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Friday, June 17, 2011, 5:59 pm
CAPITOL COMMENT: Puerto Rico trip shows Florida's sway
Barack Obama's trip to Puerto Rico this week was another sign that the president sees Florida as a key state in his re-election bid next year.
Obama's one-day trip — the second official visit to the island by a president since John F. Kennedy — was closely watched by Florida's growing Puerto Rican community, which is increasing its influence in state politics.
"The president's move to go to Puerto Rico is a master stroke because a lot of my constituents are still fixated on Puerto Rican politics and news from the island," said state Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, the only state lawmaker with a Puerto Rican heritage.
Soto said Obama's visit to the island during the 2008 campaign also paid dividends, particularly in Central Florida, where the majority of the state's 850,000 Puerto Ricans reside.
The growth of the Puerto Rican community, which generally votes for Democrats, has acted as a political counter-balance to the historic voting strength of Florida's Cuban-Americans, who tend to vote Republican.
In the 2008 presidential race, a strong turnout by Puerto Rican voters, who supported Obama, helped the Democratic contender carry 57 percent of Florida's Hispanic vote, which had tilted 56 percent in favor of the Republicans in the 2004 presidential election.
But historically, some Republicans, including the bilingual former Gov. Jeb Bush, have also been popular among Florida's Puerto Rican voters.
"Puerto Ricans in the state, particularly in the I-4 corridor, are swing voters in a swing area of a swing state," Soto said. "They have voted for Republicans like Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist but also for Barack Obama and Alex Sink. Clearly, they're in play to get that extra edge."
Aside from showing an affinity for the island, Soto said successful candidates will have to appeal to the top issues facing his community, including the economy, home foreclosures, health care and education.
Educated legislature
For the first time, The Chronicle of Higher Education said it has surveyed the educational backgrounds of the more than 7,000 state legislators around the country, finding that Florida ranks among the top tier when it comes to having a college degree.
About 85 percent of Florida's 160 lawmakers — including 40 senators and 120 House members — hold at least a bachelor's degree or higher, according to the survey.
That educational status is reflected in the state's legislative leadership, including House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who holds a law degree, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, who has a master's degree and is working on a doctorate.
The national survey puts Florida sixth among states, trailing California as the leader with about a 90 percent degree-holding body. New Hampshire was at the bottom, with 53 percent of its lawmakers holding college degrees.
Florida lawmakers were well above the national average of 75 percent for state lawmakers. And the education levels of House and Senate members are well above the rate for Florida's overall population, in which only 26 percent have a college degree. -
Friday, June 10, 2011, 10:38 pm
Capitol Comments: Students still getting low marks amid education gains
Although Florida is making progress in improving its public school system, three new assessments released this week show the Sunshine State still has a ways to go.
Education Week released its annual "Diplomas Count" report, showing while Florida has substantially improved its high school graduation rate over the last decade or so, it remains below the national average.
The group ranked Florida 44th in the nation with a 63.9 percent graduation rate — well below the national average of 71.7 percent. And for some subgroups, it was worse, with a little more than half — 53.9 percent — of black students earning a degree in 2008.
However, the survey showed Florida has made some significant gains, improving its graduation rate by 12.4 percent over the decade from 1998-2008, doubling the national improvement rate of 6.1 percent.
The report also projected how many dropouts Florida could expect in its class of 2010-11, based on a freshman class of 231,598 students in 2007-08. It projected 83,516 dropouts or a loss of 464 students each day since the class began.
State officials use a different type of calculation in assessing Florida's graduation rate, which they peg at closer to 80 percent, while acknowledging the state needs to improve.
Two other state measures released this week also added perspective to Florida's quest to improve its schools.
The results from the annual Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test showed little improvement as the state begins its move to a tougher testing system to assess the progress of state public school students.
Reading, math and science test scores from the fourth to 11th grades showed students continued to struggle with the FCAT science test.
"I'm very encouraged by the continued progress we are seeing in science, but the overall performance of our students is still far too low," said state Education Commissioner Eric Smith.
And Florida released the results of its first ever standardized end-of-course exam, assessing how well students were learning algebra.
The algebra exam is the first of what will be a series of subject-specific exams facing Florida students in the future, replacing the more generalized testing that has been historically used.
More than 210,000 students, who had taken algebra 1, participated in the exam in May. And the results showed that statewide students answered only 41 percent of the questions correctly.
"This has been a tremendous undertaking by our state, but one that is essential if we are to reduce the need for remedial coursework, improve student outcomes and ensure every child has the chance to follow their dreams," Smith said in a statement.
Geometry and biology exams will debut next year. -
Friday, June 03, 2011, 10:08 pm
Capital Comments: Pill mill bill so good Scott signed it three times
With abysmal poll numbers, Gov. Rick Scott this week turned to a time-honored practice that many governors have used in trying to focus some positive publicity on an issue that might gain them a little more favor with voters.
He broke out the ceremonial bill signings. In fact, Scott on Friday staged three signings for a bill that will crack down on so-called "pill mills," medical facilities that are excessively dispensing pain medication that can be abused.
Of course, a governor can only sign — or for that matter veto — a bill once. But often times, governors will use ceremonial signings to bring a little more attention their actions.
In the case of the pill-mill bill, Scott held signings in Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando, each at a law enforcement facility to further emphasize the measure.
Although he is hardly the first governor to use ceremonial signings, Scott said because of the gravity of prescription drug abuse in the state — where seven Floridians a day die from overdoses — he felt it necessary to bring a little more attention to the new law, which will strengthen a prescription drug monitoring database and give law enforcement more powers to investigate the clinics. Scott originally opposed the database, but later endorsed it.
"This is a significant issue for our state and our country," Scott said. "And I think that it's something that the public needs to really be made aware of what the bill is going to do."
As for staging the three ceremonies, Scott said it was "a way to let people know we're going to have an impact on the pill mills."
Businesses pleased
Although unions, environmental groups and other interest groups may not be happy with the outcome of the 2011 Florida Legislature, major business groups seem very pleased.
In its annual report card, the Florida Chamber of Commerce gave 60 percent of the Legislature an "A" grade — up from 56 percent last year. In the House, 80 of the 120 members earned the highest grade, while 15 of the 40 senators were at the top of the Chamber's assessment.
"With the Florida Chamber's report card, employers can find out which legislators support the business community, and the online edition provides a breakdown of how each individual legislator voted on specific issues in the Florida business agenda," said former House Speaker Allen Bense, R-Panama City, who is chairman of the chamber's board of directors.
Growth bill criticized
Environmental groups condemned Scott's decision to sign a bill that rewrote Florida's landmark 1985 growth management act, substantially decreasing the state's oversight of local planning decisions and making it more difficult for citizens to challenge development.
Scott and lawmakers said the growth law needed to be revised to spur economic development.
Charles Lee, the top lobbyist for Audubon of Florida, called that reasoning the "big lie."
He said under the existing law, the state had approved 1 million new residential units and 2.7 billion square fee of commercial, office and industrial space between 2007 and 2011.
"That is enough new houses to allow another 2.4 million people to move to Florida and enough new retail, office and industrial space to create over 6 million new jobs," Lee said. "The growth management act was never standing in the way of new jobs." -
Friday, May 27, 2011, 3:45 pm
Capitol Comments: Florida tax collections rising
Florida tax collections are rising, reflecting a national trend as state revenues increase with a slowly improving economy.
A new report from the Rockefeller Institute of Government, a university think-tank from New York, shows Florida's tax collections from its major revenue sources for the first three months of 2011 are 6.3 percent above the same period in 2010. Sales tax collections, the key funding source for the state, were up 5.3 percent.
Florida's numbers were largely in line with the national trend: the survey of 47 states showed a 9.1 percent increase in overall tax collections for the first quarter of 2011, with sales tax increases pegged at 5.6 percent.
Nationally, state tax collections have been rising for five straight quarters, following five quarters of declines. But they were still 3.1 percent lower in 2011 than the same period three years ago, according to the Rockefeller analysts.
The data generally matches with what Florida officials are seeing in their tax collections this year.
Amy Baker, head of the Legislature's Office of Demographic and Economic Research, said since state economists made their last revenue estimate in March, the tax collections have been running slightly higher than expected. For instance, in April, the state took in $73 million more in sales tax collections, or 4.1 percent above the March estimate.
"It is a definite improvement when you look year over year," Baker said. "The fact that we're running over estimate in the sales tax is a good sign."
Baker said the trend of actual collections exceeding estimates for the past three months is a sign that the economic recovery will be sustained. And in the long term, it will mean lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott will have an easier time putting together a state budget in the coming years as the revenue flow increases.
However, Florida and the other states have a ways to go before they return to revenue levels that were seen before the Great Recession.
For instance, in this fiscal year, which began July 1, Florida has collected $16.1 billion from its sales tax through April — $3 billion below the amount collected in the same period in the 2006-07 budget year.
Baker said state economists don't expect Florida revenues to reach those levels again until the 2013-14 budget year.
SCOTT'S POPULARITY NEAR A HISTORIC LOW
Gov. Rick Scott's approval ratings plunged to a near record low for a modern Florida governor in a poll released this week by Quinnipiac University. The survey showed only 29 percent of Florida voters approve of his efforts as governor, while 57 percent disapprove.
It's not as low as the 22 percent approval rating former Gov. Lawton Chiles had in 1992, following Hurricane Andrew and several tough financial years as the state struggled with an economic downturn.
Scott's approval rating was just ahead of former Gov. Bob Martinez's 28 percent mark, which he reached in 1987 after he backed the controversial sales tax on services, which was later repealed.
Peter Brown, a Quinnipiac pollster, said the "good news" for Scott in the survey results was that "he has three and a half years to turn public opinion around."
In the case of his predecessors, that was a 50-50 outcome. Martinez lost his re-election bid to Chiles in 1990, while Chiles narrowly won a second term in 1994 over a political upstart named Jeb Bush, who later won two terms as governor.
Compiled from reports by Lloyd Dunkelberger of the Tallahassee Bureau. -
Friday, May 20, 2011, 6:26 pm
USF's Lakeland campus at stake in budget
With the budget bill on his desk, Gov. Rick Scott is hearing from state university officials who are urging him not to veto some $137 million in construction projects for the 11 state universities.
The projects include $46 million for the University of South Florida's Polytechnic campus in Lakeland, which lawmakers approved last year, although former Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it.
"Significant investment in our public universities — as well as attention to deferred maintenance issues — is vital and creates thousands of new jobs," wrote Ava Parker, chair of the state Board of Governors, in a letter to Scott. "Funding for facilities is an essential cornerstone to building an economy based on knowledge, research discoveries, commercialization and innovation."
University officials began stepping up their lobbying for the projects when Scott said he was concerned about the state's growing debt load as he received the budget bill from lawmakers.
During testimony at a Cabinet meeting, Scott heard state bond officials say that a drop in collections from the state's 2.5 percent gross receipts tax on utility and telecommunications services means that Florida has a limited capacity for borrowing more money to pay for the university construction projects.
It also impacts the state's ability to borrow money for projects related to the community and state college system as well as the K-12 schools, which also benefit from the Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) bonding program.
The state could borrow more money for the program but it could result in Wall Street lowering the state's bond rating — which could substantially drive up the cost of overall state borrowing.
In her letter, Parker said the projects "are among the top priorities" for the state universities and had been approved by the Board of Governors, which oversees the system, as well as having the backing of the university boards of trustees at each school.
Scott has until June 1 to act on the new $69.7 billion state budget, which takes effect July 1.
Scott taunts Texas governor
Gov. Rick Scott, who began his business career as a successful health care executive in Texas, has often cited the Lone Star state as one of his inspirations for making Florida more "business friendly."
And after Chief Executive Magazine recently ranked Florida third-best in the nation for its business climate, behind North Carolina and No. 1 Texas, Scott wrote Gov. Rick Perry a letter, warning him in a jovial way that Florida would be closing that gap.
"We have no personal income tax and are phasing out the business tax, starting with eliminating it entirely for half the business that paid it. Florida is definitely on the road to be number one. Thank you for giving us the motivation we needed," Scott said in his letter.
But what Scott didn't mention is that the Texas government may not be the most ideal guide for financial stability. Lawmakers in that state are still wrestling with a $27 billion budget deficit, while Florida lawmakers solved a $4 billion shortfall this spring.