Florida cities, counties, public hospitals and other “sovereign” entities have put the brakes on an overhaul of the state’s claims bill process that allows people who have been harmed or injured by local governments to get paid more than $200,000 without the Legislature’s approval.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said a House plan to revamp the system is too contentious to tackle this year.

“It’s very, very controversial. It’s a total change of direction,” Lee said. “That’s going to take a lot of time and energy.”

As a result, the Senate won’t hear any claims bills this year at the direction of Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who has said he won’t allow any of the bills to come up without a reform.

The House Select Committee on Claims Bills last week approved a plan that would raise the current $200,000 caps on individual payments to $1 million and $300,000 per-incident cap to $1.5 million to encourage local governments to purchase insurance or self-insure. The proposal would also impose a “hard cap” on payments for those with insurance by barring individuals who get those payments from being able to seek additional money.

No action on claims bills this year means that the family of Carl Abbott, a North Palm Beach man who was badly injured when a Palm Beach County school bus ran him over 2008, will have to wait at least another year for a $1.9 million settlement reached with the school board in 2009.

Abbott’s son, David, wants to use the money to move his father, now living in a nursing home and unable to eat on his own, into a facility where he can get rehabilitative care.

Lee said the claims bill process is troubled and inconsistent.

“My perspective has always been if we’re going to have sovereign immunity, then let’s have sovereign immunity. Why are we up here waiving it all the time just because there’s a difficult political situation?
I’ve never really understood the subjectiveness of the claims bill process and why somebody with the right lobbyist and the right lawyer and the right legislator behind it all of a sudden gets a huge payout for somebody when somebody else doesn’t,” he said. “It’s an imperfect process. We’re going to try to make it better. But it’s a heavy lift to try to reform that system. And until we do, we’re not going to be hearing any claims bills.”

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw convinced state lawmakers that his “prevention intervention” plan is worth funding, at least for now.

The Florida House has included $100,000 for Bradshaw’s plan to identify potentially dangerous people before they cause harm. The state Senate has allocated $50,000 as the two chambers get to work on Florida’s $74 billion budget.

In either case, it’s just a fraction of the $3 million Bradshaw is seeking for a 15-person unit that would include five deputies, five mental health professionals and five caseworkers. He also wants to set up a 24-hour hotline so neighbors and friends can report on those they suspect may be dangerous.

“I believe very strongly this program will become a statewide model for violence prevention and intervention, and I am honored our state leaders in Tallahassee share our vision for this innovative approach to prevent violent acts and protect our citizens,” Bradshaw said in a statement.

Senate Criminal Justice Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said he put the $50,000 in his budget as a “place holder” but he still has some questions about Bradshaw’s plan.

It’s too soon to know whether the money will actually end up in the budget, or if it will grow.

Although most Democrats remain opposed, unions came around Thursday to support the Senate’s plan to revamp the Florida Retirement System — a milder version of the overhaul pushed by House Speaker Will Weatherford and fellow Republicans in that chamber.

The Senate plan (CS/SB 1392) cleared the Appropriations Committee 13-5, with Sen. Jeremy Ring of Margate the lone Democrat joining with the Republican majority.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, is aimed at encouraging teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officials and others public employees to abandon the traditional pension plan in favor of an investment retirement plan.

But the only workers required to join the 401(k)-styled plan would be new hires in senior management categories, a smaller slice which includes mostly higher-paid employees.

Matt Puckett, lobbyist for the Florida Police Benevolent Association, endorsed the proposal — saying the legislation would “get pensions out of the headlines.”

“We will no longer have guaranteed pensions to people who will get $100,000 or more in salaries,” Puckett said.

The $136 billion Florida Retirement System has more than 620,000 active members. The House is looking to have all new employees join the investment plan.

The House requirement would still affect those currently in the traditional pension, analysts have said. Investment strategies will change, analysts note, as the defined benefit pension caters increasingly to an older, smaller workforce.

House Democrats and unions have locked in opposition to Weatherford’s approach.

But with Ring and several union representatives supporting the Senate version, it appears some critics of the House proposal are looking to strengthen Simpson’s hand for looming end-of-session dealmaking between the two chambers.

When Senate budget chief Joe Negron rolled out a plan last week to eliminate a longtime tax break for the insurance industry and use the savings to reduce motorist fees, insurers were caught by surprise.

By Thursday, the industry had reloaded — with insurance lobbyists lining up to plead with Negron’s Appropriations Committee to drop the plan. Several raised the possbility of insurers choosing to locate offices outside of Florida, if the incentive is lost.

In the end, the bill (SPB 7132) sailed 19-0.

Insurance representatives told senators that companies had created 44,000 jobs in Florida since 2008 — even while the state was rocked by high unemployment. They also boasted that insurers were financially strong and paid claims on time.

“But the repeal of this will have an impact,” said Paul Sanford, lobbyist for the Florida Insurance Council.

Negron wants to repeal a tax incentive on the books since 1987, which gives insurers a credit on the insurance premium tax for 15 percent of the salaries paid employees in Florida. Negron said $220 million earned through the repeal would be used to reduce motorist fees boosted in 2009 when lawmakers were scrambling to patch budget holes.

The increases were part of a $2.2 billion package of tax and fee hikes that included an increase in the state’s cigarette tax.

Negron said industry statements about the strength of the industry help make his case that the tax break is no longer needed.

“For every person who is paying less in taxes, someone is paying more,” Negron said, adding, “State Farm in 2012 had a net income of $3.2 billion. The CEO had a good year, which he deserved….he made $9.6 million. Allstate had $2.3 billion in net income for 2012. I’m happy about that. That’s a good thing. That means they’re solvent and they’ll pay claims.

“But this idea that if we decide to redeploy a tax incentive to our constituents that the apocalypse is going to occur, I don’t think the facts support that,” he concluded.

UPDATE: President Obama reacted to Gov. Rick Scott’s demands that the federal government reimburse Florida more than $100 million for two port projects.

“The President believes that the Port of Miami can enhance the competitiveness of workers and businesses throughout the region and in the nation as a whole. That’s why the Administration has taken a number of steps to fund and facilitate improvements at the Port, including a $340 million TIFIA loan to help finance the Port of Miami tunnel project and a $23 million TIGER grant to restore freight rail service between the Port and the Florida East Coast Railway, as well as completing the permitting for the Port’s dredging project on an expedited timeline last August as part of the Administration’s push to cut red tape around infrastructure construction,” White House spokeswoman Joanna Rosholm said in an e-mail.

Gov. Rick Scott used President Obama’s visit Friday to the Port of Miami to tout his own jobs record and demand that president “step up to the plate” and pledge to reimburse the feds’ share of ports funding.

“We’re certainly glad President Obama’s coming to the Port of Miami tomorrow but he’s late to the party on Florida port investments,” Scott said in a conference call with reporters this morning.

Florida’s spent $425 million on ports since Scott took office, including fronting the federal share of $75 million for the Port of Miami and $36 million for the Port of Jacksonville, according to Scott.

“We could not wait for the federal government to come to the table with their share of the project,” Scott, who is running for reelection, said.

Obama is visiting the Miami port and will speak about the economy, according to a White House press release.

Sounding like someone on the campaign trail, Scott repeated his recent mantra of comparing Florida’s current economic and jobs state of affairs compared to “the four years before I became governor” without naming his predecessor Charlie Crist. Crist, who switched parties and is now a Democrat, is mulling another run for governor next year.

And he took a swipe at Obama and Congress while saying he “welcomed” the president.

“The federal government, they keep raising regulations. Permitting time takes longer, raising taxes, spending all these things. We’ve done way better than they have,” Scott said. Obama expedited federal infrastructure reviews last year for both the Miami and Jacksonville ports. Right now, they ought to reimburse us the money we’re spending on our ports…so we can create more jobs.”

The Florida Senate remembered their colleague Larcenia Bullard, a long-time lawmaker who died March 16, with what Democratic Leader Chris Smith called a celebration instead of a memorial service in homage to a woman whose sense of humor and distinctive style drew praise from members of both parties.

The hour-and-a-half long event in the Senate chamber concluded with video excerpts from her farewell speech delivered last year after Bullard left office due to term limits.

“I loved everybody and nobody can take that away from me,” Bullard said in the video.

Former Senate Democratic leaders and former Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith, who also served in the Senate, shared stories of Bullard, known for delivering lengthy speeches, asking frequent questions and “the Larcenia hug.”

“Larcenia Bullard was different. She was bigger than life. Her smile was wider her mind was freer… and I think she will live longer because she was real. She was genuine,” said Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

Smith recalled the pressure on Bullard during a contentious battle over Terri Schiavo that drew national attention. Bullard, a swing vote, first voted against the GOP-dominated legislature’s efforts to try to prevent the death of the brain-damaged Clearwater woman. In a tie vote, the bill did not pass. But Bullard later reconsidered her vote and made a motion to have the bill heard again, creating panic for Democrats and a bloc of Republicans who opposed intervening in Schiavo’s case.

Smith said Bullard asked him to pray with her in her office.

“She just wanted to do the right thing. She was personally connected to both sides,” Smith said, saying they prayed for a “long time.”

“At the conclusion she said she was comfortable. I believe Sen. Bullard made history in stopping what I thought would have been a horrible intrusion” into Schiavo’s life, Smith said.

He ended by quoting what Bullard said on the floor during debate on the issue:

“Let her die in peace. I know that is exactly what happened for my friend Sen. Bullard.”

The Florida House would increase school spending by $395 per-pupil next year while also allowing Florida colleges and universities to boost tuition by 6 percent, under an education budget released Wednesday.

Education Budget chairman Erik Fresen, R-Miami, said the spending plan is also likely to include $2,500 teacher pay raises — a priority of Gov. Rick Scott. Details are still being worked out.

“Right now, we are exceeding it,” Fresen said of the pay-raise effort.

But there are clear areas of friction.

Scott has recommended a $412-per-pupil increase — bringing spending to $6,800 for each of Florida’s 2.7 million students. That’s edging closer to the state’s high-water mark, $7,126 reached during the pre-recession 2006-07 school year.

Scott also reiterated his opposition Tuesday to tuition increases.

“I’m against tuition increases. This is a tax, this is a tax on students, it is a tax on families. We can’t be raising the cost of getting a higher education in this state,” Scott said.

Among the more controversial provisions of the House budget is what Fresen called a recalibration of the state’s school funding formula. The rewrite changes how students taking online classes are calculated — a move which supporters of Florida Virtual School — condemed Wednesday.

Florida Virtual School is the nation’s largest K-12 online system. It’s been used by many students to take a seventh class — above the standard six offered by many school districts — and in rural counties where online students can access classes not available in classrooms, supporters said.

Vern Pickup-Crawford, lobbyist for the Palm Beach County School Board, said the revamped formula would likely cost the county about $5 million.

In case he wasn’t heard the first time, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Wednesday again dismissed talk that he was considering challenging Republican Gov. Rick Scott next year.

“The truth is, I have no plans to run for governor,” said Nelson, elected last fall to his third Senate term. “I have no intention of running for governor. I’m trying to serve as senator, and that’s why I’m here today.”

Nelson passed through Tallahassee on Wednesday on his way to the Panhandle’s Marianna, where he was to join anthropologists and law enforcement officials at the closed Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. Scientists have found evidence that suggests unknown bodies may be buried on the grounds of the century-old reform school.

Strategists from both leading parties have been buzzing about the idea of Nelson retaining his Senate seat while running for governor next year. Speculation stems from the view that expected candidate and recent Democratic convert, former Gov. Charlie Crist, would drive too many Republicans to the polls next year, angry and eager to vote against him.

Nelson looms as a less-antagonistic choice for Democrats, the theory says. And, if elected governor, he would be empowered to appoint his successor in the Senate — assuring Democrats would keep the seat.

Tweets by @LGreenonthehill

The National Federation of Independent Business, which joined Florida and 25 other states in fighting the Affordable Care Act all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, has begun airing TV spots in the state opposing Medicaid expansion.

The Florida House and Senate have already rejected Gov. Rick Scott’s call for expansion. The Senate is now working on a plan that would rely on the $51 billion promised by the federal government over the next decade to give low-income Floridians vouchers for private insurance in a newly crafted Healthy Florida program.

NFIB challenges whether Florida can rely on the promise that Washington will be there with the money if Medicaid expands. The organization also is trying to get Floridians to sign petitions opposing expansion.

“The expansion of Medicaid will cost Florida taxpayers at least $3.5 billion over 10 years,” said NFIB-Florida executive director Bill Herrle. “These expenses are a cause for concern when it comes to job creation and the viability of our economy.”

The NFIB and the resisting states lost last year when the Supreme Court upheld the federal health care overhaul. But justices left it to states to decide whether they want to opt into the Medicaid expansion.

Scott’s evolution to supporting expansion has cost him support among many conservatives. But lawmakers haven’t ruled out using the federal cash for a state-crafted program.

FAU released this video today apologizing for the “Jesus”-stomping exercise.

Gov. Rick Scott has asked the head of the state’s university system to look into the controversy surrounding a Florida Atlantic University class assignment in which students were asked to write “Jesus” on a piece of paper and step on it.

“I am deeply disappointed in the recent actions of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) faculty that raises significant questions over students rights and the lessons being taught in our classroom,” Scott says in a letter to University System Chancellor Frank Brogan, a former FAU president.

“I am requesting a report of the incident, how it was handled and a statement of the university’s policies to ensure this type of ‘lesson’ will not occur again,” Scott’s letter says.

FAU apologized for the exercise Friday and said it would no longer ask students to take part in it. The activity was included in an intercultural communications course to demonstrate that “even though symbols are arbitrary, they take on very strong and emotional meanings.”

A student who complained about the exercise, Ryan Rotela of Coral Springs, said he was accused of threatening his instructor after he raised objections this month. Rotela got a letter from an FAU associate dean informing him that charges had been lodged against him and telling him he could not attend the communications class or have contact with other students in it until the matter was resolved.

Rotela denied making any threats. The instructor, Deandre Poole, has not returned calls requesting comment. Poole is also vice chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party.

Rotela said he received a personal apology from FAU Dean of Students Cory King on Monday. Rotela said he also was assured that charges will be dropped and that he will be able to continue taking the class with a different instructor.

(more…)

Public employee unions fighting the House pension overhaul rolled out research Tuesday that says the move will cost taxpayers more — challenging the view of House Speaker Will Weatherford and other proponents that closing the traditional plan to new workers will reduce state costs.

A report by Keystone Research Council, a Pennsylvania think tank whose directors include a number of union leaders, underscores many of the points raised by Florida opponents.

A key provision is that with a shrinking pool of public employees in the defined benefit plan, investment strategies will change, becoming less risky and less likely to earn sizable returns.

The change will force those in the plan to contribute more to offset more modest returns. Public employers, including school boards, cities and the state, will also have to pay more to cover the cost of the rising number of retirees still in the traditional pension, the report concluded.

“The bottom line,” said Sarabeth Snuggs, co-author of Keystone’s report and a former Florida Retirement System administrator, “is that the House proposal means higher costs for taxpayers and lower-quality pensions for employees, hurting businesses that depend on the buying power of retirees.”

The House voted 73-43 along party lines Friday for the measure (CS/HB 7011), which would close the traditional pension plan to new employees. Beginning Jan. 1, new hires seeking a retirement account could instead only join a defined contribution investment plan similar to a 401(k) plan available to many private sector workers.

The Post reported that the  legislation may be rooted in the American Legislative Exchance Council, the advocacy group that helps corporations and conservative interest groups write bills for legislatures across the country.

Dozens of Florida Republican lawmakers gathered at an ALEC conference in New Orleans in 2011, where a pitch for pension reform was a central part of the three-day gathering. Among those attending were Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, the bill’s sponsor.

ALEC has advocated changes in environmental and labor laws, voter ID measures and pro-gun laws such as the “stand your ground” legislation, which came into focus following Trayvon Martin’s shooting death last year in Central Florida.

In Florida, where free-market conservative Republicans control every phase of state government, ALEC’s model bills have proved a touchstone for many policies.

But as the legislative session nears its midpoint in Florida, the Republican-led Senate isn’t looking to go as far as its House counterparts.

Instead, Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, is advancing a measure (CS/SB 1392) aimed chiefly at encouraging workers to join the investment plan. But the Senate would keep the traditional, defined benefit pension open to them.

“We don’t want to make a mistake. It’s a lot of money, and people’s livelihoods are at stake,” Simpson told the Post.

A measure aimed at enacting an $880 million Everglades plan cleared the Florida House 114-0 Friday, after the sugar industry and environmentalists reached a truce on the complex clean-up effort.

Conservation groups fought an earlier House proposal, claiming it favored sugar growers and putting the burden on South Florida taxpayers to build stormwater treatment and storage areas over the next decade to improve water quality across the region.

But negotiations between the two sides led to Friday’s compromise, which is expected to win Senate approval in coming days. Gov. Rick Scott has indicated he would sign the legislation.

“This is an accomplishment for all of us,” said Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-Lehigh Acres, sponsor of the measure (CS/HB 7065.

The legislation extends a $25-per-acre tax growers pay through 2026, which raises about $11 million annually for clean-up. The sugar industry had sought a two years’ shorter extension of the $25 standard before the rate begins to reduce. It reaches its lowest mark of $10-per-acre in 2036 — 20 years beyond when it was slated to kick-in under current law.

The measure would assure financing of the Everglades work: with $32 million annually coming from state dollars, $11 million from the sugar industry, and another $30 million from South Florida property taxpayers.

A Florida Atlantic University student says he’s been told not to return to his intercultural communications class after he complained that the instructor, who’s also a Palm Beach County Democratic Party official, asked students to write “Jesus” on a piece of paper and stomp on it.

Ryan Rotela of Coral Springs says that after he complained about instructor Deandre Poole‘s request, FAU accused him of threatening Poole and told him not to return to Poole’s class. Rotela’s story was first reported by WPEC-Channel 12.

Poole is also vice chairman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party.

Poole and FAU officials have not responded to requests for comment today.

Palm Beach County Democratic Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo said Poole was merely following an exercise in a textbook used in the course.

“The whole purpose of the exercise is to encourage discussion among the students about how different cultures apply different meanings to symbols…It encourages a healthy discussion. That’s my understanding,” Rizzo said.

She added: “Deandre himself is a Christian. He goes to church.”

(more…)

After fierce debate Friday between ruling Republicans and union-allied Democrats, the House approves an overhaul of the Florida Retirement System, the pension fund used by more than 620,000 teachers, law enforcement and other public employees.

Breaking along party lines, the House voted 74-42 for the measure (CS/HB 7011), which would close the traditional pension plan to new employees. New hires seeking a retirement account would instead be required to join a defined contribution investment plan beginning Jan. 1.

The legislation is a top priority of House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who maintains that the Florida Retirement System is underfunded and will command increasing millions of dollars from Florida taxpayers to keep it afloat in future years, a stance disputed by many experts.

“It’s fair. It’s fiscally responsible. And it’s time to act,” said Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne.

But Democrats accused House Republicans of using scare tactics to push through a proposal which already has been rejected by fellow Republicans in the Senate.

“You’re using boogyman tactics of how the taxpayers will save money….it’s absolutely false,” said Rep. Dwayne Taylor, D-Daytona Beach.

Democrats said the legislation is not only unnecessary but potentially dangerous to the $136 billion pension fund, which is used by more than 623,000 state and local government workers and another 335,000 retirees.

The FRS is considered 87 percent funded, with most analysts acknowledging that 80 percent is the benchmark for a fund considered to be on solid financial footing.

Republican leaders, however, say that unfunded actuarial liability is $19.2 billion — a level they say is alarming. Still, those defending the fund say the shortfall exists only if every pensioner demanded their full payments at once, which analysts say would never happen.

The Florida House overwhelmingly approved a ban on storefront gaming centers less than 10 days after authorities accused Allied Veterans of the World of running a $300 million illegal gambling ring posing as a veterans’ charity.

The multi-state sting also prompted Jennifer Carroll to resign and put the House proposal to ban Internet cafes on a meteoric track to its 108-7 passage Friday morning. A similar measure is also on the fast track in the Senate, which previously had balked at the flat-out ban and instead preferred regulation of the “casinos on the corner” that operate under the state’s “sweepstakes” law.

The main dispute over the ban centers around adult or “senior” arcades authorized under a separate statute but which lawmakers and some law enforcement officials believe also operate illegal gambling houses.

But lawmakers have said they want to shut down any storefront businesses operating electronic games that look or play like slot machines, and both the House and Senate proposals would impact both the Internet cafes and the arcades although the types of machines are different.

Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, argued that the senior arcades have been operating in the state for three decades and that a Broward County judge dismissed charges against one adult arcade owner accused of running an illegal gambling site.

“So here we are today going to outlaw something that has been legal for the past 30 years has been legal in the state of Florida. If we’re going to do that, what’s next? Because some people have an aversion to alcohol, do we then go back to the days of prohibition and we say you know what, alcohol’s no longer legal in the state of Florida?” Waldman said during a brief floor debate.

Rep. Elaine Schwartz, an elder family law attorney, said the arcades are a harmless way for seniors to spend time.

“I don’t see why we have to jump to making it a crime. It’s something that’s very pleasurable, something that can be enjoyed,” Schwartz, D-Hollywood, said.

But Rep. Carlos Trujillo, the bill sponsor, argued that both types of strip mall gaming centers need to go. Shutting down the estimated 1,000 Internet cafes and possibly hundreds more arcades is possibly “the largest contraction of gaming” in a century, Trujillo, R-Miami, said.

“It sends a message to all the people who are out there stealing from seniors and exploiting the good names of veterans. We don’t want you here in Florida. You weren’t welcome before. You won’t be welcome in the future,” he said.

Serial presidential adviser and CNN political analyst David Gergen kicked off the lecture series at former Sen. George Lemieux‘s new Center for Public Policy at Palm Beach Atlantic University on Thursday night, speaking to a crowd of about 400.

(Click here to read a news story about the event.)

Gergen — who advised Republican Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford and Democratic President Bill Clinton — revealed that he voted for Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, but not in 2012. But Gergen said he didn’t vote for Republican Mitt Romney last year.

“I didn’t vote Republican this last time around,” Gergen said during a question-and-answer session with LeMieux as both sat on leather chairs in the school’s DeSantis Family Chapel. “I voted for Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg, a write-in, because he’s my kind of leader. He’s very socially liberal but he’s very tough-minded on the fiscal side and I think he’s been a great leader.”

A Senate panel rolled out plans Thursday for Healthy Florida — a program that would cover the 1 million low-income Floridians who would have been eligible for health coverage under the now-rejected Medicaid expansion.

Senate and House Republicans have already refused Gov. Rick Scott’s recommendation that Florida expand Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act.

But Senate Budget Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, says that Healthy Florida would cover the same needy population and be fully financed by the federal government for three years.

“We want to have a Florida plan, not a Washington plan,” Negron told the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The legislation (SPB 7038) could get its first committee vote next week. It won support Thursday from the Florida Hospital Association and other health care advocates and likely sets in motion an end-of-session duel with the House over health coverage.

Florida stands to draw $51 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years if it expands Medicaid to cover Floridians up to 138 percent of poverty. State taxpayers would pay $3.5 billion for the health care support.

While Negron rejected the expansion, he is clearly open to gaining federal support. By contrast, House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has spent more time ridiculing the federal government — while not yet ruling out taking the federal cash.

Indeed, senators spent some time Thursday praising the Healthy Florida plan — urging the House to support it.

“We’re all working together,” said Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood. “We need to find a solution to bring the House along.”

The Healthy Florida plan builds on Healthy Kids, the program created under late-Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles, which serves 250,000 children, aged 5-18. Parents pay $15-$20 monthly for health coverage. Families can choose from at least a couple of private health plans available in each of Florida’s 67 counties.

Negron would reposition Healthy Kids to accept the potential 1 million adults and children who could be eligible under the Medicaid expansion.

Negron assured the Senate panel Thursday that lengthy review by the Obama administration is unnecessary and that Healthy Florida is almost certain to win approval.

Senators said the fortified program — which  Sobel called “Healthy Kids on steroids” — would require patients to pay some kind of fee.

Karen Woodall, who lobbies for organizations that help low-income Floridians, said even modest fees can discourage low-income Floridians from seeking health care for themselves or their children.

But Negron said the $2 fees Healthy Florida envisions charging for many routine services would not stop people from seeing a doctor or going to the hospital when they’re sick.

Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said it didn’t make sense for lawmakers to be considering rejecting federal money. If that was the case, he said opponents should also turn back federal dollars for transportation and other needed services.

“For this Senate, we are going to have a plan,” Gardiner said. “And Sen. Negron, you have given us the blueprint for that plan.”

Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, is hoping a new Quinnipiac University poll showing that 91 percent of Floridians support universal background checks for gun purchases will help her gun bill (HB 1343).

Berman and Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, have filed proposals that would require universal background checks for all gun sales or transfers in Florida. But it’s unlikely that either bill will even get a hearing despite what appears to be overwhelming support by Florida voters.

Berman sent a letter to House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and the rest of the 120 members of the Florida House asking them to co-sponsor her measure.

The poll “clearly shows that our constituents want us to address this issue,” Berman, a lawyer, wrote.
“With session in full swing, we need to act swiftly. In light of the recent tragedies, it is important that the Legislature acknowledges that Floridians are counting on us.”

Freshman U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, joined a unanimous House Democratic caucus today in voting against House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan‘s budget plan.

But Murphy split with most of his party — including fellow Palm Beach County Democratic Reps. Ted Deutch, Alcee Hastings and Lois Frankel — by also voting against a House Democratic budget plan and against the budget put forward by Senate Democrats.

Murphy was narrowly elected in November in a Palm Beach-Treasure Coast swing district where Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney got 51.5 percent. Murphy has called for more bipartisan cooperation and a “grand bargain” between Republicans and Democrats on the budget.

The Senate Democratic budget plan, which includes $1 trillion in new taxes over 10 years, failed on a 261-to-154 House vote on Wednesday. All 154 votes for it came from Democrats — including Deutch, Frankel and Hastings. Murphy was one of 35 Democrats who joined 226 Republicans in opposition.

Later on Wednesday, Murphy was one of only 28 House Democrats to vote against a budget plan by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Van Hollen’s budget includes $1.2 trillion in new taxes and $200 billion in new stimulus spending. Murphy joined 225 Republicans in opposition.