The Political Whore

Today is the 2nd day of the 2009 Legislative session.

Here are the highlights from the agendas for each side of the Capitol:

Florida House of Representatives

The House of Representatives will hold committee meetings on Wednesday. Here are some of the interesting items on committee agendas:

The Select Committee on Seminole Indian Compact Review will meet in the morning to hear an analysis of the compact Governor Charlie Crist signed with the Seminole Indians, subsequently voided by the Florida Supreme Court, by Eugene Christiansen of Christiansen Capital Advisors. Committee staff will make a presentation on other state compacts.

The Roads, Bridges & Ports Policy Committee will hear two interesting bills. House Bill 1 by Rep. Rich Glorioso will make failure to wear a seat belt a primary offense, allowing police officers to pull over drivers they identify as not wearing seat belts. This bill has been brought up in the Legislature for close to 10 years, and never passes. House Bill 439 by Rep. Ron Reagan, which will allow local governments to use cameras to catch red light runners and sets state-wide standards for implementing them.

The Finance and Tax Council will be holding a workshop to discuss and take public testimony on repealing exemptions from Florida’s sales and use tax. The official list of tax exemptions to be discussed will be released later today.

Two committees, the Full Appropriations Council on Education & Economic Development and the Full Appropriations Council on General Government & Health Care, will hear presentations from departments and agencies on the effect of the Federal Stimulus Bill on their proposed budgets.

Florida Senate

Like the House, the Senate will be meeting in committees on Wednesday. The highlights include:

Senate Bill 582, by Sen. Carey Baker will be heard in the Transportation committee. The bill creates the Florida Transportation Revenue Study Commission to study the state’s transportation needs and developing recommendations.

The Regulated Industries committee will hear a presentation by representatives of the parimutuel industry, including racetracks, breeders, and other participants, regarding the State of Florida’s parimutuel industry.

The Select Committee on Florida’s Economy will discuss draft legislation on solar energy system certification as well as draft legislation on economic development incentives relating to:

• Research and development
• Capital investment in rural and urban low income communities
• Entry of new technology-based products into the marketplace
• Entertainment industry economic development
• Commercialization of certain technologies by startup and early stage Florida companies
• Florida’s aircraft industry

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