Gov. Rick Scott underscored his veto this week of a 3 percent tuition hike by sending letters Friday to administrators at the
state’s 12 public universities, calling a tuition hike, “a tax increase on our families that must be stopped.”

With assurances already in hand from most schools that they won’t seek an increase from the State University System’s Board of Governors, Scott’s letter is aimed chiefly at blunting an automatic, 1.7 percent cost-of-living boost.

The provision was included in state law to help schools meet rising costs, even when no tuition hike is approved.

But Scott appears intent on getting schools to refuse the inflation dollars.

“As with many matters that come before us, I know there are several legal opinions concerning who would implement a tuition increase and how they would go about doing it,” Scott said in his letter.

“Again, we are committed to fighting against any tuition increase in Florida,” he added. “We should be proud that our state offers affordable tuition and a high quality education, just as we are proud to have no state income tax.”

Running for re-election next year, Scott could have the distinction of being the first governor in almost two decades to halt Florida’s tuition rise. It appears Scott and his advisers see the cost-of-living provision as a potential asterisk on an otherwise potent political claim – one aimed directly at a possible rival.

Scott’s predecessor, former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, is now a Democrat who many expect to seek that party’s nomination for governor next year.

Under Crist, lawmakers and business leaders across Florida had pushed through legislation giving universities more authority to raise tuition. Crist joined with the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Council of 100 and others in promoting tuition hikes as a means of plowing more dollars into universities.

Gov. Rick Scott is ready to make Florida the nation’s 40th state to smackdown smartphones — saying he will sign legislation next week to ban texting while driving.

“As a father and a grandfather, texting while driving is something that concerns me when my loved ones are on the road,” Scott said Friday. “The 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day are known as the deadliest days on the road for teenagers. We must do everything we can at the state level to keep our teenagers and everyone on our roads safe.”

Scott plans to sign the texting ban, SB 52, on Tuesday at Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School in Miami.

The legislation would make texting while driving a secondary offense. Motorists could be ticketed only if law enforcement officials stopped them for another reason, like careless driving.

A ticket could cost first-time offenders $30, plus court costs. But the bill includes exemptions that allow motorists to use phones to check maps, use voice-commands or listen to the radio through their phones.

Drivers also could text while stopped at a light, under the legislation. Talking on a cell phone would not be restricted.

U.S. Reps. Connie Mack IV and Mary Bono Mack shared both a marriage and a political defeat last fall, when the Florida congressman lost a bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and the California congresswoman failed to win re-election.

On Friday, the couple announced they are getting divorced after six years of marriage.

In a statement, the pair said, “We are saddened to announce that we have reached the difficult decision to end our marriage. We have nothing but respect and admiration for each other and we intend to remain on the friendliest of terms. We appreciate the love and support of our family and friends.”

Shortly after his defeat last fall, Mack joined Liberty Partners Group, a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm, as a partner and senior policy advisor. Mary Bono Mack also is consulting in Washington.

 

WEST PALM BEACH — Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, and Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, called for more cooperation between Republicans and Democrats when they appeared together at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch today to discuss a bipartisan bill to trim the deficit.

Murphy and Joyce are both freshmen and part of a bipartisan group seeking to find common ground on deficit issues. They co-sponsored a bill called the Savings, Accountability, Value and Efficiency (SAVE) Act, which identifies about $200 billion in savings over 10 years by adopting efficiency recommendations from the Government Accountability Office.

The $200 billion in savings amount to about 3 percent of the $6.3 trillion in projected deficits over the next decade, but Murphy and Joyce said their bill is at least a start.

“We are not going to solve the world’s problems overnight. We are freshman members. But we’re changing the tone and step by step that’s what we need to do in this country is change to the tone and get back to bipartisanship,” Murphy said.

“I view myself as a fact-based problem solver,” said Joyce, a former prosecutor whose district includes some Cleveland suburbs and northeast Ohio. “It’s about time we take off our red jerseys and we take off our blue jerseys and we put on our red-white-and-blue jerseys and do what’s right for this country.”

Murphy and Joyce were asked by an audience member if they feared that working across the aisle would make them targets for a primary challenge.

Joyce decried the influence of conservative groups that pressure Republican House members to vote their way or face primary opposition. He specifically mentioned Grover Norquist of Americans For Tax Reform, which asks candidates to pledge to oppose all tax increases.

“I want taxes to do go down. But we can’t sign stupid pledges that abdicate our responsibility to some outside party,” Joyce said.

Both Murphy and Joyce represent battleground districts and are expected to be top targets in 2014. Joyce said he is also bracing for possible opposition from within the GOP.

Joyce was asked if any Republicans tried to dissuade him from appearing with Murphy.

“I’m not endorsing him (Murphy), I’m coming down to endorse the system and what we need to do in D.C. to fix it,” Joyce said in an interview.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, is one of the national GOP’s top 2014 targets, so it’s likely that a parade of Republican figures will come to Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast over the next 18 months to assist efforts to defeat him.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., was in town recently to interview potential Murphy challengers. McHenry heads up recruiting efforts for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, is scheduled to make a Murphy-related visit on Friday — but not to try to oust Murphy from Congress.

Joyce and Murphy are co-sponsors of the Savings, Accountability, Value and Efficiency (SAVE) Act, which aims to trim $200 billion in federal spending over 10 years by implementing some efficiency recommendations put forward by the Government Accountability Office.

Murphy and Joyce are scheduled to discuss the SAVE Act and the prospects for bipartisan cooperation at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches luncheon on Friday at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.

Read more here.

Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday that the Chilean company, Crystal Lagoons Corp., maker of the world’s largest swimming pool, is moving its worldwide headquarters to Miami.

Nearing the end of a four-day trade mission to Chile, Scott said the agreement with the Santiago-based company, which makes exotic water bodies used in resorts across the world, was among several sealed on the Enterprise Florida trip.

Scott also announced Wednesday a joint venture between Florida’s Advanced Magnet Lab and several Chilean companies that is expected to yield work within the state on wind turbine generators, aero-propulsion and space exploration products.

In a phone call to the Palm Beach Post, Scott said the tour also has promoted Florida ports to Chilean salmon producers and fruit exporters.

“We can help connect people,” Scott said. “We’ve got about 100 Florida business people with us. The message we can convey is that ‘you should be doing more business with Florida.”

Scott also said Crystal Lagoons Corp.’s move underscores his recurring sales pitch.

“If you want to be a worldwide player, and do business especially in the U.S. and the Latin America market, then Miami is the perfect

 

Three Palm Beach County lawmakers earned perfect scores from the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Not surprisingly, their Democratic counterparts received mostly failing grades from the powerful business lobby.

GOP Reps. Pat Rooney, R-West Palm Beach; MaryLynn Magar, R-Tequesta; and Bill Hager, R-Delray Beach, all received marks of “100″ from the Chamber. Senate budget chief Joe Negron, R-Stuart, received an “87.”

The Chamber’s grades are based on 8,000 votes cast during the 2013 session that ended early this month. Fifty-nine percent of the 160 House and Senate members earned “A” grades with scores of 90-100 for “voting to make Florida more competitive and in support of the priority jobs issues” included in the Chamber’s legislative agenda, according to a press release.

Rep. Kevin Rader, a Delray Beach insurance agent, fared the best of his fellow Palm Beach County Democrats with a “72,” the only PBC Dem that earned a passing Chamber mark. Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, was at the bottom of the delegation with a “36,” just two points more than the Chamber’s lowest scorer, Rep. Elaine Schwartz, D-Hollywood.

Here’s how the rest of the delegation fared:
Sen. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington: 59;
Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana: 57;
Rep. Bobby Powell, D-Riviera Beach: 55;
Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach: 55;
Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth: 53;
Rep. Dave Kerner, D-Lake Worth: 49;
Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton: 48.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson urged Florida Gov. Rick Scott to veto legislation his fellow Republicans advanced that suspends for two years the state’s authority to set health insurance rates.

Nelson, a former state insurance commissioner, said in a Wednesday letter to Scott that allowing the bill (SB 1842) to become law would put consumers at risk of sky-high rate hikes.

“To eliminate the Florida insurance commissioner’s authority to turn down rate increases is unbelievable and unconscionable.”  Nelson wrote.

Nelson’s criticism echoes that raised during the session by legislative Democrats who said the legislation appeared designed to shield state regulators from any fallout stemming from the Affordable Care Act. Among them would be Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, a Republican and former Senate president from North Palm Beach, whose office oversees the Office of Insurance Regulation.

Proponents of the legislation, however, said it is merely aimed at helping the state comply with evolving regulatory requirements under the federal health care overhaul.

Group or individual health plans in place in 2010 will still be subject to rate review by state regulators, under SB 1842. But the host of new coverage options expected to be created when the Affordable Care Act takes effect in January will have rates controlled by federal agencies, although Atwater’s office will still review the proposals.

When the proposal was advanced in the Legislature, Republicans insisted they were not trying to shift blame for any problems that could rise from the influx of coverage plans and new companies.

They said that since the federal government has been imposing so many new regulations on the state, it made sense that federal officials do the rate-setting.

“This is not changing the consumer tradition of this state,” Rep. John Wood, R-Winter Haven, said at a House hearing last month. “But it is giving us
flexibility to understand a changing landscape.”

Democrats have been angered by the Republican-ruled Legislature’s long reluctance to enact provisions of the Affordable Care Act. They also said the new measure will give consumers the runaround in dealing with any issue with health insurance rates.

“We can do better for consumers,” said Rep. Jose Rodriquez, D-Miami, said during the April hearing.

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act continue to criticize the Legislature’s move.

“Senate Bill 1842 brings bad news for Florida consumers in at least two distinct ways: it deregulates health insurance at the state level, putting consumers at risk; and, it sets up ACA to be blamed for Florida’s irresponsibility,” said the Jupiter-based health advocacy group, FloridaCHAIN.

Scott has until June 5 to act on the legislation.

 

Pam Bondi and 22 other attorneys general are demanding that Urban Outfitters quit selling accessories they say is glorifying drug use and “undermining” efforts to combat prescription drug abuse.

The trendy company is targeting the hipster crowd with a line of products that riff on prescription drugs, including a set of syringe-shaped shot glasses along with shot glasses, beer “koozies” and coasters that look like prescription pads.

The Rx-line appears to be as focused on booze as drugs. The prescription-pad coasters bear the label “Al Koholic, M.D.” whose address is on “Brewskis Lane” in “Sloshville, NY.” The beer koozie, also “prescribed” by “Dr. Koholic, Al,” appears to be a prescription bottle for “BOOZEMIN.” And the “prescription shot” glasses are printed with the “Rx #: VRY-NBR8TD” with a quantity “As many as you can stomach” and refills: “Sure!”

But for Bondi, whose made fighting prescription drug abuse her top issue since taking office in 2011, and the other top lawyers, the kitschy barware isn’t a joke.

“Profiting from a ‘prescription line’ that is contrary to Florida’s efforts to combat prescription drug overdoses and drinking is unacceptable. We are calling on Urban Outfitters to forgo a few sales and help us save a lot of lives,” Bondi said in a statement.

The products “demean the thousands of deaths that occur each month in the United States from accidental overdoses,” Bondi and the AGs from 22 states and Guam wrote to Urban Outfitters CEO and Chairman Richard A. Hayne in a letter dated today. “These products are not in any way fun or humorous but make light of this rampant problem. We invite you to pull these products from your shelves and join with us to fight prescription drug abuse.”

Read the attorneys general message here or after the jump.

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In a move that may sound a little like rain on your wedding day, a leading online reputation-building company announced Wednesday that former Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon has joined its board of advisors.

ReputationChanger.com, whose website says it is dedicated to “protecting and advocating for our clients’ online images,” is part of a growing industry of digital message-shapers.

Cannon, R-Winter Park, ended his two-year stint as House Speaker last fall and since has opened a Tallahassee lobbying firm, Capitol Insight, with another Republican ex-speaker, Larry Cretul, among his employees.

Cannon’s path from being on the receiving end of lobbying to actually doing lobbying himself isn’t uncommon at the Capitol. But the trajectory became harshly condemned by senators this spring as they crafted a new state ethics law.

The measure approved by lawmakers and signed into law earlier this month by Gov. Rick Scott extends a current, two-year ban on former legislators lobbying the Legislature to include a new, two-year restriction on ex-lawmakers lobbying the executive branch and state agencies.

In a statement, ReputationChanger.com president Michael Zammuto said there was a ”natural synergy” between ReputationChanger.com and Capitol Insight.

“Online reputation management is critical across the political process, and indeed, political campaigns worldwide are won and lost on the basis of online reputation and the effectiveness of their online strategies,” Zammuto said.  “As such, ReputationChanger.com has been busily gearing up for the
next election cycle, and expanding our services in the political realm.”

In the company statement, Cannon said, “The usefulness of online reputation management in the political campaign process is difficult to overstate.”

“Just imagine,” he added, “If an unflattering news headline or erroneous accusation come to light, a company like ReputationChanger.com can help political campaigns get the facts of their message out aggressively, and even push those unwanted headlines off the first page of an online search results page. This can be a huge potential advantage for any political campaign.”

 

 

Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing today on the Internal Revenue Service’s admitted targeting of conservative groups when they applied for tax-exempt status, used his time to question why “social welfare” organizations are allowed to engage in any political activity at all.

It’s part of an effort by Democrats on the committee to shift focus from the hassling of tea party groups to the interpretation of the tax law that says 501(c)(4) groups must be operated “exclusively” for social welfare purposes.

IRS regulations say an organization meets the “exclusively” standard if it is “primarily engaged in promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the community.”

Nelson decried the “enormous money” going through 501(c)(4) organizations and asked “How could you all in the IRS allow the tax breaks funded basically by the taxpayer (to be spent) on these political campaign expenditures?”

He added: “I understand the king’s English, and it says the promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns. Now, how you interpret that to say that that does allow some intervention in political campaigns is beyond me.”

FORT LAUDERDALE — After urging Broward County Republican activists to improve GOP messaging, Gov. Rick Scott was asked Monday night about his veto earlier in the day of $1 million for Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw‘s “violence prevention” program.

Legislators approved the money for a special unit aimed at heading off potential violence, including an anonymous tip line for callers to report on suspicious activity by their neighbors.

“We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw told The Palm Beach Post last month. “What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’ ”

Supporters hailed the measure as a way of potentially preventing another Newtown or Aurora mass murder. Critics said it smacked of Big Brotherism.

Scott addressed neither issue Monday night, instead offering a fairly generic explanation for the veto, which was part of $368 million he nixed from the state’s $74.1 billion budget.

“Here’s what I did: I went through the budget making sure I did the three things that are important for families. I went through and said look, what are the programs, the legislative proposals that are going to help us build jobs, improve education and keep the cost of living low because we’ve created an efficient government. That’s how I went through all of them,” Scott told reporters.

Asked if there was anything about the sheriff’s program in particular that stood out, Scott said: “There’s a lot of great programs around the state. That was how I thought about it.”

FORT LAUDERDALE — Speaking to Republicans in one of Florida’s most heavily Democratic counties, Gov. Rick Scott tonight said the GOP should win every election if Republicans do a better job of telling their story to voters.

Scott, who was narrowly elected in 2010 and faces a tough re-election fight next year, exhorted the party faithful at the Broward County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day dinner.

“I have not met one Floridian that should be anything but a Republican,” said Scott.

The GOP is the party of job creators, Scott said, and he said it should also be the party of people who rely on government social programs.

“Let’s say that you need a safety net,” Scott said. “Let’s say you need unemployment insurance or you need something to take care of you while times are hard before you get back on your feet, whether that’s health care, whether that’s unemployment insurance, whatever it is. Who pays for it? People that have jobs. So if you need anything from the government, any government, you should absolutely be a Republican because it won’t be there if it wasn’t for people who had jobs and build businesses.”

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Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a $74.1 billion state budget for the year beginning July 1 — vetoing $368 million Monday from the proposal approved by lawmakers earlier this month.

Erased with the vetoes was $6.5 million sought by Palm Beach State College for a new campus in Loxahatchee Groves — the third time such funding has been wiped out by a Florida governor. Another $325,000 in projects along the Lake Worth Lagoon sought by Palm Beach County officials also was vetoed.

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw also lost $1 million he had sought to form a special unit to head off potential violence by what law enforcement considered unstable residents.

In statewide issues, Scott vetoed a 3 percent tuition increase proposed for college and university students — a hike the governor has criticized for months. Meeting with reporters after signing the spending plan, Scott touted the budget’s additional $1 billion for public schools, including $480 million for teacher pay raises.

He also laid out his rationale for reviewing spending items in the budget.

“One, is it going to help our families get more jobs? Two, will it help improve our education system in our state? And three, will it help make government more efficient so we keep the cost of living low in our state?” Scott said.

Singling out the tuition increase, Scott said, “I worry about the cost of higher education…some people think I shouldn’t get involved in that.”

But he added, “I am absolutely committed to keeping tuition low. This is not a political decision, this is a decision for Florida families.”

The state budget for 2013-14 will $4.1 billion bigger than the one that expires June 30, a roughly 6 percent increase.

Along with the $1 billion boost for public school spending; pay raises and bonuses for 160,000 state workers and higher education employees are included for the first time in seven years. Lawmakers also included $2.8 billion in budget reserves, that will swell now to more than $3 billion with the $368 million in vetoes.

In Palm Beach County, lawmakers and county officials had been optimistic that Scott would allow several hometown spending items become law. Instead, Scott swept through most of the county’s take-home list.

County officials lost $1 million budgeted for Glades Utility Authority pipeline improvements, $75,000 for the masterplan for Torry Island, a Lake Okeechobee marina that also was vetoed last year by Scott. Also lost was $200,000 for shoreline work in Lake Park and $1 million for two road projects in Riviera Beach.

Among the bigger single-item vetoes was $14 million for a new science, technology, engineering and math building at Gulf Coast State College in the home district of Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

Gaetz was generally stoic.

“While many will disagree with some of Gov. Scott’s line item vetoes, that is his constitutional role as chief executive,” Gaetz said. “The next budget and policy cycle begins at sunrise tomorrow and we in the Senate look forward to our role as partners with the House…and the governor.”

 

Gov. Rick Scott is scheduled to sign the state budget into law shortly after noon today, likely trimming back the $74.5 billion spending plan approved by lawmakers with a few million dollars worth of vetoes.

A 3 percent tuition hike for college and university students already looks doomed. Scott’s staff has leaked to a wire service details about the governor’s intention to veto the increase — which he has signaled for months.

In Palm Beach County, much of the focus is on the fate of $6.5 million approved for Palm Beach State College to begin work on a new Loxahatchee Groves campus. Scott vetoed money for the western campus two years ago — as did former Gov. Charlie Crist before him. But college officials hope the third time proves the charm for the campus cash.

PBSC last fall spent $4.5 million finalizing the purchase of land for the new site. Supporters think that could make a difference when it comes to dodging the governor’s veto pen.

“Hopefully, this is the year,” PBSC spokeswoman Grace Truman told the Palm Beach Post last week.

Scott vetoed $142.7 million in spending last year, a year after he set a record by vetoing $615 million just months after taking office. The state budget year begins July 1.

Responding to the unfolding revelations that the Internal Revenue Service singled out conservative groups for extra scrutiny, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee, says it’s time to “tear it down and start over.”

Rooney is co-sponsoring bills that take aim at the IRS and its key role in implementing Obamacare.

“With the power to tax comes the power to destroy, and when the agency with that power becomes corrupt, we have a responsibility to tear it down and start over,” a Rooney statement says. “The IRS has proved that it is both biased and corrupt, and I have completely lost faith in its ability to enforce the tax code honestly, fairly and effectively, and so have my constituents.”

Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, quickly called for an investigation of the IRS while Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, used the IRS scandal to take aim at the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

A manufacturing tax break, one of Gov. Rick Scott’s two priorities this legislative session, is now law.

Scott signed the measure (HB 7007) on Friday and touted it during a stop at a Tampa manufacturing firm.

Under the new law, manufacturers won’t have to pay sales tax on equipment purchases for three years, beginning in April 2014. Scott had wanted to make the tax break permanent, but lawmakers gave him a three-year window instead.

The new law also creates a new nonprofit corporation to oversee money awarded to the state from lawsuits connected to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The manufacturing tax break was caught up in some late-night maneuvers during the final week of session. Two days before the session ended, Scott had to act on a campaign finance bill and an ethics measure that were priorities of House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

Scott announced he signed the bills about half an hour after the House gave final passage to his manufacturing tax break.

But House Democrats believe the tax break, tucked into a 96-page economic incentive package, is not official because the bill did not receive a two-third majority vote.

The state constitution requires a two-thirds approval for tax-related items that cause counties or cities to lose revenue or reduce a tax in which the local governments share.

Weatherford insists that the tax break did not require the supermajority vote.

_ The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Fox News Channel has signed former U.S. Rep. Allen West as a contributor.

The conservative firebrand often appeared on Fox programs during his single term in the House and chose Fox as the venue when he conceded his narrow loss to Democrat Patrick Murphy in November.

“Representative West’s congressional and military experience along with his fearless approach to voicing key issues will provide a valuable point of view to the Fox News lineup,” said a statement from Bill Shine, the executive vice president of programming for Fox News.

In addition to his Fox duties, West will continue to be director of Next Generation TV programming for conservative PJ Media, where he hosts a subscription-only online TV show.

The ever-acerbic Senate President Don Gaetz spared no venom for Florida TaxWatch in a response to the business-backed group’s budget “turkey” list released earlier today.

The self-proclaimed government watchdog’s method of targeting the turkeys – which include $14 million for a Gulf Coast State College Panama City campus – that haven’t been approved by state agencies “is built on the unconstitutional perversion” that Gaetz, R-Niceville, said in a statement.

“This is an arrogance of the elite who spend too much time in Tallahassee and Washington listening to the echoes of their own invented wisdom and thinking they’re hearing the voice of God,” Gaetz went on.

Read Gaetz’s rant after the jump.
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Florida TaxWatch, the business-backed non-profit that calls itself a “government watchdog,” has targeted $107 million “turkeys” they’re suggesting Gov. Rick Scott red-line as he ponders the state’s $74.5 billion spending plan.

The 107 projects add up to just one-half of one percent of the total budget, and about $60 million less than the group identified last year.

TaxWatch’s pinpointed $9,330,422 in Palm Beach County projects, including:
_ $450,000 of the $1 million lawmakers steered to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s violence intervention program;
_ $6.5 million for Palm Beach State College’s proposed Loxahatchee Groves campus;
_ $1,280,422 for Place of Hope at the Haven campus;
_ $100,000 for a nicotine addiction drug treatment program at Scripps Research Institute;
_ $1 million for Glades Area Street resurfacing in Belle Glade.

Two Treasure Coast projects also made TaxWatch’s hit list: $2 million for renovations at Indian River State College at the St. Lucie west campus and $200,000 for interior renovations of the Golden Gate building in Martin County.

The group also tagged a $14 million Gulf Coast State College project for a Panama City campus, something Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, wants built.

And Senate budget chief Joe Negron’s

TaxWatch identifies “turkeys” as items that were put into the budget at the last minute or without public vetting, which “circumvent lawfully established procedures,” or which steer money to special interests or local areas without going through the bidding process.

Scott has until May 24 to act on the budget. The Republican, who is running for reelection, slashed a whopping $181 million from the spending plan his first year on the job, and cut $63 million last year.