Scott and House at odds on agencies

Governor seeks more funding for marketing state

TALLAHASSEE —Taking aim at a top priority of Gov. Rick Scott, the House on Thursday filed a bill that would eliminate both Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida, two agencies that get taxpayer money to try to bring businesses and tourists to the Sunshine State.

The measure was revealed as Scott spoke at an Enterprise Florida board meeting in Orlando, stressing the need for funding the agency.

The proposed legislation, which will get its first committee hearing Wednesday, also would do away with Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing group.

If the state kills Visit Florida, ‘there will be jobs lost,’’ Scott said.

“Can you imagine if you opened a store, and once you were successful, you decided to stop marketing yourself?” Scott asked. “Anybody that doesn’t understand that we’re competing, that we have to market ourselves, doesn’t understand business.”

The bill puts House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, on a collision course with Scott. Corcoran has adamantly opposed public funds for private companies, calling it “corporate welfare,’’ and wants the state to stay out of the free market.

“Should we even be in that business? We’ve answered that consistently, and the answer has been, ‘no’,” Corcoran said. “If we shouldn’t be in that business, [Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida] shouldn’t be in the statutes.”

But the measure also faces fierce resistance in the Senate.

“If that’s the case and [the bill] eliminates them and doesn’t replace them, that’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard in my 15 years in the Florida Senate,” said Senate budget chief Jack Latvala, RClearwater. “To do away with them basically leaves us naked in the effort to compete with other states, and that’s just dumb,” he added.

Scott has consistently pushed for increased funding for the two groups as a part of his plan to create jobs. But last year, lawmakers zeroed out funding for a key incentive program used by Enterprise Florida after Scott had asked for $250 million.

Visit Florida received $76 million this year, but the shock of a $1 million contract with the rapper Pitbull to promote the state uncovered after a lawsuit filed by Corcoran has led to greater scrutiny of the agency. Corcoran on Tuesday likened it to turning on the kitchen lights at night and finding cockroaches.

Scott now is pushing for $85 million for Enterprise Florida and $76 million for Visit Florida for the budget year that begins July 1.

Central Florida leaders say killing Enterprise Florida could spell trouble for Orlando’s efforts to move away from tourism jobs and toward higher-paying tech, health and professional jobs.

On the Space Coast, incentives were part of a package that brought Blue Origin’s rocket factory to Kennedy Space Center.

“We would prefer that throughout the country, that we just did not use tax dollars for incentives,” said Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs. “But that’s not the world we live in today.”

On Thursday, Scott implored Enterprise Florida board members to put pressure on lawmakers ahead of the legislative session that begins March 7.

“Should we even be in that business? The answer has been, ‘no’.” Richard Corcoran, House speaker