Civility called for at swearing-in ceremony

TALLAHASSEE – Florida legislative leaders called for civility and cooperation as the new Legislature was officially sworn in Tuesday, eager to put the divisive election and recount season behind them.

But there were also signs that the major parties, the House, the Senate and the incoming Ron DeSantis administration could be poised to clash with each other next year when they get down to the reality of governing.

“It has been a long election cycle, vigorously fought, and the voters have spoken,” said Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton. “But now it is time to move forward united in the purpose of serving, to the absolute best of our ability, the people of Florida.”

Governor-elect DeSantis and the Cabinet won’t take office and be sworn in until Jan. 8, but the legislative ceremony Tuesday showed little has changed in the political calculus in Tallahassee following the bitter election season.

Democrats gained a handful of seats in the House and one seat in the Senate, but Republicans remain in control of both chambers. Democrat Nikki Fried also picked up the agriculture commissioner seat on the Cabinet but is outnumbered 3 to 1 by the GOP on that panel.

That means Galvano and his counterpart, House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami, should be able to continue the recipe that Republicans have used to govern the state since 1998 – tax cuts, decreasing regulations and expanding school choice programs.

Yet a series of disagreements over health care, the scope of tax cuts and the amount of spending on infrastructure and the environment loom next year when the Legislature convenes in March.

Oliva sounded a call for civility but made clear he’d continue to push for conservative policy goals in health care and education that have been resisted by the more moderate Senate in previous

years.

“If you have come here to increase health care access and affordability, use your power to lift the government-granted monopolies and market-restricting regulations which have led to widespread price gouging on our citizens and has placed an untenable burden on our state,” Oliva said.

The remarks were ostensibly aimed at Democrats, who ran on platforms of expanding Medicaid and increasing access to health care. But Republicans in the Senate have also pushed to expand Medicaid, resulting in a standoff in 2015 when House leaders, Oliva included, refused to go along with the plan.

Oliva and previous House leaders have preferred to knock down what they see as unnecessary regulations that prevent competition in health care and drive up costs, and have passed bills in the past to reduce regulations on building new hospitals, telemedicine and direct primary care – bills that have failed to get through the Senate.

Oliva also argued that health care is taking up such a large portion of the state budget – 41.7 percent in the current spending plan, though much of that is paid by the federal government – that it is crowding out room for other priorities like education and infrastructure.

It was a slight reference to one of Galvano’s priorities – increased infrastructure spending with an eye toward the future.

“There are several projects around the state for mass transit,” Galvano said, riddling off examples of needed investment. “We need to think in terms of dedicated (highway) lanes that have the ability to evolve with the industry itself. We’ve got automated vehicles that are coming online more and more.”

Galvano also stressed the need to plan for the future, as Florida adds 850 people per day – “a population slightly larger than the city of Orlando every year,” as he put it. That means more cars on the road, more stress on water infrastructure and water quality issues that have plagued the state.

The chambers could also clash over taxes.

A new constitutional amendment was approved by voters requiring a twothirds majority for all tax and fee increases. That could pose problems to lawmakers as they face increasing health care costs, large environmental cleanup bills stemming from the blue algae and red tide scourges and costs related to Hurricane Michael.

Oliva and the House have favored larger tax cut plans than the Senate in previous years, but with state unemployment at 3.5 percent and slim budget margins expected, Galvano sounded cautious about another round of business tax cuts.

“I’m going to be balanced about it. It’s not going to be a question of cutting taxes for the sake of cutting taxes,” Galvano said.

The new DeSantis administration will also have its own priorities next year, including solving the algae issues, something he stressed during his campaign. He was on hand for the swearing-in ceremonies but didn’t answer questions from reporters.