Gambling negotiations broke down this morning after the Senate reversed an earlier offer to the House limiting an expansion of gaming for the Seminoles and instead allowing them to have blackjack and all banked card games at each of their seven facilities.
And the latest Senate plan would also allow Palm Beach Kennel Club to have electronic slot machines if voters approve, something they had taken off the table.
“Mr. Chairman I appreciate your offer but I will say that it appears the Senate, with all due respect and notwithstanding your brief explanation, is moving backwards. Backwards from where we want to go in an expansion standpoint. Backwards from where the House is heading. And I’ll look at your offer and we will let you know if it’s necessary to meet further,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said after his Senate counterpart J.D. Alexander quickly read through “Senate Offer #4.”
“Thank you very much,” Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said. (more…)
The current topic for our esteemed panel of political strategists in The Forum is what office Gov. Charlie Crist should seek in 2010. Screven Watson, a former advisor to 2006 gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith, offers the, um, most unique perspective so far:
He has been Attorney General, Governor, Commissioner of Education and State Senator. Think of all the cool things he could do as Agriculture Commissioner. There is the Florida State Fair. I am almost sure the Commissioner gets unlimited rides on the Tilt-A-Whirl. Your department weighs the Lottery Balls…
Also, find out which Florida Democratic Party county chairman praises Crist for having “his finger on the pulse of what’s happening” by clicking on latest One More Question video above, filmed Tuesday on location at Pensacola Junior College.
Gov. Charlie Crist had his third town hall of the year on Tuesday. About 100 people showed up from the Pensacola area and 16 asked questions over about an hour.
At least three of the questioners (one who asked why state officials didn’t seriously consider tax reform and two others who wanted to know how Crist was going to shorten the waiting list for autism services) weren’t satisfied with the answers they received from Crist, repeating nearly identical quotes afterward: “He didn’t really answer my question.”
“It was a feel good response, but it had no substance,” said Mike Coonan, whose son has autism.
Here’s a rundown of some of the other issues Crist addressed:
Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, wrote tonight to House Speaker Larry Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater asking them to re-open debate on a bill when the chambers return for budget business on Thursday and Friday. Domino wants lawmakers to reconsider their decision to create a prescription drug database after similar software was hacked in Virgina.
If (when?) the request is denied, watch for Domino and other Republicans — possibly Cretul included — to write to Crist asking him to veto the bill.
After three meetings today, House and Senate leaders remain sharply divided over a gambling proposal.
Appearances by Gov. Charlie Crist and Lt. Gov Jeff Kottkamp, who showed up twice, did little or nothing to bring the two sides closer together on whether the Seminoles should be allowed to offer blackjack and slots at their Hard Rock resorts.
The House made few concessions in their third offer at the day’s final meeting, signing off on minor issues but refusing to grant the Seminoles the right to hold tabled card games.
Lawmakers are trying to come up with a replacement compact after the Florida Supreme Court tossed out an agreement between the tribe and Crist allowing blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer at its casinos.
After the ruling, the tribe continued to operate the games at the Hard Rock near Hollywood and started running them in their Tampa facility.
Rep. Bill Galvano, the House’s chief gambling negotiator, said that granting the tribe permission to have the games was tantamount to “rewarding bad behavior.”
Crist said the House should approve the compact “cuz the kids need the money” for education but bristled when asked about Galvano’s remarks.
“That’s up to them to decide. It’s in their hands,” he said.
Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, who had been negotiating throughout the day on gambling, tobacco taxes and the budget, left hurriedly after the meeting looking displeased with “House Offer #3.”
Alexander, R-Lake Wales, had counted on up to $500 million from the Seminoles for education spending. Lawmakers may need to return to Tallahassee for a special session on gambling if they do not reach consensus before Friday, the last day of the extended session.
Florida taxpayers got more than their money’s worth out of Sen. J.D. Alexander today.
The Senate budget chief dealt with a revolving door of House counterparts as he brokered deals on the budget, gambling and tobacco after a weekend of doing the same.
The Lake Wales Republican takes the long hours in stride because, he says, as a farmer he’s used to getting up early and going to bed late.
Alexander chaired practically back-to-back conference meetings with Reps. Marcelo Llorente, David Rivera, Bill Galvano and Ellyn Bogdanoff today, wrapping up talks on the buck-a-pack cigarette tax around 5:30 p.m. before horsetrading with Galvano on gambling was set to begin an hour later.
“After spending quite a few days and nights here, I’m ready to go home,” Alexander told Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, as he made a final concession on the tobacco deal.
Alexander’s put in 18-hour days on the budget for weeks and is anxious to seal the deal on gambling so lawmakers, already into a week of overtime from an extended session, won’t have to come back after Friday.
“I love hanging outwith you guys but I’ve got a family and a business,” Alexander told reporters yesterday when asked about the possibility of a special session on gambling. “I’ve missed my daughter’s birthday. I’ve missed her prom and graduation and all kind of stuff. I’m ready to go home. I don’t think the people of Florida need to pay for more time. I think we need to go to work. We need to get this stuff done. I think that can be done if we work hard. That’s the best approach.”
Cigar aficionados, rejoice. Cigarette smokers, not so much.
The House officially signed off on a buck-a-pack cigarette tax and the Senate agreed to exempt cigars from what lawmakers like to call a “surcharge” on tobacco.
Those who dip, chew or snuff also will pay more – also about $1 per ounce of loose tobacco.
The hope is to raise at least $800 million, most of which will pay for the state’s Medicaid program, and which lawmakers have included in next year’s budget.
Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, and his House counterpart Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, held a series of brief meetings to close out the tobacco deal, which Gov. Charlie Crist said today he would sign.
The tobacco tax was the brainchild of Boca Raton Democrat Ted Deutch.
Gov. Charlie Crist just finished up his townhall meeting at Pensacola Junior College. (Quick recap: He took a hour’s worth of questions from a crowd of about 100 people, including several folks who weren’t quite satisfied with the answers they received. But more on that a little later.)
No one asked about his election plans during the townhall. But we did afterward:
Does Rubio’s announcement affect your decision next week?
“No, it doesn’t. You know, everybody has the right to run. It’s a great part of our country and a great tradition.”
Is it a sign of unrest that a fellow Republican would make this announcement before you revealed your plans?
“No. I don’t think so.”
Isn’t appropriate to wait for the head of the party to announce his own election plans?
“No, no. People should make up their own minds about what they want to do. That’s fine.”
When will you announce your plans?
“I said I would do so after the session is over. They extended it a week on us. So, sometime thereafter we’ll take care of that.”
So Saturday?
“No, no. I think all I said was after that.”
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, thinks the announcement is coming May 10.
State workers, who have gone without a raise for three years, shouldn’t have their salaries cut while employees of private companies who contract with the state get automatic pay hikes, an angry Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson complained today.
Lawson asked Crist to veto the 2 percent pay cut for state workers making more than $45,000 a year that House and Senate budget negotiators agreed to this weekend.
And he wants Senate President Jeff Atwater to investigate why private contractors continue to get annual salary increases included in state contracts containing “escalation clauses.”
Lawson tried to amend a bill that would have stopped the clauses and redirected the money spent on the pay increases to offset the $30 million in state worker salary cuts included in the budget.
Lawson sent letters today asking Crist for the veto and Atwater for an auditor general investigation into how widespread the escalation clauses are and how much the salary increases have cost the state.
“I believe that the State of Florida is at a crossroads. Do we want a capable, dedicated and highly professional civil service corps? Or do we continue to allow private contractors, with the blessings of the Legislature, unhindered access to dwindling tax dollars while we furlough the state watchdogs or worse, cut their salaries?” Lawson, whose district includes Tallahassee where many state workers live, wrote to Atwater, R-North Palm Beach.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida could keep blackjack at all of its casino resorts and also offer baccarat and chemin de fer at all but their Immokalee, Cypress Creek and Brighton locales.
Under the latest Senate offer, blackjack’s not in the cards for Miami-Dade or Broward race tracks but all tracks with card rooms would be able to hold no-limit poker.
House negotiator Bill Galvano said the 3 p.m. offer will keep the talks alive.
“This is a meaningful offer. It gives me confidence that negotiations should continue,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said.
Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, also in charge of the gambling proposal, also agreed to the House’s 35 percent tax rate for Miami-Dade and Broward county horse and dog tracks, a 15 percent drop from what they now pay.
The two sides also agreed to allow simulcast racing at pari-mutuels throughout the state if they also have cardrooms. They also agreed to try to collect sales taxes on hotel rooms and other items from the Seminoles. The tribe already collects a hotel room surcharge but does not remit it to the state as other Florida hotels are required.
The Senate backed down from a previous plan that would have allowed Broward and Miami-Dade county tracks to offer blackjack and would have given Palm Beach County voters the ability to authorize slot machines at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.
Alexander and Galvano are scheduled to meet again at 6 p.m.
Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said the two have about 24 hours to finalize a deal in order for lawmakers to vote for it before the session ends on Friday.
Gov. Charlie Crist, a possible Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, reacting this afternoon to fellow Republican Marco Rubio announcing his candidacy:
“Oh. Ok,” Crist said after being told Rubio had announced.
“The great thing about our country is that everybody has the right to run,” he said. “And I certainly respect anybody who puts themselves forward in the political process.”
UPDATE: Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, a co-sponsor of Florida’s legislation: “We need to ensure that Florida’s system uses top-of-the-line technology to eliminate the threat from hackers. The bill I proposed would have done so, and the bill that ultimately passed can do so as well. “
Among the concerns about creating a database that tracks prescription drug purchases in Florida was that it could be hacked into and put thousands of identities at risk. A majority of lawmakers, however, approved the bill (SB 462), which is on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist for final approval.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that the same system in Virginia has been compromised and hackers are demanding ransom.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter. Domino led an unsuccessful attempt to amend an anti-hacker measure to the bill, requiring the state to use software that would keep the information in alpha-numeric codes.
“The sponsor of the bill and the drug czar (Bill Janes) were so desperate to do something that they weren’t going to let a single amendment on. This hasn’t worked on any state in the union,” Domino said.
A drug database — which supporters say could crack down on Floridians who use the same prescription at several pharmacies — has been debated for years in the legislature.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush was among the early supporters. He applauded lawmakers for approving the measure.
“Haven’t seen the details,” he wrote in an e-mail, “but if it is comprehensive and implemented correctly, it will save lives.
A new license plate that lawmakers failed to approve made it into the state budget today despite the leaders’ prior promise not to add items that hadn’t been passed during the regular session.
Proceeds from the Autism tag will go toward research for the disorder.
The House included the new item in a conforming bill that first appeared at an 11 a.m. conference meeting. Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander signed off on it.
House budget co-chief David Rivera offered the following explanation for the last-minute addition.
“The Speaker of the House was very reluctant to reopen the entire issue of license plate ideas,” Rivera, R-Miami, began. “The only reason that the Speaker was willing to look at the autism license plate again was because this item had a direct nexus to what is going on with the budget.”
Proceeds from the tag will go to offset some of the $600,000 in cuts to autism research, Rivera said.
House and Senate leaders opened negotiations on gambling doing little to resolve their differences but meeting at last.
Gambling talks between the chambers have been on hold since Friday. Their task: craft a plan that addresses games at the Seminole casino resorts and the state’s dog and horse tracks and reaps the biggest rewards for the state.
Still up in the air: which games the Seminoles will be allowed to operate at their casino resorts, a possible expansion of blackjack for dog and horse tracks in Broward and Miami-Dade counties and how much revenue to demand from the tribe.
“There’s a lot of meat left on the bone,” the House’s chief gambling negotiator Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said after the meeting.
Galvano and his Senate counterpart J.D. Alexander did agree to limit a compact with the Seminoles to 15 years instead of the 25 years the tribe had sought and which was included in the original deal signed by Gov. Charlie Crist. The Florida Supreme Court tossed that. (more…)
Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-Miami, announced this morning he’s running for the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Republican Sen. Mel Martinez. Gov. Charlie Crist is widely expected to seek the GOP nomination and, if he does, will be a heavy favorite.
“I’m under no illusions about how difficult this will be,” Rubio says in a video on his Web site. “I know that there are people more famous than I who may enter this race….”
Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer has decided not to pursue the Orlando-area congressional seat of freshman Democrat Suzanne Kosmas, according to a GOP press release this morning. Kosmas ousted Republican Tom Feeney last year in one of the few congressional districts in Florida that’s competitive between Rs and Ds.
Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander and House gambling negotiator Bill Galvano won’t meet tonight.
Instead, Alexander is expected to respond to the House’s counter-offer tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.
No details yet on what the more gaming-tolerant Senate will have in its plan, but it’s likely to reject the House’s opening bid of blackjack only in Broward, for both the Seminoles and the pari-mutuels. The tribe isn’t likely to sign off on that, either.
Galvano said he has until noon to make headway with Alexander before House Speaker Larry Cretul takes over to negotiate with Senate President Jeff Atwater.
Alexander has been at the Capitol nearly 18 hours a day for weeks crafting the budget and worked throughout the weekend, finally closing out most of it at 6 p.m. this evening.
Galvano caught himself when explaining why he wanted the Senate’s offer tonight: so he can reject it.
“While they’re working on bills in the morning, we can regroup on the House side and maybe make a counter. I guess that’s a bit pessimistic to say make a counter, right?” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said.
Lawmakers have again ordered the Department of Health to privatize A.G. Holley, the state-run tuberculosis hospital, one of the only in the nation.
Added to the budget implementing bill late Monday evening is a line ordering health officials to “enter into an agreement with a specified private contractor to finance, design and construct a hospital for the treatment of patients with active tuberculosis from July 1, 2009 to July 1, 2010.”
House health and human services budget chief Marcelo Llorente said the intent was to force state officials to move forward with the privatization, a priority of Gov. Charlie Crist.
The last-minute language is reminiscent of last year when an amendment was inserted into the budget on the second-to-the-last night of the 2008 legislative session.
Crist’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development received only one bid for the project and it was considered sorely lacking. (more…)
To express his “disappointment” that the state’s Republican leaders failed to reach a budget deal on time, Deputy House Majority Whip Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, said he’ll decline $133 in per diem and other cash lawmakers receive while in Tallahassee this week. He’ll also pay his own travel expenses.
“I’m not a rich person, but I just feel like this makes a tiny statement,” said Hooper, a retired firefighter. “We had nine weeks to get a budget done and we didn’t. It shouldn’t be the citizens’ fault.”
So who’s fault is it?
Hooper said it took time to figure out all the strings attached to the federal stimulus package. He pointed to a debate over gambling that continues to drag on.
Hooper also said House Republicans were slow to recover from the troubles for indicted Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Destin, which forced him to step down from the speaker’s office two weeks before session.
“That sounds like excuses and I don’t mean it to be,” Hooper said. “But that got us behind. And none of those are ‘Joe Taxpayer’s’ fault.
“When you report the first Tuesday, everybody knows the one thing you have to do is hammer out a budget.”
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