Florida lawmakers convene facing a $2 billion budget shortfall

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Legislature convenes Tuesday for an unusual and unpredictable 60-day session that will be dominated by two highly partisan subjects: the redrawing of political districts and yet another round of budget-cutting.

As lawmakers pack their bags for the next two months, they are adding sweaters and heavy coats to ward off the biting chill of a January in North Florida. The Constitution requires that a reapportionment session must begin in January, not in March as it usually does.

Beyond redistricting and the budget, legislators are expected to search anew for a way to curb rampant fraud in the state?s no-fault car insurance system; debate the creation of three new casino gambling resorts; and consider applying the sales tax to online consumer purchases of books, clothing and other items.

Gov. Rick Scott wants legislators to find another $1 billion for public schools, even in a year when they must close a projected budget shortfall of up to $2 billion.

?That we need to do,? Scott said in a Times/Herald interview of the school money. He has threatened to veto a budget that doesn?t include that money -- a risky tactic because senators in particular don?t like receiving ultimatums of any kind.

Scott?s path to that $1 billion for schools hinges on big cuts in Medicaid payments to hospitals, which would have a major impact in urban hospitals in Tampa Bay and South Florida that treat large numbers of Medicaid recipients.

Democrats are angry with Scott?s approach, which they describe as pitting school children and teachers against pregnant women and sick kids, two groups most dependent on Medicaid.

But the re-mapping of districts to reflect population growth and demographic shifts will be the central theme of the 2012 session from the outset.

It is a tense and exhausting work, made more complicated and unpredictable this year because of two voter-approved constitutional amendments that prevent the Legislature from drawing districts to help or hurt a political party or incumbents.

Republicans, aided by emerging technology, have posted extensive amounts of redistricting data online, and the hard-edged, me-first machinations of previous

decades have not surfaced.

Not yet, anyway.

?I think personally that it?s coming together smoother than the session of 10 years ago,? said Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, who in 2002 was in charge of re-mapping congressional districts in the Senate. ?The redistricting process in the Senate has been very well-managed.?

Latvala said he agrees with lawmakers who say they should delay action on the new budget until the middle of March or later when a new estimate of projected -- and hopefully for lawmakers, more -- tax revenue will be available.

Democrats have a more jaded view of reapportionment.

?It?s a free-for-all,? said Rep. Jeff Clemens, a first-term Democrat from Palm Beach County. ?The weight of redistricting is going to put a strain on everybody.? Clemens is already troubled by House maps that chop his hometown of Lake Worth into four different districts.

Source: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/01/09/3774459/florida-lawmakers-convene-facing.html

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