With session done, what is Negron’s political future?
TALLAHASSEE — If you had asked Senate President Joe Negron what his plans were immediately following the close of the 2018 session of the Florida Legislature on March 11, he would have told you he was leaving that night to go home to Stuart.
But if you ask Negron — who served in the Florida House for six years prior to his 2009 election to the Senate — what his plans are for the remaining two years of his term, well, the answer might not be so direct.
“I don’t know,” said Negron, whose district is composed of Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach counties. “I haven’t had time to sit and think about it.”
Negron told The Palm Beach Post that he’s “definitely” going to stay on as Senate president through November. That’s when Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, will take over the chair.
But whatever Negron’s political future — a run for a higher office, maybe? — the 56-year-old is keep-
ing it tightly under wraps.
“I’m going to evaluate the situation,” he said. “Then I’ll make a decision.”
Should this year be Negron’s last in the Senate, he’d be stepping down after overseeing one of the most eventful — but least productive — sessions on record.
Overall, the Legislature passed only 196 bills in 2018, the fewest number in the last 21 years, according to a Tampa Bay Times analysis of state records. And the Senate passed just 85 of its bills, 10 fewer than it did in 2017 and hundreds fewer than it regularly passed in the early 2000s.
The turmoil began before the session began, with a rash of sex-related scandals resulting in the resignations of Republican Sen. Jack Latvala of Clearwater and Democratic Sen. Jeff Clemens of Atlantis. Latvala, head of the budget committee and a candidate for governor, resigned from the Senate in December after an investigation found credible evidence of sexual misconduct. Clemens gave up his seat in October after admitting to an extramarital affair with a lobbyist.
Just when that brouhaha seemingly had settled down, opening day of the session was abuzz with claims from an anonymous website that Anitere Flores, R-Miami, and Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, were “actively engaged in inappropriate extramarital activities with each other.” The two released a joint statement acknowledging that “our longtime friendship evolved to a level that we deeply regret.”
Negron sprung into action, declaring a “zero tolerance” for sexual harassment in his opening day address and assigning the job of updating the Senate’s policy on sexual harassment and misconduct to Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, and a former Wellington councilwoman.
Negron’s seriousness was punctuated by a handful of female legislators filing bills to beef up Florida ethics laws to protect government workers from sexual harassment. Both chambers passed bills addressing the matter, but in the end, the Senate couldn’t stomach the anti-sexual harassment language in a House bill (HB 7007) sponsored by Reps. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mount Dora, and Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek.
Negron said some in the Senate may have balked because had the bill become law, it would have been “cumbersome and difficult to administer” and “would have tied the hands of managers.”
Senators also may have been turned off by HB 7091, which would have made any “complaints no longer confidential and exempt if probable cause is determined to exit,” Negron said.
“I think it’s important that witnesses are able to have their identities protected so they don’t have to worry about retaliation,” he said.
Sen. Lauren Book, a Broward County Democrat who sponsored the Senate’s anti-sexual harassment bill, said she was disappointed by the Legislature’s failure to pass a bill taking a tough stance against sexual harassment at the Capitol.
The failure to pass legislation this year doesn’t mean addressing sexual harassment is off the table for future sessions, Negron said.
“It’s a continuous process, policies and rules updating,” he said. “I’m sure that future Senate officers will continue to make it a priority.”
While Negron’s crusade against sexual harassment and misconduct landed with a thud, his crown jewel — a major higher education bill (SB 4) — passed through both chambers and was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.
Negron said the law is a manifestation of his “vision” of turning Florida’s 12 public universities into “elite destinations universities.”
The law expands Bright Futures Scholarships so that 100 percent of the tuition and fees for about 45,000 Bright Futures students known as “academic scholars” will be covered, as will $300 in textbooks per semester. The law also allows the scholarships to be used for summer classes.
An additional 48,000 students, known as “medallion” scholars, will see their Bright Futures scholarships go from covering about half their tuition and fees to about 75 percent of it. That’s $159 of the average $200 per credit hour charge for university courses. It also will cover summer classes.
The new law also expands some need-based aid programs, including doubling the state match for scholarships awarded to “first generation” college students. And it creates a new scholarship program for students from farmworker families.
The aid should help quell some of the “financial insecurities” students face, Negron said.
“It’s really helping our universities go to the next level,” he said. “I’m really pleased Gov. Scott signed the bill before the end of session.”
Scott also signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, a bill that the Legislature drafted and pass just three to four weeks after the Feb. 14 mass shooting that left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in northern Broward County.
The bill, which included the state’s first gun control measures in at least two decades, also included a controversial “school marshals plan” that would allow some school employees to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Talk of arming teachers triggered rebuke from Scott and opposition from Douglas survivors, a resistance that was tamped down somewhat when the Senate passed its
Should this year be Negron’s last in the Senate, he’d be stepping down after overseeing one of the most eventful — but least productive — sessions on record.
version of the bill excluding classroom teachers from the participating in the marshal program. That language won out in the final bill that became law.
Compromising on who could and could not carry weapons on campuses was “a delicate balance,” Negron said.
“The governor made the case to me that teachers should teach ... and not take on that responsibility,” he said. “There are many administrators, coaches, and others ... (who can) provide an added measure of security.”
Negron’s cool-handed demeanor during the turbulent roller coaster of the 2018 session perhaps is a natural extension of being the oldest of seven boys, who all were encouraged to be hard workers.
Born in West Palm Beach, Negron obtained a bachelor’s degree from Stetson University and law degree from Emory University School of Law. He jumped into the political scene in 1999, placing first in a special primary to replace Republican Rep. Tom Warner of Stuart. He lost, however, to Art Argenio in a runoff.
When Argenio ran for re-election the next year, Negron ran again and defeated Argenio in the GOP primary, then won the seat uncontested in the general election.
Negron had served six years in the House by 2006, when he sacrificed a secure fourth term as a state representative to take a bullet for his party by running in place of the discredited U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned from Congress just a month before the election after sending sexually explicit messages to a former male page.
Negron lost but found a pathway back to politics in 2009, when he ran in a special election to replace Ken Pruitt, another Treasure Coast Republican who rose to the height of Senate president, then left politics before his term ended.
While state senators generally are term-limited after eight years, Negron can stay in the Senate until 2020 because of the special election win and redistricting.
Negron has faced redistricting of his Senate district twice, once in 2012 and again in a court-ordered redistricting in 2016. The 2016 redistricting was ordered because the Legislature had violated the voter-approved Fair Districts amendment in the state constitution.
After winning the special election in 2009, Negron won what ordinarily would have been a four-year term in 2010. However, with redistricting, he was up for election in 2012, 2014 and 2016. With the 2016 win, Negron was finally in for a four-year term that could keep him in office until 2020.
Negron was vague when asked the day after the end of the 2018 session if he would serve out the full length of this term.
But he did offer some insight into his thoughts on serving long-term in public office.
“Term limits are there for a reason,” he said. “I’ve always been a strong proponent of term limits.”