Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet are putting pressure on lawmakers to approve an all-out ban on Internet cafés now on its way to the House floor but facing a doubtful future in the Senate.

The House Economic Affairs Committee approved the bill (HB 3) this morning, drawing the praise of the Republican governor and Cabinet who want the so-called “casinos on the corner” shuttered.

Critics of the cafés, an estimated $1 billion industry which operates under state “sweepstakes” laws and are largely unregulated, say they prey on the state’s poor and vulnerable. But the café operators say they provide good jobs for their employees and a place to socialize for seniors and others.

Scott believes the store-front casinos found in strip malls throughout the state are already illegal but wants lawmakers to officially ban them.

“These store front casinos are impacting Florida’s neighborhoods and families,” said Governor Scott. “They are and should be illegal. Representative Plakon’s bill closes this loophole and I commend his dedication to shutting down these establishments,” Scott said in a statement released by Rep. Scott Plakon, the Longwood Republican who’s sponsored the bill.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam joined in the chorus demanding the shut-down.

But the Senate is moving forward with a separate measure that would regulate the cafés and impose a $100 fee per computer terminal for operators. Estimates of the number of cafés in the state range from 800 to 1,400 but all agree they have mushroomed in the past few years. Palm Beach County commissioners recently barred new cafés from opening in unincorporated areas.

The Senate Regulated Industries Committee approved a regulation measure and set aside a bill that would make the cafés illegal.

Times may be tough but there’s still plenty to be grateful for, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater tells Floridians in a Thanksgiving video message released today.

Atwater, a North Palm Beach banker and former Senate president, says he’s thankful for his “exciting year” as the executive in charge of the state’s checkbook and he’s appreciative of the country’s military serving overseas, who “risk their lives every day so that we can enjoy the blessings that we have been afforded: our safety, our security, the ability just to spend time with our families, our friends.”

Read about Atwater’s possible face-offs with Gov. Rick Scott over state contracting and The Florida Bar over PIP after the jump.
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A day after Gov. Rick Scott and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater urged lawmakers to overhaul Florida’s personal injury protection auto insurance standard, House and Senate panels began Wednesday what is likely to prove months of wrestling with the issue.

Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, had his proposal (HB 119) dissected by the House Insurance and Banking Committee, with legislators quizzing him about efforts to limit lawyers’ fees, expand clinic regulations, and limiting the number of visits an accident victim can make to massage therapists and chiropractors.

Two lawmakers, Rep. Bill Hager, a Boca Raton Republican, and Rep. Evan Jenne, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, urged lawmakers to consider scrapping personal injury protection completely — saying the system was beyond repair.

“Have we arrived at a point where we say this sucker is such a rotting carcass that we’ve got to throw it out?” Hager said.

Boyd, however, said the Legislature should make one more attempt at repairing PIP — the $10,000 mandatory insurance coverage which critics say for years has spawned a lucrative industry of staged auto accidents, unneeded medical treatments, and frivolous lawsuits.

“We still think we have a chance to salvage this thing,” Boyd said.

While Boyd was pitching his bill, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee was hearing testimony from a wide-range of industry representatives. Among them: Gary Brown, who runs Choice Medical Centers, operating in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Brown said lawmakers could help shrink what critics say is almost $1 billion in higher insurance and legal costs borne by Floridians, if they more strictly regulated clinics. He said legislation should demand tougher licensing requirements and bar clinics from referring patients to lawyers.

But Brown also said the insurance industry needs to be a focus for any legislation.

Boyd’s bill, and others being developed, chiefly target those making money off insurers. Brown, though, gave the industry low marks.

Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, asked Brown to grade on a 1-to-10 scale how responsive companies are to paying PIP claims.

“I’d say zero,” Brown said, saying the industry’s cold shoulder fuels lawsuits.

Gov. Rick Scott and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater called on lawmakers Tuesday to revamp state law governing motorists’ personal injury protection (PIP), which critics say is costing Floridians an extra $1 billion a year in higher costs stemming from fraud, questionable medical treatment and legal costs.

Insurance rates for the $10,000 mandatory PIP coverage have spiked as much as 80 percent in some Miami and Tampa Bay-area neighborhoods between 2008 and 2010, according to state officials.

PIP insurance claims also are up 40 percent over that time even as accidents statewide have tumbled by 8 percent – with leaders saying the disparity stems from a rising number of suspected staged accidents to fraudulently draw payments.

Atwater turned to law enforcement officers flanking him Tuesday at a Capitol news conference, saying, “we’re going to get you some relief.”  He also said consumers needed help.

“They have been trying to swim in a pool of piranhas, and we’ve got to throw them a lifeline,” Atwater said.

But Atwater, Scott and several lawmakers attending Tuesday’s call for change acknowledged that there was no clear path to overhauling the PIP system. 

Insurers, the hospital industry, lawyers and health care providers  were gathered into a working group last month under state insurance consumer advocate Robin Westcott, but failed to agree on recommendations.

“They’re all fighting for their part,” Atwater said.

Now, it’s legislators’ turn.

“It’s going to be a challenging bill to get passed,” acknowledged Rep. Bryan Nelson, R-Apopka, an insurance agent, who doubles as chairman of the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, says he doesn’t disagree with the House GOP leadership’s piecemeal approach to the economy.

But Rooney has introduced his own comprehensive “Restore America Act” that addresses taxes, regulations and domestic energy production in a single piece of legislation.

“I’m sick of people asking ‘Where’s your jobs plan?’ So here it is,” Rooney says in this week’s Politics column, where you’ll also read about CFO Jeff Atwater‘s take on the U.S. Senate race and business reaction to a new countywide commission chairman idea.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney rolled out a list of endorsements from two state Senators and 22 state House members today.

If you’re keeping score, that brings Romney’s Florida legislative endorsement total to 36, including 8 Senators and 28 House members.

The only local on Romney’s new endorsement list is state Rep. Pat Rooney Jr., R-Palm Beach Gardens. Rooney’s brother, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, endorsed Romney earlier this year and on Monday joined U.S. Reps. Connie Mack and Ander Crenshaw as honorary co-chairs for the Romney campaign in Florida.

Romney has also snagged recent Florida endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach.

A list of Romney’s legislative endorsements is after the jump…

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Senate President Mike Haridopolos has agreed to call in State Board of Administration executive director Ash Williams to answer questions about a $125 million investment after Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Haridopolos’ predecessor, asked for the public meeting.

Atwater, a North Palm Beach banker, asked Haridopolos on Thursday to bring Williams in to satisfy Sen. Mike Fasano’s demands for information about an investment earlier this year in hedge fund Starboard Value and Opportunity. Williams gave Fasano, R-New Port Richey, a bill for more than $10,000 in response to a public records request for documents regarding the investment, which was in the works for more than two years before the investment was made in April.

“It is my deep belief that you and the other members of the legislature, elected to represent the interests of Floridians, should have full and open access to information wherever it might reside throughout government, including the SBA,” Atwater wrote in a letter to the senate president.

Atwater also said Fasano should not be charged to review the documents and that he trusts Fasano to keep any confidential information in the records private. On Monday, Fasano asked Haridopolos to subpoena Williams and the documents or to order him to appear before a Senate committee to explain the investment and the public records charges.

“Being that the CFO is a champion of transparency and given his expertise in this realm, I plan to take his recommendation and hold a meeting that will be open to the public and ask the Director of the SBA, Ash Williams, and his staff to be available to answer any questions that the public or my fellow legislators may have about the investment, as well as the public records request,” Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said in a statement late Thursday. “Like CFO Atwater, it is my hope that this meeting will alleviate any questions that lawmakers or the public may have regarding this investment and the SBA, and the IAC may continue to conduct business.”

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With car insurance fraud skyrocketing in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott cited a need Tuesday to revamp the state’s four decade old requirement that motorists carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP).

Driven in part by widespread accident fraud, auto insurance premiums have spiked by more than $900 million over the past three years, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty told Scott and the Cabinet.

McCarty blamed “fraudsters and hucksters” for much of the problem. The state’s Divison of Insurance Fraud reported Tuesday that PIP fraud referrals have more than doubled since 2007 to 6,699 this year.

Scott said it’s clear that the state’s PIP law is in need for an overhaul by lawmakers next year — with McCarty charged with coming up with proposals to put before lawmakers in coming weeks.

Motorists must carry $10,000 PIP policies. But business groups and insurance companies have long fought the requirement. PIP legislation collapsed last session in a predictable tug-of-war between insurers, consumers and medical organizations.

Scott, though, backed by Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, said Tuesday that changes need to be made, although neither of the officials said they knew what steps should be taken.

“Are we doing things through regulation…that is allowing fraud to happen, that normally wouldn’t happen?” Scott said.

 

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said Monday he will sign off on a $5,000 payment to cover funeral expenses for Eric Perez, an 18-year-old who died in state custody in West Palm Beach on July 10.

The Palm Beach Post and The Miami Herald reported this weekend that Atwater blocked the payment. His office told Department of Juvenile Justice officials they lacked statutory authority for the payment although the agency has had a policy for two years to pay up to $5,000 for funeral costs of children who die while in their custody and has issued the payments twice before.

On Monday, Atwater blamed Department of Juvenile Justice officials for what he called “a tragic delay” in a press release Monday afternoon. Atwater promised to send a check to the Perez family’s attorney within 48 hours.

“Regrettably, this tragic delay would not have occurred if the Department of Juvenile Justice had not blatantly ignored guidance from my office,” Atwater said in the release. “In the future, I would hope that DJJ would be more transparent in its dealings with the public and with taxpayer monies.”

When Gov. Rick Scott and the all-Republican Florida Cabinet meet, it’s mostly a millionaires club, according to new financial disclosure reports.

Only Attorney General Pam Bondi claims a net worth of less than $1 million.  Bondi, a former Hillsborough County prosecutor, quit her job last year to campaign fulltime, resulting in her reporting no income in 2010 and a net worth of $472,696.

Her assets are a house and a car.

Scott, considered Florida’s wealthiest governor in history, reported a $103 million net worth — down by more than half  from a year earlier. But still a bundle detailed in four pages of assets and income sources.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, scion of a Polk County citrus family, reported a $6.8 million net worth. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, a former Senate president from North Palm Beach, was worth $1.6 million at the end of last year, according to his report, filed this month.

Atwater said he earned roughly $114,000 last year, with income from the state of Florida, investments, and banking work with Bank of America. Putnam, who left Congress last year to run for Agriculture Commissioner, reported income topping $570,000, including his congressional salary, investments, income from Putnam Groves, Inc., and the sale of  his Washington, D.C., home.

Attorney General Pam Bondi responded Thursday to West Palm Beach Democratic Rep. Mark Pafford’s request to examine the circumstances surrounding Gov. Rick Scott’s staff stiff-arming Democratic protesters at his budget-signing last month at The Villages.

Bondi hinted she was concerned, but powerless to step in.

“Throughout my nearly two decades in public service, I have been committed to transparency and open government,” Florida’s top legal officer, a Republican, wrote. “While I do not take lightly the questions you have raised, Florida law does not empower me to investigate your concerns.”

Pafford, who earlier wrote Scott seeking a response, was among Florida House Democrats who urged Bondi and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, also a Republican, to push for more answers and an apology from the governor for his office’s role in bullying a couple dozen Democratic protesters at last month’s ceremony.

A governor’s staffer apparently urged Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies to rein-in the protesters, claiming the budget-signing was a private event. Deputies confronted the protesters, keeping them out of the governor’s view and ordering them to discard their signs.

For his part, Pafford said in  a statement, “While I appreciate Attorney General Pam Bondi’s acknowledgment letter, I remain concerned that constitutional rights protecting Florida’s citizens have purposely been ignored by the Governor’s Office.

 “Since January 2011, when members of the press were banned from attending inauguration events in the state capitol building, the pattern of privacy has been the norm. I believe Floridians want answers to what transpired in The Villages and accountability,” he added.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach is endorsing state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, in the 2012 Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Atwater was Senate President before Haridopolos. In November, Atwater became the first Palm Beach Countian to win statewide elected office in 40 years. He chose Haridopolos over Boca Raton resident and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner and over former appointed U.S. Sen. George LeMieux. The Republicans are vying to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

Said Atwater: “Mike Haridopolos is the proven fiscal conservative in this race with a strong record of restraining and reforming government that is badly needed in Washington. While others may talk the talk, Mike has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to tackle the tough issues and walk the walk. Mike Haridopolos has passed fiscally conservative policies that reduce spending, lower taxes, and provide the necessary certainty and stability to private sector employers so they can start hiring again. I am confident that he is the candidate that will defeat Bill Nelson.”

Gov. Rick Scott, in the Panhandle as the state’s cheerleader-in-chief, and the Florida Cabinet threw down the gauntlet – at each other – in advance of a “friendly” fishing tournament this afternoon.

In Panama City on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon blast that sent 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam held their first out-of-town Cabinet meeting at the Bay County Government Center in Panama City.

Some good news for Florida anglers other than the Cabinet – Putnam’s staff announced the state would hold two free fishing weekends at the open of the red snapper season on June 4 and again for Father’s Day on June 19. And they’ve extended the scallop season for three extra weeks. The season will begin a week before its previously scheduled July 1 kick off and last two weeks longer than the slated Sept. 10 close.

The Cabinet fishing competition began almost as soon as the panel – all clad in Columbia fishing shirts embroidered with the new “Gulf Safe” seafood marketing logo – reached the podium.

“It’s great to be here,” said Scott, who purchased his $17.50 fishing license at C and G Sporting Goods in downtown Panama City earlier in the day. “We’re going to have a fishing tournament. And we all know that I’m going to win.”

Bondi stepped up to Scott’s challenge.

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Civil rights advocates are asking the clemency board to hold off on changes to the state’s restoration of rights for felons scheduled for a vote Wednesday.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced last week she was drafting a proposed rule change eliminating Florida’s limited automatic restoration of rights for felons convicted of non-violent crimes, approved by the executive clemency board under former Gov. Charlie Crist’s urging nearly four years ago.

But the sweeping changes proposed by Bondi, including a wait period of three to five years before felons can apply to have their rights – including the right to vote – restored have not yet been released just two work days before the scheduled vote.

In a letter to board members Bondi, Gov. Rick Scott, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, ACLU of Florida executive director Howard Simon asked the clemency board to delay the vote until the public has time to scrutinize them.

“The combination of suddenness, speed and lack of details have created an environment in which needed input is locked out or sitting on the side waiting to review, analyze and offer suggestions and counsel,” Simon wrote to each of the board members. “There is no emergency that requires action at your meeting next week. Rule changes can be made at any time.”

Simon, who met with Bondi earlier this week, wants the board to get public input before doing away with the current system.

“Any changes will impact Florida families and public safety for years to come. It’s more important to get the process and policy right than to get it done quickly,” he wrote.

The all-new Florida Cabinet held a very brief meeting this morning, the first since the all-GOP panel took office early this month.

Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam ran through the skimpy agenda in less than half an hour. The highlight: the Cabinet’s confirmation of Scott’s pick for Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel Vinyard.

“Congratulations. You’ve got a lot of work to do,” Scott told Vinyard, a Jacksonville businessman and lawyer, after the vote. Scott’s transition team was highly critical of the agency and recommended merging it with two other departments to help streamline permitting and regulation.

Scott has revamped the Cabinet procedures and eliminated the until-now routine Q-and-A with reporters before and after the bimonthly meeting, at least for today.

Before the 9 a.m. meeting, Scott’s spokesman advised reporters not to rush the governor on the dais after the meeting ended and that Scott would not answer questions until noon when he is scheduled to address the Associated Press annual editors meeting on the 22nd floor of the Capitol.

Scott’s Cabinet colleagues weren’t so media-shy, however.

Bondi, Atwater and Putnam – all University of Florida alumni – posed for photos and shook hands outside the Cabinet room for about 30 minutes before the meeting started and remained for nearly as long answering questions from reporters after its conclusion.

Scott answered a single question after the meeting.

“Fine. Fine,” he responded when asked how his first Cabinet meeting went. He was then whisked away.

Chief Financial Officer-elect Jeff Atwater hired a cadre of veteran staffers to serve in his office after the former senate president is sworn in tomorrow.

Atwater’s chief of staff Robert “Budd” Kneip will hang on to his same job in the Cabinet office, and long-time Florida House staffer P.K. Jameson will serve as Atwater’s general counsel.

Atwater’s also hanging on to several long-time insurance personnel.

Tami Torres, who served under Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher and who is now the director of the Division of Consumer Services, will oversee the offices of Cabinet, communications and legislative affairs;

Karen Chandler, who also served under Gallagher and was communications chief for three Senate presidents, will be in charge of scheduling and appointments and Atwater’s’ administration.

Paul Whitfield, who served as a policy advisor to Atwater in the Senate, will oversee the budget office and have other duties.

Alexis Lambert, former spokeswoman for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, will serve in the same role for Atwater.

Jeff Atwater named Thomas F. Petway III as chairman of his transition team as the former senate president readies for his new job as chief financial officer.

Petway, a Jacksonville businessman and major GOP contributor, served on the Florida Board of Governors and is an owner of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars team.

Tucked into a host of Republican big-wigs he tapped for his transition team, Atwater spread a little bipartisan love with his former colleague Al Lawson.

Lawson, a Tallahassee Democrat who owns an insurance agency, served as the Senate Democrats’ head honcho while Atwater was president.

See the complete list of Atwater’s transition team after the jump.
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Just one day before the crucial vote that will decide whether his $75 million investment paid off, Rick Scott included West Palm Beach in a last-minute appeal to Republicans.

U.S. Sen. George LeMieux climbed on the stage with Scott, also joined by Palm Beach County homeboys U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, outgoing Senate president and chief financial officer candidate Jeff Atwater, and a host of other local officials.

Mark Foley, who once held Rooney’s Congressional seat, also showed up in the crowd at Park Avenue BBQ Grille.

PBC businessman and longtime GOP donor Llywd Ecclestone, who escaped the restaurant parking lot heat under an awning, said he supports Scott’s plan to get the state’s economy back on track.

“He will create jobs and that’s what we need,” Ecclestone said.

But Scott’s pledge of 700,000 jobs is an ambitious goal, the developer acknowledged.

“It’s going to be difficult. It’s not going to be easy,” Ecclestone said.

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ORLANDO — Republican Senate nominee Marco Rubio is getting rock star treatment as he barnstorms in the final days of the campaign, and it isn’t just because of his big black charter bus.

Rubio appeared with chief financial officer candidate Jeff Atwater and agriculture commissioner candidate Adam Putnam in front of enthusiastic crowds at multiple stops today. In Melbourne, where a crowd of more than 500 showed up at a rally in a park, Putnam compared introducing Rubio to “opening for Elvis.” In Daytona Beach, where it was Atwater’s turn to introduce Rubio, he compared his task to opening for the Rolling Stones.

Rubio is spending more time promoting other GOP candidates — and taking jabs at Democratic governor hopeful Alex Sink.

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Senate President Jeff Atwater, the GOP chief financial officer candidate, released his first statewide television ad less than a month before the Nov. 2 election.

Atwater, in a polo shirt, stands before a chalkboard in the “Chalk Talk” ad, instructing viewers about how he supports lower taxes, smaller government and less red tape to help grow Florida’s economy.

Atwater’s positive ad makes no mention of his opponent, former state Rep. Loranne Ausley. The Tallahassee Democrat has attacked the North Palm Beach banker for his role in the legislature’s spending on a $110 million private prison that cost at least 70 prison workers their jobs and a $38 million luxury appeals court. And she hammered him for not hiring an auditing firm to scrutinize lobbyist expenditure and compensation reports.

Atwater hit back with a reminder that Ausley sponsored a bill that would have watered-down the gift ban that prohibits lawmakers from accepting gifts from lobbyists. Her bill would have allowed lawmakers to wine and dine at official functions as long as the value of the food or drinks was less than $20.