By Rick Kriseman
CL Green Community

Cross-posted from the Daily Loaf.

We are long overdue for a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in this state (a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal). According to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, we are not only the most populous state without one, but we are joined by the likes of Alabama, Mississippi, and several other states not known for their progressive agendas.

In 2008, Gov. Charlie Crist signed legislation which required the Public Service Commission (PSC) to develop a renewable portfolio standard by February 1, 2009, which then had to be adopted by the legislature before being implemented.

You may remember that the bill required each electricity provider, with the exception of municipal utilities and rural cooperatives, to supply an unspecified amount of renewable energy to its customers. Later action by the governor, Executive Order 07-127, required utilities to produce at least 20 percent of their electricity from renewable resources.

The PSC did what it was required to do under this legislation by developing a recommended renewable portfolio standard, yet House Leadership squandered its opportunities. As the Ranking Democrat on the Energy & Utilities Policy Committee, I pleaded with the speaker’s office to follow the 2008 legislation and either adopt the PSC’s recommendations or produce our own RPS, to do something – anything – that would require increased production of energy from sources such as solar, wind, biomass, or geothermal. No legislation was even introduced in the House.

Even in the Senate, normally the more thoughtful body, the opportunity to create and invest in renewables was diminished by a “clean” energy standard which included nuclear power and coal gasification.

Discussion of an RPS must begin during this fall’s committee meetings, or Florida’s environment and our opportunities to create a new, green economy will continue to suffer.

Rick Kriseman is a member of the Florida House of Representatives from St. Petersburg.

By Lorna Bracewell
PoHo contributor

This just in from Securing Our Children’s Rights (SOCR), a Tampa-based lobbying group organized to secure, protect and preserve equal rights for children of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents in Florida:

Securing Our Children’s Rights, Inc. (SOCR), is pleased to announce HB 3 – Adoption, for the 2010 legislative session, introduced by Representative Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, that is a full repeal of Florida’s ban on adoption by its gay and lesbian citizens. Senator Nan Rich has a companion bill in drafting at this date.

Governor Crist has declared Wednesday, July 22, 2009 as Explore Adoption Day and we must contact Governor Crist and the legislature to Explore Adoption by repealing the ban.

WHEN: Wednesday, July 22, 2009
WHO: Governor Charlie Crist (850) 488-7146 or email to Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com

House Speaker Larry Cretul 850-488-1450 or 352-873-6564 or email to Larry.Cretul@myfloridahouse.gov

Senate President Jeff Atwater 850-487-5100 or 561-625-5101 or email to atwater.jeff.web@flsenate.gov

Your Florida Representative – www.myfloridahouse.gov

Your Florida Senator – www.flsenate.gov

THE ASK:
Please ask the Governor to support the repeal of the adoption ban on gay Floridians and ask him to encourage the legislative leadership to pass the repeal.

Please ask the House Speaker and the Senate President to support the repeal and encourage Committee hearings for the bills.

Please ask your representative and senator to support the repeal, and to become a co-sponsor.

Here are your fun facts and talking points, courtesy of SOCR:

(1) Florida’s gay adoption ban was passed in 1977 at the height of Anita Bryant’s anti-gay “Save the Children” campaign. This law has done significant damage to children in foster care by not allowing the best interest of the child to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Curtis Peterson, the lead Senate sponsor, said upon passage of the ban, “We’re trying to send [homosexuals] a message. We’re really tired of you. We wish you’d go back into the closet.”

(2) Destructive impact on children – over 4,500 children languish in Florida’s foster care system today. The adoption ban arbitrarily excludes hundreds, if not thousands, of potential parents based solely on the irrelevant criteria of sexual orientation. These adults could provide stable, loving, PERMANENT homes to many of these children if this ban were lifted.

(3) In 2003, the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released a research study, stating, “reality on the ground is outstripping the pace of the debate. That is, a growing number of lesbians and gay men are becoming parents and are living as families every day, irrespective of what the policymakers do or say.”

(4) There is no credible scientific evidence that the sexual orientation of parents has any effects either on the quality of parenting or on the well-being of their children. In fact, the reliable social scientific evidence indicates that lesbian and gay parents are as fit, effective and successful at parenting as their heterosexual counterparts. (See American Academy of Pediatrics February 2002 Policy Statement, Vol. 109, No. 2, pp. 341-344)

(5) At least eleven (11) mainstream child welfare, social science, and professional organizations have issued policy statements SUPPORTING adoption by lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) people:

Child Welfare League of America
American Bar Association
American Medical Association
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychoanalytical Association
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Psychological Association
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
National Association of Social Workers
North American Council on adoptable Children

(6) Decades of research indicate that optimal development for children is based not on the sexual orientation of the parents, but on stable attachments to committed and nurturing adults. Children with two parents, regardless of the parents’ sexual orientation, do better than children with only one parent. (American Psychiatric Association 11/2002 policy statement)

(7) Adoption decisions should be based on an individualized assessment of what is in the best interests of the child to be adopted. Applicants should be assessed on the basis of their ability to successfully parent a child in need of family membership and not on irrelevant considerations such as sexual orientation.

(8) Regardless of what policy makers do or say, gay Floridians are raising children and legal protection is necessary for these children. Families have been created by adopting in other states, artificial insemination, previous heterosexual relationships and family tragedies such as the death of a sibling.

(Full Disclosure: Lorna Bracewell is a human rights activist and founder of ImpACT, a gay-rights advocacy group and social network.)

You may recall the controversy earlier this year when Hillsborough Planning Commission chief Bob Hunter did just that, drawing attention from 10 Connects’ investigative reporter Mike Deeson and support from a group of activists, including PoHo’s own Kelly Cornelius.

From the Fort Myers News-Press:

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said the bill he and Rep. Robert Schenck, R-Spring Hill, sponsored during the 2009 legislative session is specially appropriate in these tough budget times. Fasano said it is not fair that some high-paid public officials arrange to draw their pensions and continue working.

The law won’t take effect until July 1, 2010, so employees who retire before then will still be allowed to return to work after 30 days and keep their pensions. But the new statute will require a six-month break in service, which Fasano said will prevent elected big shots from “double dipping.”

“The six-month ban on re-employment will put a stop to the abuse of this system by elected officials, and judges in particular,” said Fasano. “Those individuals will not be able to take a six-month break from their elected or appointed positions. It will also keep senior management from ‘retiring’ and coming right back to their old positions at a higher salary, since their position will have to remain unfilled for six months.”

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Sidestepping critics who say it won’t solve Florida’s pill-mill problem, Gov. Charlie Crist signed long-fought legislation Thursday designed to crack down on clinics and doctors who dole out excessive narcotic painkillers — mainly in South Florida.

The law will force pain clinics, pharmacies and doctors selling pain drugs to log every prescription into a statewide computer database, where the medical officials and police can detect drug dealers and addicts who go from office to office amassing hundreds of pills a day.

Also, the law gives state regulators new powers to inspect and closely oversee clinics owned by investors, a segment of the business that police identify as a blatant source of illegal narcotic pills.

“I’m thrilled,” said Tina Reed, a Davie mother whose adult son used to be an addict and runner for a dealer, and who had been part of a coalition lobbying for the bill (SB 462). “It may not be a perfect bill but the fact is we have a database established that we can work on. We’re not cured of this crisis, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

Read the full story.

Senate Bill 216 is now law, and its top advocate, St. Petersburg state Sen. Charlie Justice is pretty happy about it. SB 216 bans local governments from spending tax dollars to educate voters about referenda, a process that is both defended by government as a necessary means of explaining tricky civic issues and criticized by those who say it is merely advocacy campaigning with taxpayer money.

I’ve got both sides of the issue on it. First, Justice, who issued this statement upon Gov. Charlie Crist signing the bill:

I would like to commend supporters of SB 216 and Governor Crist for making such a valuable piece of legislation law. Today marks the beginning of a new era of government accountability, as this will ensure that governments will not be telling taxpayers how to vote, but rather allow voters to be the final arbiter in determining what is good policy for our communities. Gone are the days of unjust and irresponsible campaign spending from our government. I will continue to fight for campaign finance reform in Tallahassee, and I will continue to seek government accountability for our taxpayers.

On the other side, Gregory Wilson, a St. Petersburg-based political consultant who has run his share of  referenda campaigns, as well as Democratic candidate races. Wilson and I traded e-mails last week when he took exception to my characterization in a previous blog post about this bill.

He wrote:

As a former political consultant, you know that no credible candidate or cause ever TELLS people how to vote. They ASK for the vote. Or, at most, they advise or encourage a vote.

Using the expression, TELL YOU HOW TO VOTE, is intentionally and knowingly provocative, meaning to cause resentment and anger, rather than to characterize the situation in an unbiased manner.

Framed as a means to prevent cities and counties (but not the State Legislature, by the way) from spending tax dollars to TELL YOU HOW TO VOTE can also make this initiative appear more like a populist appeal designed to advance political ambition than a fix to a problem.

Additionally, by your own adoption of this provocative language, it gives the appearance that you have been co-opted by those who are advancing this campaign. Of course, as a columnist, that is your privilege. As a journalist, I would hope for a higher standard. But as a former political consultant, you are uniquely qualified to illuminate the use of language as a political tactic.

Cities or counties must publicly vote to spend money on campaigns, possibly with multiple readings, in front of a live or televised audience. I’m confident you will accept that it is a lot easier to hold a local, elected official accountable at City Hall, conveniently located in the community, than it is to drive countless hours to Tallahassee in hopes of being heard before an appropriate committee(s) at The Capitol. How many stories have we heard about people’s frustration with being heard by a committee of the Legislature? Of course we don’t hear many lobbyists complain about access.

If it is another illustration of SPIN you want, then consider how developers and other special interests celebrate this bill, are grateful to Sen. Justice, and are confident that Florida’s Puppet-In-Chief is sure to sign it. You need only consider SB 360 if you have any doubt. Developers certainly prefer for cities to bring pocket knives to gun fights. You can rest assured that developers will want to TELL PEOPLE HOW TO VOTE, using all the compelling semantics they can hire people like you and me to create.

And just to throw more gas on the fire, here’s a popular line: This bill is some of the best legislation that money can buy.

You see, Wayne, anyone can play these kind of word games. That doesn’t make it right.

I responded (with my e-mail shorthand and typos intact):

but that is why govt’s hired consultants like us, to tell folks how to vote. they certainly had an outcome they wanted, never knew a govt that didn’t.

I don’t think govt’s should be involved at all in campaigns. politicians who are in the govt are certainly capable of raising money and mounting a campaign just like the other side (if it is developers, and that is not always the case) without tainting the effort by spending public dollars.

as a consultant, i might have a different opinion, but as a journalist now, i have to come down on the side of prohibiting.

And Wilson wrote back:

I guess my problem is with the use of the word “tell.” I still think you are using the word as a weapon, and that Justice is using it as a campaign tactic (good for him, mind you, but I’m not obligated to buy it). As a columnist, you’re free to use it, but if you’re a journalist, where’s the other side?

Perhaps I’m just being idealistic or naive, but I’ve always seen myself as a professional “asker,” not a “teller.” Is that too fine a distinction?

Even if they are telling me how to vote, I am under no obligation to follow. There is no consequence if I don’t. But at least my elected government voted to take a clear stand on an issue on the ballot and communicate it through conventionally accept paid media.

Using tax dollars to communicate a position or recommendation (or tell me how to vote) seems to be the real point of contention. Not sure sending part-time, elected officials into the community to raise money for a campaign is really any better. And then you get into the gray area of whether they were on the government payroll while they were out there raising money. Just by speaking out, were they doing so as a citizen, or a salaried, government employee? I think we’re going to see a lot of new ethics complaints as a result of this bill.

But please note that my tone remains respectful. No name-calling from me.

Big Oil’s offshore drilling scheme appears to be making a comeback. A start-up political group is looking to gather petition signatures and put the idea on the ballot, bypassing the politically sensitive Legislature.

From the Fort Myers News-Press:

Claiming that offshore drilling is the answer to the nation’s addiction to foreign oil, conservative activists are gearing up a constitutional drive to lift Florida’s 20-year-old ban.
Advertisement

Sponsors of the drive, FloridaOil.org, are exploring a unique approach to getting around what has long been considered the third rail of Florida politics, one so charged that a last-minute attempt in the Legislature this spring quickly died when Senate President Jeff Atwater, a Republican from North Palm Beach, put his foot down.

“Atwater proved that we can’t rely on the Legislature,” said the group’s chief organizer, Dan Baldauf of Bradenton. “Legislators actually prefer that we do it this way, because it helps them keep their hands clean.”

This sounds like it is more about folks who want to procure some spending cash from the oil and gas companies than a legit movement with any legs. The story notes that the group has raised just $2,000 so far but expects a lot more once it attracts the attention of the oil-producing companies.

Although carefully worded polls will show support for offshore drilling, this is a big loser at the ballot box.

Cristina Silva has a great story over at Bay Buzz about how the St. Petersburg City Council has a letter queued up to go to Gov. Charlie Crist urging a veto of SB 216, a good-government bill by local Sen. Charlie Justice.

Upshot is that city officials want to keep the ability to spend your money to tell you how to vote on city referenda or other issues. They say this bill is overly broad and could result in local elected officials getting arrested, they say. It is on the St. Petersburg City Council agenda for Thursday’s meeting, so if you can go and tell them to stuff it, that might be a good idea.

Download the draft letter in .pdf format after the jump:

Here’s the draft St. Petersburg City Council letter urging Gov. Charlie Crist to veto SB 216: do_213873

Yes, I know, it is a wonky issue. SB 360. Most Floridians don’t give a crap about growth management. Just get the economy going and cut my taxes to near nothing while boosting public services, parks and investments in infrastructure, they figure.

Right.

But Charlie Crist’s cowardly signing Monday of the bill that the St. Petersburg Times says sets back Florida’s growth management by 20 years. He didn’t have a public signing, opting instead for a 5 p.m. news release from his flacks. How shameful not only to do the wrong thing but to hide like a guilty 5-year-old while doing it.

How do you sign a “growth management” bill that even the wildly pro-growth Hillsborough County Commission opposes???

Signing SB 360 leaves Crist’s legacy as a popular governor who didn’t fight the tough fights and who made his decisions on a matrix of how many influential Floridians and/or voters would love him for it. On that scale, SB 360 had lots of upside (campaign contributions for his Senate campaign in 2010) and no downside (the handful of environmentalists and planners who give a crap about such things doesn’t amount to enough to elect the local dog catcher).

And this man wants to be our next U.S. senator? What a chickenshit.

According to the Governor’s Office:

The Community Renewal Act was taken up as a means to stimulate Florida’s economy and create jobs for our people. The Community Renewal Act does the following:

1. The bill incentivizes entrepreneurs to undertake economic development projects in designated urban areas.

2. The bill directs a study of a mobility fee system to replace proportionate share payments paid by developers for transportation impacts.

3. The bill also allows economic development projects to stay “in the pipeline” by extending the validity of development permits for two years.

4. The bill makes changes to our affordable housing programs to ensure affordable homes are available for those in need, including young adults leaving the state foster care system.

5. Finally, the bill encourages green building and storm resistant construction.

The reality is that the bill opens vast new areas of Florida’s undeveloped lands to wholesale commercial and residential development without the reasonable review an growth-management limits of local and state government. The equals more and faster unfettered sprawl in a state that is drowning in red tape from building roads, sewer lines, etc. out to non-urban, far-flung subdivisions.

Monday was a dark day for Floridians who want a better, cleaner, more urban future in a state that seems determined to wreck the paradise that is the Sunshine State in pursuit of cheap profits and campaign checks.

(photo credit: Steve Cornelius / flickr.com)

Photo Credit: kwalk628 Flickr.com

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

No ceremonial photo-op for this signing, probably because nobody wants to see the Governor bending over for special interests but in my opinion that is exactly what he did by signing SB 360. This bill guts Florida’s growth management laws (yes, we had some) and everyone but special interests and their politicians are against it.

The only good news? This should be exactly what we need to get Florida Hometown Democracy approved by the voters in 2010.

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and UCAN-Hillsborough activist

I got an invitation to attend a Town Hall Capital Update Meeting being hosted by District 62 Rep. Rich Glorioso in Plant City. Now some of you may be saying to yourselves, “That’s not my district, I don’t care what he has to say.”

Ah, but you should care what he has to say and here’s why.

Glorioso is an active proponent of SB 360. He has been an active proponent of eliminating Hillsborough’s Environmental Protection Commission. So, even though you may not live in his district, what he has done will affect us countywide (and perhaps statewide) in more ways than one. And anyway, I was anxious to meet this real live legislative supporter of SB 360 to see what, if anything, he was thinking when he hit the “yes” button.

I’d like to give a blow-by-blow description as to what took place at the meeting on Tuesday night. I will do my best at paraphrasing his response to questions. Some of the questions were interesting, and some of the answers were even more interesting.

The face-off began during the open forum question-and-answer period. I told Rep. Glorioso that I and many others were extremely disappointed in the fact that he voted in favor of SB 360 and that I couldn’t understand how he could sell out citizens just to benefit the development community. After all, even the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners, many of whom are “developer-friendly,” sent an impassioned plea to Gov. Charlie Crist to veto that bill.

His answer: He said that even though the bill had bad parts that he objected to, it also had some good parts. He admitted that he didn’t actually read the entire bill … after all, the bill was hundreds of pages and there were more than 1,000 bills during this legislative session alone … in addition, there were so many revisions to the bill between the Senate and the House … how could anyone take the time to read the entire bill?

My response was, “so you voted for a bill that you didn’t actually finish reading and didn’t fully agree with??? He didn’t respond.

I brought up the fact that SB 360 has provisions in it that will allow a large-scale developer to rescind commitments to upgrade transportation that all parties previously agreed to (state/local/developer). Some examples might be Fishhawk Ranch and Lake Hutto subdivisions in eastern Hillsborough.

His answer: He said he wasn’t aware of that provision (oh, that’s right, I almost forgot, you didn’t read the entire bill before you voted yes). He didn’t want to dwell on the negative, though. He wanted to talk about the good parts of the bill that don’t get enough airtime. Like the fact that this bill will enable homeowners in deed-restricted subdivisions to plant any type of grass that they want. Today, he said, some HOA’s force you to plant only St. Augustine grass. If this bill passes we all will have the freedom to plant Zoysia or Bahia grass. I was thrilled that our legislature took the time to tackle some of these monumental problems while they were giving the store away.

He also felt that this bill offered a solution for the concurrency problem. The problem being that concurrency puts a drain on developers’ pocketbooks without any way of passing the cost onto anyone else. The answer is the Mobility Fee. The Mobility Fee charges the developer a (transportation) fee per rooftop built. It’s supposed to be more equitable to developers, but it is unclear how it would work. It is also unclear how local governments would manage and apply the Mobility money once they obtained it, or if they would consistently apply the fee in every case.

I reminded him that the only problem we’ve had with concurrency has been that Hillsborough never consistently applied it. When concurrency laws were first introduced, Hillsborough said it couldn’t implement them just yet because it would inflict a hardship on developers. As a result, Hillsborough pushed off stringent enforcement of concurrency laws until now. And, of course, now is too late. If they have a chance to push off the application of a Mobility Fee (in place of enforcing concurrency), I’m sure they will. His response was that that’s a local issue.

Other outrageous responses:

A constituent asked why there were no blacks or Hispanics at the meeting. He asked if Rep. Glorioso, as well as, the Republican Party were proactively trying to bring minorities into their fold.

His response: Glorioso said that he’s had a hard time in getting blacks and Hispanics to “come out” … he doesn’t know why they don’t get involved … they promise to attend meetings but don’t show up. That’s not the type of answer I would expect to hear from a politician that is trying to bring people into the fold.

Another constituent asked him for his views on term limits.

His response: If he were king for a day, he would extend term limits from the current 8 year limit to 12 years. The reason being there is so much for a legislator to learn and do, and 8 years is just too short.

Egads man, if you had 12 years, Florida would certainly be paved over!!!