Follow-Up to Legislative 2nd Special
Session
Dear Homeless People, Service Providers and
Advocates:
JUST A QUICK NOTE TO THANK ALL OF YOU WHO
CALLED OR FAXED AS PART OF THE EFFORT TO
PRESERVE FUNDING FOR HOMELESS PROGRAMS
DURING THE SPECIAL SESSION THAT JUST ENDED.
As you may recall, the House budget
reductions included what would have amounted
to a $4 million cut to the new Homeless
Housing Grants Program. The Senate did not
propose such a cut.
During the conference process, the Senate's
position prevailed, and the funding was
saved. Therefore, both the Challenge Grant
and the Homeless Housing Grant Programs will
kick off shortly with full funding. The
funding will flow through local Continuum of
Care processes.
Thank you very much for your efforts! It
would be helpful if you called the
legislators you called during the Special
Session and thank them for their support of
efforts to help homeless Floridians.
At the same time, please remember that many
other programs that impact poor people were
cut or only temporarily restored this
Special Session, and cuts may be even deeper
next Session.
The United Way of Florida provided the
following perspective: "The Legislature
did cut about $1.1 billion out of this
year's budget. But it used about $250
million in nonrecurring trust fund monies to
shore-up a number of human service programs
that could have been cut. The
medically needy program, prenatal care for
poor pregnant women, and numerous other
programs had their general revenue funding
wholly or partially replaced by nonrecurring
trust fund monies.
This means that if the 2002 Legislature does
not find 'new' money to replace the trust
funds, those programs will incur large cuts,
or die. In recent years, that wouldn't
have been a problem. However, the 2002
Legislature convenes in only 6 weeks, and
it's anticipated that new revenue estimates
for the next fiscal year (2002-2003) will
require significant additional cuts,
potentially in the $1 billion to $3 billion
range. Consequently, programs funded
out of nonrecurring trust funds during this
Special Session - together with a multitude
of health and human service programs that
were not impacted by today's cuts - remain
in great jeopardy.
"The Legislature did decide to delay
the $128 million cut to the intangibles tax
that was to take effect on January 1, 2002,
and refused to consider budget enhancement
measures (primarily elimination of numerous
sales tax exemptions) to reduce the deficit
and the resultant cuts. Legislators decided
not to use any of the almost $1 billion in
the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund to
reduce the deficit. Recognizing the
additional shortfalls that will be faced in
just a few short weeks, they wanted to make
sure the reserve funds can be fully accessed
next year."
Regards,
From: Florida Coalition for the Homeless flahomelesscoal@mindspring.com
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Sierra Club
Report #2
Tallahassee Report #2
Another report on the legislature. Note Will
Kendrick is also a sponsor of this bill to
eliminate citizen participation. --Kathy
Mini Florida Tallahassee Report #2 Interim
Committee Week December 3-7, 2001 Committee
meetings for Special Session C will be
conducted November26 -December 6 (remember,
they didn't get it right during Special
Session B) The official session begins
earlier in 2002: January 22, 2002 and ends
March 22, 2002.
To read and review legislation that has been
filed for the 2002 session, you can access
this information via the internet by
accessing Online Sunshine's Homepage:
www.leg.state.fl.us Browse around the
different options. Select House or Senate
and go from there. (Note that you can select
"session" and see bills from
previous years, including the special
sessions; "A", "B",
"C", etc.)
ACTION ALERT FOR OUR NEXT ISSUE! CALL TODAY:
Anti-Citizen participation bill is up in the
House State Administration Committee; this
Tuesday, December 4, at 9 am.
HB 257 - Administrative Procedures Act (APA):
(Senate bill 280/Pruitt): by Spratt
CoSponsors:
Ross, Bennett, Berfield, Haridopolos, Bowen,
Bense, Alexander, Stansel, Machek,
Gibson,III, Kendrick, Harrington, Dockery,
Brown, Jordan, McGriff, Jr.
(If you see your legislator's name in the
list above, give them a call and tell them
you oppose this legislation and they should
remove their name as a sponsor).
FLORIDA LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS:
REPEAT OFFENDER RETURNS: The APA,
returns, after failing to pass in the 2000,
2001 session.
For the last several years, we have had to
fight changes to the Administrative
Procedures Act (Chapter 120, Florida
Statutes), the area of the law that allows
us to exercise our right to help enforce
environmental laws and regulations. By
objecting to permits for developments,
destruction of wetlands and other
administrative proceedings, citizens have
been encouraged to use the administrative
process as ways of avoiding an extraneous
number of lawsuits in the State's
beleaguered Circuit Courts.
This bill has a "chilling effect"
on citizen participation and makes it
riskier for citizens to be meaningfully
involved in environmental
controversies. In fact, citizens have been
critical important parties in virtually
every major environmental controversy in the
last 30 years. Representative Spratt's bill
and others, would muzzle our voices by
sanctioning us with fines if we pursue the
Administrative Procedures route to challenge
a permit or development.
This bill would subject citizens to paying
the developer's attorney's fees if a hearing
officer determines their pleadings contain
"factual" allegations that turn
out not to have "evidentiary
support". (This bill is very
similar to Sen King's SB 270, except it at
least does not directly attack Florida's
Environmental Protection Act (Section
403.412, FS); but otherwise it repeats the
same provisions from last year's H1135/S910
which attack citizens protecting their
communities or the environment.) The
companion bill is Sen Ken Pruitt's S
280.
CALL THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS AND COMMITTEE
MEMBERS AND TELL THEM YOU OPPOSE THIS
LEGISLATION; EXPRESS YOUR SURPRISE
SINCE THESE TWO WEEKS IN THE LEGISLATURE
WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT FIXING THE BROKEN
BUDGET AND SECURITY MEASURES.
House State Administration Committee:
Brummer, Fred (Chair): R, District 38;
850-488-2023
Dockery, Paula (Vice Chair): R, District 64:
850-488-2270
Brown, Donald: R, District 5:
850-488-4726
Kendrick, Will S.: D, District 10:
850-488-7870
McGriff, Jr., Perry: D, District 22:
850-488-0887
The Tallahassee Report is brought to you by
the Florida Chapter Sierra Club. Susie
Caplowe, Chapter Lobbyist.
THE END.
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ACLU update
THE SPECIAL SESSION
The Florida Legislature returned to The
Capitol today to begin its second Special
Session of 2001 to address the shortfall in
projected revenues for the current fiscal year
which approximate $1.3 billion. Also on their
agenda is passage of several state
anti-terrorism bills.
As an additional matter, several committees in
both houses will meet over the next two weeks
to consider bills which have been prefiled for
Legislature 2002. To view this week's
legislative calendars, access Online Sunshine,
the official Internet site of the Florida
Legislature, at www.leg.state.fl.us.
You can also read the full text of the bills
as well as any staff analysis at
Online Sunshine. This is an excellent source
of information for both the Special Session
and Legislature 2002.
THE FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
While the primary focus of the Special Session
is the budget, there are several bills of
particular interest to the American Civil
Liberties Union which will also be heard. Some
of the bills we shall be tracking in the House
of Representatives this week are:
HB 0119 Homicide of Unborn Quick Child. The
ACLU has opposed this legislation in prior
sessions on the grounds that it would, for the
first time in Florida law, declare that a
fetus is viable after the 20th week of
gestation. The bill equates the harm or injury
done to the fetus with the equivalent harm or
injury done to the mother. Specifically, the
legislation would create a
separate offense for criminal acts that cause
death or bodily injury to the "unborn
quick child." The bill utilizes the woman
as a vehicle to establish the crime against
the fetus without requiring knowledge of the
fetus or intent to harm the fetus. The real
goal of this legislation is not to deter and
punish criminal conduct, but to erode the
reproductive rights of women. The bill will be
heard in House Crime Prevention, Corrections
& Safety on Tuesday, November 27.
HB 0009 Motor Vehicle/Cellular Telephones. The
bill prohibits use of cellular telephone while
operating motor vehicle unless operator uses
headset or hands-free device. The ACLU at this
point is merely monitoring the bill and has
taken no position for or against. Most civil
libertarians seem to view this as a public
safety issue, while there are others who see a
privacy
question similar to those raised in mandatory
seatbelt laws. This bill will be heard in
House State Administration on Tuesday,
November 27.
ANTI-TERRORISM LEGISLATION
Eighteen proposed committee bills are
scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, November
28 in the House Select Committee on Security.
The ACLU will be tracking each of the eighteen
bills and will likely testify in opposition to
several of them. The most significant are:
PCB SEC 02-01 Terrorism/Definition
PCB SEC 02-02 Enhanced Sentencing
PCB SEC 02-03 Detention of Material Witnesses
PCB SEC 02-03 Interception of Communications
PCB SEC 02-04 Domestic Security
THE FLORIDA SENATE
Unlike in the House of Representatives which
has published its full schedule for the week
of November 26-30, the Florida Senate will
operate pursuant to Senate Rule 13.3 which
provides that all Senate committee meetings
will be announced during the special session
and noticed at least two hours prior to each
meeting.
The Senate Select Committee on Public Security
and Crisis Management, however, is scheduled
to meet on Thursday, November 28, and will
consider many of the same measures as its
House counterpart. The most significant bills
in the Senate are:
SB 0006C Terrorism/Pretrial Detention
SB 0008C Sentencing/Act of Terrorism
SB 0012C Communications Interception
SB 0024C Domestic Security/Counter-terrorism
SB 0026C Domestic Security/Counter-terrorism
Once again the full text of the bills as well
as any published staff analysis is available
at Online Sunshine.
Florida
House of Representatives Democratic Office
Lois J. Frankel -- Democratic Leader Doug
Wiles -- Democratic Leader pro-tempore FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2001
SENATE
AND HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS SAY EXPLORE EVERY
OPTION TO PROTECT PUBLIC EDUCATION, HEALTH
CARE SERVICES AND PUBLIC SAFETY FROM BUDGET
CUTS:
Outline
Examples of Budget Options Available to
Protect People From Devastating Cuts
TALLAHASSEE
- Senate Democratic Leader Tom Rossin and
House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel today
unveiled a menu of options to address the
state's $1.3 billion budget shortfall that
would ensure that Florida's budget is not
balanced on the backs of the state's public
schools, lifeline health care services for
children, seniors and other vulnerable
citizens and public safety. The Democratic
Leaders said that these options are just
examples of many available options that their
colleagues should seriously consider to
address the revenue shortfall while protecting
public schools and health care services for
vulnerable citizens and public safety from
falling victim to budget cuts.
"We
should not use terrorism as an excuse to
shortchange the educational future of our
children when there are reasonable
alternatives to making these budget cuts,
" said House Democratic Leader Lois
Frankel, of West Palm Beach. "The
eventual strength of Florida's economy will
rest on a well-educated workforce that will
enable Florida to diversify and stabilize our
marketplace."
"The
good news for Florida is that even though
Governor Bush has turned record surpluses into
a huge deficit, we can still get our economy
back on course without cutting critical
services or public education. Not only can we
fix our budget without these devastating cuts,
we can provide a tax break for all Floridians
that will truly stimulate the economy,"
said Senate Democratic Leader Tom Rossin, of
West Palm Beach. "Looking at options
besides cutting services would provide a shot
in the arm now, but more importantly would
build the foundation for a healthy economy for
years to come."
The
Democratic Leaders pointed to the recent
Cornerstone Report from the Florida Chamber of
Commerce Foundation http://www.newcornerstoneonline.com/body_news.html
as evidence that the state "cannot afford
to take a step backwards by cutting education
and lifeline services for the state's
vulnerable." According to the Cornerstone
Report, in the area of education, data from
the National Center for Education Statistics
shows the state's K-12 expenditures per pupil
ranked 38th in the nation in 2000, compared to
21st ten years ago - with a decline in real
dollar spending since the early 1990s from
$6,200 to $5,875 per pupil.
The
Cornerstone Report also says "Florida's
existing effort in education and research may
not be sufficient to position the state to
compete in the knowledge economy."
The
report shows that access to high-quality jobs
remains a problem in Florida with 19 percent
of working parents in the state identified as
"working poor" with incomes that
fall at or below 150 percent of the poverty
line. The report also shows that during a
decade of "unparalleled economic
growth" nearly 14 percent of Floridians
live in households with incomes below the
poverty line. The report adds that the
"differences in economic opportunity
among socioeconomic groups are the product of
fundamental differences in educational
attainment and labor skills."
The
Democratic Leaders said the data in the
Cornerstone Report provides strong proof why
the state must explore every available option
to protect Florida's public schools and
services for vulnerable citizens from budget
cuts.
The menu
of budget options outlined by the Democratic
Leaders lists a combination of spending cuts
and tax reforms including:
Intangibles
Tax
Option
A: Close the Florida Intangibles Tax Exempt (FLITE)
Trust loophole that allows persons with more
than $2 million in taxable assets to avoid
paying the tax while allowing the scheduled
exemptions to become effective on January 1,
2002. Estimated revenue generated - $300
million in FY 2001-02, $300 million
annualized.
Option
B: Move 600,000 taxpayers off the tax rolls by
allowing intangibles tax exemptions of
$250,000 for individuals and businesses and
$500,000 for couples to take effect January 1,
2002 and rolling back the intangibles tax rate
to 2 mills on taxable holdings above those
thresholds. Under Florida law, Individual
Retirement Accounts, 401Ks, deferred
compensation plans, pension plans, savings
accounts, certificates of deposit and
government bonds and notes are among the items
not subject to Florida's intangibles tax.
Estimated revenue generated - $600 million in
FY 2001-02.
How
Option B would affect those who pay Florida's
intangibles tax:
Filing
Status Taxable Holdings Current Tax Option B
Change
Individual
$250,000 $230 $0 -$230
Individual
$400,000 $380 $300 -$80
Individual
$500,000 $480 $500 +$20
Individual
$1,000,000 $980 $1500 +$520
Couple
$500,000 $460 $0 -$460
Couple
$800,000 $760 $600 -$160
Couple
$1,000,000 $960 $1000 +$40
Couple
$1,500,000 $1460 $2000 +$540
Business
$200,000 $200 $0 -$200
Business
$350,000 $350 $200 -$150
Business
$500,000 $500 $500 $0
Business
$1,000,000 $1000 $1500 +$500
Under
Option B, an individual with $250,000 in
taxable holdings would no longer pay Florida's
intangibles tax and would receive $230 in tax
relief over current law while an individual
with $500,000 in taxable holdings would pay an
additional $20 in the intangibles tax over
current law. A couple with $500,000 in taxable
holdings would receive $460 in tax relief over
current law while a couple with $1,000,000 in
taxable holdings would pay an additional $40
over current law. A business with $200,000 in
taxable holdings would receive $200 in tax
relief over current law while a business with
$1,000,000 in taxable holdings would pay an
additional $500.
Please
note, under Option B, business accounts
receivable would remain exempt and no taxpayer
would pay a higher rate than they would have
paid under the law in place in 1998.
Option
C: Repeal or defer the increased intangibles
tax thresholds that are scheduled to go into
effect on January 1, 2002. This would affect
more than 600,000 taxpayers and generate an
estimated $128 million in FY 2001-02, $159
million annualized.
Overweight
Motor Carrier Fines and Permits
Adopt
Florida TaxWatch and the Legislature's Office
of Program Policy Analysis and Government
Accountability (OPPAGA) recommendations to
enforce truck weight regulations. Estimated
revenue generated - $28 million for FY
2001-02, $56 million annualized.
Irresponsible
Driver Surcharge
Adopt
Florida TaxWatch recommendation to institute a
program where drivers who have committed
serious violations must pay a surcharge to
renew their license. This roadway safety
measure has already been implemented in New
Jersey and has led to a decrease in the number
of violations over the last four years.
Estimated revenue generated - $50 million in
FY 2001-02, $100 million annualized.
Corporate
Tax Credit for Private School Vouchers
Delay
legislation passed during the 2001 regular
session that provides businesses with tax
credits for donations to private school
voucher programs. Estimated revenue generated
- $50 million in FY 2001-02, $50 million
annualized.
Alcohol
Surcharge
Roll
back Florida's alcoholic drink tax to the rate
in place in 1999. Estimated revenue generated
- $40 million in FY 2001-02, $80 million
annualized.
Tax
Reform
Pass
legislation to immediately repeal tax
exemptions for skyboxes, sports teams, Golf
Hall of Fame, charter boat leases and contact
lens molds in excess of $100,000. Eliminating
these exemptions would generate an estimated
$27 million in FY 2001-02, $54 million
annualized.
Sunset
and commit to justifying the need to re-enact
the bulk of the $22 billion in existing sales
tax exemptions (except for necessities like
food and medicine). The exemptions would be
reviewed over the next two regular sessions
with the goal of lowering the sales tax rate
to five cents or lower. This action would
lower the sales tax rate for all Floridians
while increasing the stability of Florida's
tax base and stimulating economic growth.
Borrow
from the Budget Stabilization Fund
Consider
borrowing some of the $941 million in
Florida's Budget Stabilization Fund to help
balance the state's budget with a plan to pay
it back, as required by law. When the economy
improves, the Budget Stabilization Fund should
be fully funded at 10 percent of the prior
year's general revenue (it is now at 5
percent).
Reduce
State Agency Expense Budgets
Explore
recommendation by Florida TaxWatch to reduce
administrative costs by 10 percent and
motivate state agencies to increase their use
of technology, teleconferencing, e-mail in
lieu of travel, remote classroom training and
postage. Estimated savings - $68 million in FY
2001-02, $136 million annualized.
Renegotiate
State Contracts
Open up
existing state contracts to review and
renegotiation with a goal of generating $75
million during FY 2001-02 and $300 million
annualized.
Return
to Competitive Bidding
Repeal
changes recently made to Florida statutes that
lets agencies more easily avoid competitive
bidding and provide the Comptroller with
authority to review any contract over a
threshold amount (e.g. $1,000,000) to
determine whether citizens have been well
served.
Eliminate
Unspent 2001-02 Member Projects
Eliminate
from the current year budget any member
project of less than statewide implication
(that benefit a local area only) that has not
yet been funded. Florida Tax Watch identified
$282 million of these projects in its 2001
Turkey Watch report ($179 million of which
were vetoed by the governor). Enact a
moratorium on member projects for FY 2002-03.
Estimated savings - $50 million in FY 2001-02,
$300 million in FY 2002-03.
First
District Court of Appeal Annex
The 2000
Legislature appropriated $15.8 million to
build 6 new courtrooms in the First District
Court of Appeals. This project did not go
through the Capital Improvement Project
process and was therefore included in the
Florida Tax Watch 2000 Turkey Report. The
First District Court of Appeals does not
support this project. Estimated savings -
$15.8 million in FY 2001-02.
...From Karen Woodall, Florida NOW
Lobbyist, 11/21
Yesterday, Governor Jeb Bush, flanked by
Senate President John McKay and House Speaker
Tom Feeney, hosted a media briefing to
announce that:
1. Since the October 22 -- November 1 Special
Session did not accomplish its goal of
producing a budget which addresses the
expected decline in revenue growth;
2. It is in the best interest of the state to
call the Florida Legislature back into Special
Session.
Therefore, by proclamation of the Governor,
the third special session of 2001 will convene
on Tuesday, November 27 at 9:00 AM, and will
adjourn on or before midnight on Thursday,
December 6.
The stated purposes of the Special Session
will be to consider reductions in
appropriations (aka budget cuts), conform
statutes to provide flexibility within
appropriated funds (aka shift trust funds
around to meet short term needs), provide
appropriations for security and economic
stimuli (aka provide more money for FDLE and
some corporate welfare for business), consider
expansion of the State Comptroller's authority
to borrow from the Budget Stabilization Fund
on an emergency basis, and consider changing
the Intangibles Tax law (aka delay the most
recent tax cut).
In all, the governor and legislative
leadership have determined that the product of
the first session is null and void. It
did not happen. Shred the evidence.
Erase the tapes. Nice try, but no cigar.
Start again from scratch.
If you thought the previous session was
difficult, hold on tight. We know that the
economic picture is not getting brighter, so
the post-Thanksgiving debate will again be
agonizing and rancorous.
The governor and legislative leaders may have
stood shoulder to shoulder yesterday, but on
November 27 when the facts of budget cutting
options become real, the debate will
intensify. There is nothing easy about
curtailing programs, and nothing simple about
reducing access to vital services.
It is also probable that we shall see a return
of the various domestic security bills which
were enacted by the Senate as well as bills in
the House dealing with school prayer,
patriotic programs, and reading parts of the
Declaration of Independence. These bills may
be heard either as part of the committee
process for the Regular Session which convenes
in late January, or as part of the third
special session which begins in three weeks.
Your task is to contact your legislators while
they are home for the Thanksgiving holidays
and to remind them that while Floridians want
to be both safe and secure, the price simply
cannot be the elimination of our personal
freedoms.
It is always best to meet with your
legislators when they are in their home
districts. Talk to them about your budget
concerns which is the reason for the special
session call, but also impress upon them the
danger of trying to protect our freedoms by
forsaking those very freedoms.
Any new bills applicable to the third special
session will be posted at Online Sunshine, the
official web site of the Florida Legislature.
The URL is http://www.leg.state.fl.us
. The session identifier will be 2001C.
Thank you for remaining eternally vigilant in
the defense of civil liberties!
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