Florida Legislature’s 2009 session: Day 1
March 3, 2009 at 6:30 am by Jim JohnsonToday is the 1st day of the 2009 Legislative session.
Governor Charlie Crist will give the State of the State Speech at 6 pm. It will be broadcast live on the Florida Channel.
Here is a look at how each side of the Capitol will get started:
 |
Florida House of Representatives |
The House will convene at 10 a.m. to open the session. The mood will be a bit more subdued tradition holds, because the House will have to officially elect Representative Ralph Cretul as Speaker. Cretul is was elected Speaker Pro-Tempore during the Organizational Session last November. However, when Representative Ray Sansom resigned his position as Speaker last month, Cretul has been acting as Speaker.
In the afternoon, the House will hold a handful of committee meetings. Among the interesting items on the agendas are:
The PreK – 12 Policy Committee will hear House Bill 453 by Rep. Will Weatherford – Expands the existing Corporate Income Tax Credit program for corporations who donate funds to private voucher programs. The bill allows corporations who collect and remit sales taxes, who makes estimated tax payments, and who makes an eligible contribution to an private voucher program is allowed a credit against any estimated sales tax payment. OPPAGA will make a presentation on this program during the same committee meeting.
The State University and Private College Committee will hear House Bill 75 by Rep. Seth McKeel and House Bill 403 by Rep. Weatherford. HB 75 will allow the University of South Florida to grant a doctor of pharmacy degree. Currently, Florida A&M and the University of Florida are the only public schools to grant such degrees; Nova Southeastern Palm Beach Atlantic, and the Lake Erie College of Medicine’s Bradenton campus also provide access to this degree.
HB 403 will allow all eleven state university to utilize differential tuition, which allows the individual universities to exceed the tuition set by the Legislature by no more than 15%. The extra tuition dollars must enhance undergraduate education and provide additional need-based financial aid. It also limits the total tuition and fees after differential to the national average of public universities. Some students will not have to pay this additional tuition, including students on pre-paid programs or who were enrolled prior to July 1, 2007.
 |
Florida Senate |
The Senate will convent at 10 a.m. to open the session. The afternoon will also have a handful of committee meetings. Most agendas include presentations by various state agencies. Among the more interesting items:
The Community Affairs Committee will hear Senate Bill 536 by Sen. Charlie Justice. The bill would make the election for Supervisor of Elections office in all counties a non-partisan race. Counties currently have the power to make this change by Charter Amendment, but only a handful of Florida’s 67 counties have done so. “There is no Democrat or Republican way to run an election,” Senator Justice said. “Our highest elections officials should not be concerned with politics, but preserving the integrity of the voting process. This bill removes any obligation to a party and cements their obligation to the voters.”
The Communications, Energy, and Public Utilities Committee will hear a presentation by Greg Shafer, Public Utilities Supervisor, Public Service Commission, and Steve Adams, Deputy Director, Florida Energy and Climate Office, on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Federal Stimulus Package). The Package included funding for improving Florida’s renewable energy and communications infrastructures.
According to the Governor’s Office: The direct energy funding that Florida will receive under the ARRA will expand investments and jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency across our entire economy. Perhaps more importantly, Florida is extremely well positioned to capture competitive funding that will be administered by the U.S. Department of Energy in areas such as advanced technology research, deployment of next generation “smart grid” technology, and investment support for large-scale renewable energy projects. Without the specific actions taken by the Governor and Legislature over the past two years, Florida would be leaving quite a lot of energy money on the table.
