

“One thing I know is, it doesn’t matter at all to the Floridians we represent where these ideas originate,” Negron said. “They’re worried about taking care of their families. Taking their students to ballet practice, to Little League practice . ... Families are busy trying to survive and prosper and they don’t care about this home-and-away football game mentality that some people have.”

Dubbing the Florida House as the “House of reformers,” Corcoran outlined priorities that are almost certain to stir debate — and controversy, such as a controversial “anti-sanctuary cities” proposal (HB 9) that would require state and local agencies to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and carry hefty penalties for local officials who fail to comply.